Oftentimes, the stars perfectly align for an actor when they book a series of high-profile projects that release in a short amount of time, taking them from a relatively unknown into the next big thing in seemingly just a year. Some great recent examples include Florence Pugh in 2019, where she had Fighting with My Family in February, Midsommar in July, and Little Women in December while landing the role of Yelena Belova in Black Widow in the same year. Or Jenna Ortega’s 2022 lineup of Scream, Avenue 666, X, American Carnage, and Wednesday in one year made her the new scream queen. Sometimes, the stars align.
Yet, for others, it doesn’t work out so well. No actor might have had worse luck than Taylor Kitsch, who in 2012 lined up a series of projects that all sounded great on paper and would turn him into the next big movie star. These included two potential sci-fi blockbusters in the form of John Carter and Battleship along with Savages, a film by critically acclaimed director Oliver Stone. However, all three projects, along with his earlier foray into playing the X-Men Gambit and later joining the critically acclaimed series True Detective for its worst season, seemed to paint Kitsch with the worst luck. Now, over a decade after it appeared that Kitsch’s big moment had passed, he is back in the spotlight with American Primeval, which has become a recent hit for Netflix.

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Taylor Kitsch’s Early Rise to Stardom

Taylor Kitsch burst onto the scene in 2006 with a trio of roles in critically panned but cult classics like John Tucker Must Die, Snakes on a Plane, and The Covenant. Just a month after The Covenant opened in theaters, Friday Night Lights debuted on NBC and became a breakout hit series and would feature Kitsch in his most iconic role. In the series, Kitsch plays Tim Riggins, the womanizing running back with a drinking problem but a heart of gold. Kitsch’s Riggins was, in many ways, the smoldering heartthrob of the series, which seemed to make him the ideal leading man for movies.
The first big attempt at making Kitsch the next big movie star was when he was cast as Gambit in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Thanks to X-Men: The Animated Series, Gambit was one of the most popular X-Men characters, and one fan had been waiting to see on the big screen since the first film in 2000. While Channing Tatum was the studio’s first choice, he had to drop out due to commitments to G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra that Paramount Pictures wouldn’t let him out of (beginning a long road for Tatum as Gambit that would finally pay off in Deadpool & Wolverine).
Kitsch landed the role and seemed like the perfect pick for Gambit, bringing a sense of charm and swagger to the card-wielding mutant. X-Men Origins: Wolverine opened in theaters on May 1, 2009, between Seasons 3 and 4 of Friday Night Lights. Had X-Men Origins: Wolverine did well, it is likely Kitsch would have been spun off into his own Gambit film.

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X-Men Origins: Wolverine did not do well, though. Despite an impressive $85 million opening weekend, critical and fan reaction to X-Men Origins: Wolverine was highly negative as the film garnered 38% on Rotten Tomatoes and a B+ CinemaScore, and word of mouth so bad the movie dropped 69% at the box office in its second weekend. X-Men Origins: Wolverine killed the “Origins” brand that Fox was setting up, and the studio shifted to X-Men: First Class while rebranding the Wolverine franchise. While Gambit was a valuable character, unlike star Ryan Reynolds, 20th Century Fox was less enthusiastic about continuing with Kitsch as the ragin cajun. When a Gambit solo movie was announced in 2014, they had moved on to star Channing Tatum, and Kitsch was recovering from his big, disappointing 2012.
Luckily, the poor reaction to X-Men Origins: Wolverine did not impact Kitsch then. On June 12, 2009, one month after X-Men Origins: Wolverine opened, Kitsch was officially cast as John Carter in Disney’s highly anticipated adaptation of Edgard Rice Burroughs’s Barsoom book series. X-Men Origins co-star Lynn Collins would also join Kitsch in John Carter. Then, in April 2010, Kitsch was cast in Universal Pictures Battleship, an adaptation of the popular board game of the same name, now reimagined as a sci-fi blockbuster featuring aliens. Having seen footage Kitsch shot for Battleship, Oliver Stone cast him as the lead in his film Savages. Battleship, Savages, and John Carter were originally supposed to open in summer 2012, but John Carter was bumped up to a March 9, 2012 release date.
Friday Night Lights concluded its five-season run in 2011. With John Carter opening in March, Battleship in May, and Savages in July, it did look like 2012 would be Taylor Kitsch’s breakout year, going from an actor from a hit television series to a movie star as he would be front and center in three major movies. In November 2010, The Hollywood Reporter put Kitsch on a list of actors who would redefine the Hollywood A-list alongside future stars like Chris Pine, Chris Hemsworth, and Bradley Cooper. Yet, while Kitsch played the part of what an actor is supposed to do to break out into the mainstream, the films he chose were a bad hand.
2012 Was the Make and Break Year for Taylor Kitsch

John Carter, on paper, seemed to have everything going for it. It was the live-action feature debut of Andrew Stanton, whose previous two films were the critically acclaimed and box office smash hits Finding Nemo and WALL-E. It was based on a highly influential series of sci-fi novels that inspired works like Star Wars, Dune, and Avatar, to name a few. However, the marketing for John Carter never really captured the zeitgeist, partially due to Walt Disney Studios chairman at the time, Rich Ross (who inherited the film from previous chairman Dick Cook), who was new to feature films and so was the marketing firm hired for the movie. With reports of multiple reshoots, John Carter had a wave of bad press before its release.
When John Carter finally opened in theaters on March 9, 2012, it was dead on arrival with a $30 million opening weekend, and it came in second place behind The Lorax in its second week of release. The movie had a budget of $263.7 million and brought in just $73 million domestically and $284 million worldwide. Within two weeks of release, Disney took a $200 million write-down on John Carter, and it is still one of the biggest box office flops of all time. Being the star of a movie labeled the biggest flop of all time certainly is not good for one’s credibility, and combined with rough reviews that critiqued his performance as wooden, what was supposed to be Kitsch’s big year was off to a terrible start.

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It only got worse from there as, two weeks later, Battleship opened in theaters. Battleship was riding a wave of negative buzz since the first trailer hit, as many mocked the idea of not only turning the board game into a feature film but also moving so far off the initial premise by adding aliens into it. Battleship was scheduled to open in theaters on May 18, 2012, and sensing it would get crushed by The Avengers, they considered moving the release date, but the studio was locked into a fast food tie-in deal with Subway, so they could not delay the film.
Battleship was another high-profile box office bomb for Kitsch, as the movie opened at number 2 at the box office with $25 million, losing out to The Avengers in its third week of release. With 34% on Rotten Tomatoes, Kitsch took another hit critically as many began to question his leading man status that Hollywood seemed to be investing in. Battleship grossed less than John Carter domestically, pulling in $65 million. While it performed slightly better than John Carter worldwide, with Battleship pulling in $303 million and a production cost of $220 million, Universal Pictures would lose about $150 million on the film. Within two months, Kitsch was the headlining star of the two biggest flops of 2012.
Savages seemed like Kitsch’s last hope, as two blockbuster flops could maybe be offset by a role in a critically acclaimed film by a legendary director like Oliver Stone. Unfortunately, Savages was no Natural Born Killers or JFK. The movie grossed $47 million domestically and $83 million worldwide against a $45 million budget, yet it failed to move the needle much. The film earned 50% on Rotten Tomatoes and got a C+ CinemaScore from moviegoers. Savages was another high-profile disappointment for Taylor Kitsch, and after three flops in a row, what was supposed to be his breakout year turned into one of the worst years an up-and-coming star has had.
Kitsch’s Rebound Was Slow and Steady

There is the old expression that slow and steady wins the race, and that same thing might have applied to Taylor Kitsch. While he might not have become the new A-list talent overnight like Chris Hemsworth did following Thor or Andrew Garfield after The Amazing Spider-Man, he still found some steady work over the past decade that meant he never truly faded into obscurity.
In 2013, Kitsch reteamed with Battleship director Peter Berg on The Lone Survivor alongside Mark Wahlberg, Ben Foster, Eric Bana, and Emile Hirsch. On a budget of $40 million, The Lone Survivor grossed $125 million domestically and $154 million worldwide. While Mark Wahlberg was front and center, and a lot of attention was put on him, it was a much-needed win for Kitsch. Following Battleship and The Lone Survivor, Kitsch would find himself a frequent collaborator with Peter Berg, eventually leading to American Primeval, in which Berg directed all six episodes.
Kitsch seemingly looked to stage a big career comeback with True Detective Season 2. This seemed like an obvious win, as the original True Detective was one of the most critically acclaimed series of all time, having won multiple awards and redefined the career of star Matthew McConaughey. Kitsch would star alongside Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams, Vince Vaughn, and Kelly Reilly. Yet it seemed like Kitsch had the worst luck as True Detective Season 2 did not generate the same positive response as its predecessor. Despite Kitsch getting solid reviews, True Detective Season 2 was not only seen as a major step down from Season 1, but various publications, including TV Guide and Variety, named it one of the worst television shows in 2015. It did seem like Kitsch could not catch a break.

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After a series of supporting roles in moderate hits like Only the Brave, American Assassin, and 21 Bridges, Kitsch would return to television with a role on Prime Video’s The Terminal List, which paid off as the series was a hit and has been renewed for a second season. Kitsch is set to lead a prequel series of The Terminal List, reprising his role as Ben Edwards. In the meantime, Kitsch secured the role of Isaac Reed on American Primeval, which kicked off in 2025. The series has been a hit with audiences and has likely been the project that most people have seen with Kitsch in it since Friday Night Lights.
For years, Kitsch’s career has often been seen as a warning, a tale of a star in the making that never took off. It was seen as a cautionary tale. Yet Kitsch made a solid career after his high-profile box office bombs in mid-budget movies, where he got to play a supporting role and not be burdened with the weight of expectations. Kitsch himself spoke about his experience with John Carter in 2022. Where other actors might be more cynical about the film (like George Clooney on Batman & Robin), Kitsch had nice things to say about the movie itself and what it taught him, saying:

“That showed me, and I learned an incredible amount on that movie. I still have great relationships with that movie, which says a ton. I have no ill will whatsoever, I learned a lot, man. And took some big strides personally and professionally through that. It hurt, obviously, at the time, but in retrospect, I wouldn’t change a thing, to be honest. It is what it is, we all have those moments…It’s fun when people stop and talk about JC and their kids, they watch it with their kids and whatnot. That’s what it was for, you know, it was fun.”

His roles in The Terminal List and American Primeval, as well as the successes of those series, truly show how it is never too late, and you never know what will be a hit. Sometimes, things don’t pan out, but successes can also come in unexpected places. The sure thing is that Taylor Kitsch never went away, and he is still here and now, getting the attention that 2012 failed to deliver. American Primeval is streaming on Netflix.