Ashton Kutcher Says Two And A Half Men's Walden Wasn't Character He Signed Up To Play
Fans will recall that Charlie Sheen exited Two and a Half Men in Season 8, and his character Charlie Harper was subsequently written off the hit sitcom. Needing a new co-lead for Jon Cryer’s Alan Harper, Two and a Half Men ended up introducing a new character to fill the void, with That '70s Show vet Ashton Kutcher eventually joining the show as Alan’s good friend Walden Schmidt.
Interestingly, Hugh Grant was initially in talks to take over Charlie Sheen’s spot, but things ended up not working out there, so Ashton Kutcher was brought in instead. Fresh off the final episodes going live for his hit Netflix series The Ranch, Kutcher reflected on his Two and a Half Men stint and revealed the Walden character that made it to the screen was not exactly the role that he signed up for.
Ashton Kutcher explained on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast that his Two and a Half Men role took a considerable shift from first pitch to live-action, resulting in a noticeable character difference from what Kutcher initially agreed on with the series' co-creator Chuck Lorre. Apparently, Walden Schmidt was a totally different guy before undergoing a reboot of sorts after Kutcher took the role. Speaking about the situation, Kutcher said:
I went and met with Chuck Lorre, and he seemed like a really smart guy, and he had an idea for this character that I thought was really interesting, which wasn't the character that I ended up [playing]. I got the script and was like, 'Well, that's not what we talked about.' But he had an idea for this character I thought was interesting, and he was like 'Are you ready?' and I was like 'What do you mean?' He's like well 'This is going to be a big story and a big thing.' I was like, 'What's going to happen?' I mean worst-case scenario, the guy is gonna shit-talk me and then what? So, I was like okay, and I just decided to do it and had a really good time.
Ashton Kutcher sadly did not explain how the character changed from what he and Two and a Half Men’s creator initially talked about. Whatever those alterations were, they were considerable enough for Kutcher to say something to Chuck Lorre himself. While it wasn't the incarnation they initially agreed upon, Kutcher still ended up deciding to do the show, joining the cast in Season 9 and taking it through three seasons beyond that.
