T.J. Miller Was A Total Nightmare On The ‘Silicon Valley’ Set

By Jade Budowski @jadebudowski
Published March 7, 2018, 2:06 p.m. ET

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Silicon Valley will return to HBO for its fifth season on March 25, and it’ll be the gang’s first go without T.J. Miller involved. The actor, whose career has recently taken a hit due to violent sexual assault allegations and The Emoji Movie‘s massive flop, announced he was leaving the show almost a year ago, and since then, speculation has run wild about the reasons behind his departure. In a new Hollywood Reporter cover story, the show’s team finally got candid about working with Miller and his messy exit – and it wasn’t pretty.

Various sources admitted that the decision to boot Miller was a “long time coming”, and that was largely due to his substance abuse issues. “There had been stretches when… he looked to have things under control, and others when he’d show up seemingly under the influence, if he showed up at all.” This applied to table reads as well – and he apparently fell asleep between takes, which left “the cast and crew to nudge him awake.”

Creator Mike Judge seemed to confirm the difficulty of working with Miller, recalling the actor’s poor attitude on set.

“There are a lot of different ways you can find out somebody doesn’t want to do the show anymore… And it’s not fun to work with someone who doesn’t want to be there, [especially when] they’re one of the main people and you’ve got however many crewmembers and extras and people who are [not paid as well] and they’re all showing up before 7 a.m., and then are just like, ‘Oh, OK, we’re not shooting today.'”

Miller responded to these allegations made by the Silicon Valley team, claiming that “in real life” he’s “not always high like Erlich is”:

“This will blow your readers’ minds, but I’m not high when I work because it gets in the way of the comedy. I also am not a guy who’s blackout-drunk, bumping into things on set… What was occurring was I was out doing stand-up all the time, even if it meant I only got three hours of sleep. So, the thing I have a problem with? It’s pushing myself to do too much.”

No word yet on an Emoji Movie sequel.