Machete kills the bad guys, and Machete gets all the women -- but he won't be getting Lindsay Lohan again anytime soon.

The [article id="1700717"]troubled star of "The Canyons"[/article] won't be reprising her role as the gun-toting April in director Robert Rodriguez's upcoming "Machete Kills," the filmmaker confirmed to MTV News during an interview at this year's Sundance Film Festival. But don't blame the gossip and tabloid drama surrounding Lohan's life as the reason she's not in the film; according to Rodriguez, the decision was rooted firmly in the needs of the ongoing "Machete" story.

"No, she's not in it," said the director. "We thought to bring her back because we like that character, but it didn't fit into the story."

So, what did fit into the story? The first "Machete" film saw the retired federali sucked back into the criminal underworld, embroiled in assassination plots and other forms of political conspiracies. For the sequel, Danny Trejo's blade-carrying hero crosses paths with a colorful roster of characters played by Mel Gibson, Lady Gaga, Antonio Banderas and more. Beyond that, Rodriguez's lips are sealed, except to say that he's having a blast editing the movie.

"I've been editing progressively," he said. "I'm about halfway through my 'happy edit' -- my edit that makes me happy. It's fun. It's a fun movie, man."

But even before "Machete Kills" invades theaters, there is already talk of what the future will bring for the character. Rodriguez himself has long talked about "Machete Kills Again In Space," a threequel that would send Trejo into outer-orbit to kill bad aliens and get space-women. Right now, the filmmaker isn't quite as sure about that movie actually coming to pass.

"'Space' has always been talked about, but we'll have to see what happens in this one," he said. But Rodriguez teased that by the end of "Machete Kills," everyone is going to want to know what happens to the character next. "There are some cliffhangers," he teased. "It's gotta end in a very 'Empire Strikes Back' way. You gotta want to know what happens to everybody."

Check out everything we've got on "Machete Kills."