As covered here before; often, actresses and actors originally cast for a TV series that goes on to become a hit, don’t survive the pilot. Most reasons for the recasting (or in some cases, the elimination of the character) could be a contract with another show they can’t get out of, a clash with other members of the cast or production crew, or most commonly, the person originally cast just wasn’t a good fit, which was the case with the casting of Riff Regan as “Willow Rosenberg” in the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Here for your viewing pleasure, we have the original unaired pilot with Riff playing Willow, one of Buffy’s inner circle of friends called the “Scooby Gang,” also sometimes self-dubbed the “Slayerettes.” The network execs felt Riff didn’t have the right chemistry with the rest of the cast and her portrayal of Willow didn’t capture the character as intended, so the the part of Willow was recast with Alyson Hannigan in the role and the rest is cult TV show history.
Of course, the film predated the TV show by four years with Kristy Swanson starring in the big screen version, so for those wondering why Kristy didn’t reprise her role in the small screen version, there were several reasons for that. Mainly, Kristy was in her late-20s by the time the TV series was being cast and she was deemed too old to be playing the teenage Buffy. Sarah Michelle Gellar was 20 when she was cast as Buffy and was just a much better fit.
About the author
Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Chris flirted with the music business there and in Nashville before joining the U.S. Army and serving in South Korea. He remained in Asia for several years afterwards, teaching English, traveling, and covering the regional entertainment scenes. Currently in a mindset between Seoul and San Francisco, besides Idol Features, you can also catch his writings in the print edition of the monthly magazine, Effective.
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