Henry Cavill Says He’s Lucky He Missed Out On James Bond 15 Years Ago

His career is in a much better place these days, but when Henry Cavill was first trying to make a name for himself in Hollywood, he was more known for the roles he missed out on than the ones he’d actually secured, gaining a reputation as one of the unluckiest young talents in the business.

He was one of eight names to make the final round of auditions to play Bruce Wayne in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, screen tested in costume to play the Man of Steel years before Zack Snyder’s blockbuster when J.J. Abrams’ Superman: Flyby was in development, was overlooked for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire‘s Cedric Diggory and lost out on James Bond to Daniel Craig when Casino Royale decided to skew older, which in turn caused him to turn down a role in 300 because he was hedging his bets on 007.

That’s an incredible streak of misfortune, especially when the aforementioned projects combined to earn billions of dollars at the box office and take the careers of stars like Christian Bale, Craig, Robert Pattinson and Gerard Butler to the next level, but in a recent interview Cavill admits he now finds himself lucky to have missed out on Bond at the age of 22.

“Essentially, I got close to a bunch of stuff and didn’t get it. But, it’s funny that people think that’s a bad thing. In Hollywood, or in the acting industry, everyone’s trying to get a role and they’re not necessarily getting them. And so, to get an opportunity to be in the limelight by missing out on the big roles is actually a good thing as opposed to a bad thing. And I count my lucky stars for each one of those.”

Of course, once No Time to Die finally makes it to theaters in a couple of months, the talk will almost immediately turn to the next name to inherit the tux of cinema’s most iconic secret agents. You can guarantee Cavill will be at the forefront of the James Bond conversation once again, but he’s got an espionage thriller of his own coming up in Matthew Vaughn’s Argylle, so it’s not the end of the world if he doesn’t get it.