Sex Education S4 Brought Forgotten GoT Star Back to Screen, And You Didn’t Even Notice
The hatred of the fans forced the actor to disappear from the screens for a long time.
You probably remember the bloodthirsty King Joffrey Baratheon from the iconic TV series Game of Thrones. At one point, this character became one of the most popular on the show.
Joffrey was played by the Irish actor Jack Gleeson. However, unlike other actors on the show, Jack ended his career at the height of fame immediately after his finest hour, and this decision was largely influenced by the famous role.
The actor's big return to the screen was the fourth season of Sex Education, where he played Dodgy Mo, a character who doesn't resemble Joffrey at all.
Mo is a friend of Maeve's brother Sean, and a seemingly drug addict. In one of the episodes, Mo tells Maeve that Sean, who recently resumed using, went away to recover.
The summer of 2009 was a pivotal moment in Jack Gleeson’s career. It was then officially announced that he would play Joffrey Baratheon in Game of Thrones. After the release of several episodes, Gleeson found himself at the height of his popularity. As a great actor, Jack did a brilliant job of showing just how cruel and capricious his character was.
In the story, the young king, enthroned by his mother, taunts those around him in every possible way, especially his bride Sansa Stark, and also sentences her father, Ned Stark, to death.
In one of his interviews, the actor admitted that when creating the image of Joffrey Baratheon, he was inspired by the work of Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator and mirrored many of his traits: ruthlessness, greed and toughness.
It would seem that after such success, Gleeson had excellent prospects for conquering Hollywood. However, his most popular role played a cruel joke on him. Because of his incredible cruelty, Joffrey became the most hated character among fans, and viewers weren't afraid to voice their discontent directly to the actor.
The negativity from the audience was so overwhelming that the actor disappeared from screens for a long time. In addition, Gleeson admitted that acting is not something that he is striving for and that he would like to try something else.
Sex Education was only the beginning of his return to acting. It has already been confirmed that Gleeson will star in the adaptation of Enid Blyton's Famous Five novels.