Joshua Bassett Revealed He Was *This Close* To Starring In Netflix's 'Sabrina'
Joshua Bassett is delivering some sweet melodies for fans nowadays as the star of Disney+'s High School Musical: The Musical: The Series and a rising pop star in his own right, but he could have been singing a completely different tune if a certain casting decision went another way a few years back. In a recent BuzzFeed video, Joshua Bassett revealed he almost played Harvey in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, but ended up losing the part to Ross Lynch. The witchy Netflix show is a totally different vibe from HSMTMTS, so it's wild to imagine how Bassett's career would have changed if he got that part.
After HSMTMTS premiered with Disney+'s launch at the end of 2019, Bassett shot to stardom thanks to his lead role as Ricky Bowen. The series marked Bassett's first main TV role, but he was up for a major, star-making part a few years before that. When asked about a role he really wanted but didn't get, Bassett shared that he was in the final rounds of casting to play Harvey Kinkle on Netflix's Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
"I started coming out to L.A. when I was about 16," Bassett said, reflecting back on when CAOS was in early development at the end of 2017. "I was really close to the role in Sabrina ... It was down to me and Ross Lynch. And he got it; I was super happy for him. But yeah, I was definitely really hoping for that one. There’s a couple others. But that one, I guess, stands out to the one where I got really close. And I was really excited about it. And it just didn’t work out. But, ultimately, everything worked out."
Lynch was already an established actor and singer when he joined the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina cast in 2018, having starred in the Disney Channel series Austin & Ally and fronting the pop-rock band R5 with his brothers. Although the original Sabrina the Teenage Witch didn't include much music, Netflix's darker version surprisingly featured its cast singing several songs throughout its four-season run, so Bassett definitely would have been able to show off his voice if he got to play Harvey.
Although he didn't get that part, things have clearly worked out pretty well for Bassett. He dropped his self-titled debut album back in March, and he'll return as Ricky in the second season of HSMTMTS when it premieres on Disney+ on May 14.
