Melanie Lynskey Reluctantly Auditioned For Buffy The Vampire Slayer Only To Be Rejected
It's hard to imagine anyone besides Alyson Hannigan as the unforgettable sidekick-turned-superpowered Willow Rosenberg in the hit series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," but the casting directors almost went in a completely different direction. Indeed, the role nearly went to another accomplished television actor — Melanie Lynskey, the Emmy-nominated star of the acclaimed Showtime series "Yellowjackets."
The New Zealand actor kicked off her career with a leading role in Peter Jackson's 1994 film "Heavenly Creatures" opposite "Titanic" star Kate Winslet. She had also appeared in Jackson's 1996 horror-comedy "The Frighteners" — which, like "Heavenly Creatures," was filmed in New Zealand — when she got the opportunity to audition for "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
"It was kind of a visa issue, but not really," she told The Hollywood Reporter in 2023. "I also was not sure about doing television at that time. It was very early in my career. I had a very old-school agent who was like, 'TV? That's for has-beens!' and I was like, 'I don't think it is anymore.' Certainly, now things have really changed, but I just wasn't super into it [TV] at the time."
Ironically, Lynskey went on to earn her most impressive accolades for her performance in television series like "Yellowjackets."
The Yellowjackets star almost played Willow
Before auditioning for "Buffy," Lynskey met with the show's disgraced creator, Joss Whedon. She thought the role was being offered to her and was disappointed when she realized she still had to try out for it:
"I don't remember if it was an offer or if it was like, 'Would you come read for it?' or what it was, but we stayed in touch after that. And then I guess they were replacing the person from the pilot at a certain point and I had stayed in touch with [Joss], and he said, 'Now do you think you would want to do it?' And I had seen the pilot and I was like, 'Oh, this is good,' and I kind of took my agent into it. And then, it became this whole thing of, 'Well, now you have to audition.' So I auditioned."
After the "whole process" of auditioning, the part went to Hannigan. However, Lynskey did go on to quickly earn supporting roles in "But I'm A Cheerleader," released in 1999, and "Coyote Ugly," which came out the following year. After several decades of guest spots and recurring characters on major TV shows ranging from comedies like "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" to dramas like "House," she starred in the Stephen King adapted mini-series "Castle Rock" alongside Lizzie Caplan, Bill Skarsgard, and Andre Holland.
Although "Castle Rock" ended in 2019, Lynskey soon earned her lead role in "Yellowjackets," which has earned her two Emmy nominations. She snagged another nomination in 2023 for her guest performance in the wildly popular HBO series "The Last of Us."
It would have been awesome to see Lynskey on "Buffy," but it's safe to say that losing the role didn't permanently damage her career.
Other Hollywood actors who almost starred in Buffy
Lynskey isn't the only major actor who almost ended up in the main cast of "Buffy." The star of the "Deadpool" franchise, Ryan Reynolds, was originally offered the part of Willow's best friend and fellow Scooby gang member, Xander, before it went to Nicholas Brendon.
"I love that show and I loved Joss Whedon, the creator of the show, but my biggest concern was that I didn't want to play a guy in high school," Reynolds explained in a 2008 interview with the Toronto Star. "I had just come out of high school and it was f***ing awful."
Selma Blair apparently "auditioned for 'Buffy' but didn't even come close," as she eventually revealed in an Instagram post. The actor went on to co-star with Gellar in the 1999 drama "Cruel Intentions" and had an unforgettable supporting role in the Reese Witherspoon-led comedy "Legally Blonde" in 2001.
Another movie star, Natasha Lyonne, was offered the lead role in "Buffy." However, like Reynolds, she turned it down, having always marched to the beat of her drum. "I remember after the Woody Allen movie [1996's 'Everyone Says I Love You'] The WB was really eager to have me join the network," she recalled in a 2013 interview with Entertainment Weekly.
The network gave her scripts for "Buffy" and "Dawson's Creek," but the actor really wanted to be "Felicity," so she rejected the other offers. Although Lyonne has no regrets about losing out on "Buffy," she can't say the same for her mother. "I remember going to see my mother after 'Slums of Beverly Hills,'" Lyonne continued. "She was like, 'I told you two things: I told you to get your boobs done, and I told you to do 'Buffy.” Incidentally, I think Sarah Michelle Gellar is all-natural in that department."
Some unexpected stars that almost appeared in Buffy
But it wasn't just Hollywood stars who were considered for a role in "Buffy." Some hugely popular musicians almost appeared in small roles in the series, but their careers got in the way. This includes Jenny Lewis, best known for her band Rilo Kiley, who has also acted in films like "The Wizard" and "Pleasantville."
In 2013, Lewis tweeted at Whedon, "Remember when you wanted me to be a werewolf?" (via The A.V. Club). The indie rock star was likely being considered for the role of Veruca, a singer who seduces Willow's boyfriend Oz. The series creator confirmed that he did want Lewis on the show, but she was "busy doing the Frug," a Rilo Kiley single and music video.
Believe it or not, Britney Spears was also slated for a guest appearance on season 5 of "Buffy," but had to pull out of her role last minute due to scheduling conflicts. "It's not happening," co-executive producer Marti Noxon told TV Guide in 2000.
Although the pop star's press rep said that Spears "loves the show" and would "probably do it one day," she never did end up appearing in the series. The part that Spears was intended for was April, the robot girlfriend created by a basement-dwelling nerd with villainous aspirations.
"We had never seen [Spears] act at all," Whedon explained in a 2009 interview. "So I was like, well, we'll cover our bases, we'll write a show about a robot, and that way if she can't, we're fine!" Even though Spears didn't end up playing April, her interest in "Buffy" did inspire several characters that ended up being a major part of the show. "The creation of Warren our villain, the Buffybot — it all came from the fact that we thought Britney Spears was gonna be on the show," Whedon concluded.
Willow was not an easy get for Hannigan
It's a shame that Lynskey wasn't cast as Willow, but as she noted years later, the audition process was grueling. Gellar went through weeks of callbacks and screen tests before landing the lead role, or so she said in a 2002 interview. Meanwhile, Charisma Carpenter was running late to one of her callbacks for Cordelia and almost lost the part, as she revealed in a 2017 interview with Newsweek.
Hannigan also had a hard time with her "Buffy" audition. Even though she eventually ended up nabbing the role of Willow, it was pretty touch and go there for a second. The morning of one of her callbacks, Whedon added new lines to her scene that included lots of "computer jargon" that "didn't make any sense," the actor said in a 2020 interview with People. When it came time for Hannigan to perform, "the words just all started swimming," she recalled.
"I don't think I was speaking English at some point," the "American Pie" actor went on. "And then finally at some point I was like, 'I'm just gonna stop trying now,' and then I just looked up at them like, 'Okay, save me.' Joss later said, 'You couldn't say the words to save your life, but I knew right then and there, cuz the chemistry was just there." This moment bonded the future castmates forever. "Poor Sarah, she was like, 'This poor girl!'" the "How I Met Your Mother" star continued. "I remember their faces, like, 'What did you just do?'"
Lynskey would have made a great Willow, but who knows what she might have missed out on if she had done "Buffy?" Considering how successful she and Hannigan both are, it seems like it all worked out in the end.