Ryan Reynolds Was Offered A Key Buffy The Vampire Slayer Role

Today, Ryan Reynolds is ubiquitous. When he's not fronting a record-breaking Marvel blockbuster, he's revitalizing a beleaguered soccer team on "Welcome to Wrexham" or selling you Mint Mobile subscriptions between YouTube videos. But there was a time when he was just an up-and-coming young actor from Canada with ambitions to become a star, during which time it seems he turned down a major role in beloved cult series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

'90s kids might just recall their first experience of Reynolds via "Two Guys, A Girl, and a Pizza Place," an ABC sitcom that ran for four seasons between 1998 and 2001 and which featured the future megastar in the lead role of medical student Michael Eugene Leslie "Berg" Bergen. This proved to be somewhat of a breakout role for Reynolds, though 2002's "Van Wilder" was what launched his big-screen career. However, the actor's early years could have looked very different had he accepted what was reportedly a big role on "Buffy."

In the mid-'90s, Reynolds had just finished playing Billy Simpson on Canadian teen soap opera "Hillside" (or "Fifteen" as it was known in the United States) and had appeared in the 1996 TV movie "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" opposite Melissa Joan Hart. His next role could have been as part of the "Buffy" ensemble, but instead the actor chose to go with "Two Guys and a Girl," mostly, it seems, because he didn't want to relive high school

During a 2008 interview with the Toronto Star, Reynolds briefly recalled his decision-making process. "I love ['Buffy'] and I loved Joss Whedon," he said. "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*****g awful." The Toronto Star notes that the actor was "tormented by bullies" during his time at Vancouver's Kitsilano Secondary School, but there are plenty of other reasons why he might have been averse to reliving his school years.

Back in the mid-'90s, Joss Whedon was casting for a TV show based on his Buffy character, who had previously been given a schlocky movie that failed to live up to Whedon's expectations. The show creator eventually assembled one of the finest ensembles yet seen on the small screen, casting Sarah Michelle Gellar in the lead role alongside Alyson Hannigan as her best friend Willow and David Boreanaz as Buffy's love interest, Angel. Charisma Carpenter and Anthony Head rounded out the stellar cast, but there was one more major addition that made the show so memorable: Nicholas Brendon. The actor embodied the role of wise-cracking Scooby Gang member Xander Harris so well that it feels wrong to think about the character being played by anyone else. And it's no surprise that Xander is also one of the main characters fans will surely be hoping to see in the upcoming "Buffy" reboot. 

However, there's a chance Reynolds would have ended up playing the character had he said yes to an offer from Whedon. While it has never been confirmed that Reynolds was offered the part of Xander, several outlets have speculated as much, and let's face it, the man seems like he would have been almost as good a fit for the role as Brendan turned out to be. Alas, it seems high school really was bad enough for a young Reynolds that he wasn't interested in even pretending to go back.

The actor spoke about his time at high school during a 2012 appearance on the BBC's "Top Gear" (via Digital Spy), where he claimed he was "a bit of a pariah at school" and recalled being kicked out for moving his teacher's car down the block as a prank. "In Canada, if you move it more than 10 feet, it's a felony," he remembered. "I didn't know that. One city block was 100% grand theft." Making things worse for the young Reynolds, who made his acting debut at the age of 15, he also failed his high school drama class.

While it clearly hasn't damaged his career in any meaningful way, Ryan Reynolds might have found himself propelled to stardom more quickly had he said no to "Two Guys and a Girl" and yes to "Buffy." After a fairly abject pilot that never saw the light of day, "Buffy" quickly proved itself to be one of the most inventive and unique shows on TV, using a simple "high school is a horror movie" metaphor to funnel the angst of an entire generation into a show that meshed sun-laden California landscapes with dark images of eldritch beasts and the occult. The best "Buffy" episodes are up there with some of the best episodes of TV ever created, and Reynolds missed out on being part of it all.

That said, the actor did end up playing a vampire of sorts in 2004's "Blade: Trinity," portraying former vamp-turned-hunter Hannibal King in what was his earliest action role. The film was a commercial success even while critics remained unimpressed, and showcased Reynolds' action chops, which have since been on full display in the "Deadpool" movies. In that sense, "Blade: Trinity" was probably the right vampire-themed role for Reynolds, rather than the charming, lovesick jokester on "Buffy."

With a "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" reboot being produced by Hulu — where you can also see Reynolds' "Welcome to Wrexham" — he could always try to wangle his way back in, but these days, arguably the most ubiquitous movie star in the world doesn't need the work.