All actors have to start somewhere when they want to break into the industry, and that means getting cast in smaller roles to build up to their big break. And because Gilmore Girls started in 2000, it means there are a countless amount of struggling actors that had the possibility of being on a WB-turned CW show, only to become familiar faces 16 years later. Click on the link below to refresh your brains on the many unexpected guest stars that came in and out of the Gilmore world.
Nick Offerman (Season 4, Episode 7 and Season 6, Episode 4)
Although Offerman is capable of playing more than just shades of Ron Swanson, how perfect is it that his Gilmore role was Beau Belleville, big brother to resident farmer Jackson?
Max Greenfield (Season 4, Episode 4)
Pre-Schmidt, this New Girl star was filling up the Douchebag Jar as Lucas, a drunk friend at Dean’s bachelor party.
You’re probably either two days into your Gilmore Girls binge, or waiting to launch it til over the weekend. A few symptoms that you need to take a break from Stars Hollow: are you snacking constantly? Running on excessive amounts of coffee? Talking really, really fast? And finally: do you think you see celebrities everywhere you turn? Because it seems like every few episodes in Gilmore Girls, you’re catching either a cameo from an established celeb or a before-they-were-famous guest spot. Here are just a few:
Madeleine Albright (Season 6, Episode 7)
Look. If you’re trying to get someone on board with Gilmore Girls, just try the following phrase: “dream sequence with Madeleine Albright.” I’ve seen the episode, but still don’t quite understand why or how this happened.
Christiane Amanpour (Season 7, Episode 22)
Amanpour was Rory’s hero throughout college, so it was only fitting that the journalist herself had a guest spot on the finale. After all, Rory’s dream was to be Amanpour, whereas my college dream was simply to someday be a person with a job. And I did it – so hold fast to your dreams, kiddos.
Paul Anka (Season 6, Episode 18)
To be fair, there were a few Paul Ankas on Gilmore Girls (again, reasons you should be watching this show if you haven’t seen it already. Or even if you have). While Paul Anka The Dog had more frequent appearances, Paul Anka The Human showed up in – you guessed it! – a dream sequence. Why didn’t we think it was weird that season 6 was chock full of plus-aged celebs starring in the Lorelai’s dreams?
Adam Brody (Season 3, Episodes 3 onwards)
I could be wrong, but it seems like the same actors are on all of our Whatareyoudoinghere features – like all of these folks were making the network/cable rounds in the early 2000s, just waiting for their lives to start. Adam Brody, Jane Lynch, Jon Hamm… you get the gist. Before he stole our hearts as Seth Cohen, Brody stole Lane Kim’s heart as Dave Rygalski. He was in her band until he had to go off to college…. in California.
Sherilyn Fenn (Season 3 Episode 21, and Seasons 6 and 7)
Here’s where Gilmore Girls goes all Law And Order. Fenn appeared in three seasons of Gilmore Girls, playing two different characters. In Season 3, she guested as Sasha, Jimmy Mariano’s girlfriend. And a few seasons later, she was Anna Nardini, Luke’s baby mama. Last year I was trying to get into Twin Peaks and I realized I knew Audrey Horne from somewhere. But where? Well, it’s not surprising that it was hard to pin down, since she was two different characters and all.
Max Greenfield (Season 4, Episode 4)
Pre-Schmidt, this New Girl star was filling up the Douchebag Jar as Lucas, a drunk friend at Dean’s bachelor party.
Jon Hamm (Season 3, Episode 5)
Appearing as a pre-Don Draper Don Draper-type, Hamm played Peyton Sanders, a flash-in-the-pan love interest of Lorelai. This was over a decade ago, so it shouldn’t be shocking that Hamm was so baby-faced here, right?
Victoria Justice (Season 4, Episode 3)
If you need further proof that the teen sensations of today are really, depressingly young, look no further than Victoria Justice’s guest spot on Gilmore Girls. We’re still trying to cope with the fact that this show started literally half our lives ago, but we can’t deny it when we look at tiny baby Victoria acting opposite Melissa McCarthy. This girl is DRINKING AGE now, everybody. Sunrise, sunset.
Carole King (Season 2, Episode 20; Season 5, Episode 18; Season 6, Episode 10)
Granted, King is technically in every episode of Gilmore Girls. But it went beyond the theme song – she had an acting role as Sophie, owner of Stars Hollow’s (only?) music store.
Traci Lords (Season 4, Episode 5)
If you were watching Lords as interior designer Natalie Zimmerman, and thinking “wait, I know her from somewhere”: Porn. You know her from porn. So I hope you didn’t cop to that one out loud.
Jane Lynch (Season 1, Episode 10)
Is there one of these lists that Jane Lynch hasn’t made? Lynch made a brief appearance as a nurse when Richard landed in the hospital with Heart Attack Numero Uno.
Seth MacFarlane (Season 2, Episode 21)
You’d be forgiven for not recognizing MacFarlane’s face, since he’s usually a disembodied voice on bro-ish Fox cartoons. However, he also appeared as Lorelai’s classmate on her graduation day. Fun fact: Family Guy’s Alex Borstein also appeared in this episode (shame Rory missed it). For keen listeners, Seth also provides the voice of Bob Merriam (the lawyer who calls Lorelai on her answering machine) in season 3, episode 11, I Solemnly Swear.
Norman Mailer (Season 5, Episode 6)
This may have been a brief guest role, but Gilmore Girls viewers are unlikely to forget Mailer’s cameo as himself… because they must have said “Norman Mailer” 500 times in that episode. When you think about it, running an inn/restaurant is the smartest way to shoehorn in cameo appearances that otherwise wouldn’t make sense. Well, that and dream sequences, but that was more of a season 6 thing.
Chad Michael Murray (Season 1)
Like many hearthrobs of the 90s and early 2000s, Murray is an actor so nice, they named him thrice. I really do always forget that Gilmore Girls began as long ago as it did, but Murray’s turn as assy Chiltonhead Tristan DuGray (hello, made-up-sounding typical rich boy name!) predated his turn on One Tree Hill by a few years, and was even a year before he appeared on Dawson’s Creek.
Nick Offerman (Season 4, Episode 7 and Season 6, Episode 4)
Although Offerman is capable of playing more than just shades of Ron Swanson, how perfect is it that his Gilmore role was Beau Belleville, big brother to resident farmer Jackson?
Danny Pudi (Season 6, Episode 13 & 14; Season 7, Episode 6 & 7)
From Yale to community college? Well, yes. Pudi was Raj, Rory’s associate on the paper.
Krysten Ritter (Season 7, Episodes 4 Onwards)
After Veronica Mars, before Don’t Trust The B–, Ritter played Lucy, Rory’s acting major pal at Yale. It’s nice the performing arts community accepted Rory after the whole, you know, ballet debacle.
Danny Strong
Danny Strong is finally getting his due, but for years he was “that little guy on that show.” Like actress/vampire Bianca Lawson, Strong started off playing a teen on Saved By The Bell: The New Class, and then played a teen on Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and eventually landed on The CW/WB. By the time he was on Gilmore Girls playing Paris’s boyfriend Doyle, Strong had finally aged up to “college student” on TV – but in real life, he was 33 years old. Would it be weird to write him asking for his diet/sleep/exercise routine so that people stop calling me “ma’am” at 28?
*2016 Update: NBD, but he co-created a little show called Empire. Or as Amy Sherman-Palladino said about him at the ATX Television Festival, “I love that Danny, between The Butler and (Empire) has become the voice of Black America. It’s the weirdest… finally they found somebody to speak for them!”
Rami Malek (Season 4, Episode 11)
*2016 Update: Rami, as Andy, was a huge advocate of Assistant Pastor Eric when he was one of Lane’s Seventh Day Adventist classmates, but now he’s busy being a hacker and winning Emmys thanks to Mr. Robot.
Nasim Pedrad (Season 6, Episode 16)
*2016 Update: I had no idea Nasim was on GG until like, a year, ago. Her scene was super short and because I’ve watched all these episodes so many times, I tend to not pay attention as much to details. Anyways, she quickly waited on a v drunk Rory after a dramatic fight with Logan. At the time, Nasim only had two other credits to her name. Now she has five seasons of SNL under her belt, which is not too shabby at all.
Abigail Spencer Pedrad (Season 6, Episode 16)
*2016 Update: In that very same episode, Abigail Spencer, that woman you’ve seen in multiple things but can never remember what (Formerly Rectify, currently Timeless), played Megan, one of the bridesmaids that stir shit up during Logan’s sister’s wedding.
Masi Oka (Season 2, Episode 4)
*2016 Update: Did Masi Oka use his Heroes time-travel skills to appear in this ep with Alexis? He played a Harvard student who got in a nerdy debate with Rory after she snuck into a class. Lo and behold, he ended up sharing the screen with another GG alum, Milo Ventimiglia, in Heroes a few years later.
Rejoice, Marshmallows! Today is the day we have been waiting for for seven years. With all the press and cast appearances over the past couple weeks, it’s easy to forget that this isn’t just a regular movie. It’s a groundbreaking movie that would literally never have happened if not for a huge group of fans never came together in the spirit of seeing fictional characters who we once thought were gone forever come back to life (for possibly) one last time.
It took 91,585 contributors, $5,702,153 of hard earned cash and 24 days of filming to create a film which will hopefully provide the kind of closure and fulfillment we never got at the end of the series. I, for one, am confident that creator/executive producer/writer/all around genius Rob Thomas has not gone off the rails and has indeed made a film that will leave VMars believers and non-believers completely entertained and satisfied. That being said, there are a few things to look out for when watching the movie (which you should probs do this weekend) .
To get us fully in the Neptune mood, press play and read on…
The Bitch is Back
Be cool, sodapop, Veronica Mars without the snarkiness is not Veronica Mars at all. Kristen has assured that there is the same amazing wit and sass that is the very foundation of V Mars will have its return on the big screen. In fact, everything we love about her is still in tact 10 years later. Veronica was, and still is, one of the rare female characters on TV who is a headstrong, independent, go-getter who isn’t afraid of, well, anyone.
For the uninitiated, Veronica Mars isn’t just a teen drama. On the surface, it may just look like a UPN/WB/CW show with a pretty blonde girl as the lead, all centered on who she’s going to date next. But just like the lead character itself, the series was so much more than that, dealing with issues like feminism, classism, parental relationships (or sometimes lack thereof), race, and more.
Veronica is a kick ass heroine who is fearless, yet vulnerable, a leader and not afraid to be her true self. We need more of these types of role models for young girls, and I’m glad she’s coming back in full force.
Mars vs. Mars
If there’s one episode to re-watch before seeing the movie, it’s from season one, episode 14, titled Mars vs. Mars. In the ep, there are a few things of note: A) Ben Wyatt/Adam Scott plays teacher Mr. Rooks. B) Blair Waldorf/Leighton Meester plays student Carrie Bishop. C) Carrie accuses Mr. Rooks of getting her pregnant (she gave the baby up for adoption), but Veronica solves the case by figuring out it wasn’t Carrie but rather her BFF Susan Knight who got knocked up by Mr. Rooks.
Why is this important? Apparently this Carrie/Susan/Mr. Rooks situation sets off a chain of events that eventually results in the deaths of BOTH Susan and Carrie. In the movie, Carrie becomes a pop singer, and her boyfriend, Logan Echolls, is the main suspect. Of course he calls the one person who can actually clear his name – ex-girlfriend Veronica.
Blast From The Past
Unfortunately for us, Adam nor Leighton reprised their roles for movie. However, there will be a bunch of returning characters from the series that fans of the show will be more than pleased to see back in Neptune.
For example, we have Vinnie Van Lowe, a rival private investigator played by the hilarious Ken Marino. This is probably one of my favorite scenes with him, and perhaps in the entire series.
Of course we can’t forget the lovable yet quirky Gia Goodman played by a pre-Breaking Bad Krysten Ritter. While she was only in season two, her dad WAS played by a sketchy Steve Guttenberg, so I mean, worth it.
And who could forget, Schmidt himself, Max Greenfield as the charming and smiley Deputy Leo. So I didn’t watch VM while it was on the air, I was one of those fans who binge-watched it all on Netflix. I thought Leo was the cutest and so damn likable, that when I saw him a few months later as this guy, I thought it was insane it was the same actor. Classic Schmidt.
Plus, a bunch of the old high school gang is coming back. It is a 10 year reunion after all. So count in Corny, Madison Sinclair and Principal Van Clemmons to the list, and a few favorites from around town, including public defender Cliff McCormack, Deputy Sacks and *minor spoiler alert* Celeste Kane (aka Lilly and Duncan’s mother).
Oh, and expect some more random cameos from little known celebs like Jamie Lee Curtis, James Franco and Dax Shepard (#1 VMars fan).
You Think You Know Somebody
Speaking of guest stars, Veronica Mars the TV show rivaled series like Arrested Development in scoring surprising cameos, but in reverse, in that they cast all actors who have since become more famous. Like Adam Scott and Leighton Meester, there are a bunch of people who showed up pre-height of fame, Amanda Seyfried (Veronica’s murdered BFF, Lilly Kane, star of Mamma Mia! and Mean Girls), Lucas Grabeel (the “straight” guy from High School Musical) and Dianna Agron (Glee).
But then you also have some more notable names like these guys. (You can find the rest in a previous post here!)
Aaron Paul
Season 1, Episode 11
Before he was a maker of meth, Jesse Pinkman was accused to being a serial killer. So I mean, he has a history of playing troubled characters (RIP Gale).
JTT
Season 1, Episode 18
I was never one of those girls who fawned over JTT. I didn’t get it. Still don’t. Which is why that although I appreciate his rare TV appearance on a UPN show in 2005, I remember his guest starring role mostly because this was the first episode where Veronica and Logan kissed. I mean he played an ATF agent who went undercover as a high school student, so that was cool, I guess. But VERONICA AND LOGAN!! They had an epic kind of love, you know? One that spanned years and continents. Lives ruined, bloodshed, epic.
Rider Strong
Season 3, Episode 2
Good old Shawn Hunter played an asshole classmate of Logan and Wallace in a college class, where they participated in some prison experiment. IDK, basically he made the kid from Freaks and Geeks pee his pants.
Matt Czuchry
Season 3, Episode 4
Logan Huntzberger from my fave Gilmore Girls uses his reporter skills as he pretends to be Logan Echolls’ half-brother just to get a story. Whoa, that got confusing even for me. Again, forget about Matt for a sec because this was a great episode for Jason Dohring who got to show his dramatic side after he found out he still didn’t come close to getting to know his half-brother.
Welcome Wagon
Like it’s been stated multiple times before, this movie was made by Kickstarter backers. Some who were able to give a bit more money earned spots as extras on the movie. Last night, I attended the Veronica Mars panel at the annual PaleyFest here in Los Angeles, which is basically a nearly 2 week television festival, where shows from past and present get together and usually screen something, then there’s a discussion and Q&A with cast and writers after.
horrible picture, but you get the point
Obviously they couldn’t show the movie, and showing an episode wasn’t as exciting, so they premiered a documentary which was made by a former student of Rob Thomas (He used to be a high school teacher. Explains a lot, no?) that gave a behind the scenes look from exactly one year ago, on March 13, 2013, when he launched the Kickstarter campaign, to filming the movie and fan events like at ComicCon. Aptly titled By the Fans, the doc included interviews not only by the cast and producers, but from the fans as well. One thing that was apparent not only in the documentary, but during the panel last night, was that they were totally cognizant and grateful for all 91,000 + fans for giving money just so they could make this movie. As Kristen said, “We’re not flippant about this movie that was made by the fans. I mean that’s fucking radical.”
And it showed when the fans/extras were on set too. The cast ate lunch with them, had actual conversations, took pictures, signed stuff, it looked really cool. My favorite was the story of these two BFFs – long story short, BFF 1 literally was in tears when she found out BFF 2 bought her a Kickstarter reward as an extra for a present. When they were being interviewed on set, Jason Dohring was approaching off camera, and they totally fangirled out but played it cool and were like, ‘Oh it’s Jason Dohring. He’s right there.’ THEN JASON DOHRING CAME OVER and again played it cool, but when he walked away they freaked out and embraced each other and wept. I can’t. All the cast looked so genuine when meeting the backers, it was really nice to see. And hopefully it comes across on screen too.
“The difference between regular fans and Veronica Mars fans is… I only have Veronica Mars fans.” – Ryan Hansen
Weevils Wobble But They Don’t Go Down
Okay, so I know Rob Thomas couldn’t possibly add everything fans are clamoring for in the movie. Mostly because it wouldn’t make sense. But there are a few things I’m hoping will come up in the movie that keen-eyed fans will recognize…
– Sly reference to Steve Guttenberg. Just, Steve Guttenberg. Everything about him, you guys.
– Any sign of Logan’s iconic yellow Jeep would be fantastic. And if Logan and Veronica happen to be making out in it, then that’s fine too.
– Some kind of memorial to Beaver Cassidy (RIP)
– Dialogue about Duncan being in Australia with a kidnapped child. He was one of the most popular kids at Neptune High, there’s no way no one is asking where he is now.
– Anything with Backup the dog.
– Veronica bakes Wallace anything.
Credit Where Credit’s Due
Listen, besides us (the backers) the idea of a movie would never had been kept alive if it weren’t for Rob Thomas, Kristen and the rest of the cast believing in a reincarnation after all these years. And it helps that all the cast likes each other too. I’ve read some bad stories of cast members just not meshing well, and it totally bums me out and ruins the illusion that they like each other on screen. That being said, the VMars cast actually do hang out, go on vacations together, essentially are all in love with each other and I love it.
Ruskie Business
Kristen: “My body wants to be Veronica like it needs oxygen… I’m 100% me in Veronica.”
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.”
Well guys, I saved the best for last. LoVe (That’s Logan+Veronica for you non-shippers) is coming back with a vengence in the movie. Like previously mentioned, Logan enlists Veronica’s help to prove he’s not guilty of killing his girlfriend. But I mean, that’s like practically setting it up for them to get together in the movie, right?
While some may argue that Logan is a bad boy who is horrible, and Veronica’s college BF Piz is much better (because you know, he hasn’t like committed crimes or anything), it’s LoVe’s chemistry that is just so off the charts it’s insane not to root for them. But will they make it through the movie?? We’ll just have to find out for ourselves.
I was one of those latecomers that only got into Veronica Mars when was available on Netflix Instant a year or two ago. I was immediately hooked, and scolded myself for judging the show by its name (Veronica MARS who lived in NEPTUNE??? Def some kind of sci-fi show I wasn’t interested in). But fast forward to my Netflix marathon days and I watched eps nonstop, then proceeded to purchase the DVDs once they took it off instant.
Anyways, from the beginning, I noticed that a lot of random celebs appeared on VMars. Some were famous before the show, and some reached their fame after their appearance. The obvious one is Amanda Seyfried, who played Lilly Kane, Veronica’s bestie, Duncan’s brother, and Logan’s main boo. Oh and she was mysteriously killed, so pretty much the all of season one and season two focus on her murder. Ugh Harry Hamlin.
Because of the future Mamma Mia star, I proceeded to make a list of some notable names who I was surprised to see in Neptune.
PS: gold star and +50 points if you got the Californians ref in the post title.
Paris Hilton
Season 1, Episode 2
Props to Paris for signing up to be a guest star so early on in the show. Although she probs would’ve taken any role she was given money for, so nevermind. I will admit that I was super jeal of her because she played Logan’s new GF. Logan *sigh*
Jessica Chastain
Season 1, Episode 7
Jessica was recently on Jay Leno recalling how although it seems like she’s an overnight Oscar nominee, she graduated from Julliard and was in various TV shows – including V Mars. She played a character involved in one of the darkest storylines ever done on the show, a pregnant woman who lived next door to Veronica, who went missing. Turns out her stepfather raped her, and just as she was going to shoot him in self defense, Veronica’s dad shoots him to safe her life. Srs business, y’all.
Aaron Paul
Season 1, Episode 11
Before he was a maker of meth, Jesse Pinkman was accused to being a serial killer. So I mean, he has a history of playing troubled characters (RIP Gale).
Leighton Meester
Season 1, Episodes 14 & 21
Spotted: Young B playing Carrie Bishop, queen of the rich ’09ers (sound familiar?). She accuses Veronica’s favorite teacher, Mr. Rooks of having an affair with her, so VMars sets out to prove that he’s innocent. She finds out that not only did Rooks have an affair, it was actually with Carrie’s BFF, who got preggo from the scandalous tryst. So Carrie decided to press charges against him for herself.
Adam Scott
Season 1, Episode 14
Oh, BTW, the guy who played teen predator Mr. Rooks? THIS GUY.
Ben Wyatt/Knope, I still love you. Even if you were a creeper.
lit’rally took me forever to decide which pic to use because i love him so much
Lucas Grabeel
Season 2, Episode 14
The High School Musical alum played Kelly Kuzzio, a baseball jock who was secretly gay. Not like he’s ever played a gay guy before.
Kristin Cavallari
Season 2, Episode 14
Kristin, the only villain who looked sane next to Speidi, made her scripted TV debut and she played a cheerleader. Oh sorry, a LESBIAN cheerleader. It was great. I mean her acting wasn’t but just the entire thing it general was great.
Zachery Ty Bryan
Season 1, Episode 15 & 17
Usually the middle child gets the shaft, but on Home Improvement, I always thought eldest kid Brad got the short end of the stick. I mean the middle child was Jonathan Taylor Thomas, like how do you compare with that? I remember as much about Brad’s plot line as I do of his brief stint on VM. Which is that he played basketball and drove a car.
JTT
Season 1, Episode 18
Speak of the devil. I was never one of those girls who fawned over JTT. I didn’t get it. Still don’t. Which is why that although I appreciate his rare TV appearance on a UPN show in 2005, I remember his guest starring role mostly because this was the first episode where Veronica and Logan kissed. I mean he played an ATF agent who went undercover as a high school student, so that was cool, I guess. But VERONICA AND LOGAN!! They had an epic kind of love, you know? One that spanned years and continents. Lives ruined, bloodshed, epic.
Rider Strong
Season 3, Episode 2
Good old Shawn Hunter played an asshole classmate of Logan and Wallace in a college class, where they participated in some prison experiment. IDK, basically he made the kid from Freaks and Geeks pee his pants.
Matt Czuchry
Season 3, Episode 4
Logan Huntzberger from my fave Gilmore Girls uses his reporter skills as he pretends to be Logan Echolls’ half-brother just to get a story. Whoa, that got confusing even for me. Again, forget about Matt for a sec because this was a great episode for Jason Dohring who got to show his dramatic side after he found out he still didn’t come close to getting to know his half-brother.
Dianna Agron
Season 3, Episodes 5, 15, & 19
Incidentally, Dianna played a college kid in VMars, and then went on to play a high school cheerleader/wheelchair bound/walking Yale student miracle on Glee.
Paul Rudd
Season 3, Episode 17
The great Paul Rudd is actually BFFs with show creator Rob Thomas, which explains his involvement with VM and with Rob’s follow up show, the hilarious Party Down. Paul plays a washed-up rock star who’s playing at Hearst College, and is a drunk nut job. One of my all-time lines from the show comes from this episode, as seen above.
Max Greenfield
Recurring character
I saved the best for last. Before New Girl was New Girl, I saw promos for the show, and put it on my list immediately because Max Greenfield was in it. At the time, he was only Deputy Leo to me, the handsome, smiley, police officer who Veronica canoodled with in the first season. Unfortunately their love dwindled, but only because she was falling for Logan. And I was ok with that. But now, he can’t be anything else but Schmidt.
Cookies + Sangria 