The roles of Gossip Girl’s Serena van der Woodsen and Chuck Bass could’ve gone to other actors … but Blake Lively and Ed Westwick slayed their auditions.
Fans are obsessing over the newly resurfaced audition tapes from the series co-stars, and for good reason. Check out both of them trying out below!
In the clips, the then-virtual unknown actors act out two separate scenes from the pilot episode, which aired all the way back in September 2007.
In Lively’s scene as Serena, she tries to make amends with her bestie Blair (a role ultimately won Leighton Meester) over a drink at Chuck’s hotel.
Westwick’s Chuck audition features him trying to seduce Serena in both an American and his native British accent for the hedonistic playboy heir.
The series ultimately decided to make him a born-and-raised New Yorker, which he played so well that fans didn’t know he was British for years.
“It was all about beauty and glamour, but being approachable and Blake was the ultimate It Girl,” CW casting director David Rapaport recently said.
Of Westwick, Rapaport added, “On a network like The CW, where beauty does come first a lot, and you’re selling the fantasy of this world.”
“It was a lot about the looks, so we had to balance that out with the guys and Ed Westwick wasn’t as traditionally handsome as Chace Crawford.
“But I found him much sexier and darker and edgier.”
Anyone who has listened to him say “I’m Chuck Bass” even once will no doubt agree. What are these two and the rest of the Gossip Girl cast up to now?
Check out the gallery below and find out!