Josh Brolin has recently spoken out about the roles that came his way and that he let fly right past him, with one in particular being part of a project that ended up making a truckload of money. During his appearance on The Happy Sad Confused podcast, in which he admitted to wanting to return to the MCU as Infinity Stone obsessive, Thanos, Brolin also revealed that James Cameron offered him the gig of Pandora-loathing bad guy, Colonel Miles Quatrich, in the Avatar films.
While not naming specifically the character he was considered for, Brolin did confirm the star who got the part, instead. “It was Stephen Lang,” Brolin explained, who plays the franchise’s big bad. “Who I knew, and I was very happy for him. He’s amazing in it. So, it happened exactly as it should have. I’m a big believer in things happen like they should.”
Brolin has spoken openly about how he almost had a close encounter with the Na’vi, only to pass on the offer, much to the frustration of the director. In 2024, on In Depth with Graham Bensinger, the Oscar-nominated actor explained, “I heard he was angry. I understand it, because when you have something in your mind and you have a status and a power… you’re used to people feeling really grateful that you are offering it to them.”
Regardless of what had come down the grapevine, though, Brolin made it clear his reasons for not wanting to be involved. “I don’t know if that’s the case with him because I don’t know him well enough. But it was based on the [project]. It wasn’t based on him.”
There were a few other names that Cameron eyed for his epic space saga that didn’t join the fold on the first round. Matt Damon famously joked about passing on playing Jake Sully before it went to Sam Worthington, saying, “I will go down in history. You will never meet an actor who turned down more money.” James Cameron, however, advised the man, who could’ve been Olo’eykta, to get over it. Well, really, what’s a few billion dollars between roles, right?
As for Brolin, you can see him in Weapons, which is out this weekend. Head here for our full review of Zach Cregger’s new horror.