David Duchovny auditioned for every lead role on Full House before landing The X-Files
The actor was apparently "wrong" for all of the leading parts on the ABC sitcom
Aux News David Duchovny
The trajectory of two iconic television shows could have been altered forever if David Duchovny’s early career turned out differently. In a recent interview with Ellen DeGeneres, Duchovny, known for his role as Fox Mulder on The X-Files, says he had previously auditioned for every leading role on the sitcom Full House.
“It was my first time out in L.A., and they brought me out for different shows,” he recalls on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. “I ended up with the Full House stuff, and they just kept on trying to plug me into different characters. And clearly, I was wrong for every single one.”
It turns out Duchovny did not have the chops necessary for any of the leading roles—not the fatherly Danny Tanner, the goofy Uncle Joey, or the cool as a cucumber Jesse Katsopolis.
These roles, of course, ended up in the hands of Bob Saget, Dave Coulier, and John Stamos, respectively. On Ellen, Duchovny joked he that even auditioned for the role of the young Tanner twins, played famously by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.
Full House premiered in 1987, with its first run lasting for eight seasons.
It’s kind of haunting to imagine Duchovny playing a character like Uncle Jesse, and some random actor potentially nabbing the role of Mulder in 1992—it could have altered our entire timeline.
Shortly after his failed Full House audition, Duchovny started booking roles, first as Denise Bryson on David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. After a couple of small film roles, Duchovny finally landed the leading role in The X-Files.
The rest is history, as he became one of the most recognizable faces in sci-fi television over the show’s 11 seasons and film. Both of the shows have since been rebooted, with Duchovny and Gillian Anderson returning as Mulder and Scully for another two seasons in 2016.
Duchovny recently appeared in Netflix’s The Chair. His upcoming projects include Judd Apatow’s pandemic comedy The Bubble, alongside Karen Gillan, Maria Bakalova, Iris Apatow, Fred Armisen, Keegan-Michael Key, Leslie Mann, and Pedro Pascal.
41 Comments
Duchovny, known for his role as Fox Mulder on The X-Files, says he had previously auditioned for every leading role on the sitcom Full House.
He would have brought something special to the role of Becky, and as a plus, maybe Lori wouldn’t have gotten involved in the college admittance scandal.
If he’d gotten cast as Aunt Becky, he could have used his status as a Princeton and Yale alumnus to get his kids into those colleges. His kids are probably smart, too, unlike those airhead daughters of Lori Laughlin (which is admittedly a low bar).
well this is just begging for:
DJ or Stephanie would’ve been a lot dryer.
He’s conspicuously skipping over Red Shoe Diaries again.
My first thought exactly. What a great show when you’re a teenager and you had no internet.
That and Silk Stalkings for me.
God I loved that show. Tried re-watching recently though….it doesn’t quite hold up.
He’s skipping Red Shoe Diaries in a story about roles he didn’t get? Weird, that…
I’m pretty sure they were still using the footage they shot of him walking his dog on the traintracks long after the X-Files became a huge hit. So it was super weird to turn on what was essentially softcore porn and see Fox Mulder.
Well the his character in Twin Peaks wasn’t the most ordinary of the era either. It was the first one I remember him of.
Great actor and seems to be nice guy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in bad role.
Aquarius and Californication as well.
If Full House had Duchovny in every role I might have actually watched it…
I have no doubt that somebody, somewhere is currently deep faking this, and then masturbating to it.
[typing with one hand]Possibly…
And I take full credit for that load!
someone on the internet is making a trailer as we speak. i just pray they post it here
Too Many Davids!
Oops! All Davids!
“11 seasons and film”
I see what you did there. At least, I Want To Believe you did it on purpose.
…wait, Ellen is still on the air?
“Oh. Have mercy.” ::shuffles::
David Duchovny announces he’s touring with The Beach Boys!
Sounds like the guy that made the Full House opening with Ron Swanson has some more work to do.
Classic moment of a classic episode.
If Duchovny lands the role of Uncle Jesse wouldn’t that mean you could have had Stamos as Fox Mulder. That would have been a lot weirder.
Let’s go all in and have Lori Loughlin and Gillian Anderson switch roles too!
And a lot more sex with aliens. Have mercy…
Did he try out for the role of the twins?
no no no, TWINS played ONE little girl! Wasn’t your sister in the fucking thing?!
He was great in Bonnie Hunt’s sitcom as weatherman Johnny Volcano. It was alway the funniest part of that show. (which might be why it didn’t last very long)
Duchovny joked he that even auditioned for the role of the young Tanner twins, played famously by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.But, surely a pop culture obsessive like you knows that the two Olsens played the single character of Michelle Tanner.
Fun fact: Michelle’s diaper was used to hide that she was actually played by Ashley sitting on Mary Kate’s shoulders.
Even Michelle? Dang.
IsDavidDuchovnyLegalYet.com would’ve been a way less gross website.
It’s cool how half the posts are jokes about him auditioning for Michelle when he already made the joke.
Duchovny appeared as himself in Netflix’s The Chair. Not exactly a challenging acting role, I’d say.
I dunno, he also played himself on Larry Sanders, and it was probably the funniest roles I’d ever seen him.
I can’t imagine him delivering any of the catch phrases without sounding incredibly sarcastic.
Him as Danny Tanner doesn’t feel that far fetched