Jack Gleeson, who played Joffrey Baratheon in HBO’s Game of Thrones, returns with his first major role after almost a decade-long retirement.
Game of Thrones star Jack Gleeson has taken his first major onscreen role in nearly a decade with The Famous Five. On Game of Thrones, Gleeson played the petulant young king Joffrey Baratheon, who sat on the Iron Throne for some time despite his real father being his mother Cersei Lannister’s (Lena Headey) brother Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). Gleeson starred in 26 episodes of the hit fantasy series before Joffrey was poisoned during the event known as the Purple Wedding.
Now, BBC has announced the cast of the upcoming series The Famous Five, an adaptation of the Enid Blyton children’s novel series of the same name. Gleeson will be joining the cast in the role of Wentworth, alongside an ensemble that includes Diaana Babnicova, Elliott Rose, Kit Rakusen, Flora Jacoby Richardson, Ann Akinjirin, James Lance, and Diana Quick. This marks Gleeson’s first major onscreen role since he took a hiatus from television acting following Joffrey’s Game of Thrones death in 2014.
Everything Jack Gleeson Has Done Since Game of Thrones
Gleeson originally announced his intention to pursue an academic career after leaving Game of Thrones. The now 31-year-old actor ended up taking a different path after the Purple Wedding. From 2012 through 2019, he was a producer and performer in the Collapsing Horse Theatre Company, which he also co-founded. The most prominent production he participated in was a comic play titled Bears in Space.
Over the years, he continued to perform onstage in various capacities, usually in local Irish events. This includes a surprise appearance at an Over the Top Wrestling event, where he played a heightened version of himself and battled J Money. He seemed to have largely severed ties with his television career, even neglecting to watch Game of Thrones’ final season, though as the 2020s began, he started to pursue onscreen acting once more.
Gleeson’s onscreen Renaissance began with smaller roles, including two episodes of the 2020 sitcom Out of Her Mind. His new role in The Famous Five is the one that most approaches the level of prominence of his Game of Thrones character. It remains to be seen if he will continue to parlay this role into more television work in the future.
