We recently learned that the cast of 2003’s Love Actually will be reuniting to film the highly-anticipated sequel for this year’s Comic Relief.

However, as fans will be all too aware, Alan Rickman, who played cheating husband Harry, will sadly not be joining them. The talented actor died at the age of 69 last year, following a battle with cancer, and, while there had been talk of a special tribute to him in Love Actually 2, it has now been confirmed that the 10-minute clip will not be referencing his character at all.

Read more: Find out which Love Actually character you are in our quiz

Discussing the prospect of a tribute to Rickman, director Richard Curtis told the Press Association: “You know dealing with Alan is very complicated so not really.

“We’re not doing everyone. We’re doing about two thirds of people.”

He added that Emma Thompson, who starred alongside Rickman as his wife, Karen, did not want to revisit the storyline without her late friend at her side.

“Em isn’t in it,” he said. “She just can’t do it.”

Thompson and Rickman were lifelong friends, and worked together on seven films, including several Harry Potter films, The Winter Guest, and Sense and Sensibility.

Shortly after Rickman passed away, Thompson shared an emotional statement with The Hollywood Reporter, in which she revealed that she had been able to spend time with him before his death.

“Alan was my friend and so this is hard to write because I have just kissed him goodbye,” she said.

“What I remember most in this moment of painful leave-taking is his humour, intelligence, wisdom and kindness. His capacity to fell you with a look or lift you with a word. The intransigence which made him the great artist he was — his ineffable and cynical wit, the clarity with which he saw most things, including me, and the fact that he never spared me the view. I learned a lot from him.”

Read more: The facts you never knew about Love Actually

Thompson continued: “He was the finest of actors and directors. I couldn’t wait to see what he was going to do with his face next. I consider myself hugely privileged to have worked with him so many times and to have been directed by him [in The Winter Guest].

“He was the ultimate ally. In life, art and politics. I trusted him absolutely," she said of her friend. “He was, above all things, a rare and unique human being and we shall not see his like again.”

The 10-minute Love Actually 2 movie will air during BBC One’s live Red Nose Day in aid of Comic Relief on 24 March.

Images: Rex Pictures