{"id":838713,"date":"2026-09-06T19:04:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T19:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/838713\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T19:04:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T19:04:13","slug":"prison-break-star-william-fichtner-says-he-never-regrets-turning-down-roles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/838713\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Prison Break&#8217; star William Fichtner says he never regrets turning down roles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!\n  <\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\" class=\"speakable\"><a data-omtr-intcmp=\"fnc_entertainment_article_main-content_article-body_6_18360775\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/entertainment\/tv#&amp;_intcmp=fnc_search-results_search_main-content_search-topics_3_1_tv\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">&#8220;Lucky&#8221; star<\/a> William Fichtner has no problem turning down a role if it crosses his boundaries.<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\" class=\"speakable\">During a recent interview with Fox News Digital, the 69-year-old actor shared that he has &#8220;never&#8221; regretted saying no to a project, even if it turned out to be a big success.<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">&#8220;I&#8217;ve been a bit pickier and choosier at moments in my life where I probably didn&#8217;t have a right to be,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But if I didn&#8217;t believe it, if I didn&#8217;t think that I could do something with it, and there are certain lines that I just don&#8217;t cross. But, if I don&#8217;t have a belief in it, then I have a little bit of a fear that I don&#8217;t want to be bad, and I just won&#8217;t take the journey.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">He explained that he doesn&#8217;t &#8220;hold it as a badge of honor,&#8221; that he has said no to a few &#8220;jobs that were really good money,&#8221; and described knowing immediately that &#8220;this isn&#8217;t happening&#8221; when reading something he doesn&#8217;t like.<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/william-fichtner.jpg\" alt=\"William Fichtner at the Los Angeles premiere of &quot;Beef&quot; in April 2026. \" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Fichtner shared that he&#8217;s never regretted turning down a role, even if it ended up being successful. (Brianna Bryson\/FilmMagic)<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\"><a data-omtr-intcmp=\"fnc_entertainment_article_main-content_article-body_6_18360776\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/entertainment\/nicolas-cage-turned-parts-two-big-franchise-movies-roles-thought-better\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">NICOLAS CAGE TURNED DOWN PARTS IN TWO BIG FRANCHISE MOVIES FOR ROLES HE THOUGHT WERE BETTER<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">&#8220;Then my wife looks at me and goes, &#8216;You like it, right?&#8217; And I&#8217;m like, &#8216;Actually, it&#8217;s in the garbage, honey. Sorry. Are we going to the store now? We&#8217;ve got to go to Costco, right?'&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">Fichtner plays Wayne Whittaker in the Apple TV miniseries &#8220;Lucky,&#8217; which aired its series finale, titled &#8220;All Good Things,&#8221; on Wednesday, Aug. 19.<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">WATCH: William Fichtner has never regretted turning down a role<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">The show stars <a data-omtr-intcmp=\"fnc_entertainment_article_main-content_article-body_6_18360778\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/entertainment\/furiosa-debuts-cannes-giving-anya-taylor-joy-megawatt-movie-star-moment#&amp;_intcmp=fnc_search-results_search_main-content_search-results_5_7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Anya Taylor-Joy<\/a> as Luciana &#8220;Lucky&#8221; Armstrong, a reformed criminal who is forced to engage in unlawful activities one last time, in order to secure her freedom and permanently leave behind her former life of crime.<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">In the finale, Fichtner and Taylor-Joy&#8217;s characters have a showdown, with the actor praising &#8220;The Queen&#8217;s Gambit&#8221; star, noting &#8220;she plays it perfectly,&#8221; as he recalled what it was like to film the scene.<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/william-fichtner-lucky.jpg\" alt=\"William Fichtner at the premiere of &quot;Lucky&quot; in July 2026\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Fichtner detailed what it was like filming the climactic scene with Anya Taylor-Joy in the finale. (Michael Buckner\/Variety via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/newsletters?cmpid=fnfirstnl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">GET ENTERTAINMENT SCOOP DELIVERED RIGHT TO YOUR EMAIL BY CLICKING HERE<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">&#8220;I remember it was five days in this like high desert. Oil rigs north of LA which is an incredible location. But I gotta tell you something, man, it was hot. And I just remember that it just fed into all of this intensity,&#8221; he said. &#8220;She plays it perfectly. It&#8217;s written perfectly. She is not backing down. She&#8217;s going to throw some things at me and there&#8217;s a curveball in there that is like, OK, all right, I gotta give this woman her due. This is really good.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/william-fichtner-lucky-ep.jpg\" alt=\"William Fichtner in a screengrab from an episode of &quot;Lucky.&quot;\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Fichtner in a scene for his new show, &#8220;Lucky.&#8221; (Apple TV\u00a0)<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">When it came time to filming the chaotic scene, Fichtner joked that when he arrived on set and saw &#8220;this very beautiful, petite woman standing there with these incredible eyes that look right through you,&#8221; he thought, &#8220;We&#8217;re in the middle of all of this like havoc and this did that,&#8221; referring to Taylor-Joy.<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">WATCH: William Fichtner described working with Anya Taylor-Joy on the final episode of &#8216;Lucky&#8217;<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">Fichtner started his <a data-omtr-intcmp=\"fnc_entertainment_article_main-content_article-body_6_18360781\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/entertainment\/noah-wyle-matt-damon-leonardo-dicaprio-captivating-audiences-50s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">acting career in the 1990s<\/a>, going on to become one of the most recognizable supporting actors of the 2000s. His most recognizable role is FBI Special Agent Alexander Mahone in &#8220;Prison Break,&#8221; which he starred in from 2006 to 2009.<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/william-fichtner-prison-break.jpg\" alt=\"William Fichtner and his castmates in a acene from &quot;Prison Break.&quot;\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Fichtner&#8217;s most recognizable role was in &#8220;Prison Break.&#8221; (Everett Collection)<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\"><a data-omtr-intcmp=\"fnc_entertainment_article_main-content_article-body_6_18360782\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/entertainment\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">LIKE WHAT YOU&#8217;RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">Having worked on both a miniseries and a series with multi-season arcs, he was able to compare how he prepared for each.<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/william-fichtner-suit.jpg\" alt=\"William Fichtner at an event in New York in October 2025.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Fichtner compared working on a miniseries to working on a regular show. (Bryan Bedder\/Getty Images for Entertainment Weekly and AMC)<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\"><a data-omtr-intcmp=\"fnc_entertainment_article_main-content_article-body_6_18360783\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/entertainment\/entertainment-quizzes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">PUT YOUR ENTERTAINMENT KNOWLEDGE TO THE TEST AND SEE HOW YOU SCORE<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">&#8220;Working on &#8216;<a data-omtr-intcmp=\"fnc_entertainment_article_main-content_article-body_6_18360784\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/1-ohio-inmate-captured-prison-break-2nd-suspects-loose#&amp;_intcmp=fnc_search-results_search_main-content_search-results_5_14\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Prison Break<\/a>.&#8217; You could be finishing up season two, episode 10. Your last shooting day is on a Wednesday and Wednesday afternoon you get episode 11 and you start tomorrow,&#8221; he said. &#8220;You&#8217;re putting the pieces together, but you know your character, you just don&#8217;t know what road he&#8217;s gonna walk down in the next episode.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">WATCH: William Fichtner compares working on a limited series to a multi-season show<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\">He added: &#8220;It&#8217;s different with a limited series. You do have the scripts, you do see the arc of the character.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-layout-index=\"5\"><a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.onelink.me\/xLDS?pid=AppArticleLink&amp;af_dp=foxnewsaf%3A%2F%2F&amp;af_web_dp=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fapps-products\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Lori A. Bashian is an entertainment news writer at Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! &#8220;Lucky&#8221; star William Fichtner has no problem turning down a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":838714,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[236,88,206,4196,85277,92],"class_list":["post-838713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-shows","tag-sitcom","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=838713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/838714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=838713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=838713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=838713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}