Emma Stone Nearly Landed a Major Role on 'Friday Night Lights'

Emma Stone recalled how she had a couple of callbacks for Coach Taylor's daughter Julie on 'Friday Night Lights' when she was 15.

By Megan Behnke

Emma Stone may be an Oscar-winning actress now, but before she got big, she nearly landed a major role on Friday Night Lights. The fan-favorite football drama ran for two seasons on NBC and DirecTV for Seasons 3-5. Leading the ensemble cast were Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton as husband and wife Eric and Tami Taylor. Before the ensemble cast was complete, though, Stone almost played their daughter instead of Aimee Teegarden.

Stone was promoting her new Kinds of Kindness on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon when they were talking about her co-star Jesse Plemons. Fallon brought up that she almost worked with Plemons on FNL, as he starred as Landry Clark. "I don't know if it's almost, but I did go back," Stone clarified. "When I was auditioning in LA, I think I was 15 at this time, I got a couple callbacks for Friday Night Lights for Coach Taylor's daughter. And I was like totally devastated that it didn't work out."

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Teegarden ended up playing Julie Taylor, and while she was certainly perfect for the part, who knows how different Friday Night Lights would have ended up if Stone got the part. The show would have been one of Stone's first roles, as she made her acting debut in 2004 in the pilot episode of The New Partridge Family that never made it to air. The following year, she appeared in an episode of Medium. It just wasn't her time, but luckily, these days, she is remaining as busy as ever in her acting career.

Things work out for a reason, and if Emma Stone had gotten Friday Night Lights, it's likely her career would have gone in a totally different direction. It is fun to think about, but the right decision was definitely made at that time. Maybe if there is ever a Friday Night Lights reboot, Stone can star in it, but as Tami Taylor rather than Julie. There are plenty of actors who almost landed major TV and film roles, and as always, there is that thought of "What if?" but everything truly happens for a reason. Even if one small role went to someone else, it would have turned out entirely different. At the very least, Stone did get to work with Jesse Plemons, so she did get close to Friday Night Lights in a non-traditional way.

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