Jon Hamm recalls losing TV role to Heath Ledger

Jon Hamm has recalled losing a role in a '90s TV series to the late Heath Ledger.

The Mad Men star reminisced about the roles he's lost throughout his career during Tuesday's episode of the Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard podcast.

"One in particular was for a show, I think it was called, like, Reign," the actor explained. "It was on Fox, I wanna say, and it was a little bit, like, swords and swashbuckling. And I was like, 'My god, this is so nuts.'"

"And I went way far down the line, like, 'I might be the star of Reign! This is so cool!'" he continued. "And it turned out a very unknown, young, up-and-coming actor named Heath Ledger got it. He was right off the boat from Australia, he was super young and handsome. But he got it. Whatever, good for him. That was one of those crazy things."

Jon was likely referring to the 1997 action-adventure TV series Roar, which Ledger starred in before his breakthrough Hollywood role in 10 Things I Hate About You. He tragically died of acute combined drug intoxication in 2008 aged 28.

The Fargo star later acknowledged that Ledger was right for the part.

"You kind of go, 'Oh yeah, he probably should've gotten that part. It turns out he was pretty f**king good at what he did,'" Jon continued to host Dax. "And we all know the end of that story, which is sad and awful in its own way, but it was crazy, going through all of that."