His character Adam Carter met a spectacular end on the BBC spy thriller - obliterated by a car bomb - but Penry-Jones said he never imagined a Spooks film would happen when he quit the series, reported Digital Spy.
"I don't regret leaving the show - though maybe I regret being dead so I couldn't be in the movie! I think I'd had my time - you can stay on a show for too long, as much as I loved it and thought it was a great show. When I left, it was still going all guns blazing," the 44-year-old actor said.
"It took years for me to be known as anything other than Adam Carter. I think the longer you stay, the more years it takes to shake that typecasting off, and I needed to try and get other jobs.
"So I think career-wise, leaving Spooks was the right thing to do...