Giovanni Rufino/The CWAttention, Upper East Siders! Your world could've looked very different if The CW got its way when casting for its future classic, Gossip Girl. According to the casting director responsible for bringing you your favorite Arrow, Flash, 90210 and Gossip Girl stars, the network initially wanted two more well-known names than the now-iconic Blake Lively and Leighton Meester as Serena van der Woodsen and Blair Waldorf.
"I think the network initially pitched us Ashley Olsen and Rumer Willis for Blair and Serena," The CW's go-to casting director David Rapaport told Buzzfeed of his hunt for the perfect rich girl heroines. "I love Rumer. She's grown into quite an amazing actress and person, but that, to me, was based on protecting the investment of a television show where creatively, these lesser-known girls really captured the essence of the show and carried it for six years."
In fact, Lively was the only person he wanted to play Serena, thanks to her turn in the 2006 comedy Accepted. "I was terrified we wouldn't get her or they wouldn't like her because, honestly, the show lived and died on her and I had absolutely no other ideas."
He also loved Meester's professional demeanor during her audition. "She was professional and she did the job and she played the role well, and what I liked about her is that she owned who she was. She wasn't going to kiss everyone's ass and that was very Blair."
Other could've-been castings? Current Scream Queens star Keke Palmer as The Flash's Iris West, which eventually went to a "magic" Candice Patton. Palmer felt a little too young for the role next to Grant Gustin's Barry Allen. Check out more casting intel in our gallery of amazing TV roles that almost went to other actors!