Melanie Lynskey has explained why she made the surprising decision to opt out of her contract on Two and a Half Men.
The Kiwi actor, 47, starred in 67 episodes of the 12-season sitcom, which aired on CBS from 2003 to 2015. It originally starred Charlie Sheen as hedonistic single Charlie, whose carefree life is upended when his brother, single father Alan (Jon Cryer), and his young nephew, Jake (Angus T. Jones), move into his Malibu beach house. Lynskey played Rose, Charlie’s one-time girlfriend-turned-stalker.
Speaking at the Miami Film Festival on Saturday, where she was honored with the Precious Gem Award, Lynskey recalled her Two and a Half Men audition for Rose, a character originally written to be a guest starring role.
“I went and did something kind of strange in the audition, and they were super into it,” the Yellowjackets star remembered, per Variety.
While Lynskey said her character was initially written to be “quite sexy and threatening,” she suggested something different.
“I was like, what if she just honestly doesn’t know there’s a problem? She’s so sweet and you’d meet her in the grocery store and [say,] ‘She’s adorable.’ And she’s like, ‘I’ll cut you into pieces,’” The Last of Us alum recounted.
The showrunners approved of Lynskey’s take, so during the show’s first season, she was promoted from a guest starring role to a series regular.
“Honestly, it was a hard decision because it was not what I was expecting. I had no money, and I liked everyone I worked with. I really, really liked them, and it was so fun,” Lynskey said.
The role, however, kept her from pursuing other jobs. So, in 2007, she managed to get out of her contract.
“That was why I became recurring, so I could come and go. People were renegotiating to get raises, and I was like, how about I renegotiate for less money?” Lynskey said.
“Literally, someone was like, you could become a millionaire. I was like, No, I get it. I do. That sounds great, but I also saw the path that was going on… It was not, financially, the greatest choice, but for my life, it was the best choice.”
By season five, her appearances became far less frequent — averaging about two episodes per season from then on.
In 2008, Lynskey starred in a handful of projects, including a single episode of USA Network’s comedy-drama Psych, two episodes of The L Word, the romantic drama A Show of Hands, and Mo Perkins’ independent drama A Quiet Little Marriage.
She has since gone on to co-lead Showtime’s thriller series Yellowjackets, for which she’s earned two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. She earned a third for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her role in Max’s critically acclaimed video game adaptation, The Last of Us.
