--- title: Guardians of the Galaxy: Chris Pratt Almost Didn't Land the Lead description: The part nearly went to It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Glenn Howerton, according to director James Gunn canonical: https://time.com/3592979/guardians-galaxy-chris-pratt/ author: Eric Dodds article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-18T20:41:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T11:31:26.681Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Guardians of the Galaxy: Chris Pratt Almost Didn't Land the Lead og:description: The part nearly went to It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Glenn Howerton, according to director James Gunn og:url: https://time.com/3592979/guardians-galaxy-chris-pratt/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb28e38101b3203d3/6987696a55a8590d3fa842bd/glenn-howerton.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Glenn Howerton at the 2014 Emmy Awards og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Guardians of the Galaxy: Chris Pratt Almost Didn't Land the Lead twitter:description: The part nearly went to It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Glenn Howerton, according to director James Gunn twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb28e38101b3203d3/6987696a55a8590d3fa842bd/glenn-howerton.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Chris Pratt Almost Wasn't the Lead in _Guardians of the Galaxy_ ## Video: Guardians of the Galaxy Full Trailer Official [Watch (HLS stream): Guardians of the Galaxy Full Trailer Official](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/H4IU6dPN.m3u8) (2:30)  _Published 2014-07-29. Guardians of the Galaxy Full Trailer Official_ by [Eric Dodds](https://time.com/author/eric-dodds/) ## Eric Dodds Nov 18, 2014 8:41 PM UTC  This was almost the face of Starlord. This was almost the face of Starlord.Kevork Djansezian/NBC—NBC via Getty Images by [Eric Dodds](https://time.com/author/eric-dodds/) ## Eric Dodds Nov 18, 2014 8:41 PM UTC There were lots of interesting bits from [Drew Magary’s profile](http://www.gq.com/moty/2014/chris-pratt-men-of-the-year) of _Guardians of the Galaxy_ star Chris Pratt in the December issue of _GQ_, but perhaps the most revelatory was one that didn’t quite make the cut. According to outtakes from the piece, [posted on _The Concourse_](http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/fuckin-adrian-peterson-man-fun-with-chris-pratt-1659637008?utm%5Fcampaign=socialflow%5Fdeadspin%5Ftwitter&utm%5Fsource=deadspin%5Ftwitter&utm%5Fmedium=socialflow), Pratt’s character Star-Lord was nearly played by Glenn Howerton, best known as Dennis on _It’s Always Sunny on Philadelphia_. According to Magary, here’s what director James Gunn had to say: “Glenn came along a little bit later, but there was a good chance that, if I didn’t cast Chris, that I would’ve cast Glenn Howerton in the role.” (That sound you hear is the breaking hearts of die-hard _Always Sunny_ fans.) As crazy as that is, maybe even crazier is the fact that Howerton himself had no idea how close he came to landing the life-changing role: > [](https://twitter.com/GlennHowerton/status/534551275975622657) Gunn confirmed the report earlier this afternoon: > [](https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/534793215749001216) There’s little question that Pratt proved a runaway success in the role (you don’t have [an entire summer named after you](http://time.com/3425570/watch-chris-pratt-turn-on-the-charm-in-this-new-snl-promo-video/) without having a pretty good one), but that won’t stop fans from imagining what might have been if Howerton had inhabited the role. On their respective critically-acclaimed TV comedies—_Parks and Recreation_ for Pratt, _Always Sunny_ for Howerton—their roles are drastically different, with Pratt playing a kind-hearted simpleton and Howerton a narcissistic sociopath. Starlord clearly resides in the vast space between the two, but it’s imaginable that Howerton might have had an even more biting take on the role, even if he didn’t go [full Dennis](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZuOKUrwoys). Even if coming so close might sting for Howerton, he’s got the fact that [he’s a golden god](https://twitter.com/glennhowerton) to fall back on. Oh, and _Always Sunny_ returns for its 10th season in January. \[[via _The Concourse_](http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/fuckin-adrian-peterson-man-fun-with-chris-pratt-1659637008?utm%5Fcampaign=socialflow%5Fdeadspin%5Ftwitter&utm%5Fsource=deadspin%5Ftwitter&utm%5Fmedium=socialflow)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3592979/guardians-galaxy-chris-pratt/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3592979/guardians-galaxy-chris-pratt/"},"headline":"Chris Pratt Almost Wasn't the Lead in Guardians of the Galaxy","datePublished":"2014-11-18T20:41:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:31:26.681Z","description":"The role was nearly awarded to another member of one of TV's most-acclaimed comedies","url":"https://time.com/3592979/guardians-galaxy-chris-pratt/","keywords":["movies","guardians of the galaxy","chris pratt"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb28e38101b3203d3/6987696a55a8590d3fa842bd/glenn-howerton.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eric Dodds","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/eric-dodds/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb28e38101b3203d3/6987696a55a8590d3fa842bd/glenn-howerton.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Glenn Howerton at the 2014 Emmy Awards","caption":"Glenn Howerton at the 2014 Emmy Awards","creditText":"Kevork Djansezian/NBC—NBC via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3592979/guardians-galaxy-chris-pratt/","name":"Chris Pratt Almost Wasn't the Lead in Guardians of the Galaxy"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Guardians of the Galaxy Full Trailer Official","description":"Guardians of the Galaxy Full Trailer Official","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/H4IU6dPN/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-07-29T18:55:08.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/H4IU6dPN.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3592979/guardians-galaxy-chris-pratt/","duration":"PT2M30S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3592979/guardians-galaxy-chris-pratt/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```