In an interview with French outlet Gamekult, Mario's creator Shigeru Miyamoto has said that it's unlikely he will be working directly on the next game in the series after Super Mario 3D World.
Asked whether he would be likely to return to Mario having taken an increasingly hands-off role in the series over the past few instalments, Miyamoto demurred. "Creating a Mario of 3D World's calibre demands enormous energy and there is little chance that I'd be able to take the time necessary to work on the next Mario," he said. "Instead, I want to get involved more heavily in the development of new, smaller-scale projects, but that doesn't necessarily mean just modest downloadable titles. It's not impossible that I'll present a new game as principal creator in the future, but even though I'm not directly in charge of a project, I'm always keeping an eye on what the teams are doing in terms of gameplay and I have confidence in them.
"Don't worry about Mario!", he concludes.
