Bought our first house, and prefer DIY-ing vs paying someone my life savings todo it.

We have an oooooold fireplace with the fake logs and gas line going to it. Hasn't been used by us, never will be, and quite frankly it really limits our living room layout possibilities. I would love to mount my TV on that wall.

Is the simple procedure essentially remove the mantle, break the bricks off that stick out, and remove the box? Or push the box back? And then make a simple square support out of wood to screw the drywall onto? I feel very confident doing the drywall and removing the bricks it's just the "box" of the fireplace I'm worried about. The whole thing sticks out from the bricks about 1" which means it's roughly 11" out of the wall. Thanks in advance for any advice.