Whatever happened to Angus T. Jones?

When a fresh-faced youngster snags a major role on a beloved sitcom, there's one thing you can count on: that kid's gonna be messed up by the time puberty rears its pimply head. Child stars just can't catch a break—it may be a cliché, but that's only because more often than not, it's true. Unfortunately, Agnus T. Jones, who portrayed the young Jake Harper, the "half" in the mega-hit Two and a Half Men, was no exception to the rules.

You may remember Jake as a lazy, dimwitted, chubby-cheeked grade-schooler, but later seasons would see him transformed into… well, a lazy, dimwitted teenager with a penchant for, ahem, "adult films" and pot. That is, until Jones up and called it quits after the 10th season. For better or worse, the promising young actor disappeared after the spotlight proved too much for his personal convictions. But what exactly caused such a gaping rift? Here's what really happened with Angus T. Jones.

When viewers tuned in for season 11 of Two and a Half Men, the absence of Jones likely came as a shock to those accustomed to seeing the now-grown Jake fumbling his way through young adulthood. Unfortunately for longtime fans, the penultimate season saw Jake moving to Japan to serve in the Army—along with the introduction of his replacement, Charlie's illegitimate daughter Jenny Harper (Amber Tamblyn). As viewers keeping an eye on the off-set drama likely guessed, Jones' departure was heavily influenced by his religious beliefs. 

Comparing himself to a "paid hypocrite," Jones claimed he could no longer juggle his role on the show with his personal values; as he'd said in the interview that prompted his earlier apology, "You cannot be a true God-fearing person and be on a television show like [Two and a Half Men]. I know I can't. I'm not okay with what I'm learning, what the Bible says, and being on that television show."

Two and a Half Men's series finale, "Of Course He's Dead," was a TV event. After all, despite the pretty hefty ratings drop the show suffered toward the end, it was still watched by more 13 million viewers eager to see how it would end—and executive producer Chuck Lorre managed to pull off a stunt that nobody saw coming when he brought series staple Jake back from Japan for a three-minute cameo.

With shoulder-length hair and a beard, Jones surprised audiences worldwide when he returned for one last scene, shocking Walden (Ashton Kutcher) and Alan (Jon Cryer) as he explained that he'd made $2 million in Las Vegas, left the Army, and tied the knot with a dancer in Japan. After the obligatory scatalogical reference to winning at "craps" and a few self-referential laughs about making "so much money with such stupid jokes," Jones departed as quickly as he'd appeared. 

Lorre would later comment on the wild applause that greeted Jones, telling Variety, "If we had actually aired the audience response to when Angus stepped on the stage—it was so loud and exuberant. We had to tone it down for the broadcast. They were so excited to see him."

Growing up in the spotlight is tough enough without being publicly associated with a controversial pastor, so it came as no surprise when Jones stated that he was finished with promoting religious organizations.

In 2016, Jones told People that, while he "was very confident at that time," he's currently "stepping away from the organizational business-model programs." He went on to explain his disillusionment with the black-and-white thinking associated with many religions, telling the magazine, "I'm interested in seeing where I go without an organization putting a stamp of approval on if I'm good or bad or whatever."

"I got pretty doomsday with my thinking for a long time," he went on, "but now I'm having fun and enjoying where I'm at."  We're happy he's happy, especially considering how frequently the word "doomsday" crops up in his interviews. Yeesh.

If there's one thing every child star deserves, it's the chance to, well, just be a kid. It may have taken some public growing pains to get there, but Angus T. Jones finally found his own "normal life" after putting aside his acting career and exploring his religious views. Between his on-again, off-again relationship with college to his friendship with younger brother Otto, Jones seems to have achieved the peace and quiet he deserves. Speaking of Otto, the two seem to be inseparable—Jones even told People (via Entertainment Weekly), "Getting to be a part of his life is one of my most favorite things." Now that's some brotherly love we'd never hear from the dysfunctional characters on Two and a Half Men.

It's unlikely that Jones will snag another gig like Two and a Half Men—a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity he's finally come to appreciate. In 2016, he told Billboard, "The team that I got to work with on Two and a Half Men were the best. … I am now fully understanding what people meant when they told me that Two and a Half Men was one of the best jobs ever if not the best job ever. That was the opportunity of a lifetime and everyone's always told me that but I'm really actually understanding myself now."

It seems that Jones has yet to completely close the casket on his thespian past—and it's all thanks to, ironically, the role that caused him so much stress. Talking to People about how it felt to film his cameo in the Two and a Half Men series finale, Jones said, "Getting to be back on the set with everyone again kind of showed me how much I did like it." And wouldn't you know it: People reports that he still has an agent—plus, he straight up told the magazine, "The door is definitely still open for me to do that, but I'm taking things slowly. But I'm kind of liking the ability to travel and to move around at a moment's notice and not have to be in one spot for years at a time."

Sounds like Jones isn't through with Hollywood just yet.