10 Actors Who Turned Down Iconic TV Roles For Stupid Reasons
2. Thomas Jane - Don Draper (Mad Men) AND Rick Grimes (The Walking Dead)
That's right - Thomas Jane turned down not one, but two major TV roles. And the reasons? They're questionable to say the least.
Before it took the world by storm and helped usher in a whole new era for television, Jane was offered the role of Don Draper in the drama Mad Men, but turned it down because he thought he was too big of a movie star to do TV.
Later, he was approached by The Mist (2007) collaborator Frank Darabont to star as Rick Grimes in the epic post-apocalyptic drama The Walking Dead. Whilst this time he wasn't quite as cocky when rejecting the offer, he decided to pass on the opportunity to film the short-lived (and mostly terrible) comedy-drama series Hung.
Hung ran for three seasons and received some decent reviews throughout, whilst Jon Hamm's role in Mad Men and Andrew Lincoln's in The Walking Dead have gone on to be seen as two of the best performances in TV.
Sure, Jane has had an okay career, with roles in The Thin Red Line (1998) and The Punisher (2004), but rejecting his place on two of TV's most celebrated shows is definitely a black spot on a career which could have been so much bigger.