Long before Pedro Pascal stretched his limbs as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic in “Fantastic Four: The First Steps,” it was Ioan Gruffudd who led Marvel’s first family in 2005’s “Fantastic Four” and 2007’s “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.

Ioan Gruffudd is opening up about why a third installment of the previous Fantastic Four series (in which he portrayed Reed Richards) never came to theaters. Gruffud, 51, appeared as Reed in 2005's Fantastic Four, and reprised the role in 2007's Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.

Ioan Gruffudd starred as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic in 2005’s Fantastic Four and the 2007 sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and with the new Fantastic Four film recently hitting theaters, he’s reflecting on how there was supposed to be a third film in the early ’00s series and why it didn’t happen.