Amanda Seyfried embodied the role of Karen in Mean Girls (2004). It is difficult to imagine any other actor playing the character. However, the character was supposed to go to another actor completely, and it is difficult to imagine her in the role.
Blake Lively was very close to being cast as Karen in the film, Seyfried revealed in an interview with Vanity Fair. The Mamma Mia! alum sat down to rewatch the highlights of her career, commenting on each character she played while revealing how close Blake Lively came to getting the now-famous role.
Amanda Seyfried embodied her character in real life
Seyfried thought about why she ultimately got the role, and why it wasn’t offered to Lively. One of the things that the actor hit on was that she embodies the character in real life. She said:
“I think I got Karen because I played that person in high school in order to stay out of the drama,”
Seyfried had not originally auditioned for Karen. While reading with the rest of the cast, she read for the role of Regina George. This version of the cast looked slightly different, with Lively reading for Karen. Linsday Lohan and Lacey Chabert were reading for the same characters that they eventually ended up playing on screen. Seyfried mentioned in the interview that the vibe of the set was productive and that all parties involved were keen on understanding the script, which they did:
“I remember the feeling of everyone really wanting to be there and really appreciating the ingenious of the script. I remember everybody having a lot of fun. There was just a vibe. They cast it right.”
Karen’s character allegedly suited Seyfried more. When she received a call back for her role, the production team informed her that they would like her to play a different character, which she immediately accepted:
“I flew home, and they were like, ‘We think you’re more correct for Karen.’ So I was like, ‘Oh God, okay, sure.’”
Lorne Michaels has gone on record to say that he preferred Seyfried’s version of the character, who he thought fit the “dumb girl” character better than Lively.
Blake Lively as Karen would have changed more than one project
Blake Lively established herself in Gossip Girl and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. The latter was released in 2005, while the former was released in 2007. If Lively were cast as Karen in the Mean Girls, her entire career could have looked significantly different. The actor was allegedly even in the final rounds of casting, but the producers of the film were still keen on looking for other talents for the role.
Serena van der Woodsen is the character that Lively plays in the CW series Gossip Girl. The character is starkly different from that of Karen, which leads a lot of fans to speculate how the character would have looked if Lively had played the role. Given that we have never seen the actress in such a role, it would be interesting to imagine a version of the film where Lively did end up getting the role, and how different it might have looked as a result.
