Game of Thrones’ Joffrey Actor Lands First Major Role After Almost A Decade-Long Retirement-TGN

Summary

• Jack Gleeson, who played Joffrey Baratheon in Game of Thrones, has landed his first major onscreen role since leaving the show in 2014.

• During his hiatus from television acting, Gleeson co-founded a theater company and performed in various local Irish events.

• Gleeson’s new role in The Famous Five marks a potential return to television and the level of prominence he had in Game of Thrones.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Game of Thrones season 4.Game of Thrones star Jack Gleeson has taken his first major onscreen role in nearly a decade. On Game of Thrones, Gleeson played the petulant young king Joffrey Baratheon, who sat on the Iron Throne for some time despite his real father being his mother Cersei Lannister’s (Lena Headey) brother Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). Gleeson starred in 26 episodes of the hit fantasy series before Joffrey was poisoned during the event known as the Purple Wedding.

Now, BBC has announced the cast of the upcoming series The Famous Five, an adaptation of the Enid Blyton children’s novel series of the same name. Gleeson will be joining the cast in the role of Wentworth, alongside an ensemble that includes Diaana Babnicova, Elliott Rose, Kit Rakusen, Flora Jacoby Richardson, Ann Akinjirin, James Lance, and Diana Quick. This marks Gleeson’s first major onscreen role since he took a hiatus from television acting following Joffrey’s Game of Thrones death in 2014.

Everything Jack Gleeson Has Done Since Game of Thrones

Gleeson originally announced his intention to pursue an academic career after leaving Game of Thrones. However, the now 31-year-old actor took a different path after the Purple Wedding. From 2012 through 2019, he was a producer and performer in the Collapsing Horse Theatre Company, which he also co-founded. The most prominent production he participated in was a comic play titled Bears in Space.

Over the years, he continued to perform onstage in various capacities, usually in local Irish events. This includes a surprise appearance at an Over the Top Wrestling event, where he played a heightened version of himself and battled J Money. He seemed to have largely severed ties with his television career, even neglecting to watch Game of Thrones‘ final season. However, as the 2020s began, he started to pursue onscreen acting once more.

Gleeson’s onscreen Renaissance began with smaller roles, including two episodes of the 2020 sitcom Out of Her Mind. However, his new role in The Famous Five is the one that most approaches the level of prominence of his Game of Thrones character. It remains to be seen if he will continue to parlay this role into more television work in the future.

Source: BBC