Before Olivia Rodrigo was, well, pop household name and Gen Z megastar Olivia Rodrigo, she was better known as Nini Salazar-Roberts. Olivia's breakout role on the Disney+ show High School Musical: The Musical: The Series is beloved by fans, which is why it was especially sad to bid the character farewell during season 3.
But what if we told you that another actress was almost cast as Nini, beating Olivia out for the part? Well, that's not imaginary — it really almost happened.
During the summer, the HSMTMTS showrunner and creator Tim Federle shared a post to Instagram promoting the show's third season that is now making the rounds again online. In the post, Tim shares behind the scenes shots of the first episode of season 3, and introduces fans to some new faces.
Included in the photo dump is a shot of Julia Lester, who plays Ashlyn, filming a scene with Saylor Bell. Saylor joined the cast for season 3, playing a brand-new character named Maddox, a counselor-in-training at Camp Shallow Lake. (JoJo Siwa had a guest spot on the show this past season as Madison, Maddox's ex-girlfriend!)
“@saycurda (Maddox) was an original finalist for Nini,” revealed Tim in the caption of his post, adding an electric guitar emoji. “We never forgot her and we're so happy she's in our world now.”
Saylor Bell has had a handful of roles over the years on some of Nickelodeon and Disney's most popular shows, including I Didn't Do It, Sydney to the Max, Henry Danger, The Thundermans, and School of Rock. Saylor has also acted in adult series like Criminal Minds, Station 19, and CBS' Mom.
As pointed out by Just Jared Jr., Saylor has also appeared in an episode of New Girl — the same episode that Olivia Rodrigo famously appeared in. In the season six episode, Jess (Zooey Deschanel) gathers a roundtable of girl students that are huge fans of Nick's novel. Olivia and Saylor play two students named Terrinea and Ramona, respectively.
There's a mashup created by Netflix of all of Olivia's scenes in the episode, which are also all of Saylor's scenes, too! Don't you just love when all your worlds collide?
Even though Saylor ultimately didn't land the part of Nini, it's awesome to know that she still became a part of the HSMTMTS cast. It's also cool that she and Olivia still ended up sharing the screen, in any capacity! See Olivia and Saylor acting alongside each other in New Girl below:
