Brian Cox is known for telling it like it is, and he's definitely been candid about turning down a role in Game of Thrones. 
In an excerpt from his memoir, Putting the Rabbit in the Hat, published in British GQ, the Succession actor revealed that he was offered the role of Robert Baratheon, which eventually went to Mark Addy.
"I’m often asked if I was offered a role in Game of Thrones — reason being that every other b**ger was — and the answer is, yes, I was supposed to be a king called Robert Baratheon, who apparently died when he was gored by a boar in the first season," Cox writes. "I know very little about Game of Thrones so I can’t tell you whether or not he was an important character, and I’m not going to Google it just in case he was, because I turned it down."
Explaining why he said no to the HBO series, the Emmy winner added: "Well, Game of Thrones went on to be a huge success and everybody involved earned an absolute fortune, of course. But when it was originally offered the money was not all that great, shall we say. Plus I was going to be killed off fairly early on, so I wouldn’t have had any of the benefits of the long-term effects of a successful series where your wages go up with each passing season."
In the same excerpt, Cox also revealed that he turned down a role in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise – that of Governor Weatherby Swann, which eventually went to Jonathan Pryce.
"It would have been a money-spinner," Cox writes, "but of all the parts in that film it was the most thankless, plus I would have ended up doing it for film after film and missed out on all the other nice things I’ve done."
"Another thing with Pirates of the Caribbean is that it’s very much the 'Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow' show," Cox continues, "and Depp, personable though I’m sure he is, is so overblown, so overrated. I mean, Edward Scissorhands. Let’s face it, if you come on with hands like that and pale, scarred-face make-up, you don’t have to do anything. And he didn’t. And subsequently, he’s done even less." 
If you can’t get enough of Brian Cox and his "cut the crap wisdom," check out our British Icon feature on this straight-shooting actor.
Do you think Brian Cox made the right decision in passing on Game of Thrones?