It’s hard to imagine anyone but Miley Cyrus taking on the double role of Miley Stewart and Hannah Montana. But it turns out, that was almost the case. There were also a few familiar names in the running to take on Hannah Montana’s part — and many of them ended up in other popular 2000s TV shows and movies.
In August 2023, Cyrus gave a detailed account of getting cast in Hannah Montana on TikTok — explaining why she almost lost out on the role initially. “So, in 2004, when I was in middle school, I started the auditioning process for Hannah Montana, and originally I wasn’t auditioning for Hannah, I was auditioning for the best friend Lilly,” she recalled in the video. “And they wrote back and asked if I could put myself on tape as Hannah.”
Still, Cyrus’ age was an issue for the casting directors. “They had already cast a lot of the other characters, and I was too small and too young to fit in with that group,” she continued. “They filmed the pilot without me. About a year had gone by … and then they called back and said they wanted to give me another chance now that I had grown up.”
As Cyrus put it, “The rest is herstory.” But before she finally landed the role, some other celebs auditioned for Hannah Montana. Here’s every big name who almost donned that iconic blonde wig.
Taylor Momsen
Back in August 2022, casting director Lisa London — who worked on putting the cast of Hannah Montana together — posted a TikTok about the process, sharing some celebrity names who were also in the running for the role of Hannah. According to her, Taylor Momsen (aka Jenny Humphrey on Gossip Girl) was a front-runner for the part.
Daniella Monet
London also said that Victorious’ Daniella Monet was a top contender. “I’m actually the original casting director on Hannah Montana, and I discovered Miley Cyrus,” London said on TikTok. “These were the final three actresses that auditioned at the network test out of over 1,200 girls.” (She was referring to Monet, Momsen, and Cyrus.)
Lucy Hale
Lucy Hale was also in the running for the Disney show. “Oh my gosh, I’ve auditioned for Hannah Montana,” Hale said in a BuzzFeed interview, posted on YouTube on March 7. “I still lived in Tennessee and I was 14 at the time, so this would have been… 21 years ago. It was a couple years before they had cast Miley in it.”
She added, “It was the audition that made me want to be an actress. I remember that vividly, it was very cool.”
Aly Michalka
Aly Michalka, who was already a Disney star from her time on Phil Of The Future, was also almost cast as Miley/Hannah. “Gary Marsh originally offered the role of ‘Hannah Montana’ to Aly and I was offered the role of ‘Lilly Truscott’ (I know this so doesn’t matter but thought I’d chime in),” AJ Michalka tweeted from their joint X account in August 2022.
The duo also discussed the potential casting during their Jan. 8 Call Her Daddy interview. Apparently, Aly felt like taking on the role of a singer would be “confusing” as she worked on her own music career. “I'm doing music as Aly, and this might be really confusing being Hannah and being the character also playing Hannah,” she explained on the podcast.
Plus, when she asked about how AJ would fit into the show, Disney execs offered her sister the role of Lilly — something Aly said she felt uneasy about. “It feels like it’s my show. It’s not really the Hannah and Lilly show.” Plus, at that point, she had wrapped on Phil Of The Future and felt like her time on Disney was up.
JoJo Levesque
Back in 2008, JoJo Levesque told Extra that she was also offered the role of Hannah, but had “no regrets at all” about turning it down. “Yeah, they offered me the role,” she said, per E!, adding, “It’s not really what I see for myself.”
