‘Two and a Half Men’ Creator Reveals the A-List Movie Star Who Walked Away From a Sitcom Jackpot to Replace Charlie Sheen

When a hit show loses its star, the world watches to see who steps into the empty chair. Rarely does the answer turn out to be as surprising as the one that almost happened on ‘Two and a Half Men.’ A new memoir is now pulling back the curtain on the casting scramble that followed Charlie Sheen’s 2011 exit.

‘Two and a Half Men’ ran on CBS for 12 seasons, from September 2003 to February 2015. Sheen’s contract was terminated in 2011, and Ashton Kutcher was hired to star as Walden Schmidt from the ninth season onward. Behind the scenes, though, the road to Kutcher was much bumpier than viewers ever knew.

In his new memoir, ‘Sitcom: A Memoir,’ which came out on October 13, creator Chuck Lorre reveals that Hugh Grant was offered the job first. CBS and Warner Bros. reportedly offered Grant $750,000 per episode and a four-day workweek, a major payday for a movie star making the jump to television in 2011. Grant turned it down, and Lorre’s account of how the deal fell apart has been making headlines.

Sheen had been making roughly $1.25 million per episode, so the proposal was designed to be serious. Lorre says the plan was not to have the actor imitate Charlie Harper. Instead, he and his writing partner Lee Aronsohn met with the star and imagined a very “Hugh Grant-type” character.

The biggest hurdle was not money. Reportedly concerned about the grind of live television, Lorre went to extraordinary lengths to make the job easier, including offering to eliminate the live studio audience altogether and rely on recorded laughter. For a time, it appeared to work.

Lorre told E! News that Grant was on board for a moment. “When it came time to sign a contract and proceed, he bailed. He just bailed,” he said. He added that he has not spoken with the actor since, and that an agent or manager simply called to say Grant did not want to do it.

Lorre has since said he respects the decision. He told People he believes Grant concluded the sitcom was not the right career move, and he sees that as putting creative ambition ahead of a massive payday. Representatives for Grant did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The account differs slightly from earlier reports. At the time, Deadline reported that the offer was as high as $1 million per episode, a figure that now contrasts with Lorre’s recollection. Grant himself has spoken about the episode before, saying on Howard Stern’s show that the problem was that producers had no script or new character to show him.

He has also described the paycheck as stratospheric, which suggests the decision was not an easy one. CBS News reported back in 2011 that the work schedule of doing 24 episodes was reportedly the sticking point. Between the competing versions, the one constant is that Grant ultimately said no.

Losing him hit Lorre hard. He says he told then-CBS president Les Moonves, “I guess the show is over.” Moonves had other ideas and insisted that Lorre meet Kutcher, even though Lorre worried the actor was too young for the character they envisioned.

Kutcher landed the role of Walden Schmidt, a heartbroken internet billionaire, and the show continued for 4 more seasons. According to Lorre, Kutcher earned $63 million across his 84-episode run, while co-star Jon Cryer went on to win his second Emmy. “Winning!” Lorre writes, borrowing Sheen’s infamous catchphrase.

The retooled show surprised many people who predicted it would flop without Sheen. The ninth season drew better ratings than the eighth, and ratings peaked during Sheen’s tenure before gradually declining after Kutcher’s first season. The series was eventually canceled after its twelfth.

For fans, the revelation is a fascinating what-if. A very different kind of leading man could have changed the tone of the show, and perhaps its legacy. Grant’s version of the sitcom will never be seen, but Lorre’s memoir offers a rare glimpse of how close it came.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments!