The Walking Dead actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan has revealed that he once lost out on a role in Quentin Tarantino's 1992 breakout film Reservoir Dogs — to Tarantino himself, who cast himself in the part instead. Morgan said he still finds the outcome hard to accept, quipping "I still can't believe it" when recalling the audition. The anecdote offers a glimpse into the actor's early career struggles before he found fame in projects such as Supernatural, Grey's Anatomy and The Walking Dead.

Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino's directorial debut, became a cult classic and launched his career as one of Hollywood's most distinctive filmmakers, with the ensemble cast including Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth and Michael Madsen. The full detail of which role Morgan read for and the circumstances of the audition were not specified in the available article text, but the story underscores how competitive and unpredictable casting decisions can be, even for directors who go on to become industry giants.