Aly & AJ Were Apparently Offered The Lead ‘Hannah Montana’ Roles Before Miley Cyrus

Miley Cyrus became a star with her leading role in Hannah Montana, but there were apparently a lot of opportunities for things to go differently.

In a recent TikTok video, Lisa London, the Hannah Montana casting director, revealed that during the casting process in 2005, there were three final actresses considered for the role of Miley Stewart (then named Chloe Stewart). One was Daniella Monet, who had a main role in the short-lived Jason Alexander series Listen Up! before joining the cast of Nickelodeon’s Victorious in 2010. Another was Taylor Momsen, who played Cindy Lou Who in 2000s How The Grinch Stole Christmas and later starred in Gossip Girl before shifting her focus to her band, The Pretty Reckless. The other one was, of course, Cyrus.

Following that video, Aly & AJ, the sister musical duo of musicians/actors Aly and AJ Michalka, had a tidbit to add: Aly was apparently offered the lead role before anybody else while AJ was offered the Lilly Truscott part, the latter of which ultimately went to Emily Osment. From the Aly & AJ Twitter account, AJ tweeted, “I adore Lisa London but I have some tea beyond the tea to spill. Gary Marsh originally offered the role of ‘Hannah Montana’ to Aly and I was offered the role of ‘Lilly Truscott’ (I know this so doesn’t matter but thought I’d chime in).”

Aly has discussed this before, saying on a 2021 podcast, “I at least know that I was the first because I was attached to a show that was already on the channel and was just ending [Phil Of The Future], and then I think once I passed, they came back one more time and were like, ‘Are you sure? Because we’re going to go on to the next person and offer it to another couple people.’”