TV Tuesday: Who's That?

[yourlibrarian]

Sometimes we hear about certain actors almost being cast in television shows. Which actor would you like to have seen in a particular show? Or are there examples in which you're glad a particular actor didn't make the cut?

Comments

[yourlibrarian]

I don't recall the actress' name, but the Buffy pilot had a different one in place of Willow, someone who physically better suited who Willow was supposed to be. But the network wanted a more attractive actress and thus we got Alyson Hannigan. I think she did really well in that role, but especially by S3 it was hard to imagine she'd ever been considered "unpopular."

I think there was likely less of a difference between Bianca Lawson and Charisma Carpenter for Cordelia.

I would have liked to see Pam Ferris play Barbara Havers in the original Inspector Lynley mysteries, and someone else play Helen (which, except for her diminuitive size, I think Sharon Small definitely had the charisma for).

[jo]

Ryan Reynolds had been offered the Xander role on Buffy but turned it down because he didn't want to play a high school guy.

[yourlibrarian]

I could see him having a very similar Xander vibe. Of course same issue with both him and Nicholas Brendon, too good looking for the part.

[author_by_night]

I wonder if that's part of the reason Xander's character always confused me, at least in the Sunnydale High years. I think some of it was behavior, but the looks might not have helped. Half the guys I went to high school with were one shade of Xander or another. He was in no way different. If anything, a lot of guys like Xander were the ones doing the bullying...

[jo]

I think I read somewhere that Gillian Anderson had been offered the role of Cora on Downton Abbey, but she turned it down. It's always difficult to imagine someone else in a role that another actor has played for ages, but I think she would have brought a more regal/aristocratic vibe to Cora?

[yourlibrarian]

Yes, it's interesting to contemplate how she might have played that, especially since many of her British roles have been so restrained (and she's be playing an American again).

Lady Grandma Moses?

[executrix]

The whole point of Cora is that she's a kind of late-blooming amateur aristocrat, sort of what Grandma Moses was to painting/

[starfleetbrat]

I'll have to think about the first part a little more, but the second part I am always glad that Geneviève Bujold gave up on Star Trek Voyager and we got Kate Mulgrew instead. I can't imagine Voyager without her as Janeway.

[yourlibrarian]

Oh yes, she was such a good choice. That said, I confess I'm curious about what kind of Janeway Lindsey Wagner would have been.

[delphi]

Con O'Neill is one of my favourite actors, and I'm always torn over the fact that he was originally cast as Bill in The Last of Us but it conflicted with filming Our Flag Means Death. On the one hand, I think he would have been absolutely amazing in the role and it probably would have meant a significant career boost in the U.S. On the other hand, it would have meant not getting him in OFMD, and I think a big part of why that TLoU episode blew up so much was because it featured a known American actor for whom the role was against type (who was also amazing in the role, don't get me wrong).

[yourlibrarian]

At least that was a good tradeoff. It always sucks when an actor turns something down for another part that then doesn't go anywhere, show gets cancelled, movie project falls through etc.