Ten iconic TV characters that were almost played by someone else
Kelly from Saved By The Bell as Rachel in Friends? How about Joey Tribbiani as Phil in Modern Family?
Can you imagine anyone but Jennifer Aniston playing the role of Rachel Green in Friends?
Well, the part very well could have gone to the star of another classic - though very different - '90s US comedy: Tiffani Thiessen from Saved By The Bell.
GettyThiessen - who played Kelly Kapowski in the teen series - revealed this week that she tried out for the role of Rachel in Friends, but missed out because she was "a little too young" compared to the rest of the cast. Aniston got the part, while that same year (1994), Thiessen joined the cast of Beverly Hills, 90210 (Valerie Malone) and then in 2009 took on the role of Elizabeth Burke in White Collar.
She isn't the only actor to have a bit of a Sliding Doors moment with a famous TV part. Here are nine other actors who passed or missed out on roles that would become iconic in TV history.
Matt LeBlanc, Modern Family
Jennifer Aniston's Friends co-star LeBlanc (Joey Tribbiani) revealed last year that he turned down the chance to play 'cool dad' Phil Dunphy in Modern Family. Ty Burrell (pictured below) went on to get the part - and win two Emmys along the way for his troubles.
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Talking about Modern Family's pilot script, LeBlanc said: "I remember reading it thinking, 'This is a really good script, (but) I’m not the guy for this. I’d be doing the project an injustice to take this. I know what I can do, I know what I can’t do'."
Ellen Degeneres, Friends
There's an alternative universe where the Friends sextet comprises the likes of Showgirls star Elizabeth Berkley (Rachel), Will & Grace's Eric McCormack (Ross), Hank Azaria (Joey), Leah Remini (Monica), Two And A Half Men's Jon Cryer (Chandler) - and Ellen Degeneres as Phoebe.
Though she was offered the role of Phoebe, Degeneres turned it down to star in her own self-titled show that started the same year (1994). Lisa Kudrow - who, as it happens, was initially cast as Roz in Frasier, only to be replaced by Peri Gilpin - got the gig instead.
The role might have made Kudrow one of the most famous faces on Earth - and netted her $22 million per year for the show's last few seasons - but Degeneres hasn't fared too badly either. Her career path has taken her from making TV history, to movie stardom, to receiving a Presidential Medal of Freedom, to annual earnings of $87 million.
Matthew Broderick, Breaking Bad
Whatever about Joey Tribbiani as Phil - can you even fathom Ferris Bueller playing Walter White?!
Matthew Broderick, pictured below with wife Sarah Jessica Parker, played the title role in the classic 1986 movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off. And he was apparently one of the first choices to star as the meth-dealing, cancer-stricken, scary knock-possessing chemistry teacher in Breaking Bad.
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Indie actor John Cusack was also in the running for the part. Luckily, the series creator, Vince Gilligan, insisted on hiring Malcolm In The Middle star Bryan Cranston (below) for the job - and the rest is TV history.
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Pamela Anderson, The X-Files
Former Playboy model Anderson became a global superstar when she was cast as lifeguard CJ Parker in Baywatch, a role she played from 1992 to 1997.
But in another timeline, she could have been Agent Dana Scully in another classic '90s TV phenomenon, The X-Files.
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Of course, the then 25-year-old Gillian Anderson went on to land the part opposite David Duchovny, but in 2012, Gillian revealed that Pamela was the producers' first choice.
"They were looking for someone bustier, taller, leggier than me," she said. "Pamela was somebody who was more familiar to them in terms of what was on TV at the time."
Gillian Anderson, Downton Abbey
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Meanwhile, Gillian Anderson herself passed on a key role in another massive hit show - Downton Abbey.
Having appeared in several period and costume dramas - like Bleak House and Great Expectations - Anderson was offered the role of Lady Cora Crawley, wife of Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham (played by Hugh Bonneville).
However, Anderson said no, and the part went to American actress Elizabeth McGovern (pictured below with Bonneville).
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Ray Liotta, The Sopranos
Having made his name as a Mob tough guy in Martin Scorsese's 1990 classic Goodfellas, it made sense that Ray Liotta would have been top of any list to play the conflicted Mafia boss at the centre of The Sopranos - especially as it would have reunited Liotta with his Goodfellas screen wife, Lorraine Bracco (both pictured below with Scorsese).
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However, Liotta turned down the role, saying that he wanted to concentrate on making movies and not commit to a TV contract. The late, great James Gandolfini then made Tony Soprano his own - and in the process helped "change television forever".
Katie Holmes, Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Before she was Joey Potter in Dawson's Creek - or Mrs Tom Cruise in real life - Katie Holmes was offered the chance to play the vampire-slaying teenager Buffy Summers in Joss Whedon's cult TV hit.
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However, Holmes didn't accept the role, choosing instead to finish high school. Sarah Michelle Gellar took the part - and Buffy The Vampire Slayer is still being talked about, obsessed over, and analysed 20 years later.
Bonus Buffy might-have-been casting: Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds turned down the role of Buffy's pal, Xander. Nicholas Brendon got that plum part instead.
Michael Keaton, Lost
He was a superstar in the 1980s and early '90s thanks to Beetlejuice and two Batman movies, but by the turn of the millennium, Michael Keaton's heyday appeared to be over.
It was at that point in the early noughties when JJ Abrams approached Keaton about playing the lead role in a new TV project, Lost.
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Keaton was initially on for playing the role of Dr Jack Shepherd, because the character was due to die in the first episode. However, when that plan changed, and Jack became the series' lead character, Keaton backed out, and the part went to Matthew Fox.
"I wouldn't do it if the guy was going to be in the show every week," Keaton has said about the decision. "An hour show every week... I've got stuff to do, I've got a life to lead. When would I fish?"
Happily, Keaton has since snagged much juicier jobs, like the Oscar-winning hits Birdman and Spotlight, as well as his scene-stealing role as the villainous Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Rob Lowe, Grey's Anatomy
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After he left the hit political drama The West Wing in 2004, Rob Lowe had the chance to star in another weekly drama series, which launched in the spring of 2005.
Lowe was offered the role of Dr Derek 'McDreamy' Shepherd, the love interest of main character Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) in Grey's Anatomy. But instead of taking that part, Lowe committed to another medical role in a series called Dr Vegas - which was axed after just five episodes.
"Grey's was a much better script; in fact, there was no comparison... (but) I chose Dr Vegas. The odds were just too stacked," Lowe wrote in his 2014 memoir.
Patrick Dempsey got the Grey's Anatomy part, and the show became an enormous worldwide hit. Dempsey stayed in the role for 11 years, reportedly earning $400,000 per episode for his efforts.
Not too shabby at all.
This article was originally published on 22 August 2017.
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