Natasha Lyonne Nearly Starred In The Greatest Teen Show
Natasha Lyonne was almost cast as Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
For every iconic role, there’s an actor or actress who didn’t get the part. For instance, Tom Selleck almost played Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Johnny Depp was considered for playing Ferris Bueller in Ferris Bueller’s day off, and John Cusack was a candidate for the role of Walter White in Breaking Bad. Thanks to an interview with Hollywood Reporter, we can now add Poker Face star Natasha Lyonne to the list; she tried out for the role of Sabrina in Sabrina the Teenage Witch but failed to land the part.
For those who didn’t grow up in the 90s, Sabrina the Teenage Witch was a huge deal in its time, running for seven seasons that spanned 163 episodes and three TV movies before finally going off the air in 2003. The role Natasha Lyonne failed to get went to Melissa Joan Hart, who played Sabrina — a high school girl who, at the age of 16, learned that she was born with extremely powerful magic. The episodes generally revolved around typical high school situations turning into magic-fueled catastrophes thanks to Sabrina’s irresponsible use of her powers.
The show joined Boy Meets World as the centerpiece of ABC’s much-beloved kids’ programming block, TGIF, which ran during prime time on fridays. The show was involved in crossovers and special events for the block, including one event where Sabrina accidentally sent the characters of every show back in time. To say that landing the role would have been a big deal for Natasha Lyonne is an understatement.
After failing to get the part, Natasha Lyonne’s career went in a bit of a different direction. In 1998, she starred in the R-Rated dark comedy Slums of Beverly Hills, then moved on to appear in the sex comedy American Pie the next year, along with several of its sequels.
While the course of Natasha Lyonne’s career went in a more adult-oriented direction, Melissa Joan Hart nearly fell off the radar after Sabrina the Teenage Witch went off the air in 2003. For the next ten years, she would only guest star in TV shows and appear in little-known movies such as the horror film Nine Dead and the comedies Satin and Jesus, Mary and Joey. Those last two movies flew so far under the radar that they don’t even have Wikipedia pages.
Sabrina the Teenage Witch isn’t the only role that Natasha Lyonne wishes she had landed. She also tried out for Blossom Russo in the sitcom Blossom. The role instead went to Mayim Bialik, who went on to play the role of Amy Farrah Fowler in The Big Bang Theory.
These days, Natasha Lyonne is perhaps best known for playing the role of Nicky Nichols in Netflix’s Orange is the New Black and her current role of Charlie Cale in the Peacock series Poker Face. Lyonne is, notably, also the executive producer of Poker Face, a role she previously held for another TV series she starred in, Russian Doll.
