The beloved early 2000s drama series could have looked greatly different if the actor had secured the role.
In a recent interview, the actor Jon Hamm - known for appearing in '30 Rock', 'Black Mirror', 'Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt' and of course 'Mad Men' - revealed that he auditioned for 'The O.C.', which could have been the actor's big break.
The teen drama series, which premiered in 2003 and ran for four seasons, starred Mischa Barton, Adam Brody, Ben McKenzie, and Rachel Bilson. However, it wasn't any of these younger roles that the actor was eyeing, but the older, fatherly role of Sandy Cohen.
Peter Gallagher from 'American Beauty' and 'While You Were Sleeping' went on to secure the part.
Hamm recalled to Rolling Stone on their 'Too Long; Didn’t Watch' podcast: "I was probably 31 or 32. I think it was me and Harry Hamlin [auditioning].
"I remember walking in and going, 'Is that Peter Gallagher? Why am I here?' I love Peter Gallagher, but I was just like, 'Dang!'"
The role eventually ended up going to Peter Gallagher, who was 16 years older than Hamm and looked more appropriate for the part."
In fact, if the very fabric of our current reality of TV shows could have been disrupted if Jon Hamm was given the role. Alright, maybe not, but the actor being cast in 'The O.C' would have had a knock-on effect for later roles for the actor. In particular, we might never have seen him as the suave Don Draper in 'Mad Men'.
Hamm went on to speak of his "in-between" age when he first got to LA and began auditioning for roles, saying: "I never looked young enough to be in high school, even when I first got out [to L.A.] and I was 25, so I missed out on all of the 'Dawson’s Creek' and all the early WB shows.
"So then they were like, 'Come play one of the dads,' but I wasn’t old enough to be that, either. I had to wait around a long time."
If you're looking for your next Jon Hamm fix on your screens, be sure to wait patiently for 'Wild Mountain Thyme' to become available in Ireland very soon.
