15 Actors Who Fumbled the Project of a Lifetime, and Never Got Back

Hollywood history is filled with actors who landed dream roles most performers would do anything to get, only to walk away at the worst possible moment. Of course, they might not have known at the time what they were missing, but the writing was on the wall. You need to risk things to win big in the industry, and not everyone’s a winner.

While a few of these performers managed respectable careers afterward, many never again reached the same level of fame, stability, or cultural relevance. These actors had what looked like the project of a lifetime in their hands, but for one reason or another, they let it slip away and never truly recovered.

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In the very first shot of the latest trailer for House of the Dragon season 3, the camera pans over a field of dead bodies, ending with Daemon (Matt Smith) battering some schmuck in the mud. We’re then treated to images of people being stabbed, squished, and torched alive by dragons. Yep, this is a Game of Thrones show alright.

House of the Dragon continues the HBO franchise’s central theme, one straight from the George R. R. Martin books: the fight to rule tends to decimate those who would be ruled. But with its focus on best-friends turned rivals Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) and Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), the show reminds us that things aren’t so great for the rulers either. As Alicent puts it in the trailer, “The crown is a weight that crushes.”

Apparently, that crushing came as a surprise to Rhaenyra, who is seen in the trailer finally laying claim to King’s Landing and fully asserting herself as the ruler of Westeros. Over images of her forces moving in and tearing down the green flags of the Hightowers, Rhaenyra declares that she will secure the city “without further bloodshed.” And how does she plan to do that? By threatening bloodshed for those who oppose her. Or, more accurately, by threatening to torch the opposition with dragons.

For Rhaenyra, that opposition stems entirely from her challenger to the throne, Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney), son of her father Viserys (Paddy Considine) and Alicent. Aegon has proven hard to kill, having survived even near-immolation from a dragon, but Rhaenyra remains convinced that if she can just get him out of the way, then the people will unite around her. She seems unaware of the building resentment among the people, particularly as she establishes her rule in King’s Landing, or the machinations of Aegon’s insane brother Aemond (Ewan Mitchell), who still rides the Queen of All Dragons, Vhagar.

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As the trailer shows, Rhaenyra’s belief in a simple path to ruling is just as much hope as it is ignorance. On some level, she does want peace. Moreover, she believes in her family’s vision that humanity can only survive some great future threat (which we know as the White Walkers) if they’re united under her rule. She simply cannot see how anything good can come from putting Aegon on the throne.

That idealism and simplicity of vision brings Rhaenyra in line with her father, who may have been a decent man, but was a terrible ruler, whose personal shortcomings compounded suffering for the kingdom and for himself, as demonstrated by the way he rotted in his final years. Things are no easier for Aegon or Alicent, who can make the hard decisions without self-delusion, but forgo any sense of happiness in the meantime.

Whether its ideals or happiness, the crown crushes it all. Well, it metaphorically crushes them. Everyone else in Westeros gets crushed by dragons or swords or horses while the rulers sort it out. That’s how it was in Game of Thrones and that’s how it is in House of the Dragon.

House of the Dragon season 3 premieres on HBO on June 21, 2026.

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