The Age of Adaline - directed by Lee Toland Krieger and released in 2015 - is, simply put, a film centered on the idea that Blake Lively is an inhumanly beautiful being. This makes it hard to imagine that anyone else could play Adaline Bowman, a woman unstuck in time who is unable to age. What you may not know, however, is that "Grey's Anatomy" veteran Katherine Heigl was originally slated to play the title role, but ended up dropping out... so what happened here?

Heigl, who originated the role of Dr. Izzy Stevens on the long-running ABC medical drama — and left the series partway through its 6th season — was originally cast in the film opposite Angela Lansbury, who was slated to play the much older daughter of Adaline. Fleming. (At this point, Andy Tennant, known for projects like Sweet Home Alabama and Hitch, was attached to direct.) Long before the film was released, Heigl left the project in 2010, according to a report in Deadline; at first, the outlet said Heigl's departure was due to an argument at the outset. (This is entirely unsurprising since rumors of Heigl's "difficult" nature have dogged her since her time on Grey's Anatomy, mostly because Heigl butted heads with then-showrunner and creator Shonda Rhimes.)

In an update to the story, Gary Lucchesi, a partner at Lakeshore Entertainment — one of the two companies that produced the film — said Heigl left "The Age of Adaline" due to the fact that she had recently adopted a daughter and wasn't ready to fully return to work. . "She made two movies with us and we certainly support her decision," Lucchesi said at the time, referring to "The Ugly Truth" and "One for Money." He continued: “We were supposed to shoot in mid-March and we're hoping to make it. We're big fans of hers and if that's what she has to do, we respect that." Natalie Portman was then offered the role, but, according to Entertainment Weeklyshe refused him; in the end, Lively landed the lead role.

If you were worried about Katherine Heigl after learning she left such a tumultuous film before it even started filming, don't be; The actress has been working pretty steadily since leaving "Grey's Anatomy" and took some time to be with her family and daughter. In 2014, Heigl produced and hosted the NBC series State of Affairs as Charleston "Charlie" Whitney Tucker, a CIA analyst who spends her days preparing briefings for the President of the United States (played on the show by Alfre Woodard). , but unfortunately the series was canceled after just one season. Heigl then appeared on Suits for the show's final two seasons as corporate lawyer Samantha Wheeler, but her biggest hit came in 2021 thanks to the Netflix original series based on the hit novel.

"Firefly Lane" — adapted from Kristin Hannah's best-selling book — casts Heigl as Tally Hart and lets her play in two timelines, working her way up the corporate ladder as an aspiring news anchor in the 1980s and a successful talk show host. -show in the 2000s. (Ally Skovby also plays the teenage Tally in the 1970s.) Opposite "Scrubs" veteran Sarah Chalke — who plays Tally's lifelong best friend Kate Mularkey — Heigl shines as Tally, a woman who exudes a confidence that masks a deep the painful inside, and the series proved that the actress can still capably manage a hit TV show.

As for Blake Lively, her star only grew after she hosted The Age of Adaline alongside Ellen Burstyn (who ended up playing her daughter Fleming), Game of Thrones star Michiel Hussmann and Harrison Ford. In 2016, Lively proved she could handle a movie on her own with The Shallows — essentially a solo project, considering she plays a woman stranded in the ocean fending off a shark — and in 2018, she starred in the campy thriller "A Simple Service" opposite the suit-wearing, martini-swilling Anna Kendrick as fashion maven and mystery woman Emily Nelson. (The untitled sequel is set to be released this year, which director Paul Feig confirmed after taking no notice on social media that the film had been delayed.)

Recently, Lively has been in the news thanks to the endless drama surrounding her 2024 film It Ends With Us; based on Colin Hoover's bestseller of the same name. Lively, who produced the film and plays aspiring florist Lily Blossom Bloom, filed a complaint with the California Department of Civil Rights in December 2024, alleging that her co-star and director, "Jane the Virgin" star Justin Baldoni, created a hostile work environment on set and also sexually harassed her. Baldoni fired back by suing The New York Times over their reporting of Lively's complaint, and Lively followed up by filing a federal lawsuit against Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios. All of this is still ongoing as of this writing, and it seems likely that the full truth of the situation regarding Baldoni's behavior — which, according to Lively's complaint, was pretty vile — will come out sooner rather than later.

In any case, The Age of Adaline is now streaming on Netflix, if you want to imagine an alternate universe where Katherine Heigl played the lead instead.