Why Blake Lively replaced Katherine Heigl in the Adaline era

The Age of Adaline, directed by Lee Toland Kruger and released in 2015, is simply a film centered around the idea that Blake Lively is an inhumanly beautiful being. It makes it hard to imagine that anyone else could have played Adaline Bowman, a woman who is not stuck in time and unable to age. However, what you may not know is that “Grey's Anatomy” veteran Katherine Heigl was originally slated to star, but ended up dropping out… so what happened here?

Heigl, who originated the role of Dr. Izzy Stevens on the long-running ABC medical drama and left the series during its 6th season, was originally cast opposite Angela Lansbury, who was supposed to play Adaline's much older daughter. Flemming. (At this point, Andy Tennant, known for projects like “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Hitch,” was brought in to direct.) Long before the film's release, Heigl left the project in 2010, according to a report Deadline; at first, the outlet reported that Heigl's departure was due to disagreements on set. (This isn't entirely surprising, as rumors of Heigl's “complicated” nature have dogged her since filming “Grey's Anatomy,” largely due to Heigl butting heads with then-showrunner and creator Shonda Rhimes.)

In an update to the story, Gary Lucchesi, a partner at Lakeshore Entertainment — one of the two companies that produced the film — said Heigl left “The Age of Adaline” because she had recently adopted a daughter and wasn't ready to fully return to work. “She's done two movies with us and we certainly support her decision,” Lucchesi said at the time, referring to “The Ugly Truth” and “One for the Money.” He continued: “We were scheduled to shoot in mid-March and we're hoping to make it. We're huge fans of hers and if she has to do it, we respect that.” Natalie Portman was then offered the role, but according to what was said Entertainment Weeklyshe rejected it; eventually Lively earned the lead role.

If you're worried about Katherine Heigl after learning that she left such a busy movie before it even started filming, don't be; the actress has been working pretty steadily since she left “Grey's Anatomy” and spent some time with her family and daughter. In 2014, Heigl produced and directed the NBC series State of Things as Charleston “Charlie” Whitney Tucker, a CIA analyst who spends her days preparing briefings for the President of the United States (played by Alfre Woodard in the series), but unfortunately the series was canceled after one season. Heigl then appeared on Suits in the show's final two seasons as corporate attorney Samantha Wheeler, but her biggest hit came in 2021 thanks to the Netflix original series based on the popular novel.

The movie “Firefly Lane” is adapted from the best-selling book by Christina Hanna. Casting Heigl as Tully Hart, it allows her to play in two time zones, working her way up the corporate ladder as an aspiring news anchor in the 1980s and as a successful talk show host. in the 2000s. (Ali Scoby also plays a teenage Tully in the 1970s.) Opposite “Scrubs” veteran Sarah Chalke, who plays Tully's lifelong best friend Kate Mularkey, Heigl shines as Tully, a woman who projects a confidence that masks a deeply hurt interior, and the series turned out to prove. that the actress is still able to host a popular TV show.

As for Blake Lively, her star continued to rise after she directed The Age of Adaline alongside Ellen Burst (who ended up playing her daughter Flemming), Game of Thrones star Michael Huisman and Harrison Ford. In 2016, Lively proved she could carry a movie on her own with “The Shallows,” essentially a solo project considering she plays a woman stranded in the ocean fending off a shark, and in 2018, she starred in the movie. camp thriller “A Simple Favor” opposite Anna Kendrick, donning suits and swilling martinis as fashion connoisseur and mystery woman Emily Nelson. (An untitled sequel is slated for release this year, and director Paul Feig confirmed after nothing on social media led to the film being shelved.)

Recently, Lively has been in the news thanks to the never-ending drama surrounding her 2024 film It Ends With Us based on Colleen Hoover's bestseller of the same name. Lively, who produced the film and starred as aspiring florist Lily Blossom Bloom, filed a complaint with the California Department of Civil Rights in December 2024, alleging that her co-star and director, Jane the Virgin star Justin Baldoni, created a hostile work environment on set and also sexually harassed her.. Baldoni retaliated by suing The New York Times over their reporting of Lively's complaint, and Lively subsequently filed a federal lawsuit against Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios. All of this is still going on at the time of this writing, and it looks like the whole truth about the situation regarding Baldoni's behavior, which Lively complained was pretty vile, will come out sooner rather than later.

Anyway, The Age of Adaline is now streaming on Netflix if you want to imagine an alternate universe where Katherine Heigl starred.