FORGOTTEN VERONICA MARS GUEST STARS

He/She was on Veronica Mars? Really? How could I forget?

I wanted to post one last thing before the re-ignited Veronica Mars excitement dies down… until the next movie [let’s be real, the sequel campaign is already on its way, right Marshmallows?].

By now, you have probably seen the Veronica Mars movie and saw all the people with whom “we used to be friends” “a long time ago”… but “we haven’t thought of…” OK, I’ll stop now.

What I was trying to say is that I love the fact that so many Veronica Mars alums are household names now. With the movie and all the promotion we all remember Max Greenfield, Ryan Hansen, Krystin Ritter and even Leighton Meester (who was not in the movie). However, if you were re-watching all the eps like I was, you probably had a couple of “Was he/she on Veronica Mars? How did I forget?!” moments. Am I right?

In case you didn’t have time to re-watch, or you were too distracted by Logan and Veronica’s longing glances, here is the list of forgotten [and oftentimes shocking] guest stars:

THEO ROSSI

Theo on Veronica Mars/Theo on Sons of Anarchy

Where do we know him from? One of the most beloved members of SAMCRO on Sons of Anarchy: Juan Carlos “Juice” Ortiz.

Who was he on Veronica Mars? He played Norris Clayton, a once troubled kid who was trying to clean up his act; little hard when an undercover cop [90s heartthrob Jonathan Taylor Thomas] is trying to set you up for attempting to bomb your school! Oh and he also had a slightly creepy, yet sweet, crush on Veronica. Since there’s no dirty cop that can outsmart Veronica, she figures it out and saves Juice! I mean Norris… Loved to see Theo Rossi on Veronica Mars, I did not remember him at all! Theo definitely has the rare ability to be sweet and bad-ass simultaneously. The only thing that would have made his guest spot PERFECT is if he were a member of the PCHrs . Seriously, how awesome would that have been?

JESSICA CHASTAIN

Jessica on VM / Jessica on The Help

Where do we know her from? She was the “it girl” of award shows last year… We first saw her on The Help, with Tree of Life and Zero Dark Thirty following close behind.

Who was she on Veronica Mars? She played Sarah Williams, Veronica’s neighbour. Veronica befriends Sarah and is distressed after she disappears. Veronica becomes obsessed with the idea that her creepy boyfriend killed her, but ends up discovering Sarah was just running away from her stepfather who, in fact, raped her and got her pregnant. Pretty darn dark [and melodramatic in a good way]. This episode was a great example of what Veronica Mars did best: Combine that old Hollywood/film noir feel with teenage/family drama. Anyway, I think this is Jessica’s second IMDB credit and it is funny how an actress can go completely unnoticed one day and then become a household name. Good for her.

KEVIN SMITH

Kevin Smith on VM/Kevin Smith in real life

Where do we know him from? Everywhere, even if you don’t realize it. He is an actor, director, writer, producer, comic book fanatic and host. He is famous for his movies Clerks and Chasing Amy. He currently hosts Hulu’s Spoilers and AMC’s Comic Book Men. You may also remember from his guest spots on… everything [Reaper, Degrassi, Law & Order] and the Jennifer Garner movie Catch and Release.  

Who was he on Veronica Mars? He was a gift shop “clerk” profiting from the bus crash (selling souvenirs and memorabilia). Not the most “crucial to the plot” guest spot, but I thought it was awesome because: 1) He is clerk! And 2) He is wearing a hockey shirt… Yes, I love Kevin Smith and his hockey shirts! Furthermore, I decided to google Kevin Smith + Veronica Mars before writing this and the search took me to several sites quoting him saying things like VM is an “amalgam of  some of the best TV ever produced”  which made me love him more.

LUCAS GABREEL

VM (2006)/High School musical (2006)/
Switched at Birth (2013)

Where do we know him from? He played a high school student on all the High School Musical movies. Now he plays a high school student on Switched at Birth…

Who was he on Veronica Mars? A high school student…  Seriously, how old this guy? Does he age? Are we sure he is not a vampire? He must be older than me and I was out of high school when Veronica Mars premiered! Anyway, Lucas appeared on Veronica a couple of times. First time he was basically a prop for Weevil to harass. Next time he played Kelly Kuzio, a student involved in blackmailing gay Neptunites with threats of outing them. And no… he doesn’t sing… so why am I even writing about him? I just think it’s fun that the guy has been in high school for the last 10 years! Maybe he will graduate to playing college students by the time he is 40.

AARON PAUL

Aaron Paul on VM/Aaron Paul on Breaking Bad

Where do we know him from? Bitch, if you don’t know shame on you. He is everyone’s favourite drug dealer on Breaking Bad of course.

Who was he on Veronica Mars? He a recruiter for a “girls gone wild” type video [in my mind he was also a junkie and a drug dealer]

I vaguely remembered him before re-watching S2; but, to be honest, he didn’t make much of an impression. It’s a little disturbing that I watched Aaron Paul playing the nicest guy on Big Love and didn’t pay much attention to him there either! Then Jesse came along and I was totally into him… So… good husband, stand-up guy… doesn’t do it for me, but drug dealer does? Hmmm…. Anyway, another cool thing about Aaron on Veronica is that Krystin Ritter [who played his girlfriend on Breaking Bad] was also on VM and was a main character on the recent movie. OK, so they didn’t have any scenes together… but still… 

And speaking of Krystin Ritter, watch her and the rest of the cast play “Guest Star trivia”. Apparently I am not the only one who forgot about these guest stars!

OTHERS

There were many other guest stars and stars that did cameos on Veronica Mars.

For the Buffy fans: Alyson Hannigan played Logan’s sister and Joss Whedon himself had a cameo

For the Arrested Development fans:  Michael Cera and Alia Shawkat guest-starred on the same episode as Hearst students.

For the Glee fans: Jane Lynch and Dianna Agron

Some heavy hitters were also on Veronica, like Melissa Leo and Walton Goggins was supposed to play Veronica’s boss if the show was picked up for a fourth season.

And from Oscar winners to… Paris Hilton… yeah, she was on one of the early S1 episodes playing an opportunistic, dumb rich girl… [what a stretch] and… yeah, maybe we should let that one slip back into oblivion. 

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TVEmpress

The TV Empress is a Media Management graduate, screenwriter in the making (and financial engineer in the meantime). She has serious plans to take over global television. You can follow the TVEmpress on twitter @TVRepublik