40 Facts Only True 'Veronica Mars' Super Fans Would Know
40 Facts Only True 'Veronica Mars' Super Fans Would Know
Marshmallows rejoice, because Veronica Mars is coming back July 26. The cult classic TV show will return for a limited run on Hulu. All of your favorite stars, including Kristen Bell herself, will be part of the eight episode series. While you're waiting for the crew to bless your screens again, brush up on your knowledge about the acclaimed hit.
Kristen Bell was the first person to audition for the lead role.
Kristen beat out 100 women to play the title role in the UPN-turned-CW hit. Creator Rob Thomas (not from Matchbox Twenty) said his "mind was blown" when she auditioned.
But Veronica was almost a male character.
I know, it's hard to imagine someone else as the teenage investigator. The original plan was to write a book first that had a male protagonist, but when it became a show, Rob thought a noir show with a female main character was more compelling. Can't argue with that.
Veronica was originally described as Angelina Jolie-like.
The original script for the show had this description of Veronica: "She is not cute. She is sexy. Tough. Prematurely jaded. Angelina Jolie at 17."
San Diego provided the backdrop for the fictitious town of Neptune.
Neptune High School is actually Oceanside High School, and Hearst College is San Diego State University. And the episode where the characters go to Cuba was filmed in a courtyard in the California city. Mind = blown.
Alona Tal almost played Veronica.
Alona was the second pick to play Veronica. Rob liked her so much that he gave her the custom role of Meg—remember the 09er who dated Duncan Kane after Veronica? Yeah, her.
Amanda Seyfried also auditioned for the title role.
Instead, she landed the prominent role of Lilly Kane, whose death acts as a catalyst for the rest of the series.
Lilly's death occurred on an iconic day.
In the show, Lilly's death happened on October 3—a.k.a. Mean Girls Day. Amanda starred in the hit movie months before the premiere of Veronica Mars. Coincidence? We think not.
Amanda appeared in a dozen episodes.
Despite being dead when the show began, Amanda was a recurring character on the series. She appears in most episodes of the first season, as well as a few in the second and third.
No one in the cast knew who killed Lilly.
It would make sense for the cast to know the biggest mystery of the season before filming, right? That wasn't the case. No one knew who killed Lilly while filming the season.
And the killer almost wasn't Aaron.
Harry Hamlin, the actor who plays Aaron, booked a film in Australia that conflicted with filming of the season 1 finale, so Rob almost had to change who killed Lilly at the last minute. But Harry turned the gig—and we're so glad he did.
The Echolls parents are married IRL.
Any Real Housewives of Beverly Hills fans out there? If so, you already know Lisa Rinna (who plays Lynn Echolls, Aaron Echolls' wife in Veronica Mars) is Harry's wife in real life. They got married in 1997, seven years before the premiere of Veronica Mars.
Only two characters appear in every episode.
One is Veronica (duh), and the other is her father, Keith (played by Enrico Colantoni).
The fandom's name stems from a line in the first episode.
In the first episode, Veronica's friend Wallace says this iconic line: "You're a marshmallow, Veronica Mars—a real Twinkie." Viewers latched on to the line and started calling themselves Marshmallows. You can even buy a laptop sticker with the line on it.
Jason Dohring auditioned for the role of Duncan.
Duncan and Logan could have been flip-flopped. Jason auditioned as Duncan and Teddy Dunn wanted to be Logan. Hard to picture, right?
Teddy initially turned down his part.
After being turned down for the role of Logan, Teddy turned down the part of Duncan two or three times. "He only had five lines in the whole [pilot] and we weren't really sure where it was going to go," Teddy told TV Guide. But Rob called Teddy personally to explain what he envisioned for the part, which convinced him to accept.
Jason and Teddy were color-coordinated.
UPN, the now-defunct network that aired Veronica Mars, thought Jason and Teddy looked too similar. Because of that, wardrobe dressed Duncan in blues and Logan in earth tones.
Jason thought Logan assaulted Veronica.
One of the biggest plot points of season 1 was figuring out who assaulted Veronica. Jason was sure it was his character Logan, which influenced his acting.
Veronica and Logan weren't supposed to get together.
Logan was originally intended to be the jerk of the show, but the on-screen chemistry between Kristen and Jason sparked the scripted romance. Rob told them six episodes into the series that they would end up together.
That chemistry translated into love for Jason.
"A lot of that emotion was very real for me. I think I was in love with (Kristen) for the three years we made that show. Like, I truly felt like I would die without her, and I think that's what underlined everything people loved about them as a couple," Jason told BuzzFeed. Swoon.
Piz was named after the director of the pilot episode.
Chris Lowell's character Stosh "Piz" Piznarski was named after Mark Piznarski, who directed the pilot episode.
There's a shout-out to the band who sings the theme song.
The Dandy Warhols provided the theme song, "We Used To Be Friends," and the set designer hid an Easter egg on Veronica's locker. The black circle with the banana in the middle is the band's album art for Welcome to the Monkey House.
Ryan Hansen was only supposed to be in one episode.
Ryan had one line as Dick Casablancas: "Logan." But Rob loved the character (and his hair) so much that he kept writing him into the script until he was promoted to a series regular.
The show almost didn't make it to season 2.
Veronica Mars did not fare well in its first season. It was actually the lowest-rated show on UPN to get a second season. There were shows that performed better that got the axe instead.
Everyone thought the show was canceled during season 2.
A press release circulated among the production staff that stated Veronica Mars had been canceled after two seasons. Everyone went to Rob, who assured them it would return for a third season.
Rob wrote for another popular teen drama.
Before Veronica Mars, Rob was in the writer's room for Dawson's Creek. After Veronica Mars, he went on to create iZombie and Party Down.
Rob could have left during season 2.
Rob got offered a writing position for a little show called Friday Night Lights. Fortunately (for us) he turned the offer down to stay on Veronica Mars.
Stephen King almost made a cameo.
Unfortunately, he was already booked. But he turned down the role in the nicest way possible: "We had a very kind note from (Stephen)," Rob told IGN. "He said, 'I'm actually booked at that time, but I love your show. Keep me in mind for other things.'"
Joss Whedon is a fan of the show.
The Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator was on the show as a car rental person at Lariat Rent-A-Car. He is a self-proclaimed Marshmallow.
That car rental establishment appears in several shows.
Lariat Rent-A-Car is predominantly featured in X-Files, but it was also in Breaking Bad, Supernatural, and Prison Break.
Two other guest stars are from 'Buffy.'
Alyson Hannigan and Charisma Carpenter both had guest roles on Veronica Mars. Alyson played Trina Echolls and Charisma starred as Kendall Casablancas.
Leighton Meester also guest starred.
Leighton made a guest appearance in the first season of Veronica Mars as Carrie Bishop. Three years later, Leighton went on to star on Gossip Girl, which also features Kristen as its narrator.
There's a subtle connection to 'Lost.'
In a season 2 episode titled "Donut Run," Veronica receives a fortune cookie with the lucky numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42. Fans of Lost will know those numbers by heart, because they're an important formula from the series. It's no coincidence, though: Rob wanted to give a subtle shout-out to the Lost team.
Paul Rudd was supposed to have a bigger role.
Paul was in one episode of Veronica Mars as washed-up musician Desmond Fellows, but the Ant-Man actor was originally in talks to play Vinnie Van Lowe, a fan-favorite character that was given to Ken Marino.
James Jordan played two different characters.
In season 2, he stars as Neptune High School janitor Lucky. In season 3, he is Tim Foyle.
Rob wrote the 'Veronica Mars' novels, too.
Usually the book comes first, but not in the case of Veronica Mars. The two accompanying novels were published in 2014, and the audiobooks were read by Kristen.
Rob had a plan for season 4.
He wanted to jump forward in time, when Veronica would be a rookie at the FBI. Rob wanted it to happen so badly that he created a 12-minute video of what that season would look like. Obviously, that didn't work, and Veronica Mars was canceled after its third season.
A Kickstarter campaign funded the movie.
In 2013, Rob created a Kickstarter campaign for a Veronica Mars movie. He wanted to raise $2 million in 30 days and ended up raising it in 11 hours. By the end of the campaign, more than 91,000 backers gave more than $5 million. The movie premiered March 14, 2014.
A basketball legend was in the writing room for the new season.
Kareem Adbul-Jabbar joined the team and helped with the script. The NBA's all-time leading scorer was confirmed as a contributor on Twitter.
The new Hulu series is supposed to be darker.
According to Kristen, the world is much darker, a lot bigger, and the show will address contemporary issues. The series will span eight episodes, each of which will be an hour long.
The unsatisfying ending of season 3 was planned.
Rob wanted to keep the series open-ended in hopes that it would be brought back. And, well, it worked...eventually.
The lead was originally supposed to be a guy.