Netflix star Penn Badgley could have never played serial killer Joe Goldberg after he almost quit acting altogether when failing to secure a serious job back in 2008. He was getting towards the ultimate stages of being forged as Jesse Pinkman in Breaking Bad, but lost the gig to Aaron Paul.
Penn revealed feeling he “couldn’t do any more TV” after receiving the devastating news that he didn’t land the role in the favored crime drama.
Set to film alongside Walter White (Bryan Cranston), Penn was up against Aaron for the now iconic role of Jesse, losing out at the ultimate “testing” stage.
He made the revelation while chatting with Jimmy Fallon earlier this week on The Tonight Show.
Despite admitting Aaron “killed the role”, he still detailed his disappointment and explained he nearly quit every thing there after which.
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Penn explained: “So I [auditioned] for Breaking Bad and in my memory, Aaron and I were testing against each other for the role of Jessie.
“You understand that is great, Aaron killed that role, it’s obviously his.
“The years prior we had been going out for things together.”
Jimmy quickly asked Penn to make clear if he went up against Aaron for other roles, and he said: “Yeah. Whenever you’re coming up in Hollywood you test for things.”
He added: “This was the very best script for television I’d ever read and truly after I didn’t get it, I believed ‘great, that is high-quality’.
“But ‘I do not know if I can do anymore TV’, that was the one.”
Reflecting on his vibrant profession after refusing to quit acting, he added: “And now I have been working for nearly 20 years since, in television.”
It comes after he admitted being not too sure about his character Joe Goldberg.
Appearing on ITV’s This Morning, Penn discussed his “reservations” and addressed rumours he “didn’t wish to play” Joe.
He admitted: “Yes, in some ways for obvious reasons.
“As an actor, you may take things on for a limited period of time, but then with a show, you do not understand how long it should be.
“It wasn’t that I just didn’t wish to play a serial killer, it wasn’t that. I believed that might be interesting for a time
