Asa Butterfield says he missed out on George Harrison role in Beatles movies
Asa Butterfield is talking about one of those “close, but not close enough” moments actors don’t forget. For Sam Mendes’ upcoming big-screen Beatles project, he says he was at one point in the running to play George Harrison.
The former Education star told an interview published in The Times on Wednesday that he actually auditioned for the role—an audition that, in his words, was something he really wanted. But it didn’t land. The part eventually went to Stranger Things actor Joseph Quinn, and Asa’s reaction isn’t dramatic. It’s more… practical, like he’s already moved on and is just trying to explain how it happened.
What stood out most is how he frames the disappointment. “There are roles that you really, really want. But I find something else comes up and you do another job which you wouldn’t have been able to do,” he said. In other words: the rejection doesn’t just sting, it redirects. And if you’ve ever sat in a quiet casting room long enough to hear your own breathing, you know that feeling—waiting while your future quietly gets decided elsewhere.
This isn’t even the first time he’s shared a near-miss. Back in 2020, he confirmed to Collider that at one point he’d been in contention to play Spider-Man, before Marvel gave the role to Tom Holland. He described how “every so often” there’s a part you pour your heart into—then you don’t get it. Still, he added that he often finds something even better comes out of it later.
He also sounded like he’s learned to treat it as part of the job, not a personal verdict. “There’s only so much you can do,” he said, pointing out that everyone has a different take on a character. If your approach doesn’t line up with what the director and producers want, he suggests, there’s basically nothing you can do. That’s out of your hands—something he says he’s learned and tries to use to get over it.
And the Spider-Man situation, in his telling, even reinforces the point. He’s made it clear he thinks Tom did amazing things with Peter and had a completely different portrayal—something that fit so well it feels like it “worked” in the end. Maybe Asa could’ve done it. Maybe not. But he leans on the idea that the “right” outcome sometimes happens because you didn’t take the path you expected.
Even more, the Beatles disappointment connects back to a theme in his more recent work. One of Asa’s latest projects, the play Second Best, has him portraying a former child actor who lost out on the role of Harry Potter after getting down to the final two in the auditioning process. So he’s not just talking about auditions in the abstract. He’s repeatedly lived around the edges of this kind of heartbreak—and now he’s turning it into something audiences can actually watch, even if they don’t feel every pause he had to endure.
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