James McAvoy has revealed he wasn't the first choice for his role in His Dark Materials.
The actor plays Lord Asriel in the BBC adaptation of Philip Pullman's novel series, which premiered to mixed reactions on Sunday night (November 3).
But, speaking recently, James revealed that he was actually hired for the project "last minute", after the show's casting director was "let down" by a mystery actor.
"It was actually very last minute," he told the Radio Times.
"I happened to be chatting to the casting director, who’s a friend of mine, waxing lyrical about how much I love the books, and then they got let down by whoever else was doing it originally.
"So she called me up and said ‘Do you think you can start on Monday?’ That was on the Friday!
"I think they’d possibly been let down by a couple of people last minute."
Hmm. If you're that mystery actor, get in touch.
His Dark Materials airs Sundays at 8pm on BBC One.
BBC Audio His Dark Materials Trilogy: BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Dramatisations
Penguin and David Fickling Books The Secret Commonwealth: The Book of Dust Volume Two
Penguin Random House Children's and David Fickling Books La Belle Sauvage: The Book of Dust Volume One
New Line Cinema The Golden Compass DVD (Two-Disc Extended Edition)
Penguin Random House USA The Golden Compass Graphic Novel Complete Edition
Alfred A Knopf Books for Young Readers Lyra's Oxford (His Dark Materials)
David Fickling Books Once Upon a Time in the North (His Dark Materials)
Like this article? Sign up to our newsletter to get more articles like this delivered straight to your inbox.
