Despite coming fairly close to playing the iconic assassin, Jason Statham eventually lost it to Timothy Olyphant

Synonymous with the action landscape, Jason Statham has cemented himself as one of the most prominent action stars of this generation. But apart from partaking in major action franchises, the actor once also took a video game movie under his wings. In the Name of the King, inspired by the Dungeon Siege video game series.

While this movie failed to break the video game curse, this wasn’t the lone project based on a popular gaming IP that he was in the run for. Interestingly, The Transporter Star was also eyed to tackle one of the most beloved video game protagonists, Agent 47, which he eventually lost.

Jason Statham

Jason Statham Was Once Eyed as the Favorite to Play Agent 47

Before Timothy Olyphant landed the role of Agent 47 in Hitman, based on the acclaimed game series developed by IO Interactive, Jason Statham was the initial favorite per MovieWeb. While the role of a  genetically engineered assassin seems tailor-made for Statham, he eventually lost it, but losing this ended up being beneficial for Jason Statham, as it was universally panned by critics.

But for the Justified Star, this wasn’t the case, as not only did Hitman bomb critically despite making decent numbers at the box office, but he also lost out on one of the biggest MCU roles.

Timothy Olyphant Recalled Auditioning for Iron Man

Not long after Hitman, the first Iron Man marked its debut, introducing Robert Downey Jr. in the role of Tony Stark, which kickstarted Marvel’s dominance in Hollywood. But before the Oppenheimer Star, Timothy Olyphant was also in the race to tackle the iconic role, who eventually lost it. Years later reflecting on losing the MCU role, The Mandalorian Star revealed the reason why he auditioned for the role, even though he was “scared to death” of trying out for big-budget blockbusters.

Speaking on The Playlist’s Binge Worthy podcast, he said,
“I can only tell you that I remember thinking that was the first time where because I’m a bit of a slow learner and I think I was scared to death of the things that come with success in this business, but that was the time where I remember thinking, ‘Well, I can’t get any more grounded and so [auditioning for ‘Iron Man’] would be fun.
Iron Man (2008)
Like Olyphant, Jason Statham was once on Marvel’s radar to make an appearance in the cinematic universe, as MCU reportedly had plans of introducing the actor as Captain Britain in Civil War. But this didn’t come to fruition and on asked his perspective on the matter, Statham joked that he was too old to star in the MCU.

Hitman is available to rent on Apple TV.