These TV stars completely failed their audition

13/08/2020

Can't imagine your favorite show without its main star? We feel you. And yet, many of those leading actors had initially completely missed out on their audition... before providence comes by and allows them to finally get the part. Here are six pieces of evidence.

Ian Somerhalder - The Vampire Diaries

Ian Somerhalder

We're not kidding. The Vampire Diaries could have had a whole different Damon, since Ian Somerhalder had completely bombed his audition for the cult role. In a 2012 interview, he said: "I knew this was my role. I wanted this role. Besides, everyone wanted this role, it was the one pilot to land at the time. But I don't know whether it was too much coffee, that B12 shot I gave myself, who knows. I choked in the network test. I bombed it. I was too nervous, all over the place. I remember at the end seeing Kevin Williamson and he said, "Yeah. That wasn't good". I was still given a second chance because Kevin insisted on the team and then I could show more focus."
Hence, let's thank Kevin Williamson, without whom The Vampire Diaries could have had a completely different face.

Lea Michele - Glee



Lea Michele

It is a bit of a different story for Lea Michele. While auditioning for Rachel's part on Glee, the actress had to do a small singing test, accompanied by a pianist. The latter missed a note, that reportedly unsettling her a great deal. Lea Michele would then get angry, in a way fans of Rachel and the show are very familiar with. This reaction made the casting directors laugh a lot (minus the pianist, we guess), so much so that they decided to offer her the role, emphasizing this character trait so that she could replicate it on Rachel.

Leighton Meester - Gossip Girl
Leighton Meester

Did you know? Leighton Meester initially took part in Gossip Girls auditions... for Serena's role! When it came time to audition though, Josh Schwartz found that the actress did not quite match the character that was later embodied by Blake Lively. He therefore offered a deal to Leighton Meester: "I'll give you 5 minutes to convince me that you would be a great Blair". So, the actress reportedly ran to the grocery store across the street to get a brown hair color and look more like the most famous mean girl on the small screen. This daring move delighted the showrunner!

Jon Hamm - Mad Men
Jon Hamm

Mad Men's amazing Don Draper told Metro UK magazine he has never had such a hard time getting a role. Yes, in order to be able to embody the character, Jon Hamm spent no less than... 8 auditions! "It was stressful, but it was exciting. Each audition, you can't have a bad day. You can't follow an off in one of the auditions and suddenly they're like, "Oh come back." They're like, "Oh I guess you suck, so leave." Oh, you know the rest.

Sophia Bush - One Tree Hill
Sophia Bush

Sophia Bush tells very often how she was rejected for One Tree Hill, twice. The reasons for that will definitely amaze you. Her first miss? Because the showrunner found she was "not sexy enough" to play Brooke Davis. What about the second? Well this time around, she was "way too sexy".
The young woman therefore found a middle ground so that she could secure the part and go on to play Brooke Davis to perfection.

Iwan Rheon - Game of Thrones
Iwan Rheon

Just imagine Jon Snow... but it is Iwan Rheon's face. Hard to imagine, isn't it? And yet, the actor, that had his breakthrough role in Misfits at the time, first attended the Game of Thrones auditions to play the most popular bastard son on TV.
The casting directors didn't think he fit the role enough, yet they loved his performance so much that they called him back a few months later to offer him the part of the show's biggest psychopath: Ramsay Bolton. A not-so-bad audition, then.

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