Melanie Lynskey says she turned down audition for Willow in 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' because she wasn't 'sure about doing television' at the time

• Melanie Lynskey said Joss Whedon wanted her to play Willow in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
• The Emmy nominee said she initially turned down the offer as she "wasn't super into" TV at the time.
• She auditioned after the pilot was shot, only to be passed on in favor of Alyson Hannigan.

Melanie Lynskey may have scored two Emmy nominations earlier this month for her performances in "Yellowjackets" and "The Last of Us," but it turns out the actor wasn't always so keen to be on television. 

In a recent interview with Evan Ross Katz for his newsletter Shut Up Evan, Lynskey revealed that she was approached by "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" creator Joss Whedon to play the role of the titular teen's best friend, Willow Rosenberg, but she had conflicted feelings about leaping from film to TV.

"It was kind of a visa issue, but not really," she said. "I also was not sure about doing television at that time. It was very early in my career."

She continued: "I had a very old-school agent who was like, 'TV? That's for has-beens!' and I was like, 'I don't think it is anymore.' Certainly, now things have really changed, but I just wasn't super into it at the time."

Lynskey said that despite her agent's reservations, she took an initial dinner meeting with Whedon, who made it clear that he wanted her for the part opposite lead star Sarah Michelle Gellar.

"I don't remember if it was an offer or if it was like, 'Would you come read for it?' or what it was, but we stayed in touch after that," the actor who had wowed the world with her debut in Peter Jackson's 1994 film "Heavenly Creatures."

Several months later, Lynskey said she was approached by Whedon again, as they had decided to replace actor Riff Regan, who had played Willow in the pilot.

"He said, 'Now, do you think you would want to do it?' And I had seen the pilot and I was like, 'Oh, this is good,' and I kind of took my agent into it," she recalled. 

"And then, it became this whole thing of, 'Well, now you have to audition.' So I auditioned."

Lynskey said she did but it ended up being a "whole process" where she was told that she wasn't dressed right for the role of Willow, and ultimately she was passed on in favor of Alyson Hannigan.

Despite everything that went down, Lynskey said she holds no ill will towards Hannigan, as she thinks she was "absolutely wonderful" in the role, which she held for seven seasons. 

"All was as it should have been," she said of the show which also starred David Boreanaz, Nicholas Brendon, James Marsters, Charisma Carpenter, Michelle Trachtenberg, and Anthony Head.