Connie Britton did a great job as Rayna James on "Nashville." The fans were really upset when they killed her off recently, but it turns out that Connie almost had another huge role. TV Guide is sharing that Connie almost played the role of Olivia Pope on "scandal," but everyone knows that isn't all it all ended.
How did Connie end up with a different role?
Back in 20122, it was revealed that "Scandal" would be a show. Shonda Rhimes got a call and was told who would be perfect in the role of Olivia Pope. She explained it all saying, "I got a phone call from somebody who said, 'This would be the perfect show for Connie Britton.
I said, 'It would be, except Olivia Pope is black.'" She already knew at that point that Olivia Pope was going to be black, so of course, Connie Britton wouldn't work in that role.
It wasn't that Shonda just felt like Olivia Pope needed to be black. There was another reason for it, too. Shonda shared that "Scandal" is inspired by real-life crisis management expert Judy Smith, who is black. This means that she wanted the person playing the role to be a good match, and they found that person, but it wasn't Connie Britton. It would also be really hard to imagine anyone other than Kerry Washington playing the role of Olivia Pope on "Scandal." Everyone loves her in this role.
Originally, all of the top choices for the role were white women, including Connie Britton.
Of course, everyone knows that Connie didn't end up with the role and instead they gave it to someone who was black and the fit that Shonda Rhimes had in mind for the role. It was revealed that the second that Kerry Washington met Shonda Rhimes it was her role. This doesn't surprise anyone at all, though. She really does seem like the perfect person to play the role.
After that, Connie Britton went on to star as Rayna James in "Nashville." That went great for her until she decided that it was time to move on and had they killed her character off the show. It will be hard, but "Nashville" is going to go on without her. It will be back in June on CMT. There has been some talk that Rayna James will end up showing up a few times as a memory at least.
What do you think of the idea of Connie Britton in the role of Olivia Pope? Do you think that she made a better Rayna James? Sound off in the comments section below on your thoughts, and don't miss new episodes of "Scandal" on Thursday nights on ABC. You will also not want to miss "Nashville" when it returns to CMT in June.
