Andrew Garfield was told he wasn’t “handsome enough" to play Prince Caspian in the Narnia films

11 January 2022, 16:20 | Updated: 22 October 2024, 17:11

By Katie Louise Smith

"Ben Barnes is a very handsome, talented man. So in retrospect, I'm not unhappy with the decision, and I think he did a beautiful job."

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We might know and love Andrew Garfield from his roles in films such as The Amazing Spider-Man, Hacksaw Ridge, The Social Network and more... but did you know Andrew almost landed the role of Prince Caspian in the Narnia franchise, and lost out to Ben Barnes for one specific reason?

Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, Andrew opened up about the setbacks he's faced in career so far while talking about his role in Tick, Tick...Boom!

"I remember I was so desperate. I auditioned for Prince Caspian in The Chronicles of Narnia and I thought, 'This could be it, this could be it,'" he said. "And that handsome, brilliant actor Ben Barnes ended up getting the role."

Andrew then explained that he wanted to know the reason why he didn't get the role. His agent's answer? He apparently wasn't handsome enough.

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"I think it was down to me and him and I remember like, I was obsessed," Andrew explained. "I was like 'why not me?, why not me?' I was saying to my agent, 'just tell me straight, tell me straight,' and she was protecting me and doing all this stuff... And she eventually just broke under my incessant nagging and she was like, 'It's because they don't think you're handsome enough, Andrew.'"

But, it was all good, as Andrew quickly added: "Ben Barnes is a very handsome, talented man. So in retrospect, I'm not unhappy with the decision, and I think he did a beautiful job."

Andrew Garfield was *nearly* cast as Prince Caspian in 'The Chronicles of Narnia'—but was told he wasn't handsome enough. 🤨 pic.twitter.com/j3qQKydblj
— Entertainment Tonight (@etnow) January 10, 2022

Despite losing out on the Narnia franchise role, it didn't take Andrew long to land a few big roles of his own.

Around the same time that Prince Caspian would have been filming in 2007, Andrew appeared in Lions For Lambs, opposite Robert Redford, Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise. A couple of years later, he was acting alongside Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley in Never Let Me Go and the year after that, he played Eduardo Saverin in The Social Network.

Then, of course, The Amazing Spider-Man happened... and the rest is history.