The Simpsons: 10 Guest Spots That Almost Went To Someone Else

Some Of Your Favourite Simpsons Celebrity Moments Almost Looked Very Different.

By Jacob Simmons /

Celebrities love three things; getting divorced, Instagram filters, and appearing on The Simpsons. Since the show's first episode in 1989, dozens upon dozens of famous faces have lent their voices to original characters, fictionalised versions of themselves, and even killer robot houses (thanks, Pierce Brosnan for that one).

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Some guest spots have become so iconic that you may remember them more than anything else that celebrity has ever done, which makes it even more bizarre that some of the most famous and beloved celebrity appearances in the history of The Simpsons almost never happened.

Getting celebrities to do anything is like trying to herd sheep with a blind sheepdog that is deathly afraid of sheep. Writers on The Simpsons know this all too well, as they've had many a plan scuppered by the unpredictable nature of the rich and famous.

The following ten guest spots were all either planned for or linked to somebody else. In some cases the writers were robbed of what surely would have been an all-time great Simpsons moment, but in others, they were definitely counting themselves lucky.

Here are ten celebrity guest appearances that almost looked very different.

10. Colm Meaney in “In the Name of the Grandfather”

For some reason, celebrities still appear on The Simpsons despite the fact that most modern episodes are about as funny as a vasectomy. One of the better HD editions of the show is Season 20's, "In The Name Of The Grandfather", where the family go to Ireland to take Grandpa to his favourite pub.

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The establishment's landlord, Tom O'Flanagan, is portrayed by Colm Meaney, who made his name as Miles O'Brien across several series of Star Trek. Whilst Mr. Meaney is a great actor and did a good job pulling pints in this episode, Homer and Grandpa were almost served their Guinness by a knight of the realm.

It was reported before this episode aired that none other than Gilderoy Lockheart - or Sir Kenneth Branagh for you Muggles out there - had been cast in the role of Tom. Branagh even went as far as to record his lines for this episode, but, for some reason, they were never used. Whilst Branagh would have been good in this episode, t's perhaps best that Sir Ken didn't get the role here as he was actually born in Northern Ireland, not the Republic.

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