Oh, what might have been: According to a recent interview with The Daily Beast (via Entertainment Weekly), Mad Men‘s John Slattery says he was offered a role on Fox’s hit Empire. Unfortunately (because that would’ve been super weird), he turned it down, saying that he “let that ship sail.” As for who Slattery would’ve played, he doesn’t know, but he guesses that it would’ve been “some white dude.” Obviously that’s true, because who else would the soon-to-be-former Roger Sterling have played on Empire other than some white dude? He was basically born to play some white dude.
Slattery befriended Empire co-creator Danny Strong when he appeared on Mad Men, but with Empire blowing up the way it is, Slattery has probably missed his chance to ask Strong to pull some strings and get him on set with Taraji P. Henson. This could’ve been his big break! Let’s not feel too bad for Slattery, though. He can still play some white dude on a million other TV shows.