What If Tom Selleck Accepted Indiana Jones and Other ’80s Role Reversals

We all have played the “What if…” game at some point in our lives. I have riddled myself with questions on occasion like:

“What would my life have been like if I had chosen to go to a different college and never met my future wife?”

“What if I had left the house 5 minutes later that day when that lady pulled out in front of me and totaled my car? Would I still be driving it?”

“What if Kurt Cobain hadn’t died? Would the Foo Fighters exist?”

Okay, so maybe it’s just me that ponders that last question. But still, we all have questioned certain choices we have made in our lives.

Sometimes I ask the “what if” in pop culture. There seems to be many popular characters in movies and TV shows over the years that could have been played by a different actor. Do you think actors look back at their careers and have that same kind of “what if I had taken that role” moments? Some of these decisions could have really changed the landscape of TV and film history. I thought it would be fun to look back at some roles, particularly in the ’80s, that were offered to actors who passed on them or were too busy on other projects. And to not leave out the actor who eventually took the role, let’s look at them in a role reversal.

It’s pretty well known that the role of Indiana Jones was initially offered to Tom Selleck. Selleck’s decision to pass on the famous character created by George Lucas and Steven Speilberg was not an easy one. His first big break in acting was landing the role of Thomas Magnum in the TV series Magnum P.I. About the same time, the two filmmakers Lucas and Speilberg approached him to play the lead character in their new film Raiders of the Lost Ark. Selleck even did a screen test for the duo in anticipation of accepting the role, but he knew that shooting the pilot episode for Magnum P.I. would coincide with the production schedule of the film. After contemplating what to do and even consulting a close friend, he chose to honor his contract with Universal Studios and shoot the Magnum P.I. pilot.

Fred Dryer & Ted Danson

One of my favorite ’80s sitcoms Cheers centered around the relationship between the characters of Sam Malone (Ted Danson) and Diane Chambers (Shelley Long.) However, Danson was not the first choice for the role. Former NFL player Fred Dryer was slated to play the role of ex-football jock turned bar owner. Cheers creators Glen Charles, Les Charles, and James Burrows decided to change Sam’s background to a former baseball player with the nickname “Mayday” to make the character what they thought would be more believable. Danson then won the role.

It wasn’t the last call for Dryer’s career with Cheers. He would end up with a recurring role as Sam Malone’s former teammate and sportscaster Dave Richards, who appeared in four episodes. So what if Dryer had become Sam Malone and Ted Danson had won the role of Sgt. Rick Hunter? I’m not sure I can picture Danson in the role, (Oh wait…thank you Photoshop!) 153 episodes of Hunter may not match the 270 episodes of Cheers, but Danson would’ve still have had a nice TV career.

John Cusack & Judd Nelson

This one might be a bit lesser known among the pop culture realms. Again, it’s hard for me to imagine any of these role reversals in this list, but anyone other than Judd Nelson playing John Bender in The Breakfast Club is just weird. It’s true though, John Cusack was director John Hughes’ first choice for the role after Emilio Estevez (who also auditioned for Bender) was cast as jock Andrew Clark. Hughes decided to go with Nelson over Cusack before shooting began because he felt Cusack didn’t look “threatening enough.”