Buffy The Vampire Slayer is a classic piece of late ’90s/early ’00s TV that a lot of fans still fondly remember today, give or take creator Joss Whedon since being exiled from show business. The show launched the career of several actors, including Alyson Hannigan — who played witch Willow Rosenberg — and front-woman Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played the title character.
But it almost wasn’t so. Appearing on The Howard Stern Show back in 2001, a young Natasha Lyonne revealed that she was actually the first person to be offered the part of Buffy. Hilariously, she’s on the couch next to Alyson Hannigan at the time, who is gobsmacked by this revelation. “I’m very upset!” she says, and she doesn’t look like she’s lying!
This interview has been around for years, but is getting some renewed attention since it was compiled into a supercut of actors talking about big roles they passed on or missed out on. We’ve time-stamped the bit with Lyonne below, but the whole thing is pretty fun:
Alyson Hannigan “very upset” over revelation that Natasha Lyonne turned down the role of Buffy the vampire slayer before it went to Sarah Michelle Gellar
“Weren’t you, in fact, chosen to be Buffy the vampire slayer before Sarah Michelle Gellar?” Stern asks Lyonne. “Yes, a long time ago.” she answers.
"Well, when The WB first started … yeah, they asked me to do any of the shows. So Dawson’s Creek and Buffy. I don’t think I was offered Felicity, though. …. I was 16 and I told them the only thing I would want to do was some sort of Carol Burnett sketch show for The WB, but then I decided that I did not want to be committed when I was 16 years old."
By the mid-’90s, Lyonne had only been in a handful of titles, but clearly The WB (now The CW) pegged her as a star on the rise. And time has proven them correct. She’s starred in hits like Orange Is The New Black and headlined series like Russian Doll on Netflix and now Poker Face on Peacock.
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h/t SyFy Wire