- Television
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ByMichael Boyle
Paramount Pictures
Although Hayden Panettiere has hardly done badly as an actor, most "Scream," "Heroes," and "Nashville" fans can agree that we'd prefer to see her in more things. That's why it stings a little to find out that she almost auditioned for "Landman," the Texan oil industry drama that was co-created by Taylor Sheridan and debuted in 2024. As Panettiere explained in aninterview with Us Weekly:
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"There was one audition I was supposed to do for 'Landman.' [My former 'Heroes' costar] Ali Larter's role is what I was reading for, and as much as I wanna work with Taylor Sheridan — who's just genius and, the creation of his characters and their relationships and stuff, he really is a genius — I was like, 'There's no way I am getting this.'"
Panettiere added that she sees this as a mistake and feels she should've just auditioned anyway, just to see what would've happened. "I have to be careful to not pigeonhole myself as an actor," she remarked. "[I have to] not judge what I am capable of or judge what others think that I know what others are gonna be looking for. You have to go for it. I'm just trying not to get out of my own way. [...] I can be a fool sometimes for not just doing it."
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The character Panettiere was meant to audition for was Angela Norris, the troubled ex-wife of main character Tommy (Billy Bob Thornton). Although initially seeming like a one-dimensional trophy wife, Angela gradually reveals herself to be a woman of many layers. It's understandable why Panettiere would hesitate to audition for the role, though; Angela (and the actor who plays her) are about 10 years' Panettiere's senior. It's plausible the show would've aged Angela down for Panettiere's sake, but letting the slightly older Ali Larter take the reins was probably best for what the series had in mind.
What has Hayden Panettiere been working on lately?
Lionsgate Films
Although Panettiere could've had a lot of fun playing Angela on "Landman," she's still had enough projects to keep her busy in the meantime. After taking a hiatus from acting after "Nashville" wrapped up in 2018, she returned for a major role in "Scream VI" in 2023. She quickly followed this up with the 2024 thriller "Amber Alert" and the 2025 horror-comedy movie "A Breed Apart." Most of her new projects weren't major critical darlings, but Panettiere herself was never the problem with them.
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If Panettiere's doubting her talents as an actor, hopefully her turn in "Scream VI" helped to assuage them. After all, the main reason she was in that movie was because fans loved her performance in 2011's "Scream 4" so much. Even though her character Kirby was stabbed with a very big knife and wasseemingly a total goner in that film, "Scream" fans were fully willing to accept the hand-wavy explanation for Kirby's surprising survival (even if she wasn't originally meant to come back in "Scream VI" at all). Realism be damned, people wanted to see Panettiere back as Kirby (and for her to stay back as Kirby)by any means necessary.
Speaking to Vanity Fair in 2023, Panettiere admitted to being "terrified" of returning to acting with the sixth "Scream" film. "I was afraid that I didn't have what it takes anymore," she explained. "I had taken four years off, and it was like a muscle that had atrophied if you don't use it. I was afraid that I couldn't memorize the same way, that I was going to question myself, second-guess myself." Luckily,Panettiere found that her line-memorizing skills returned the more she acted, and by the time the "Scream VI" production wrapped up, she was back into the swing of things.
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"It helped so much to have the camaraderie that we had on the film," Panettiere added. "The cast, the crew was so warm, so welcoming. We laughed the whole time. We had so much fun and had each other's backs. Every time I stepped on the set, I became more and more confident and gained more and more of that faith back in myself."
