There’s a Hilarious Reason Mahershala Ali Flunked His Game of Thrones Audition

Mahershala Ali is making waves for his performance in the Golden Globe-winning film, Moonlight, as well as his memorable role in Luke Cage. Casting directors across the land may be kicking themselves for not hiring him, but there’s one show that Ali knows doesn’t want him—Game of Thrones.

Ali claims that he had a “terrible” audition for Game of Thrones. “That was one of the worst auditions of my life,” said Ali, recounting the tale of his humiliating try-out on Wednesday’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! . Turns out that the botched audition wasn’t entirely his fault, though.

Ali told Jimmy Kimmel that he was very prepared to audition for the role of a merchant. He had memorized all his lines and practiced what he dubbed “power moves” that would land him a job in Westeros. All he needed to succeed was a chair. Unfortunately HBO didn’t have any chairs in the audition room and it all went downhill from there.

Luckily, Kimmel had some advice for the actor: “Bring a chair with you next time.”