Stranger Things’ Millie Bobby Brown Almost Quit Acting Over Not Getting a Game of Thrones Role

Before Millie Bobby Brown debuted as Eleven on Stranger Things, the child actor was entirely prepared to give up on the dream of acting. During a recent appearance on The Tonight Show, Brown revealed she wasn’t managing to land any roles. Immediately before landing her Stranger Things gig, she auditioned for Game of Thrones. The only problem is, HBO passed on the superstar for an undisclosed role. As Brown told The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon, it was the Game of Thrones rejection that nearly made her throw in the towel on pursuing a career in Hollywood.

“I think I was just very disheartened by the rejection, which is something I tell everyone. Like, this industry is just fill of rejection, 24/7,” Brown said. “You get far more nos…a lot of nos…before you get a yes. I was auditioning for commercials, for anything, really. I then auditioned for Game of Thrones and I got a “no” for that. Then that’s kind of when I was like, ‘Oh, this is really difficult,’ because I guess I really wanted that role.”

After the Game of Thrones audition, Brown said she tried out for a Netflix series called Montauk.

“So one of my last kind of goes at this all was this Netflix show called ‘Montauk,’ and I auditioned. Then, like, two months later, they just got back to us and was like ‘We’d love to Skype with you,’” Brown added. “I Skyped with them and, you know, the rest is history, of course. We then named the show Stranger Things, but ‘Montauk,’ was definitely the one that gave me that kind of hope of doing it all again.”

As you know by now, Brown landed that role for Stranger Things and it ended up turning her into a household name. The series has already begun filming its fourth season and evidence points to at least another season or two planned. Brown has since joined Legendary’s MonsterVerse with Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Godzilla vs. Kong and recently starred in Netflix’s acclaimed Enola Holmes. The latter, of which, is one of the highest-rated original movies ever released by the streamer.

Stranger Things 4 has yet to set a release date. All seasons of Game of Thrones are now streaming on HBO Max.

Cover photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic