Andrew Scott's Band Of Brothers Role Explained

Andrew Scott is perhaps best known for his role on the BBC's "Sherlock," a series that saw him take on the part of the cold and sinister James Moriarty. But even before he played the most famous foil to the iconic fictional English detective, the actor's career on both the silver and small screens had already been years in the making. Like most stars, Scott got his start with minor, often unnamed roles in various film and television projects. Along the way, he scored a lucky break as a glorified extra in 1998's Academy Award-winning "Saving Private Ryan." But that wasn't the only high-profile project Scott was involved in early in his career — he played a different soldier in another World War II epic.

Debuting on HBO in 2001, "Band of Brothers" documented the true-life exploits of Easy Company, a group of American paratroopers who served in the Second World War. The ten-episode series chronicles their training, their participation in the earliest hours of the Allied invasion of Europe, and their involvement in the war all the way to Germany's eventual surrender in 1945. It was a show packed with drama, action, and cameos from many now-famous actors (including more Marvel stars than you might think). Andrew Scott was just one of the now-familiar faces filling the ranks, and below, we'll be diving into everything there is to know about his short time working on "Band of Brothers."

Unlike the HBO show's leads, like Damian Lewis or David Schwimmer — a "Friends" legend you likely forgot starred in the series — lesser-known British actor Andrew Scott was brought in to play a rather minor part on "Band of Brothers." But though his time on the critically acclaimed series was extremely brief, with only a few scenes to his credit, he still brought to life the story of a real-life soldier and paratrooper who participated in one of history's most famous battles, D-Day. But what's arguably more interesting than Scott's performance is how it goes hand in hand with one of the series' few historical inaccuracies.

On screen, Scott plays Private First Class John Hall, an infantryman who was tragically killed in the early hours of the Allied invasion. However, it's since been revealed that the real soldier who was killed in action while serving alongside then-Lieutenant Winters and the rest of Easy Company was not John Hall, who was killed in a plane crash on the same day, but instead John Halls. Sure, the simple spelling mistake isn't quite as glaring as the most major blunder in the series — the penultimate episode, "Why We Fight," mistakenly states that Hitler had died weeks before his actual death — but it remains an inaccuracy that should've been caught by the show's creators.

Considering how successful "Band of Brothers" was with both critics and audiences, as well as how much passion clearly went into the production of the series, you'd think just about everyone involved would have enjoyed their time on set. Unfortunately, not every member of the cast had a great time while working on the series, and Andrew Scott was one of them. In an interview with Vanity Fair over 20 years after the series first aired, Scott opened up in detail about working on the project, stating that he didn't find the experience enjoyable at all and describing its production as something of a miserable slog. It wasn't just the rigors of filming on location, but also — at least in part — the overall tenor of the production that he didn't really enjoy.

As he recounted in the interview, Scott found it difficult to find a sense of community among the cast, something that typically helps him on a film shoot. "There was something about that that I found difficult in ... the [acting] processes of some of the people involved were different to mine." It sounds like many of the cast refused to break character, even when cameras weren't rolling, with his co-workers preferring the so-called "method approach" to acting. "I didn't think it was necessary to be in character all the time," Scott said. He also shared that working on a production that essentially featured only men was somewhat uncomfortable for him, though he admitted that this was probably "helpful" in recreating the true life experiences of the soldiers they were portraying. Finally, Scott suggested that perhaps, in the end, it just wasn't his sort of project, wryly commenting that, "I just guess I'm not really that into weapons."

After kicking his career off with minor roles in big projects like "Band of Brothers," Andrew Scott continued to hunt for his big break throughout the 2000s, often appearing in less memorable projects. After shooting the WWII epic, Scott rounded out his filmography that decade with the odd starring role, such as his six-episode stint on the British sitcom "My Life in Film." That would all change in 2010, however, when he was cast to play Sherlock Holmes' arch-nemesis Dr. Moriarty opposite Benedict Cumberbatch. The instant smash hit series from "Doctor Who" writers Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss was ultimately responsible for kickstarting both actors' careers. The project not only provided a wider stage from which Scott was able to boost his name but also offered him a chance to fully show off his acting chops and net himself a BAFTA for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in 2012.

Since his debut on "Sherlock," Scott has continued to make memorable on-camera appearances. On the film side, he played the villainous Max Denbigh in 2015's James Bond entry, "Spectre," as well as inspector Roderick Turpin in the action-horror "Victor Frankenstein" later that same year. In 2019, he even donned a military uniform once again, playing the despondent Lieutenant Leslie in "1917," which also featured a memorable appearance by his old Sherlock homey Benedict Cumberbatch.

Most recently on the small screen, he appeared on the 2024 Netflix series "Ripley," an adaptation of "The Talented Mr. Ripley." It's his most significant appearance in a TV series since "Sherlock," and one that proved that he's got what it takes to carry a show on his own.