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Gossip Girl Almost Cast Two VERY Different Stars In The Lead Roles

Our favourite onscreen BFFs Blair and Serena almost never happened. Photo: CW Network

There was SO much to love about Gossip Girl—so much that it still remains one of our all-time favourite shows—but it could have been a whole different story had the CW Network got their way when casting the lead roles for the show.

In an interview with Buzzfeed, CW casting director David Rapaport revealed details about the search for the two pivotal female characters, Blair Waldorf and Serena van der Woodsen, admitting there had originally been a couple of high-profile names in the mix.

"I think the network initially pitched us Ashley Olsen and Rumer Willis for Blair and Serena," said Rapaport.

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Ashley Olsen and Rumer Willis were the actresses the network wanted to star as Blair and Serena. Photos: Getty Images

"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 [Lively and Meester] really captured the essence of the show and carried it for six years.”

However thankfully Rapaport had a strong vision for the two roles admitting that Blake was the only actress he could imagine playing Serena.

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"Blake Lively was literally the only person I could think of for Serena," he said.

"I had seen her in [2006’s] Accepted and at that time, there were no Lena Dunhams or Zooey Deschanels—it was all about beauty and glamour, but being approachable and Blake was the ultimate It Girl. 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. And I read so many people. I think at the end of the day, we tested Blake, Katie Cassidy, who is now on Arrow, and this girl who was [Serena] on the Gossip Girl books. Not even her face, just her legs. But it made sense."

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As for Leighton, by the sounds of it she embodied Blair from the moment she walked in the room...

"Leighton is a little bit colder than Blake but I like that," he said.

"A lot of actors come in and want to please me and are super-kind [and] trying to be my best friend and they flirt and the whole thing, and that’s great, but I look for people to come in and be professional and to be kind and courteous. I’m not looking for you to love me; I’m looking for your personality. I’m looking for your uniqueness, so to speak. And Leighton wasn’t a bitch when she came in, but she wasn’t overly nice or overly generous. She was professional and she did the job and 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."

And the rest as they say, is history.

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