Amanda Seyfried Revealed That Blake Lively Almost Played Karen Smith In ‘Mean Girls’

While it’s hard to imagine anyone other than Amanda Seyfried playing the role of Karen Smith — a loveable, taco bell-loving ditz — in the Y2K cult-classic, Mean Girls, the actress just revealed that it was almost precisely the case. 

When sitting down with Vanity Fair to rewatch old scenes from her career (and spill major behind-the-scenes tea in the process), Seyfried admitted that she originally auditioned for the role of Regina George, which ultimately went to Rachel McAdams, while recounting the process of flying out to L.A. to read for the part. Who read for Karen in this scenario, you may wonder? None other than fellow A-list Hollywood actress, Blake Lively.

“I'd flown out to L.A. for the first time with my mother. It was very exciting,” Seyfried said. “I met Lacey Chabert [who plays Gretchen] for the first time and Lindsay Lohan was in the room and Blake Lively was playing Karen, and then I was Regina.”

While we think the Plastics would have been just as iconic with Seyfried at the helm, she shared that the casting directors eventually changed their minds sometime after the read-through. “I flew home and they were like…’We think you're more correct for Karen,’” she shared. “So I was like, ‘Oh god, OK, sure.’”

Of course, Seyfried went on to absolutely nail the new role, and she later explained during the interview why she believes Karen became one of the most beloved characters in the film. “I think the reason we love Karen so much — and also the reason that she’s so funny — is that she is just being brutally honest, and it’s so beautiful, and it’s what makes her so endearing,” the actress shared. “And she’s not that smart, but she totally knows it. And everything that she reacts to is just her truth, her true reaction. And I think we all love people like that because we can trust them.”

Seyfried continued, “She’s the person with the biggest heart. She truly believes that the best idea would be to go to Taco Bell and that her secret is that she is psychic and has a sports channel. How could you not fall in love with somebody who fully believes that they have ESPN?”