Matt Damon Reveals He Turned Down Hit Comedy Franchise: ‘What Was I Thinking?’

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US actor Matt Damon poses at a red carpet event for the film 'The Odyssey' in Seoul on August 4, 2026, ahead of its opening on August 5.

Pretty much every actor in Hollywood regrets “the one that got away,” roles they could have played but decided to turn down — only for another actor to take the gig and score a major hit.

Count Matt Damon among them, with the “Odyssey” star opening up about a movie offer he turned down that became a huge success for someone else.

Matt Damon Passed On ‘Ted’

In a recent interview with GQ, Damon revealed that he was offered the leading role in “Ted,” Seth MacFarlane‘s 2012 comedy about a foul-mouthed teddy bear (voiced by MacFarlane) and his best friend (played by another Boston-born actor, Mark Wahlberg).

“I don’t want to live with the regret, but I can tell you that I passed on ‘Ted’ and I’ve never had this experience where I laughed so hard reading a script,” Damon recalled.

“I literally took it to dinner and was reading parts of it out to my friends at dinner. And then I just got too clever by half. I don’t know what I was thinking. I was like, ‘Well, maybe the teddy bear’s actually the best part,’” Damon continued.

“So I overthought it and I talked myself out of it. And because it shot in Boston, it would’ve been a chance for me to be home — my father’s passed away now, and I look back and I go, ‘Man, that would’ve been six months back [home],’” he observed.

In retrospect, though, Damon believes it all worked out the way it should have.

“But, again, the right actor got the part,” he added. “Mark [Wahlberg’s] great, and the movie’s great and I wouldn’t have made it any better.”

A Mega-Hit Comedy Franchise

Released in 2012, “Ted” proved to be a massive box-office hit, raking in nearly $550 million at the worldwide box office.

Naturally, a sequel was greenlit, and while “Ted 2” didn’t perform nearly as well, it still delivered a box-office take of an impressive $215 million.

In 2024, “Ted” came to television as a prequel series for Peacock, following the adventures of Ted and his human best friend during their teenage years in high school. The series ran for two seasons, with the second arriving earlier this year.

Sadly, that second season was also its last, with MacFarlane explaining the high production costs in bringing a CGI teddy bear to life were not sustainable.

“What I kept hearing [from Peacock and Universal] was, ‘Listen, the show is really expensive to produce and there’s no way to do it at a lower cost,’” MacFarlane told The Wrap. “So I said, ‘All right, I hear you loud and clear.’ So I wrote the last scene with Max [Burkholder] walking into a gym, presumably coming out as Mark Wahlberg in the first ‘Ted’ film.” 

The good news, however, is that an animated series is in the works.

“From Seth MacFarlane, comes ‘Ted: The Animated Series,’ a sequel to the beloved ‘Ted’ and ‘Ted 2’ films,” notes the synopsis for the upcoming Peacock comedy.

“This series reunites MacFarlane, who reprises his role as the voice of Ted, with his big screen castmates: Mark Wahlberg, as the voice of Ted’s best friend, John; Amanda Seyfried, as the voice of John’s wife, Sam; and Jessica Barth as Ted’s wife, Tami-Lynn. Picking up 12 years after the conclusion of the last movie, John and his thunder-buddy Ted are neighbors, both with families of their own and dead-end jobs. Follow these two lovable stoners as they enable each other’s bad ideas about marriage, parenting and the challenges of adult life,” the synopsis adds.

“Ted: The Animated Series” debuts December 17 on Peacock.