🚨 Warning: This post contains spoilers, including MAJOR ones for Cruel Summer, Teen Wolf, Pretty Little Liars, and 13 Reasons Why!!! 🚨
1. Lucy Hale was the one who encouraged Bailee Madison to audition for Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin.
In a recent interview with BuzzFeed, Madison said that she thinks Hale "manifested" her getting the part of Imogen in Original Sin. "Her energy is the best," Madison said. "We were at a workout class, and she just said, ‘Oh my god, I just had a thought! You should do the reboot that my friend Roberto [Aguirre-Sacasa] is doing of Pretty Little Liars.’ And I was like, 'Oh, that would be insane.'"
2. Three cast members from The Summer I Turned Pretty went to the same high school. Lola Tung (Belly), David Iacono (Cam), and Sean Kaufman (Steven) all attended LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts.
In an interview with BuzzFeed, series creator (and author of the books) Jenny Han explained: "Two of our cast members went to the same high school as Lola! It was funny — you wouldn't know when you were gonna see somebody that you knew from high school. David — and then Sean is two years older [than Lola], and I was like, 'Did you guys know each other?'"
3. Chad Michael Murray almost played the other Scott brother on One Tree Hill. The creators initially wanted him to play Nathan, but Murray connected more with Lucas' character.
4. On Teen Wolf, Allison's "I love you" to Scott during her death scene was actually improvised by Crystal Reed.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Reed explained why she chose to add that line in: "As she was dying and she had her last breath, I was saying my lines, and I kept saying, 'I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you.' And I remember one of the producers came over and said, 'Please don’t say that because she loves Isaac.' [But] I do feel like Allison still loves Scott. And I think in that moment, she said she loves him because that’s still there. So it was hard for me to hold back those feelings because as an actor, I feel like that’s still there...but it was interesting for me as an actor because I so strongly felt the urge to say it to him even though she wasn’t supposed to."
Here's the full scene:
View this video on YouTube
5. On Ginny & Georgia, when Max's mother finds her secret Instagram page, she comes across a video of Max and her friend, Nora, taking shots. This was actually real footage of Sara Waisglass (who plays Max) and Chelsea Clark (who plays Norah) at a party.
6. You know that Season 1 Riverdale scene where Archie punches through the ice to save Cheryl? Welp, it turns out KJ Apa actually broke his hand doing that — and he didn't tell anyone on set about his injury.
In an interview with TVLine, Apa explained that it wasn't real ice, but a foam mat sitting on ice. "That was a gnarly day of shooting, I’ll tell you that much," he said. "I got a little bit too excited. [The mat]. … was cold, so I didn’t really feel it. It wasn’t until 20 minutes after that I realized I broke my hand. I didn’t tell anyone."
Here's the full interview:
View this video on YouTube
7. Another bit of Riverdale trivia: Remember the scene in the Season 3 finale where Archie, Veronica, and Betty ominously toss Jughead's beanie into a fire? And Jughead is nowhere to be found? The scene was actually written that way because Cole Sprouse refused to film in the cold.
In an interview with TVLine, the Riverdale cast revealed the truth behind filming that moment. "The only reason why that [scene] happened is 'cause Cole was cold that night," KJ Apa said.
You can watch the full interview here:
View this video on YouTube
8. In Season 2 of Euphoria, Cassie's infamous "I am crazier!" line actually wasn't in the original script.
In an interview with The Cut, Sydney Sweeney (who plays Cassie) revealed that the scene was originally supposed to conclude with Nate (played by Jacob Elordi) calling out Cassie's hypocrisy. However, she and Elordi had other ideas for creator Sam Levinson. "Jacob and I did the scene as it was written, and we were like, 'There is so much more here that we could do that's pent up. Let us build it,'" Sweeney said.
9. Angus Cloud, who plays Fez on Euphoria, thought it was a scam when he was first invited to audition for the show. A producer randomly discovered the actor walking down a New York City street and approached him.
"I was confused and didn't want to give her my phone number," Cloud revealed in an interview with GQ. "I thought it was a scam."
10. Chace Crawford, who played Nate on Gossip Girl, admitted that the first time he met Leighton Meester, he wasn't sure she was right for the role of Blair.
"[I thought], 'I just don’t see her as Blair Waldorf. I can’t see it,'" Crawford said in an interview with Vanity Fair. But once Meester put on Blair's iconic headband and got into character, it all clicked into place for him. "I just remember thinking, 'That girl can act. She’s the perfect girl for this,'" Crawford said.
11. The final shocking twist of Cruel Summer revealed that [SPOILER] Jeanette heard Kate cry for help in the basement and willingly left her there. However, that wasn't the original ending.
In an interview with Insider, showrunner Tia Napolitano explained: "This was not the plan from the beginning. When the idea first came up, we thought, 'Oh, that's crazy, we can't do that.' And then the more we thought about it, crazy felt like the right fit for our fans, to give us that one final twist."
12. In the pilot of The O.C., Ryan (played by Ben McKenzie) and Marissa (played by Mischa Barton) bond over cigarettes in their first scene together. The moment when Ryan lights Marissa's cigarette with his own was improvised by McKenzie.
"So, the cigarette moment. Here’s the moment that was improvised by Ben, and kinda took Mischa by surprise," creator Josh Schwartz revealed in the pilot commentary. "And she seemed to be really charmed by it. I love that moment."
Here's the full scene:
View this video on YouTube
13. On Veronica Mars, Jason Dohring (who played Logan) and Teddy Dunn (who played Duncan) originally auditioned for each other's roles — Dohring read for Duncan, and Dunn read for Logan.
14. When Never Have I Ever star Maitreyi Ramakrishnan was contacted by producers to fly out to LA and do a screen test for the role of Devi, she initially ignored the call because she thought it was spam.
15. Ryan Reynolds was offered the part of Xander on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but turned it down because he didn't want to play a high schooler.
In an interview with The Star, Reynolds explained: "I love that show...but my biggest concern was that I didn't want to play a guy in high school. I had just come out of high school, and it was f*cking awful."
16. On Pretty Little Liars, the storyline of Mona's "death" happened because the actor, Janel Parrish, was leaving the show temporarily to compete on Dancing with the Stars.
"That was actually Marlene [King, showrunner] being a really great friend, because I went to her and I said, 'I have an opportunity to be on Dancing with the Stars. It's gonna take me away for, like, if I do well, three months,'" Parrish explained in an interview with BuzzFeed. "And she was like, 'Okay, we'll build it into the storyline. Maybe it'll be like, you die, but you don't actually die, and that'll be a big reveal.' And I was like, 'I love you. Thank you so much.' She was so supportive throughout all of that experience."
17. Also on Pretty Little Liars, Sasha Pieterse (who played Alison) was only 13 in Season 1. The rest of the cast was in their early 20s.
18. Joey was originally supposed to end up with Dawson, not Pacey, on Dawson's Creek.
At the 2015 ATX Festival, creator Kevin Williamson explained why they ultimately decided to switch the endgames. "Dawson seemed like the obvious answer, and once I got into writing the first hour. … This isn’t what the show set up to be. Maybe that’s where it started, but it evolved, and it ended up as something else," Williamson said. "I wanted it to be a twist on the teen genre but also wanted it to be surprising, honest, and real, and say something about soulmates and what soulmates can be. That’s why we did it that way.”
19. 13 Reasons Why stars Dylan Minnette and Brandon Flynn (who played Clay and Justin, respectively) encouraged the writers to kill Justin's character off.
In an interview with BuzzFeed, Minnette explained that the cast knew from the very beginning that a character was going to die at the end of the show, but didn't know who. "People might hate me for this, but Brandon and I all season were really hoping it was gonna be Justin because we felt like it was what was going to leave the biggest mark and impact on the show in the end," Minnette said.
20. Degrassi: The Next Generation creator Linda Schuyler asked the crew to pause while filming the episode "Time Stands Still" so that she could go give Aubrey Graham (aka Drake) a hug.
"I remember being in the editing room, and it was just chilling [to watch]. I had watched Jimmy's character fall and get up and go down again. So I said to my editor, 'I've just got to take a break,'" Linda said in an interview with BuzzFeed. "I went into the hallway, and there was a figure sauntering — the closer I got, I realized it was Aubrey. He had his headphones on, and he was just, you know, grooving. And I said, 'Aubrey, can I please give you a big hug? I've been watching you die so many times.'"
21. There's a deleted Degrassi: Next Class scene in Season 4 where Tristan gets mad at his boyfriend, Miles, for not wanting to label himself as gay.
"Tristan gets mad because Miles says he doesn't just wanna be 'the gay writer,'" Lyle Lettau (who played Tristan) recalled in an interview with Adamo Ruggiero. "And I was the one in rehearsal being like, 'Yeah, but I don't get why Tristan's mad at Miles.' If Miles doesn't wanna be categorized as something...you should be able to make your own decision on that and not have someone like, mad at you."
22. On Beverly Hills, 90210, Brenda's pregnancy scare storyline was written in because the network thought her character was "too happy" about losing her virginity to her boyfriend, Dylan, and that there needed to be "consequences."
"I was strongly advised to write a show that would address the consequences of that sexual experience," creator Darren Starr explained in an interview with the New York Times. "So the first episode of the second season, Brenda broke up with Dylan because their relationship had gotten too mature."
23. Despite playing star wide receiver Spencer James on All American, actor Daniel Ezra is apparently terrible at football in real life.
24. Season 3 of Elite was originally supposed to be a mystery about a fire.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, creator Dario Madrona explained: "For a while, there was going to be this massive fire in the school at the end of the season, and the mystery in flash-forwards would be both who provoked it and who died in it. It was a result of all the tension accumulated during the season since Polo came back to Las Encinas. And in the end, he turned himself in."
25. The Vampire Diaries was originally going to end with BOTH Salvatore brothers dying to save Elena.
"Both brothers [would] die in the name of saving their girl and then be watching her like ghosts," creator Julie Plec explained in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. "[Elena would go] off into the sunset to live her life and maybe marry Matt Donovan or maybe become a doctor, but those brothers would be side-by-side watching her live."
26. And finally, Glee used real slushies while filming Season 1.
"I swear [getting] slushied in the face is probably one of the most painful things I've ever experienced — it really is," Chris Colfer (who played Kurt) said in an interview with GQ. "It's like being bitch slapped by an iceberg."
