26 ‘Almosts’ in TV Casting That Would Have Drastically Changed Your Favorite Shows

Rainn Wilson as Gob Bluth? Naw, we like him as Dwight, thank you
26 ‘Almosts’ in TV Casting That Would Have Drastically Changed Your Favorite Shows

When we love a TV show, it’s easy to think that it was always meant to be made that way. We forget that sometimes a good storyline pops up out of nowhere, or that a character we love could have been played by another actor. 

Would we love the show just the same? The answer lies in an alternate reality that we don’t know how to access — yet. Check out these casting almosts while we work on that, okay?

Frasier

CRACKED.COM Lisa Kudrow wasn't a good ROZ. Kudrow and Peri Gilpin were the two final choices for Roz Doyle in Frasier- and the producers went with Kudrow. But her quirky style wasn't a good fit for the character, so the runner-up stepped up after a short time.

Ed O‘Neill

CRACKED.COM Al swearengen was written for Ed O'Neill. Deadwood creator David Milch intended loser Al Bundy to play scary pimp Swearengen. But HBO said no because, well, he was loser Al Bundy. Then lan McShane made Swearengen his own and no one looked back.

True Blood

Benedict Cumberbatch almost played vampire Bill in True Blood. Yep, Cumberbatch auditioned for one of television's hottest vampires. No word on why he didn't land the part. Maybe an accent thing. CRACKED.COM

Deep Space Nine

CRACKED.COM Alexander siddig was the first choice to play Ben sisko. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Series co-creator Rick Berman got in touch with Siddig after seeing him in a movie, to offer him the role of Commander Sisko. Then he learned that Siddig was actually too young for the part, so he cast him as Doctor Bashir instead.

24

24 Richard Burgi was this close to being Jack Bauer. Burgi pretty much had the part in the bag, but the network wanted a bigger name, so Kiefer Sutherland was cast. Burgi was given the part of Alan York as a kind of apology for that. CRACKED.COM

The Sopranos

The Sopranos Lorraine Bracco was offered to play carmela soprano. Bracco felt that Carmela was too much like Karen Hill from GoodFellas, and she didn't want to play the same part again. But she loved the script, and told show creator David Chase that she'd be happy to play Dr. Jennifer Melfi. CRACKED.COM

Star Trek

Star Trek Kim cattrall was almost saavik. According to director Nicholas Meyer, he had already decided to cast Cattrall as the Vulcan, but she turned out to be unavailable. She eventually played Saavik's replacement, Valeris. CRACKED.COM

Mad Men

CRACKED.COM Mad Men January Jones wanted to play Peggy Olson. The part went to Elisabeth Moss, but Jones did well enough to be cast as Betty Draper instead (even though Betty wasn't part of the original plans for the show, and it wasn't clear at that time what would ever happen with her).

Battlestar Galactica

Battlestar Galactica Lucy Lawless turned down the part of Ellen Tigh. Lawless was the first choice for the character, but she went, I don't play anyone's wife. That's boring. She was much more excited later, when she was offered to play a Cylon. CRACKED.COM

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Brooklyn Nine-Nine stephanie Beatriz botched her audition for Amy santiago. Being a fan of Andy Samberg, she got really nervous when she had to shoot a screen test with him. She was much more comfortable auditioning for Megan, a part which was developed into Rosa Diaz. CRACKED.COM

Sherlock

Matt Smith almost got cast as Watson in Sherlock. uz Не auditioned, but he was more of a Sherlock type, -he says that, basically, they looked at it and went, 'He's not Watson. It'd be like having two Sherlocks in the room.' CRACKED.COM

Steven Van Zandt

They were thinking of casting Steven Van Zandt as Tony Soprano at one point. Van Zandt was David Chase's first choice for Tony, because creator David Chase thought his face looked kind of like Al Pacino's in The Godfather. Не only changed his mind after he saw James Gandolfini audition. CRACKED.COM

Lost

Michael Keaton was nearly on Lost. MINITES OWIR . die Не would have played Jack, who'd get killed off in the first episode .. but then J.J. Abrams changed his mind and made Jack a series regular. When that happened, Keaton bowed out. CRACKED.COM

Stranger Things

Ewan McGregor could have been in Stranger Things. The show was originally supposed to last just one season, so they wanted well-established stars as the adult leads to generate hype--they floated McGregor's name, and also Sam Rockwell's, for the Jim Hopper role. CRACKED.COM

Patrick Stewart

They nearly got Patrick Stewart to play Data, not Picard. Roddenberry considered Stewart for Data at first, and only thought he could play Picard after being persuaded by Stewart's gentlemanly demeanor and flawless delivery of dialogue. CRACKED.COM

That ‘70s Show

Chuck Norris could've been in That '70s Show. They wanted him to play Red Forman, but he said no because he couldn't make the schedule work. CRACKED.COM

Cheers

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM TURNS OUT, ED O'NEILL VERY NEARLY GOT TED DANSON'S ROLE IN CHEERS. At that point, Sam Malone was a former football player who'd gone on to become a bar owner, so the character was kind of different - but in any case, O'Neill auditioned but didn't get the part.

Friends

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM RACHEL ON FRIENDS WAS NEARLY PLAYED BY TEA LEONI, NOT JENNIFER ANISTON. She was actually the first choice for Rachel, but she ended up saying no and Jennifer Aniston got the role.

The Office

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM PAUL GIAMATTI WAS ORIGINALLY SUPPOSED TO PLAY MICHAEL SCOTT IN THE OFFICE. Well, they offered him the chance to play Scott, but he turned them down.

Arrested Development

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM RAINN WILSON PLAYED GOB BLUTH ON ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT IN ANOTHER TIMELINE. They auditioned him for the role, and he made it to the final selection - but Will Arnett beat him out.

Freaks and Geeks

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM WE NEARLY GOT TO WATCH JESSE EISENBERG AS SAM WEIR ON FREAKS AND GEEKS. It was a really, really close-run thing, apparently - he read for the role four times. But he still ended up losing it to John Francis Daley.

Parks and Rec

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM MIKE O'MALLEY ALMOST ENDED UP PLAYING RON SWANSON IN PARKS AND REC. That's according to co-creator Mike Schur, who tweeted that O'Malley was very nearly cast.

Succession

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM THE ROLE OF COUSIN GREG IN SUCCESSION MIGHT'VE GONE TO KIERAN CULKIN. They asked me to read for Greg. I knew I was wrong... normally ... I would be like, 'OK, I'm not right for the part, I'm going to close it, I'm going to continue reading on,' but I just kind of liked the script, so I read on ...

Orange Is the New Black

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM KATIE HOLMES MIGHT HAVE PLAYED PIPER ON ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK. Series creator Jenji Kohan met with Holmes, but, Kohan says, She had other things to do. And also in the beginning, no one knew what this was.

Modern Family

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM ED O'NEILL NEARLY DIDN'T GET CAST AS JAY PRITCHETT ON MODERN FAMILY. When I read it I thought, 'Oh boy, this is pretty good. And I called my manager and he said, 'Well, they're out to Craig T. Nelson.''' They chose Nelson, but couldn't make it work financially, so O'Neill got it.

Jaleel White

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM JALEEL WHITE NEARLY GOT A PART ON THE COSBY SHOW, IT TURNS OUT. ST S Не lost the role of Rudy --My agent had been told that they've pretty much settled on , so I went to the audition thinking I was just going on a last audition. And then, all of a sudden, this little girl walks in.

Tags:

Scroll down for the next article

Must Read

VIRAL ON CRACKED

A WEEKLY
NEWSLETTER OF
JOKES + TRIVIA

Forgot Password?