20 Facts You Might Not Know About 'Veronica Mars' On the 10th Anniversary of its Premiere

By Dustin Rowles | Lists | September 22, 2016 |

By Dustin Rowles | Lists | September 22, 2016 |

1. The pilot’s original script described Veronica Mars thusly: “She is not cute. She is sexy. Tough. Prematurely jaded. Angelina Jolie at 17.” That’s not exactly a description ofKristen Bell.

2. Amanda Seyfried also auditioned for the role of Veronica (and was cast as Lily), but Rob Thomas’ second choice, after Kristen Bell, was actually Alona Tal. Thomas would later create the character of Meg Manning just for Alona. She doesn’t really fit the description of the character from the pilot, either.

3. Showrunner and creator Rob Thomas began his career as a Young Adult novelist. In fact, the “Veronica Mars” character was originally conceived as a YA character. The character of Wanda Varner (played by Rachel Roth) in the first season episode, “Return of the Kane” was a character’s name in Thomas’ YA novel, “Rats Saw God.” The plot in “Rats Saw Good,” in turns, bears a strong resemblance to the “Mars vs. Mars” episode in season one, and there’s a second season episode that uses the same title.

4. The show’s theme song, “We Used to be Friends” was performed by the Dandy Warhols, who had an album inspired by a Kurt Vonnegut novel called Welcome to the Monkey House. A sticker for that album can be seen on Veronica Mars’ locker (it’s the banana sticker with the 14 spray painted over it).

5. Whenever you see Duncan and Logan during the series in an episode in which they were both on, you’ll always notice that Duncan wears blues, while Logan always wears browns. That’s because early on in the series, the network was afraid that people would confuse to the two actors, Teddy Dunn and Jason Dohring, who bear some resemblance.

6. In the original conception of the series, Veronica and Duncan were actually going to be related, which would’ve created a little bit of that Flowers in the Attic vibe. However, when the show was picked up by a broadcast network instead of a cable network, Rob Thomas nixed the idea.

7. The original conception for the show — with the “Angelina Jolie at 17”-like character — was darker: Veronica’s rape scene, for instance, was meant to be longer and more graphic; Lily’s dead body was to have been tossed into a river; and there was meant to be a larger conspiracy covering up the death of Lily, which would have included Strom Jenkins and Don Lamb.

8. Meanwhile, Dick Casablancas wasn’t really even supposed to be a character in the series. Ryan Hansen was cast only to yell one line in the pilot (“Logan!”), and he was only cast because Rob Thomas thought he had good hair. In a callback to that, in the episode “A Trip to the Dentist,” Veronica tells Dick that he “has nice hair.”

9. James Jordan played two different characters on “Veronica Mars”: Thomas “Lucky” Dohanic in season two, and Tim Foyle in season three.

10. You can thank television director Mark Piznarski, who directed the “VM” pilot, for the character name of Piz.

11. Directors Joss Whedon and Kevin Smith — both huge fans of “VM” — had cameos in the series.

12. Heather Graham was heavily considered for the role of Kendall Casablancas, but couldn’t take it because she was working on “Emily’s Reasons Why Not.” Charisma Carpenter was cast instead. Likewise, Whedonverse’s Alyson Hannigan was cast as Trina Echols over Tara Reid and Denise Richards.

13. Adam Kaufman, the gentlemen below, played Andre in a first season episode of “Veronica Mars.” When Rob Thomas pitched the idea of a season four to the network to save it from cancellation, he set it in the future, which would’ve had Veronica in the FBI Academy and an all new cast. However, included in that cast would’ve been Kaufman, playing an entirely different character.

14. At the time of its second season renewal, “Veronica Mars” was the lowest rated show in network history to get renewed (it was also the only drama that survived the UPN 2004-2005 season).

15. In the season two episode, “Blast from the Past,” Jackie’s DVR includes the show, “Cupid,” which was another Rob Thomas show cancelled too soon.

16. In the “X-Files,” Scully and Mulder always use the same fictional rental car company, Lariat. It’s also the rental car company used in an episode of “VM.”

17. You may recognize the numbers at the bottom of the fortune in Veronica Mars’ fortune cookie as the infamous numbers from “Lost.”

18. Beaver Casablancas was introduced in the first season specifically set up to be the big bad of season two, although all the details had yet to be worked out. In the 13th episode of season two, Thomas also offered an unexplained clue that Beaver was the bad guy when Beaver warns Dick, “I’ll get even; remember Sally.” It is never explained that Sally was Dick’s pet, which Beaver had killed, because explaining it might have given tipped Beaver as the killer.

19. Over on “Arrested Development,” the only episode in which George-Michael was ever bleeped was “Family Ties.” However, it wasn’t for swearing. It was for mentioning the off-network “Veronica Mars.” Michael Cera and Alia Shawkat guest starred in an episode (“The Rapes of Graff”) of “Veronica Mars” that would air a month later.

20. There are a ton of people who had guest roles on “Veronica Mars” that would later become famous, and I won’t go through the entire list, except to identity my two favorites: Aaron Paul and Armie Hammer.