Yahoo News Timothy Olyphant DIDN'T audition for Negan
Was Timothy Olyphant nearly Negan? Not according to the man himself...
Back in 2015, Olyphant - who stars in new Netflix series Santa Clarita Diet - was rumoured to have auditioned for the role of the Walking Dead villain.
But when Digital Spy asked Olyphant about his supposed screen-test, he told us that not only did he never try out for Negan, he's never even seen the show.
"I'm not familiar with it," he said. "I mean, I know it exists and I hear it's great. But if somebody offered me a part in The Walking Dead, I never heard about it."
Olyphant was named by The Hollywood Reporter as having gone up for Negan, along with Matt Dillon, Garret Dillahunt and Jeffrey Dean Morgan - with the latter winning the part.
Notably, the original article was later amended to remove mention of any actors bar Morgan. The plot thickens...
One star who's confirmed he auditioned for Negan is Henry Rollins - who actually served as the visual inspiration for the character in the original Walking Dead comic book.
"[Comic artist] Charlie Adlard based that guy on me and so I was a shoo-in for an audition," Rollins revealed. "I went for the audition, and there were five pages of really cool dialogue with all these curses and it was beautiful, but I didn't get it."
We're big fans of Jeffrey Dean Morgan's portrayal of Negan, so let's just agree - whoever did or didn't go up for the part - The Walking Dead probably picked the right guy in the end...
Timothy Olyphant stars in Santa Clarita Diet, available to watch exclusively on Netflix from Friday (February 3).
Want up-to-the-minute entertainment and tech news? Just hit 'Like' on our Digital Spy Facebook page and 'Follow' on our @digitalspy Twitter account and you're all set.
You Might Also Like
