‘13 Reasons Why’ Star Dylan Minnette Explains Decision to Quit Acting

After finding success on the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why, Dylan Minnette walked away from a promising career as an actor. 

Why? He’s got one reason: Acting was beginning to feel like work rather than a calling he was passionate about.

“I was on 13 Reasons Why and it was really popular and definitely reached a peak in what I’ve had in acting,” Minnette, 27, said on the Thursday, May 23 episode of the Zach Sang Show podcast. “But it also started to feel like a bit of a job. I was in a very fortunate position, it was always fun for me, always really inspiring, but then it was just starting to feel like just a job.”

Minette played the leading role of Clay Jensen in 13 Reasons Why, which streamed over four seasons from 2017 to 2020. The first season showcased Clay as he attempted to discover what led a classmate to commit suicide. The show, which featured Selena Gomez as an executive producer, also starred Tommy Dorfman, Katherine Langford, Christian Navarro, Alisha Boe, Brandon Flynn and Kate Walsh.

After Minette’s breakout, he appeared in the hit 2022 Hulu drama The Dropout and also the horror movie Scream that year.

He has since chosen to focus on his music and his alt-rock band, Wallows, for which he sings and plays guitar. He and his bandmates, drummer Cole Preston and singer-guitarist Braeden Lemasters, formed their group as teens in 2011. They have released three albums and played at venues including Coachella in 2022.

Minette told the Zach Sang Show that he wanted to take Wallows “all the way as far as we can.”

“I feel like I’m in a position now where I can just kind of like do that for a while and get this the farthest it can be,” he said. “The only way that’s gonna happen is if I put my 100 percent time and energy into it and take it very seriously and show the world that we all take this very seriously.”

But while music is “what feels natural and inspiring” to him, he is not quite ready to give up acting for good. Recently, he told his team that he was primed to go in front of the camera again — however, “that timeframe was the actor’s strike.”

“I do feel like I have something to give, and that’s probably acting … I feel like I’m starting to feel inspiration for that again,” he continued. “At some point, when we’ve fulfilled our Wallows duties and we’re all ready to take a break as a band, that’s when I’ll have the perfect inspiration to do something.”