James McAvoy says a “Band of Brothers” co-star bullied him on his first day on the HBO series, but he is not naming the actor. Speaking on “Watch What Happens Live,” McAvoy recalled a group of cast members pointing and laughing at him while he was fresh out of acting school, according to Deadline and TheWrap.
What James McAvoy said about Band of Brothers
Host Andy Cohen showed McAvoy a cast photograph during the show’s “Spill the IMDb-tea” game. McAvoy studied the picture, said the person was in it, and then made clear he would not identify him.
“One of the guys in that picture decided to bully me, on my first day as a professional actor out of acting school,” McAvoy said, as quoted by Deadline. “So he got him and his buddies to just stand and point at me and laugh at me, for like three minutes.”
McAvoy described filming a crowded bar scene. Some actors, he said, had been working on the production for months with few lines, while he arrived for one episode with an arc and several scenes. That was his explanation of the tension, not a statement from the other cast members.
The two co-stars who helped him
The recollection was not all negative. McAvoy said Dexter Fletcher and Robin Laing pulled him aside and invited him to spend time with them. “Come hang with us, man,” they told him, according to both outlets.
Asked to rate the experience, McAvoy gave most of his time on “Band of Brothers” a nine out of 10. The day he described, however, felt like a two.
Why he is not naming the actor
Cohen and fellow guest Peter Krause tried to find out who McAvoy meant, but he declined to confirm their guesses, TheWrap reports. The actor did rule out David Schwimmer, according to Deadline. No other name has been confirmed, and a cast photograph is not evidence that any particular person was responsible.
The account is McAvoy’s recollection of his experience on the 2001 HBO miniseries. The reports do not include a response from the unnamed co-star.
For more HBO coverage, read our report on the “Girls” revival. For another TV reunion making news this week, see the Gibbs and DiNozzo return on “NCIS: Origins”.
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Sources: Deadline, TheWrap. By Kasim Pathan. Published Oct. 14, 2026. The featured image is an editorial cartoon, not a photograph.
