After almost ten years of silence, Jack Gleeson is once again in the limelight. The Irish actor became infamous worldwide for his role as Joffrey Baratheon, a job he arguably did a little too well. But when the curtain fell on the character, Gleeson chose to disappear from the media frenzy, only 21 years old.
The following years were spent at Trinity College in Dublin, where he studied and co-founded a theatre company with close friends, far from Hollywood's bright lights. Rumours swirled about why he decided to retire, especially since his career had kicked off so spectacularly.
Now, with a triumphant return in House of Guinness, Gleeson is finally laying the cards on the table:
"Well I can say, thankfully, it wasn't because I received any sort of abuse from anybody. I know that can happen ... I don't know, it can happen. People confuse the character with the actor. But after Game of Thrones, or even during, I was continuing to act. But it was more just with a theatre company I had set up with some friends in Dublin. And I don't know, I was just more into that at that time. But then I started to miss screen acting and I got back into it."
Gleeson has certainly been missed, even though he's taken the occasional (very small) role here and there. House of Guinness is now streaming on Netflix for anyone eager to see him as the enigmatic Byron Hughes.