Melanie Lynskey and More Stars Who Just Missed Out on Huge Roles

In every generation, there is a chosen one. And, unfortunately for Melanie Lynskey, she was not picked to stand alongside Buffy Summers against the vampires, demons and forces of darkness. 

"It was kind of a visa issue," the New Zealand native recently revealed on the Shut Up Evan: The Newsletter podcast of passing on the opportunity to play the slayer's BFF Willow Rosenberg in the pilot episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. "But not really. I also was not sure about doing television at that time."

Some two-and-a-half decades before she'd star on Yellowjackets, the Coyote Ugly and Sweet Home Alabama actress explained, "I had a very old-school agent who was like, 'TV? That's for has-beens!'" Though she initially protested—"I was like, 'I don't think it is anymore'"—ultimately, she continued, "I just wasn't super into it at the time."

Sisters alum Riff Regan nabbed the part, but when creator Joss Whedon was looking to recast the role of the OG Scooby Gang member, he reached back out to Lynskey. 

"I was like, 'Oh, this is good,' and I kind of took my agent into it," explained Lynskey of reading for the part of the naive high schooler turned powerful AF witch. "And then, it became this whole thing of, 'Well, now you have to audition.' So I auditioned. Then: 'Oh, they didn't like what you were wearing.' It was a whole process. And then I didn't get it!"

Of course, Alyson Hannigan stepped into Willow's fuzzy sweaters for the beloved series' seven-season run, but she was nearly joined by a much different group of Hellmouth residents. Katie Holmes almost wielded Mr. Pointy instead of Sarah Michelle Gellar while Ryan Reynolds turned down the chance to be the guy who eats insects, and gets the funny syphilis, leading Nicholas Brendon to be cast as Xander. 

Check out other stars who could have slayed in major TV roles. 

"I was offered the role and it's probably my biggest regret, you know, on passing," the American Pie alum revealed in a 2021 SiriusXM interview. "I think I was in a phase of, at the time—it sounds so obnoxious to say right now—but at the time it was like, 'Okay, do I want to do TV?' I don't know that I was quite ready to go that route."

Casting director David Rapaport told EW, "Before Penn was involved, I desperately wanted Alden Ehrenreich to play Dan," but producers thought the 5-foot-9 actor was too short to play the role of Blake Lively's love interest. So the role went to Penn Badgley, who is just about the same height as Ehrenreich, according to the internet. 

Lowe revealed that he turned down the role of McDreamy in his 2014 memoir, and it came back up in an episode of Marc Maron's podcast. "That's probably cost me $70 million," he joked. "Eh, it's just money." Lowe says he watched the pilot when it came out, "and when they started calling the handsome doctor 'McDreamy,' I was like, 'yeah, that's not for me.'" 

Sherlock and Doctor Strange star Benedict Cumberbatch auditioned for the role of vampire Bill Compton back in the day. Stephen Moyer went on to land the part.

Before she was an Oscar nominee, Jessica Chastain read for the role of Sookie Stackhouse. The part eventually went to Anna Paquin.

A 17-year-old Jennifer Lawrence read for the part of werepanther Crystal Norris, and almost got the part, but her age played a factor in the part going to another actress. Lindsay Pulsipher landed the gig.

Saved By the Bell and Beverly Hills, 90210 veteran Tiffani Thiessen said she auditioned for the part of Rachel on Friends, but she was too young for the role.

Katherine Langford on Riverdale? It almost happened. The Golden Globe-nominated star of 13 Reasons Why auditioned for the role of Betty Cooper, according to Riverdale star Camila Mendes. "I remember we went out and we got falafel with a guy who was auditioning for Archie," Mendes told EW.

It's hard to imagine anyone else playing Capeside's resident NYC transplant, but as creator Kevin Williamson revealed to Entertainment Weekly, the role of Jen almost went to future Grey's Anatomy star Katherine Heigl, thanks to pilot director Steve Miner, who brought the star of his 1994 film My Father the Hero to Williamson's attention. "She looked slightly older at that time. Even though she was younger, I just think she was more mature," Williamson recalled. "She gave a great audition, I remember we were all sort of like, ‘Wow, she's good.'"

The role of Dawson Leery's lovesick BFF Joey Potter turned Katie Holmes into a star, but the part almost wasn't hers. As creator Kevin Williamson admitted to Entertainment Weekly, the role was Selma Blair's to eventually lose. "I really loved Selma until, of course, I got the infamous videotape from the basement of the Holmes family in Toledo, Ohio,"he said of Holmes' last-minute audition. "And when that video showed up, it changed my whole life."

The House and Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce actress was so close to taking on the iconic role of Carrie Bradshaw that she even had a completed contract. In the end, however, she was just the back-up to the producers' first choice, Sarah Jessica Parker. "I was either going to do it or not. It all depended on whether she said yes," Edelstein said. "My contract was complete. I was waiting." While we struggle to imagine a world in which SJP is not Carrie Bradshaw, Edelstein actually makes a lot of sense. 

Initially, The CW wanted Ashley Olsen as our favorite beautiful blonde Upper East Sider, casting director David Rapaport told Buzzfeed, but he only had eyes for Lively. "I was terrified we wouldn't get her or they wouldn't like her because, honestly, the show lived and died on her and I had absolutely no other ideas," he said.

The CW wanted future Dancing With the Stars champion Rumer Willis as the Gossip Girl lead, but casting director Rapaport knew she wasn't right for the role (and would eventually cast her on 90210). "I love Rumer," he told Buzzfeed. "She's grown into quite an amazing actress and person, but that, to me, was based on protecting the investment of a television show where creatively, these lesser-known girls really captured the essence of the show and carried it for six years."

Before Keke Palmer was cast on Fox's hilarious horror comedy Scream Queens, she was in the running to play Iris West on The Flash, a role that eventually went to Candice Patton. "We had seen Candice initially, but I think we were too early on in the process to cast her so we ended up testing Keke Palmer and this other girl, but they felt a little too young next to Grant [Gustin]," casting director David Rapaport told Buzzfeed. When he brought Candice back, "it was magic."

Iwan Rheon told The Telegraph that when the Game of Thrones pilot was being cast, he made it to the final two for the role of Jon Snow. Of course, Rheon went on to play Ramsay Snow, a.k.a. season 5's most hated character, while Kit Harington cemented a place in our hearts as Jon. We can't even bear to imagine it any differently, so we just won't. 

After working with the Guardians of the Galaxy star on the final season of The O.C., Josh Schwartz revealed Pratt was his first choice for the role that eventually went to Zachary Levi. "He was the first guy I wanted to play 'Chuck'. But as fate would have it, he was destined to guard the galaxy, not the Buy More," Schwartz revealed. "And might I add, couldn't happen to a nicer guy."

The Dawson's Creek veteran met with Orange Is the New Black creator Jenji Kohan early in the show's development, Kohan revealed. Holmes, who is an admitted fan of the series, had "other things to do," Kohan told E! News. "And also in the beginning no one knew what this was."

Yep, Robin Scherbatsky could have been Kate Austen, and two of our favorite shows were almost very different, according to Cobie Smulders.

Both she and Evangeline Lilly were "testing for Lost," Smulders revealed to E! News in 2014. "She owes a lot to me because I went in and I bombed the audition. And she was like, 'Thank you!'"

Back when Friends was still being cast, Courteney Cox read for the role of Rachel, but wanted Monica. However, NBC was looking at The Facts of Life star Nancy McKeon to fill the part.

"She gave a terrific performance," Lori Openden, head of casting for NBC at the time, said of The Facts of Life star. "Warren [Littlefield, the then NBC president] let Marta [Kauffman] and David [Crane] make the call. They went off for a walk and came back and said Courteney."

The former Facts of Life star revealed she read for the role of Rachael Green when Friends was still in its pilot stage. "I remember reading the pilot episode and I said to my husband, 'This is the funniest script I have ever read and this is going to be a huge hit,'" Lisa Whelchel said on an episode of Oprah: Where Are They Now? But she didn't pursue it, she said, because she knew the show would find a lot of its comedy in sex.

Everybody knows The Good Wife is Julianna Margulies' show, but that almost wasn't the case. The Emmy winner revealed the studio wanted Ashley Judd and Helen Hunt before she got the gig.

Hard to imagine anyone else hunting down vampires in Sunnydale, but the ex-Mrs. Cruise almost had the title role in the WB series. Holmes turned it down to go to high school, and Sarah Michelle Gellar was cast.

The role that eventually went to Edie Falco was originally offered to Lorraine Bracco, but the Oscar nominee said she had already done that part in Goodfellas and wanted to try her hand at something new.

Before she was breaking records on Fox's Empire, Taraji P. Henson revealed she auditioned to be Scandal's ultimate fixer, Olivia Pope. "When I went in to read for Shonda Rhimes, in my mind I was like, 'This is Kerry Washington. Why am I even in here?'" she said. "It was hers."

Can you imagine Agent Scully residing in Downton Abbey? It almost happened, but the X Files star turned down the role that eventually went to Elizabeth McGovern.

Jason Alexander revealed Chris Rock, Danny DeVito, Larry Miller, Nathan Lane and more famous faces were all up for his role on Seinfeld before he landed the part as George Costanza.

It's hard to imagine anyone else playing Elena Gilbert on the CW hit series, but the singer-actress was the network's first choice. It wasn't until the producers took a second look at Nina Dobrev's audition tape that they decided to go with the Bulgarian beauty.

Damnit, Chloe! As much as we love you, you were never meant to play Pam. The 24 star auditioned for the role that eventually was won by Jenna Fischer, and the rest is paper company history.

The late James Gandolfini was brilliant as Tony Soprano on the HBO drama, but Ray Liotta was the first choice to play the mob boss. In a Today Show interview, he said he turned it down because he wanted to focus on movies, and he didn't want to make the two-year commitment.

The legendary singer was offered the lead role in Bill Cosby-led series, but passed to pursue her music career.