According to Brian Cox, he said no to a role in “Game of Thrones” for financial reasons. “Well, stupidly, I turned it down in the early days because they didn’t pay enough money,” Cox told VODzilla.co in 2016. “Now they have more money. And I was silly. It was silly, because I’m a complete [‘Game of Thrones’] addict now.” Fans of the earlier seasons will remember the humble, grounded beginning of the show back in Season 1, which — to Cox’s point — didn’t exactly indicate just how massive the epic saga would become. Cox himself became enamored with how the show grew into something so spectacular. “For television it’s truly astonishing” the actor said. “It beat out – you know, if you think of ‘The Hobbit or ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ the battle sequence in ‘Game of Thrones’ was a lot more modest, but much more brilliant than any of the battle sequences in any of those movies.”
While the star certainly feels “silly” for not taking on a role in “Game of Thrones,” it’s not a stretch to say he’s done extremely well without it. Season 3 of “Succession” is on its way, fresh off of winning the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series in 2020, a year in which Cox himself was nominated for the lead actor category for his role as Logan Roy.
