Back in 2011, when Charlie Sheen’s highly-publicized personal problems resulted in his contract being terminated on the popular sitcom “Two and a Half Men,” Ashton Kutcher replaced him.
Sheen was enduring an addiction battle and made disparaging remarks about “Two and a Half Men” co-creator Chuck Lorre.
Per IMDb, the show’s initial synopsis when Sheen was on board was as follows: “A hedonistic jingle writer’s free-wheeling life comes to an abrupt halt when his brother and 10-year-old nephew move into his Malibu beach house.”
Kutcher’s character who replaced Sheen’s hedonistic jingle writer, Charlie Harper, was the hopelessly romantic internet tycoon Walden Schmidt.
However, in a new interview with E! News, Lorre — who also created the likes of “Cybill,” “Dharma & Gregg,” and “The Big Bang Theory” — told the outlet that it was almost a very famous British actor who took Sheen’s place in the show.
Hugh Grant Almost Replaced Charlie Sheen in ‘Two and a Half Men’
In his chat with E! News, Chuck Lorre told the outlet that none other than British actor Hugh Grant almost replaced Charlie Sheen as the main star of “Two and a Half Men.”
Of the “Four Weddings and a Funeral” and “Notting Hill” actor, Lorre said, “We had several meetings with Hugh Grant and Lee Aronsohn and I, my partner on that project, wrote several scenes to show him what we thought might be a character that he would play — very much like a Hugh Grant type of character.”
Lorre then explained that Grant was fully “on board for a moment.” The star would have earned $750,000 per episode and work just four days each week. However, it wasn’t to be.
He continued, “When it came time to sign a contract and proceed, he bailed. He just bailed. I’ve never spoken with him since that time. Just some agent or manager called and said, ‘Mr. Grant doesn’t want to do this.'”
It’s hard to imagine what “Two and a Half Men” would have been like with a charming British lead. However, given that Ashton Kutcher did a solid job of following in Sheen’s footsteps, we don’t really feel the need to do so.
Lorre’s chat with E! News comes as his new memoir, “Sitcom,” is due to hit book stores on Tuesday, October 13.
Grant’s Career Has Gone From Strength to Strength
Fortunately for Hugh Grant, he hasn’t lived to regret his decision to walk away from “Two and a Half Men.” His career has gone from strength to strength since 2011.
His subsequent movie credits include the likes of 2012’s stop-motion animated swashbuckling adventure “The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!” and sci-fi flick “Cloud Atlas,” 2015’s spy movie “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,” 2017’s comedy film “Paddington 2,” 2019’s action comedy crime flick “The Gentlemen,” 2023’s fantasty heist movie “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” and musical fantasy “Wonka,” 2024’s psychological horror movie “Heretic” and comedy sequel “Paddington in Peru,” and 2025’s rom-com sequel “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.”
On television, he has gone on to appear in the likes of the historical miniseries “A Very English Scandal,” the psychological mystery thriller series “The Undoing,” the Netflix mockumentary specials “Death to 2020” and “Death to 2021,” and the political satire miniseries “The Regime.”
Sheen, meanwhile, has rebuilt is career with movies like 2012’s animated adventure “Foodfight!,” 2013’s horror parody film “Scary Movie 5” and action exploitation movie “Machete Kills,” and 2017’s comedy movie “Mad Families” and action drama flick “9/11.”
Television-wise, he has since appeared in the likes of the multi-camera sitcom “Anger Management,” period sitcom “The Goldbergs,” comedy series “Typical Rick,” and comedy series “Bookie” (which was notably created by Chuck Lorre).
We wish both actors all the very best for the future and hope Lorre’s book is a big success.
Both Hugh Grant and Charlie Sheen’s filmography info were courtesy of IMDb.
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A Very Famous British Actor Almost Replaced Charlie Sheen in ‘Two and a Half Men’ [REVEALED]