James Franco makes cameo appearance in Apes sequel – without his knowledge

'I'm in what?!' … James Franco in Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Photograph: Joe Lederer

James Franco will soon appear in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes … without even knowing it.

Franco played human protagonist Will Rodman in 2011's franchise reboot Rise of the Planet of the Apes. With the sequel set 10 years on from the events of the first film, which – *spoiler alert* – saw the majority of the human race catch a bad case of the simian flu, the likely assumption was that Franco's character would have quickly perished.

However, reports are claiming that Franco makes a brief appearance in the sequel, which hits cinemas in July. When asked about his cameo inan interview with Entertainment Weekly, Franco denied all knowledge of it and seemed confused that he was not consulted about his appearance, saying: "Wait, I have a cameo? I didn't know that. You know, I don't even think they asked my permission for that."

It is rumoured that the cameo will either consist of footage shot for an alternative ending of Rise of the Planet of the Apes in which Franco's character died on-screen, or in some form of news or home video footage in the film.

To his credit, Franco does have nine films currently in post-production (not including Apes), according to IMDB, so keeping track of everything must be tricky.