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9 TV stars who almost missed out on their biggest roles

Photo credit: BBC
Photo credit: BBC

From Digital Spy

Imagine the TV landscape as it exists today, with all of its most colourful and iconic characters. Now, forget all that and start from scratch.

Some of your favourite telly programmes might have looked very different if fate had taken a different path, with a whole bunch of actors very nearly missing out on their most famous parts.

These are the guys and gals who almost didn't get their big break.

1. Kiefer Sutherland – 24

Photo credit: FOX / Getty Images
Photo credit: FOX / Getty Images

Kiefer's movie career was on the slide by the late '90s and it took 24, and the part of counter-terrorism agent Jack Bauer, to revive his flagging fortunes.

Now, of course, Kiefer and his gravelly tones seem inexorably linked to the part of Bauer, but back in 2001, Fox chairman Sandy Grushow was unconvinced by the casting.

"We [originally] talked about casting an unknown in the lead, thereby budgeting about $40,000 per episode for the Jack Bauer role," Grushow explained. "Kiefer's career had stalled… and I just knew that suddenly we were going to have a lead that would cost, I assumed, $100,000 per episode."

Kiefer being based in LA meant the show had to shoot there too, amping the budget up even more. Thankfully, as we now know, he was worth every cent.

2. Alfonso Ribeiro – The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

Photo credit: NBC / Getty Images
Photo credit: NBC / Getty Images

It's impossible to think of anyone who could've captured uptight upstart Carlton Banks better than Ribeiro, yet the incoming president of NBC wanted to recast the part after watching the Fresh Prince pilot.

"So there was a moment where essentially I was hired and rehired – you may look at it that way!" Alfonso told Digital Spy earlier this year. "There was a large chance that the Carlton character would have been played by somebody else. But luckily enough, the decision was made to continue to have me do it."

And thank goodness, otherwise we might never have been gifted the wonder that is the Carlton Dance.

3. Benedict Cumberbatch – Sherlock

Photo credit: BBC
Photo credit: BBC

Cumberbatch's wildly popular portrayal of the great detective sent him and the show itself into the stratosphere. But BBC executives weren't won over early on, voicing concerns that BC wasn't "sexy" enough.

Series writer Steven Moffat has recalled how he was told: "'You promised us a sexy Sherlock, not him. You should have cast someone sexier'."

Two points: 1) Since when was "sexiness" a prerequisite to play Sherlock Holmes? and 2) Cumberbatch not hot? We suspect Tumblr may disagree with you there.

4. Kerry Washington – Scandal

Photo credit: Nicole Wilder / ABC
Photo credit: Nicole Wilder / ABC

Despite always writing Olivia Pope as a black character, Scandal creator Shonda Rhimes was faced with a list of white actresses when ABC put forward its suggestions for who should front the show.

The network was pushing hard for Connie Britton, but Rhimes fought hard against ideas that a black lead would "impact [the show] internationally" and hired Kerry Washington. "It was Kerry from the moment I took her to meet Shonda," said casting director Linda Lowy.

5. Courteney Cox – Friends

Photo credit: Warner Bros / NBC Universal
Photo credit: Warner Bros / NBC Universal

It wasn't that the creators of Friends didn't want Courteney Cox. They just didn't want her to play Monica.

"We originally offered [the part of] Rachel to Courteney Cox, but she said she wanted to do Monica, not Rachel," co-creator Marta Kauffman told Vanity Fair.

"When we originally wrote the role [of Monica], we had Janeane Garofalo's voice in our head. Darker and edgier and snarkier, and Courteney brought a whole bunch of other colours to it."

She still had to beat out The Facts of Life actress Nancy McKeon, who "gave a terrific performance" according to NBC's then-head of casting. But in the end, Cox was the perfect fit for our favourite clean-freak.

6. Andrew Lincoln – The Walking Dead

Photo credit: AMC
Photo credit: AMC

Before it landed at AMC, The Walking Dead drew interest from NBC, where an executive asked, "Does it have to have zombies in it?", and HBO, which came close to ordering a pilot.

Back then, showrunner Frank Darabont had someone very different in mind for the lead role of sheriff's deputy Rick Grimes – The Punisher's Thomas Jane.

By the time AMC ordered The Walking Dead to series in 2010, Jane had landed another gig at HBO, on the comedy-drama Hung, and so missed out on playing Grimes. (Something similar happened on Mad Men, with Jane first choice ahead of Jon Hamm to play suave Don Draper.)

7. Ian McShane – Deadwood

Photo credit: HBO
Photo credit: HBO

McShane's performance as foul-mouthed Al Swearengen was arguably the standout in HBO's terrific Deadwood. But the former Lovejoy wasn't first choice for the part. Or even second.

Remarkably, series creator David Milch had wanted to cast Ed O'Neill – Modern Family's loveable grouch Jay – as Swearengen, but HBO said no. Milch then turned to the late Powers Boothe, but the actor fell ill shortly before filming began on the Deadwood pilot. (He would later land the part of Cy Tolliver as a consolation prize.)

8. Claire Danes – Homeland

Photo credit: Showtime
Photo credit: Showtime

You think Homeland, you think Claire Danes and her incredible cryface. But she only got the part of troubled CIA agent Carrie Mathison after another big-name star turned it down.

That big name was Halle Berry, who's never spoken publicly about the decision. But we suspect she might have regretted it – a few years later, she jumped at the chance to do series television, signing for the lead in sci-fi series Extant.

9. Julianna Margulies – The Good Wife

Photo credit: Jeff Neumann / CBS
Photo credit: Jeff Neumann / CBS

It was even worse for Julianna Margulies, who was actually fourth choice to play driven Alicia Florrick on The Good Wife. Elisabeth Shue was top pick, turning down the part to spend more time with her family, with CBS then offering the role to both Helen Hunt and Ashley Judd.

Margulies was a little offended to be fourth in line ("I wanted to hate it," she said of the Good Wife pilot script) but was talked around by the show's writers, who insisted that she was always their Alicia and that "just the studio wanted Helen Hunt".

"But my agent said a great thing," Margulies recalled. "'No-one will know when they watch this show that Helen Hunt was offered it before you.'"


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