Jason Statham Shares 1 Rare Career Distinction With Tom Cruise After Almost 70 Movies

Jason Statham is an exciting action star known for his work in The Expendables and Fast & Furious franchises, and most recently, A Working Man and Shelter. But while he’s known as an action star with at least five more movies coming up per his IMDb, he’s proven his ability to branch out into comedy like Spy or undertake voice work in a family film like Gnomeo & Juliet. But, one major thing is missing from his filmography: television. In the ‘90s, Statham was a dancer in several music videos, and he lent his voice to the video games Call of Duty and Red Faction II, but he’s never done television like Tom Cruise.

How Rare Is It For an Actor to Never Do Television?

It’s extremely rare for someone with such an extensive filmography to never do TV. Actors like Will Smith, Tom Hanks, and Leonardo DiCaprio had to do television early in their careers before breaking into movies. Other actors, like Brad Pitt, choose to keep doing occasional guest appearances even after making it. One of the only other actors with a record like Statham’s is Cruise.

Statham’s filmography, consisting entirely of movies, is especially surprising now when more and more movie stars are doing television. Actors like Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon, who once almost exclusively did movies, are now arguably more known for their TV work. In those cases, there’s an element of sexism as actresses over 40 struggle to get movie roles. But, male actors with careers comparable to Statham are also turning to TV. Gerard Butler and Jake Gyllenhaal are leading men who avoided TV for the past twenty years, except for some appearances on sketch comedy shows. But both did TV work this year, with Jake Gyllenhaal starring in Apple TV’s Presumed Innocent and Gerard Butler doing voicework on the Paramount+ show Ark: the Animated Series.

Two major action movie icons – and Statham co-stars in The Expendables franchise – have recently pivoted to starring in streaming TV shows. Sylvester Stallone stars in Tulsa King on Paramount+, and Arnold Schwarzenegger stars in Netflix’s FUBAR. These examples are especially indicative of how much things have changed because they aren’t one-off miniseries. Tulsa King is gearing up for Season 4, and FUBAR has been renewed for a second season. Clearly, even major action stars are now willing to commit to television.

Should Jason Statham Do Television?

There’s a case to be made that if an actor can stick to movies, it’s a noble thing to do for the health of the industry. Studios are more afraid than ever to make non-franchise films, but a star like Statham can help an original film to succeed, as he recently did in The Beekeeper, which earned $75 million globally in just ten days. Movie stars sticking to movies also helps the TV industry. Since movie stars began taking TV roles, it’s become harder to sell a show without a huge name attached. It’s grown so normal for streaming shows to feature big names that even when Facebook got into the streaming game, they were able to develop shows starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Elisabeth Olsen. This practice is bad for both writers trying to sell shows and actors who aren’t yet at a movie star level of fame. As an illustration of the damage this causes, imagine if The Sopranos couldn’t have been made with James Gandolfini in the lead simply because he wasn’t an A-list movie star.

But, while it’s a respectable choice for an actor like Jason Statham to stick to movies, it still could be fun to see him bring his easy charm to television, in at least some capacity. It can be a real delight when a movie star picks the right TV guest appearance to make. Think of George Clooney lending his voice to a gay dog on South Park or Brad Pitt’s hilarious turn as Boomhauer’s brother on King of the Hill. Small television roles wouldn’t even prevent Statham from continuing to use his star power to get original films made.

What TV Shows Should Jason Statham Appear On?

Movie stars often choose to guest star on television to work with someone they’ve partnered with on a movie. It could be a lot of fun to see Statham appear in one of his Expendables co-star’s shows. It’s easy to imagine him as a British spy on FUBAR or a competing drug lord on Tulsa King. But it might make the most sense for him to appear on one of Guy Ritchie’s TV shows. Ritchie and Statham have collaborated frequently, making films like Snatch, Wrath of Man, and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. Ritchie has recently started working much more in TV with The Gentlemen and his upcoming TV shows Young Sherlock and The Donovans. It wouldn’t be at all surprising if this long-time creative partnership is what finally gets Statham to do television.

Some of the biggest movie stars at least do Saturday Night Live. Tom Hanks, Emma Stone, and Ryan Gosling are just a few of the many examples of names whose Saturday Night Live appearances have enhanced their image and allowed them to show their range. Even Leonardo Dicaprio, one of the biggest stars to never host Saturday Night Live, still made an appearance when his The Wolf of Wall Street co-star Jonah Hill hosted. Jason Statham’s wonderful performance in Spy shows that he has the comedic chops to host Saturday Night Live. The cut sketch in which host Chris Pratt impersonated Statham shows there’s humor to be mined from the actor’s persona.

Statham’s voice work in Gnomeo & Juliet, as well as in video games, shows he could make a strong guest star in an animated series. The obvious move for someone at his level of fame would be playing himself on The Simpsons or Family Guy. But it would be amazing if his first venture into television was playing a restaurateur who has a feud with H. Jon Benjamin’s Bob Belcher on Bob’s Burgers.

Jason Statham has a diverse range and proven star power, which makes him ideal for television. Though he could carry his own series, he is due a cameo role, at the very least. With the rise of prestige television, more and more movie stars are appearing on television. Will Jason Statham join the many actors who’ve embraced the medium? Or will Statham, along with Cruise, be one of the last holdouts of only doing movies?

See Jason Atatham’s talents in his recent film Shelter, available to rent on Prime Video in the U.S.