Buffy the Vampire Slayer was one of the biggest television shows of the late 90s, launching the careers of many big Hollywood names, including Sarah Michelle Gellar. However, Buffy also featured guest stars who had accomplished careers at the time of filming—and ones who had scheduling conflicts.

Keep reading for five stars who nearly appeared on Buffy. Oh, what could’ve been…

1. Britney Spears

Britney Spears is one of Hollywood’s most recognizable names, and she was a big fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She was also friends with Gellar, so a cameo seemed like a natural fit. Spears was lined up to play April, a robot “girlfriend” Warren created to make him happy. Ultimately, actress Shonda Farr got the role because Spears had scheduling conflicts. When the episode aired in 2001, Spears was at the height of her fame; her name was on every headline. The media scrutinized her to no end, and had she appeared on Buffy in this role, it would’ve given her harshest critics even more ammo to bully her. So while we would’ve loved to see Spears on the show, it was probably for the best.

2. Freddie Prinze Jr.

Speaking of people with a real-life connection to Gellar, her longtime husband, Freddie Prinze Jr., auditioned for a role on the show. He auditioned for Dracula on Season 5, but Randolph Martin got the role. If Freddie had gotten it, it would’ve been the third project they’d starred in together early in their careers. They met on the set of I Know What You Did Last Summer in 1997 and started dating three years later, eventually filming the live-action Scooby-Doo films as Fred and Daphne. Since then, they’ve starred in several animated projects together.

3. Katie Holmes

Before she starred in Dawson’s Creek, Katie Holmes auditioned for the titular character on Buffy the Vampire Slayer but turned it down to finish high school. Although she never appeared on Buffy, other actresses who auditioned for the role landed roles on the show, including Julie Benz and Mercedes McNab.

4. Ryan Reynolds

Ryan Reynolds was offered the role of Buffy’s best friend Xander Harris—a key member of the Scooby Gang—but declined because he didn’t want to play a high school character. Xander appeared in all seven seasons, which would’ve given Reynolds a consistent paycheck. However, it’s a prime example of betting on yourself. In 1998, he made his big break on NBC’s sitcom Two Guys and a Girl.

5. Natasha Lyonne

A fresh-faced Natasha Lyonne was making a name for herself on the indie film circuit, which eventually helped land her a breakout feature film role in 1999’s American Pie. Before that, though, Lyonne alleges she was first in the running to play Buffy Summers. However, she didn’t want to commit to a network at 16, so she turned down the role and other WB roles.

The post 5 Stars Who Almost Appeared on ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ (And Why They Didn’t) appeared first on VICE.

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Since 2016, Netflix’s Stranger Things has shown fans a much darker side of Indiana. Although the show had its series finale last year, it remains a huge fixture of pop culture. But 25 years before The Duffer Brothers introduced millions to Hawkins, Indiana, and The Party, NBC aired its own sci-fi show, Eerie, Indiana.

‘Eerie, Indiana’ walked so ‘Stranger Things’ could run

Eerie, Indiana follows teenager Marshall Teller, who has just moved to a small Midwestern town. The more he explores, the more he realizes there’s strange paranormal activity. With the help of his friends, they investigate the urban legends and supernatural events plaguing the town.

Although it only aired 19 episodes, Eerie, Indiana has developed a cult following. It dared to be different in a time when conventional television was the way forward. Shows like Eerie proved that oddball stuff had a place too, inspiring many shows we see today. It directly inspired Disney’s beloved animated series, Gravity Falls. “I was obsessed with Eerie Indiana,” Gravity Falls creator Alex Hirsch wrote on X. “Gravity Falls was literally just me as an adult trying to reboot my favorite cancelled show from when I was a kid.”

They both follow groups of children who uncover supernatural elements and otherworldly creatures in the heartland of America—unassuming Midwest towns. They also have the nostalgic factor. While Stranger Things is a modern interpretation of the ‘80s, Eerie, Indiana was filmed in the ‘90s, making it an authentic time capsule for the 90s babies.

They share a lot of similarities, but their biggest difference is their format. Stranger Things is a serialized sci-fi drama, while Eerie, Indiana leans into comedy and surrealism. Stranger Things isn’t an exact copy of Eerie, Indiana. However, for sci-fi fans, it fills the void that the Netflix show leaves behind.

how to watch ‘eerie, indiana’ for FRee

Unlike other shows from the era, Eerie, Indiana is free to watch. You can stream all episodes on Tubi, PLEX, The CW app, and Pluto TV. Other childhood favorites can be streamed for free on sites like Tubi, including Goosebumps, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, The Nightmare Room, and Tales From the Cryptkeeper.

The post 25 Years Before ‘Stranger Things,’ This ’90s Show Introduced a Different Creepy Indiana Town appeared first on VICE.

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From Disney Plus to HBO Max, almost every major established streaming service is experimenting with ways to get into vertical content. It's clear that these companies see video-focused social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram as existential threats. In this arms race for viewers' attention, it has often felt like everyone is trying to find new ways to exist on people's phones. But a new startup thinks that the next step in vertical series' evolution is going to take place on our wide-screen televisions.

Unlike most vertical microdrama / series streaming platforms on the market that have focused on mobile viewing experiences, Vurt ha …

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This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on how pervasive horror has become, follow Andrew Webster. The Stepback, arrives in our subscribers' inboxes on Sunday at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here.

How it started

Resident Evil has been around for 30 years, but the survival horror series is more popular than ever. The most recent game, Resident Evil Requiem, has sold 8 million copies since it launched in February, already making it the 14th best-selling game that Capcom has ever made. At the same time, a reboot of the Resident Evil film series from Weapons director Zach Cre …

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Xbox is launching a new division, called "XP," that's dedicated to Xbox experiences that aren't video games, including films and TV adaptations, consumer products, live events, and partnerships with creators and brands. Different teams at Xbox already do this work, but it will all now fall under the centralized XP division.

XP formalizes four "investment areas," according to a blog post by Xbox chief strategy officer Matthew Ball:

XBOX PICTURES: Bringing our worlds and characters to new audiences through film, television, and other forms of linear storytelling.

XBOX PRODUCTS: Creating products that are authentic to the fandom that al …

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Cupertino brings the tech backlash to the CBS procedural - an initially awkward combination, but with rewarding results. The show starts off just slightly unsure, but quickly figures out what to do with these strange times, creating fictionalized dupes of the Zizians, Polymarket, Jeff Bezos' looksmaxxing obsession, OpenAI stealing Scarlett Johansson's voice, and the fight for AI guardrails, among other familiar tales, and using them to speak to the feeling of helplessness in the face of rapid change that extends well beyond the greater San Francisco area. It turns out the seemingly outdated tools of broadcast TV are a fantastic way to tackle …

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