Dylan Minnette Revealed Why He Quit Acting After 13 Reasons Why

Dylan Minnette is switching gigs. It’s been nearly two years since the 13 Reasons Why actor was on the big screen. (His last roles were in 2022’s The Dropout and Scream 5.) While he didn’t escape Ghostface’s slashing reign, Minnette found an exit door away from acting and started creating music with his alt-rock band Wallows. In the group’s recent interview on The Zach Sang Show, Minnette opened up about his decision to take a break from acting.

The conversation first started when the band’s guitarist Braedan Lemasters, who’s also an actor, said he “wanted to see Minnette in another project soon.” Minnette responded that he thinks about acting “all the time,” but that didn’t stop him from eventually hitting a plateau.

“I was very fortunate to find success in [acting],” Minnette said on May 20. “We’ve always worked a ton, and then I was on 13 Reasons Why, and it was really popular and definitely reached a peak in what I’ve had in acting. 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.”

Minnette’s stint on 13 Reasons Why started in 2017, around the same time Wallows rebranded as a trio. (The group, which started with four members in 2011, was formerly known as The Narwhals.) While juggling both careers, Minnette noticed his soft spot for music began to outweigh his waning feelings for acting.

“Wallows and music is this passion that we’ve always had as a group to really take all the way up as far as we can,” he said. “I’m in a position now where I can just do that for a while, and I feel like [to] get this the farthest it can go, the only way that’s gonna happen is if I put 100% [of my] time and energy into it and take it very seriously.”

However, Minnette’s not completely abandoning his actor title. He had plans to act in 2023, but the actors strike threw a wrench into that. Now that he’s had a bit more time to think over his acting career, Minnette admitted he’s “starting to have more inspiration” — both “artistically and creatively” — in fields outside of music. But this time, his return to acting has to feel natural to him.

“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,” Minnette said.