From Lauren Graham to Kelly Bishop to Scott Patterson, has the perfect cast, and I was shocked that Alex Borstein was originally slated to play one of the show's major characters. I was already well aware that Borstein had minor parts on the show as one of the many actors who appeared on Gilmore Girls before they became celebrities. But if she had remained in the main cast, Gilmore Girls would have been an entirely different show.

Most of us are familiar with Borstein for her voice-acting work as Lois, the Griffin matriarch, in the long-running animated series Family Guy. However, I became a big Borstein fan when I saw her as Midge's sardonic manager, Susie Myerson, in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. The series — also created by Gilmore Girls' Amy Sherman-Palladino — won Borstein two well-deserved Emmys and a ton of acclaim. , as evidenced by the much bigger part she was supposed to have.

It's hard to imagine anyone but Melissa McCarthy playing the role of Lorelai's best friend, but Alex Borstein was originally cast as Sookie St. James, and even played her in the original unaired Gilmore Girls pilot. However, .

Borstein was a main cast member on MadTV from 1997 to 2002. Most famous for her recurring character Ms. Swan, Borstein would continue to make sporadic appearances on the show until 2009. Though her career clearly didn't suffer, it would be easy to understand if Borstein was still upset about having lost her chance to play Sookie on Gilmore Girls. However, the actor/writer has no regrets, as she told Vulture:

When I auditioned for Gilmore Girls, I met Amy and her manager producer at that time, Gavin [Polone]. I developed two pilots with Gavin and that set my career off as a writer as well, so I’m pretty happy. I don’t think I would have done that if I was doing Gilmore Girls.

Alex Borstein is one of Hollywood's most talented comedic performers, but her style of humor wouldn't have been right for the character of Sookie St. James. Borstein tends to be at her best and funniest in dry, acerbic roles, which is why she steals the show as Susie in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. That's not to say Borstein doesn't infuse her characters with vulnerability, as we see in Maisel, but

On the other hand, a then-unknown . McCarthy appeared in almost all of Gilmore Girls' 153 episodes, and the beloved series was a springboard for her impressive career. After earning her first Oscar nomination for her star-making turn in Bridesmaids, the actress' hectic schedule was a big reason why McCarthy was barely in Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, Netflix's 2016 sequel miniseries.

Alex Borstein may not have ended up playing Sookie St. James, but that doesn't mean she wasn't a part of Stars Hollow. The comic actress appeared in not one, but two guest-starring roles in Gilmore Girls. Borstein was The hilarious juxtaposition between the soothing sounds of the harp and Drella's confrontational personality features Borstein's comedic talents at their finest.

, Emily Gilmore's personal stylist, who is featured in seasons 3 and 5. Other than her impeccable taste, Miss Celine is famous for name-dropping classic Hollywood celebrities and matching her clients to them. Both Drella and Miss Celine also showed up in Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, showing the strength of the Alex Borstein and Amy Sherman-Palladino connection. Borstein didn't appear in Sherman-Palladino's most recent TV series, but if Étoile gets a season 2, my fingers are certainly crossed.