Some TV and movie characters are SO good, you couldn’t imagine anyone else playing them — but what if someone else did? Auditions are commonplace in Hollywood, so it’s no surprise other stars were once considered for roles that later went to another person. From Wicked to Dune, here’s a look at all the actors who could have been cast:
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To start, Amanda Seyfriend auditioned for Glinda in Wicked while she was filming The Dropout. “I literally bent over backward while playing the hardest role of my life,” she said. The leading role later went to Ariana Grande.
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Jennifer Lawrence could have been cast as Bella Swan in Twilight. “They turned me down immediately,” she said. “I didn’t even get a callback, but my life would’ve been totally different.” Kristen Stewart got the leading role in the saga.
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Liam Aiken was the only American to audition for the role of Harry Potter. They ultimately passed on him because author J.K. Rowling only wanted British actors in the film.
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Reese Witherspoon revealed she “auditioned so hard for Clueless and didn’t get it.” Alicia Silverstone was cast as Cher Horowitz.
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Jason Momoa turned down the role of Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy. “Dave [Bautista] is perfect for that role,” he said. “It didn’t really fit in my time because I’ve done so many things where I don’t say much and I’m colored up and I have my shirt off again.”
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Jessica Biel had quite the story when she read for the role of Allie Hamilton in The Notebook. “That’s one that I wanted so badly. I was in the middle of shooting Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and I auditioned with Ryan Gosling in my trailer — covered in blood,” she said. Rachel McAdams later got the part.
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The Star Wars franchise could have looked completely different if Leonardo DiCaprio had landed the role of Anakin Skywalker instead of Hayden Christensen. “I did have a meeting with George Lucas,” he said. “I just didn’t feel ready to take that dive at that point.”
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Hailee Steinfeld was a frontrunner for Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games, but Jennifer Lawrence became the face of the franchise instead.
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Matthew McConaughey was *this* close to getting the lead role as Jack Dawson in Titanic before Leonardo DiCaprio became the leading man. “The audition went really well,” he said. “Well enough where when I left I was being glad-handed and slapped on the back like, ‘This is what we were looking for, you got it.'”
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Before Emma Myers got her role as Enid Sinclair, she auditioned for Wednesday Addams in the Netflix series Wednesday. Jenna Ortega really nails that goth girl aesthetic, and no one else could play her BFF Enid except Emma.
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Miles Teller was in the running for Lucius in Gladiator II, but Paul Mescal ultimately became the leading man.
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Nicole Kidman was set on playing Anna Scott opposite Hugh Grant in Notting Hill. “I wasn’t well known enough, and I wasn’t talented enough,” she said. Julia Roberts later got cast as the love interest in the iconic rom-com.
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Mean Girls wouldn’t be the same without Lindsay Lohan, but it could have looked completely different if she got cast as the head of the Plastics. She wanted to portray Regina George, but director Mark Waters and Tina Fey insisted she play Cady. She did just that and totally killed it.
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Speaking of Mean Girls, Rachel McAdams originally auditioned for Cady and ended up as queen bee Regina George instead.
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Freddie Prinze Jr. made it to the final audition to play Billy Loomis in Scream, but Skeet Ulrich became our main guy in the end.
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Dwayne Johnson put his name in the hat to be the star in Jack Reacher. “I went after the role, but [Tom] Cruise got it,” he said on X. “[It] was great motivation for me to always stay hungry.”
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Jake Gyllenhaal was up for the lead role of Frodo in Lord of the Rings but the audition didn’t go quite his way. With no specific lines, Jake had to improv everything. The kicker? No one informed him to have an accent prepared, so the part went to Elijah Wood.
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Judd Nelson’s performance as bad boy John Bender was almost done by John Cusack, but he had to drop out of Sixteen Candles due to production delays.
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Glen Powell was featured in Top Gun: Maverick as Hangman, but did you know he originally auditioned for the part of Rooster? Tom Cruise called Glen to pitch the idea of Hangman after news broke about him losing the lead role to Miles Teller. Honestly, it was a win-win since both guys ended up the movie.
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Finally, Jenna Ortega revealed she auditioned for Dune when she was 15. “I think it was Chani,” she said. “But they weren’t saying that. Everything was very secret.” Jenna was in good company since Zendaya ended up with the role.
Would you have cast a different actor in a major movie or TV role? Share your thoughts in the comments!