AceShowbiz - Actor Chris Rock repeatedly declined the opportunity to appear on "The Sopranos" because he feared his addition would "spoil" the beloved mob drama.

The comedian was a huge fan of the series, which centred on a crime family headed up by James Gandolfini's character Tony Soprano, but he wasn't sure he would be a great fit for the TV hit, which aired on HBO, the same network behind his "The Chris Rock Show".

Rock told The Hollywood Reporter, "Sometimes you can respect something so much, you don't even want to be a part of it. Years ago, when I had my own show on HBO, it was at the height of 'The Sopranos', and I got a couple of offers to be on 'The Sopranos', and I was like, 'I like it too much, I don't want to spoil it.' "

Rock has since ended up portraying a mob boss in the recent fourth season of "Fargo", revealing he was excited about the gig because he really liked the way writer Noah Hawley had laid out the story for Bokeem Woodbine's hitman character Mike Milligan in season two.

"[Fargo] is a big job... I was such a fan [of Fargo], I took the meeting anyway, and then he [Hawley] presents me with this offer, and I'm like, 'Whatever you want me to do, I'm down.' Because I saw how he handled Bokeem Woodbine," the star shared.

"Sometimes people do amazing work and then when they handle black people, it's horrible. But with [Hawley], I saw how he handled Bokeem and I was like, 'I can totally be in your hands.' Once you see that, you go, 'OK, this guy [Hawley] has no problem putting himself in that character's shoes.' "

"I write, right? So, when you hand a studio a script, what you notice a lot of times is everyone gives you notes of the character they most identify with... Now, the problem is that some people have a hard time imagining they're black, so there's no notes on the lead if he's black. Or if the lead girl is black, there are no notes from the white women. Because they couldn't step into it. But Noah had no problem being Bokeem, and that's why it's written so well."