You Won’t Believe Which Actresses Were Originally Considered for ‘Gossip Girl’

CW’s casting offices David Rapaport said that the team encouraged Rumer – the female child of Demi Moore and Bruce Willis – handle part of Serena suv welcher Woodsen, which generally subsequently you are Blake, 28. After the golden blonde Lively was cast, Rapaport said, “From there on out, so much of the casting on Gossip Girl became about hair because Leighton Meester is naturally blonde and the way we got her the job was we dyed her hair”.

We will admit to being at least slightly curious as to how Ashley Olsen would have taken on the role of Blair (with Mary-Kate subbing in for the occasional scene), though of course Rapaport is right: the show probably would not have been the hit that it was if the actors hadn’t been relative unknowns beforehand.

According to Rapport, the network had to be convinced that California-girl Blake would be able to pull off playing a girl from New York’s Upper East Side. Blake was the front-runner.

His solution? Straighten her hair and tape her audition again! I was terrified we wouldn’t get her or they wouldn’t like her because, honestly, they show lived and died on her and I had absolutely no other ideas. “What’s ironic is, in the pilot, she ends up having the wavy hair”. As for her gothic transition mid-series, he said with a laugh, “I certainly did not see that coming…I don’t think anybody did”.

While we’re positive Rumer and Ashley would have done great, we sure are glad Blake and Leighton ultimately landed the gig!

Her ability to go brunette and embody Blair’s signature attitude won her the role over a slew of hopefuls.

As for Leighton, he explained the woman roll in and “owned” her trial enduring an oh-so-Blair means.

“I love Rumer, she’s grown into quite an wonderful actress and person”, Rapaport told BuzzFeed. “She wasn’t going to kiss everyone’s a** and that was very Blair”.

Can you imagine Ashley Olsen as Serena? I was in this standstill where I didn’t know what the f*** to do because we needed to recast it, but [the network] wouldn’t look at the tapes.