Brian Denis Cox CBE is a Scottish actor. He has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre extensively, where he gained recognition for his portrayal of King Lear.
Cox won the Primetime Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series for his portrayal of Hermann Göring in Nuremberg, and received nominations at the Golden Globe Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards. His performance in L.I.E. earned him an AFI Award nomination and an Independent Spirit Award nomination.
Why Did Brian Cox Turn down Game of Thrones?
Brian Cox has admitted he decided against starring in the fantasy epic Game of Thrones because “the money was not all that great”.
In his new memoir, Putting the Rabbit in the Hat, Cox wrote about being offered the role of a king called Robert Baratheon.
In an excerpt published in GQ, the actor details how he was presented with the opportunity along with “every other bugger”.
Cox, 75, said he doesn’t know a huge amount about the show and hasn’t researched how big the part was since he turned it down.
“Game of Thrones went on to be a huge success and everybody involved earned an absolute fortune, of course. But when it was originally offered the money was not all that great, shall we say,” said the Succession star.
“Plus I was going to be killed off fairly early on, so I wouldn’t have had any of the benefits of the long-term effects of a successful series where your wages go up with each passing season.
“So I passed on it, and Mark Addy was gored by the boar instead. (I lied. I did google it.)”Brian Cox speaking onstage at the Critics’ Choice Awards in January 2020.
Cox also said he turned down the opportunity to star in Pirates of the Caribbean because he thinks Johnny Depp is “so overrated”.