‘Friday Night Lights’ Star Kyle Chandler Nearly Played Brody On ‘Homeland’

The Hollywood Reporter has a Wild Turkey-filled profile of Kyle Chandler, the star of Bloodline, a Florida-set Netflix series with Lindsay Weir that premieres next month. But enough about the future. Let’s talk about the past and how when Friday Night Lights ended after four and a half glorious* seasons, Chandler was offered roles in just about every TV drama, including Homeland.

As Chandler’s more recent choices suggest, he, too, gladly will take career over fame. He was deluged with offers when Friday Night Lights signed off in early 2011, fielding opportunities to star on Homeland, Longmire, and Person of Interest, to name a few. He lunged at none of them, choosing to dabble with such films as Argo and The Wolf of Wall Street instead. The parts, like the paychecks, were significantly smaller, but they allowed him to catch his breath and, just as important, create some distance from the high school football coach role for which he earned an Emmy and legions of fans. (Via)

It’s left unmentioned whether the Homeland role was for Nicholas Brody, but it probably wasn’t Chris, so let’s say Coach Taylor was circled to play the war hero-turned-terrorist. Chandler could have conceivably won two straight Lead Actor in a Drama Emmys — sorry, Jon Hamm — before everyone got sick of his character and wondered why he was still on the show and, oh God, Dana Brody is even worse than Julie Taylor… He probably made the right call.

*There is nothing glorious about the Landry murder plot.

Via THR

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