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Could an actor who once played a vampire slayer pretend to be a vampire, too? Well, the creators of The Vampire Diaries wanted a famous one to play a blood-sucking creature in their show. Unfortunately for them, it didn’t end up happening. But which The Vampire Diaries character did the creators want to cast Sarah Michelle Gellar as?

Sarah Michelle Gellar, who was almost cast in 'The Vampire Diaries,' wears a jean jacket over a floral turtleneck.
Sarah Michelle Gellar | Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images

The creators of ‘The Vampire Diaries’ wanted to cast Sarah Michelle Gellar to play Rose

After the season 2 finale of The Vampire Diaries aired, Kevin Williamson, one of the show’s creators alongside Julie Plec, told Page Six that they wanted to cast Sarah Michelle Gellar to play Rose.

“Julie and I were trying to get Sarah Michelle Gellar to play Rose,” Williamson said. “Originally, me and my pipe dreams … had us trying to get Sarah Michelle Gellar for Rose. She was very appreciative but just said no. She was the only stunt casting we’d have ever agreed to [laughs].”

This wasn’t the first time Williamson and Plec dreamed big during the casting process for The Vampire Diaries. Williamson also “wanted Taylor Swift for Lexi.”

We imagine that The Vampire Diaries would look a lot different had Sarah Michelle Gellar and Taylor Swift played vampires in the show.

‘The Vampire Diaries’ cast Lauren Cohan as Rose

Instead of Sarah Michelle Gellar, Williamson and Plec cast Lauren Cohan to play Rose in The Vampire Diaries. So, the creators couldn’t complain too much.

The show first introduced Rose in season 2. She was born in 1450 and turned into a vampire in 1472. In 1492, Katerina Petrova, aka Katherine, was on the run from Niklaus Mikaelson, aka Klaus, because he wanted to use her as a sacrifice to end his hybrid curse. Rose and her vampire friend Trevor took Katerina in. But once they realized who she was, they decided they would turn her over to Klaus to avoid his wrath.

Unfortunately for Rose and Trevor, Katerina tricked Rose into feeding her her blood. Once alone, Katerina hung herself and woke up a vampire. Afterward, Rose and Trevor went on the run because they knew Klaus would kill them for inadvertently aiding Katerina’s escape.

In the present day, Rose and Trevor discovered the existence of Elena Gilbert, Katherine’s doppelgänger. They planned on turning her over to Klaus so they could stop running. However, when they did so, Klaus’ brother Elijah killed Trevor for his betrayal.

Later, Rose joined forces with the Salvatore brothers to stop Klaus. She briefly started a relationship with Damon. But Jules, a werewolf, bit Rose and Damon killed her to put her out of her misery. The Vampire Diaries fans can only imagine what would have been done with the character had Sarah Michelle Gellar been cast for the part.

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Sarah Michelle Gellar starred in ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’

It’s clear that the creators of The Vampire Diaries wanted to cast Sarah Michelle Gellar to play a vampire because of her iconic role in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

From 1997 to 2003, Gellar played Buffy Summers, the “Slayer.” Buffy is fated to fight supernatural beings, including vampires. This role is undoubtedly one that Gellar is famous for, and it would’ve been interesting to see her play the other side of things as a vampire in The Vampire Diaries.

All eight seasons of The Vampire Diaries are currently streaming on Netflix. And all seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer are currently streaming on Hulu.

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