YELLOWJACKETS star Melanie Lynskey was set to play Willow in BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER

It turns out that Yellow Jackets star Melanie Lynsky he was ready for a major role in the classic 90s fantasy/horror series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She recently revealed in an interview with EW that she had the chance to play Willow, Buffy’s best friend. However, at the time, she wasn’t really interested in getting on a TV show because she was TV. She explained:

“It was kind of a visa issue, but not really. I also wasn’t sure about doing television at the time. It was very early in my career. I had a very old-fashioned agent who was like, ‘TV? This is for it was!’ ‘ and I was like, ‘I don’t think it is anymore.’ Certainly things have really changed now, but I didn’t like it very much at the time.”

Lynskey actually has two opportunities to join the show. She discussed taking on the role of Willow and kept in contact with the creator Joss Whedon. The part initially ended up going to Riff Reagan, but after the pilot, they needed to recast the role and Lynskey went to audition for it. He spoke of that saying:

“I had dinner with Joss and I can’t remember if it was an offer or if it was like, ‘Would you come read for this?’ or whatever it was, but we kept in touch after that. I’d seen the pilot and I was like, ‘Oh, this is good.’ And then, it became this whole thing of, ‘Well, now you have to audition.’ So I auditioned. Then, ‘Oh, they didn’t like what you were wearing.’ It was a whole process.And then I didn’t get it!

Ultimately, the role went to Alyson Hannigan, who was absolutely perfect in the role of Willow. She was the right person for the job and it’s hard to imagine anyone else in her role. Melanie Lynskey added: ‘Alyson Hannigan got it, that she was absolutely wonderful and everything was [cast] as it should have been.”