Chris Rock Says He Turned Down Roles in The Sopranos For Fear of Spoiling It

Chris Rock is a big fan of The Sopranos, and he has revealed he was offered roles in the series but turned then down for fear of ruining it. Rock was part of a roundtable discussion with THR talking about his role on the fourth season of the Noah Hawley-created Fargo series where he played a Tony Soprano-like character, and talked about how he felt pressure starring in the show because he didn’t want to screw it up.

“I thought [Hawley] wanted me to host his wife’s charity event or something,” Rock said. “[Fargo] is a big job. And sometimes you can respect something so much, you don’t even want to be a part of it. Years ago, when I had my own show on HBO, it was at the height of The Sopranos, and I got a couple of offers to be on The Sopranos, and I was like, ‘I like it too much, I don’t want to spoil it.’ But I was such a fan [of Fargo], I took the meeting anyway.”

He went onto say of Fargo, “But I was such a fan, I took the meeting anyway, and then he presents me with this offer, and I’m like, ‘Whatever you want me to do, I’m down.’ Because I saw how he handled Bokeem Woodbine [who played Mike Milligan].”