Aly & AJ Recall Turning Down 'Hannah Montana' Amid Disney Channel Show's 20th Anniversary

Aly and AJ are opening up turning down roles in Hannah Montana!

If you didn’t know, Aly Michalka was originally offered Hannah in the hit Disney Channel series, and her younger sister AJ Michalka was offered the character’s best friend Lilly Truscott.

In a new interview, the actresses and musicians looked back on that time and why they ultimately turned it down.

Keep reading to find out more…

“I know it was soon after Phil [of the Future] wrapped and they were looking for the next shows, and I think at that point I was almost 16 and a half, maybe 17. So, definitely older than Miley [Cyrus] was probably at that time,” Aly said on the Just Trish podcast. “I don’t know, I just felt like it didn’t make sense. I think it was all meant to be the way it is. And this is for so many projects. Like, you look at people that were originally supposed to be cast in it and then it goes to someone else and you’re like, ‘Wow, that’s so weird.’ But that was supposed to be that way. Um, so I feel like yeah, there’s no regrets there. I just didn’t, I don’t know. For whatever reason, I didn’t feel like I I needed to spend more time at the channel at that point. And I felt like I had done what I kind of needed to at the channel and was looking for, you know, different projects.”

“I think at that point too, I had done, you know, a show where, although it doesn’t even actually seem that long. It was, I think, we did two seasons, so it was like two-ish years, you know, plus the pilot or whatever. So it was like maybe contractually like three years of having been on the show,” she continued.

AJ also talked about turning down the best friend role.

“Yeah. Well, after Aly kind of, not pushed back, but kind of showed that it wasn’t necessarily the route she wanted to take. That was how they kind of sweetened the deal,” AJ said, with Aly adding, “They were like maybe she could be the friend, and we were like, ‘But we’re sisters.’”

“Like that totally could have worked. But then you wouldn’t have been singing and we actually sing. So that would have just felt weird, or at least I think in the moment it felt weird,” Aly said.

AJ continued, “I think also Aly was like, ‘How am I going to get away with being Aly and AJ and Hannah Montana and Aly Michalka in the show,’” to which Aly added, “She has to wear the wig a lot. I’m like three, four different people. And then the character in the show who’s not Hannah. So I would have been like four people.”

“The head of Disney Channel definitely wanted Aly to do it. I would say they pushed for that,” AJ added.

If you didn’t know, find out four other stars who were up for the role of Hannah Montana!