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Sullivan Stapleton Replaced In ‘Strike Back’ Season 5, Teams With Chris Hemsworth To Sell Australia Instead

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 05:21 PST, Jan 24, 2017

Sullivan Stapleton, the 39-year-old ruggedly handsome Australian actor who played Damien Scott in the British-American series, Strike Back, stepped out on Broadway for the opening night of The Present.

According to the Daily Mail, Stapleton originally found fame in local Australian hits like The Secret Life of Us and Blue Heelers, but today, he is enjoying a highly successful career in the United States thanks to his role as Damien Scott in Strike Back and his starring role in the crime drama, Blindspot.

Stapleton worked on Strike Back until 2015 before moving on to the NBC drama, Blindspot. While working in Australia, he earned an AACTA Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in the 2010 crime film, Animal Kingdom, and he had a major role in Underbelly Files: Infiltration. In addition, his role in the 2014 movie, Cut Snake, also earned him a Best Actor AACTA Award Nomination.

He then went on to star in the Hollywood blockbuster 300: Rise of an Empire, and fans are excited to learn that later this year, he’ll be starring in the French-German action thriller titled Renegades.

The Daily Telegraph reported that Stapleton is not as happy working on network television as he was playing the sass-talking ladies-man Damien Scott in Strike Back.

Apparently, Stapleton’s ambition for network TV is to swear more often and show his “a**,” perhaps similar to his role on Strike Back. Fans certainly saw more than their fair share of Stapleton during the fast-paced Seasons 1 to 4 of the very popular action series. The actor said he yearns for not only the freedom but the sex and violence of cable TV.

In the NBC show Blindspot, the Australian actor plays Kurt Weller, an FBI agent, and although the show has more viewers than Strike Back, Stapleton finds his role quite frustrating.

“His [Kurt’s] seriousness is frustrating and the fact he doesn’t swear when he’s in a fight. Plus the fact you can’t show your a** on network television. Getting into fights and saying ‘Ow’ instead of ‘f***ing.’ He’s a lot more serious than I am.”

However, while Kurt Weller is much too serious for Stapleton’s tastes, the actor admits he does resemble the character.

“I guess his work ethic and the fact he’s very focused on his job. Those are the biggest similarities. And the fact he drinks Scotch.”

And, like Tom Cruise, Stapleton is proud of the fact that he performs his own stunts whenever possible. In fact, while filming Strike Back in Thailand two years ago, he nearly died when he fell off at a Tuk Tuk. But the tough actor is a typical Australian with a very “she’ll be right” attitude when it comes to injuring himself.

In other news, the Gold Coast Bulletin reports that Sullivan Stapleton will be assisting Chris Hemsworth as he showcases Australia in New York via a virtual tour.

Hemsworth is Tourism Australia’s Global Ambassador, and as such, he will lead tourism buffs in New York through a virtual tour of The Land Down Under showcasing Australia’s best qualities. The showcase is designed to allow Americans to get closer to their dream of visiting Australia and the Gold Coast in particular.

Australia’s natural wonders and most exciting food and wine will be featured, including special features on surfing on the Gold Coast and Q1’s Sky Point. With an audience of mainly American travel agents, the event will highlight the unique and incredibly diverse experiences Australia has to offer.

Fellow Australian actor Rachel Griffiths will MC the event, and other celebrities including Sullivan Stapleton, Baz Luhrmann, and Deborra-Lee Furness are expected to attend.

TV Tonight reports that Cinemax and The UK are about to reboot the action series, Strike Back, for a fifth season. Sadly, no mention has been made of Sullivan Stapleton returning to the show, but fellow Australian Daniel MacPherson has just landed his biggest role to date

TV Tonight reports that Strike Back will include an all-new team who, following a brutal prison break, have been sent to track down a notorious terrorist. Daniel MacPherson is very excited about playing the role of Samuel Wyatt.

“I’m beyond stoked to be a part of it. I can’t tell you the mixture of emotions that went along with landing the gig. It’s been tough turning my back on my career back home, but 2016 has been a breakthrough year and I’m excited to start 2017. But make no mistake, the boys have already been hard at work”.

Fans can only hope that Daniel MacPherson will be able to fill the very big boots of Sullivan Stapleton because at this point in time the feeling is that the success of Strike Back was due to the very real relationship between Sullivan Stapleton and Philip Winchester’s characters.

[Featured Image by Ethan Miller/Getty Images]

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