THIS is why Cole Sprouse took a long break from Hollywood

Though he’s been on an acting hiatus since 2011, Cole Sprouse hasn’t given up his craft just yet. We can soon look forward to seeing even more of him – not just on his hilarious Twitter – because he’s set to star as Jughead Jones in The CW’s upcoming Archie Comics adaptation Riverdale. Yet, one question still remains: Why did he separate from acting in the first place?

On Monday, Cole attended People & Entertainment Weekly‘s Upfronts Party, which is where he answered our question while discussing all things acting and childhood. “There was a feeling of machination; I felt like an automaton,” the 23-year-old explained. “I needed to take a break and step outside myself … I needed a dose of reality, and I needed to see myself in a more objective point of view.”

However, Cole doesn’t want anyone to think that it was all bad. “I’m not saying that we didn’t enjoy that time, but it was work,” Sprouse said. “It’s a career and a business, and it got me to college, which is one of the most fantastic gifts I could’ve been given.” At the same time, he’s now glad to be working on projects that truly excite him. false

After The Suite Life on Deck ended in 2011, Cole and his brother Dylan stopped appearing on our screens. Before that, Cole also starred on Friends as Ross Geller’s son Ben and on Grace Under Fire as newborn Patrick Kelly.

Rather than continuing the acting tradition they’d begun since they were infants, both Dylan and Cole focused on getting a great education at NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study. Based on what Cole had to say about where he is now in his life, it seems that this was an important time for the brothers: “[N]ow I think I can enjoy [acting], which is a really fundamental part about being an actor.”

Now, what about Dylan? Will he, too, return to our TV screens like his twin? According to Cole, who was asked if his brother would appear on Riverdale, “I’m sure he’d entertain that idea.“