Matthew Fox has finally opened up about his decision to quit acting. The Lost star was last seen on screen back in 2015, when he appeared alongside Patrick Wilson and Kurt Russell in bleak cowboy film Bone Tomahawk. Now, he's revealed that he left showbiz behind because he felt like he'd done all he wanted to do in that arena.
"I kind of had a bucket list in my mind of things that I wanted to accomplish in the business, and after I did [the movie] Bone Tomahawk in 2014 that had kind of completed the bucket list," he explained at the Monte-Carlo Film Festival, Variety reports. "I wanted to do a Western. It's a very odd Western, but it's a Western. And so that sort of completed the bucket list."
Fox also said that he stopped pursuing roles in order to concentrate on his family. "At that time in my life, our kids were at an age where I felt like I needed to really reengage," Fox noted, referencing the two children he shares with wife Margherita Ronchi. "I had been focused on work for some time, and Margherita had been running the family so beautifully, but I felt like it was time to be home, and I really felt like I was retiring from the business, and working on other creative elements that are really personal to me — some music and writing."
The actor has no returned for the TV series Last Light, a thriller series that imagines the world plunged into crisis when oil supplies threaten to dry up, sees Fox share the small screen with Downton Abbey's Joanne Froggatt. Initially, he was keen to simply executive produce the show, but slowly came around to the idea of appearing on camera again as he got more and more involved.
While his recent comments mark the first time Fox has spoken explicitly about his Hollywood break, he did admit to having had a "very rough year" during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show back in October 2012. just a few months previous, Fox was accused of assaulting a female bus driver in Cleveland, Ohio. He denied the allegation. The civil lawsuit was ultimately withdrawn by the bus driver.
Last Light is set to premiere on Peacock in the US. An official release date has yet to be announced, so while we wait, check out our roundup of the best TV shows of all time for some viewing inspiration.
