What happened to original ‘Fantastic Four’ actor Ioan Gruffudd and what’s he been in lately?

We’ve seen our fair share of Reed Richards and we could be seeing another big name take on the role soon. But for many, Ioan Gruffudd’s take on the character in 2005 was the best (so far) but what has the Welsh actor been up to in the near two decades since?

I’m just gonna say it; the original Fantastic Four cast is unmatched, the whole team was near perfect and those films don’t get nearly enough love these days. Gruffudd himself was a perfect fit for the elastic leader of the team, making Marvel heroes look cool a fair few years before Robert Downey Jr. and Jon Favreau came along and brought comics into the mainstream. 

That was a pretty impressive feat for the time with the film going on to get a sequel that, while it had its flaws, was still a pretty solid superhero flick. Plans for a third film were canned due to the sequels poor performance at the box office and the cast moved on to other projects.

So what happened to Ioan Gruffudd?

After Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, he wasn’t exactly short of work, with the actor being cast in plenty of movies and TV series alongside some pretty big names including Willem Dafoe, Ryan Reynolds, and Julia Roberts. However, for some reason the projects he involved himself in didn’t seem to really get mainstream attention.

Despite it seeming like Ioan Gruffudd faded into obscurity, he’s actually kept pretty busy for the last 17 years, lending his voice to cartoons and video games alike. He’s also popped up here and there in shows and films like Glee and San Adreas (that big disaster movie with Dwayne Johnson) but it seems like, in general, he’s happier sticking to the small screen.

You may have seen him starring alongside Sarah Michelle Gellar in the CWs crime thriller Ringer, which, despite only running for one season, has been generally well received. He also starred in the ABC drama Forever, as Henry Morgan, a 200 year old medical examiner trying to figure out the truth behind his immortality. Once again, the show was very well received, even more so than Ringer, but it only ran for one season.

More recently, he starred in the British psychological thriller Liar, on ITV, which ran for two seasons. You might have also seen him in Harrow, another ABC series with Gruffudd playing another medical professional (although he’s not immortal this time). The third season ended back in 2021, but fans are hopeful we’ll be treated to a fourth considering it hasn’t been officially canceled yet. 

He’s also got a few upcoming projects including Bad Boys 4, which is supposedly coming some time in 2024.

So to answer the question, nothing happened to Ioan, he’s still out there, he’s still leading man material, he’s just focusing more on television, rather than big budget Hollywood titles.