In the spring of 2000, production crews arrived in Unionville, Ontario, to shoot the original pilot presentation for a quirky family dramedy titled Gilmore Girls. In this unbroadcast version, Alexis Bledel’s Rory Gilmore did not flirt with Padalecki in the high school hallway. Instead, actor Nathan Wetherington portrayed Dean. Wetherington played the character with an overt, leather-jacket edge designed to channel an old-school rebel who had just transferred from Chicago.
Executives at The WB reviewed the footage and approved the series pickup, but they issued a swift creative mandate. Dean needed to be recast. Network leadership felt Wetherington’s screen energy tilted too cynical and brooding, threatening to overwhelm the fragile, cerebral dynamic Bledel brought to Rory. The production quickly brought in a second actor, but that pairing dissolved during initial rehearsals before camera setups even began. Time was running out. Series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino needed an actor who possessed physical presence without emotional menace.
