13 Actors Who Almost Landed Iconic Sitcom Roles
![13 Actors Who Almost Landed Iconic Sitcom Roles](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/9/1/766791_320x180.jpg)
There's a lot of great television out there and even more interesting back stories on shows and roles that almost were. As many great shows as there are, there are just as many eager actors auditioning for them. If some of these roles had gotten filled, the history of your favorite series may have ended up quite differently.
For example, the Vince Vaughn almost landed the role of universally beloved Joey from Friends. If Vaughn had landed it, who knows if the long running series would have prevented him from starring in as many comedic roles as he did.
Rainn Wilson, who everyone knows as Dwight from The Office almost became Gob on Arrested Development. Fortunately for both shows, he was passed over for the role.
In the Sitcom Alternate Universe, Seth Rogan was an Assistant to the Regional Manager and William H. Macy was a cartoon dog.
Want to learn about more actors who almost landed iconic sitcom roles? Scroll on down!
![WILLIAM H MACY FAMILY GUY CRACKED CON Seth MacFarlane decided to bypass Macy for the role of Brian and go with ... Seth MacFarlane. I look back and I'm like, 'How cocky and arrogant must I have been at 24 to have Bill Macy audition and go, 'You know what? I don't](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/9/9/766799.jpg)
![VINCE VAUGHN LOMPEAT CRUNCH FRIENDS A Friends casting director remembers Vaughn as handsome and tall, enough to make him a finalist for Joey but not enough to land the part. Vaughn's Swingers costar, Jon Favreau, turned down the role of Chandler Bing.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/9/5/766795.jpg)
![TIFFANI AMBER H5SSEN FRIENDS Thiessen, fresh off Saved by the Bell, was only 20 when she auditioned to play Rachel on Friends. I was a little too young to the pairing of the rest of them. Aniston, at 25, was the youngest actor actually cast.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/3/767523.jpg)
![SETH ROGAN THE OFFICE O God invented Youtube sO we can watch audition tapes of actors who didn't land the role. Check out Rogan, playing it relatively straight in his screen test for Dwight. (OK, he was probably high AF-.)](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/0/4/766804.jpg)
![RAINN WILSON ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT CRACKED COM Casting Wilson as inept illusionist Gob would arguably have weakened two shows: No Will Arnett on Arrested Development and no Rainn-as-Dwight on The Office. Sometimes, things just work out.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/0/3/766803.jpg)
![MATTHEW BR ICK FAMILY TIES ALEX P KEATON AO GRACKED.COM I was always losing jobs to Matthew Broderick,s says Michael J. Fox. He lost this one too, with producers offering Broderick the Alex P. Keaton gig. When Ferris Bueller turned them down, Fox landed the part that would win him](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/9/6/766796.jpg)
![MATT BLANC MODERN FAMILY LeBlanc turned down the Phil Dunphy role. I remember reading it thinking, this is a really good script, (but) I'm not the guy for this, LeBlanc said. I'd be doing the project an injustice to take this. Self-awareness for the win!](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/0/6/766806.jpg)
![LUCY HALE HANNA MONTANA ANNC ONTN Hale's first ever audition was for Hannah Montana but she likely wasn't close to getting the part. It was a couple of years before they had found Miley, SO the show was around for a while, says Hale. No word on whether she](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/0/8/766808.jpg)
![JOHN LITH CHEERS Lithgow, coming off two Oscar nominations, wanted nothing to do with Frasier Crane. A TV comedy series was so beneath my dignity that I barely even remember being told it was offered to me, says the man who starred on Third Rock from the Sun.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/9/4/766794.jpg)
![JENNIFER LOVE HEWITIT HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER In a Reddit AMA, show creators Craig Thomas and Carter Bay revealed that Hewitt was their first choice to play Robin Scherbatsky. But JLH chose to whisper to ghosts instead.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/0/5/766805.jpg)
![ELLEN DEGENERES FRIENDS Did Ellen actually turn down the role of Phoebe?. She tells Howard Stern no, though several outlets report otherwise. Other alternate- universe Phoebes: Jane Lynch and Kathy Griffin.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/0/1/766801.jpg)
![DANNY DEVITO SEINFELD Jason Alexander revealed that several actors (Chris Rock!) were considered for George, including an offer to Danny Devito. For whatever reason, Che] didn't take it, says the grateful Alexander. He probably didn't want to take a sidekick role.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/9/8/766798.jpg)
![BOB ODENKIRK THE OFFICE WORLD'S Odenkirk was actually cast as Michael scott when The Office was presented to NBC. When Steve Carrell's NBC series Come to Papa was cancelled after four episodes, Odenkirk was kicked to the curb. The happy ending was Saul Goodman on Breaking Bad.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/9/7/766797.jpg)