25 Years Ago, Jenna Fischer Almost Landed Jennifer Garner’s “Alias” Role, Until She Was Told She Wasn’t ‘Hot Enough’

Deirdre DurkanWed, September 30, 2026 at 11:15 AM UTC

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Jennifer Garner on ‘Alias’; Jenna Fischer in 2006Credit: Byron J. Cohen/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty; Matt Carasella/Patrick McMullan via Getty -

Alias premiered 25 years ago on Sept. 30, 2001, with Jennifer Garner starring as international spy Sydney Bristow

Years later, The Office star Jenna Fischer revealed that she got “really far” in the audition process before receiving some blunt feedback

Garner has said playing Sydney “changed me as a person” and made her “more brave”

It’s hard to imagine Alias without Jennifer Garner, but 25 years ago, another future TV star came surprisingly close to playing Sydney Bristow.

The J.J. Abrams-created thriller premiered on ABC on Sept. 30, 2001, with Garner taking on the career-changing role of Sydney, a graduate student leading a secret double life as an international spy.

But before Garner slipped into Sydney’s many disguises, The Office star Jenna Fischer was among the actresses vying for the role — and she said she got “really far” in the audition process before being passed over for a particularly blunt reason.

“You know, I auditioned for the role of Sydney Bristow on Alias and I got really far,” Fischer told her former Office costar Angela Kinsey on a September 2020 episode of their Office Ladies podcast.

Jenna Fischer as Pam Halpert in ‘The Office’Credit: Byron Cohen/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

The revelation came as Fischer and Kinsey revisited the season 3 episode of their NBC hit “Ben Franklin,” in which Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) is asked whether he has ever seen a stripper and responds, “Of course, I have. Jennifer Garner on Alias.”

Fischer then revealed she had her own history with the ABC series.

“So I went in and I read for the role,” she recalled, explaining that her audition involved “this really emotional, dramatic scene” in which Sydney was crying.

“I think, like about my mother,” Fischer continued. “And it was super intense.”

According to Fischer, the response to her performance itself was overwhelmingly positive.

“The feedback that my agent got was like, ‘Jenna blew us away. We absolutely loved it. Her scene was... she just did a great job,’ ” she recalled. But there was a catch.

“‘We’re gonna pass on her because we just, unfortunately, don’t think she’s hot enough,’ ” Fischer said she was told. “That was my feedback.”

The role ultimately went to Garner, who was already familiar to Abrams after appearing as Hannah Bibb on his previous series, Felicity.

Garner revealed in a July 2026 interview with Vanity Fair that the very idea for Alias had its roots in Abrams’ work on Felicity.

“The story goes that in the writer’s room, J.J. was trying to come up with stuff for Felicity, which is one of the all-time great shows,” Garner recalled. At some point, she said, Abrams remarked, “I wish Felicity were a spy.”

The idea eventually became Alias, and Garner said Abrams’ wife, Katie McGrath, encouraged him to consider her for the lead.

“His wife, Katie McGrath, said to him, ‘You know, you should think of Jen for this,’ ” Garner recalled.

Abrams gave Garner the pilot script — which she remembered as “the best single script I’d ever read” — but warned her that she would still have to earn the part.

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Jennifer Garner in ‘Alias’Credit: Bob Marshak/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

“He said, ‘You’re still going to have to audition. I mean, I wrote this with you in mind, but you have to audition,’ ” she said.

Garner decided to prepare by learning martial arts. Without the convenience of an internet search, the actress said she turned to the Yellow Pages to find a class.

“I just looked up the biggest ad near where I lived for martial arts,” she recalled. “I started taking karate class with like 5- and 6-year-olds.”

When it came time to audition, Garner was ready to show off her new skills. At the end of her read, she remembered asking, “Would you like to see my karate forms?”

The preparation paid off.

For five seasons from 2001 to 2006, Garner starred as Sydney, whose life is turned upside down when she learns that SD-6 — the organization she believed was a covert branch of the CIA — is actually an enemy organization. She becomes a double agent for the real CIA, working to bring down SD-6 while navigating a complicated relationship with her father and fellow double agent Jack Bristow (Victor Garber).

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The series also starred Ron Rifkin, Michael Vartan, Bradley Cooper, Merrin Dungey, Carl Lumbly, Kevin Weisman and Greg Grunberg.

The physically demanding role became Garner’s breakout performance, earning her a Golden Globe and four consecutive Emmy nominations — and, as she later recalled, changing the way she saw herself as an actor.

“Alias was so far outside of anything I had done,” Garner told Vanity Fair. “No one had thought of me for action. No one had thought of me for a tough role.”

“Playing Sydney changed me as a person,” she continued. “I walked differently after I played Sydney. I just had so much more comfort in the job. So much had been asked of me. It was like boot camp for acting in a way.”

Twenty-five years after the series premiered, Garner remains deeply connected to the show. In a 2026 interview with PEOPLE, she recalled the emotional final days of filming and admitted there is one part of Alias she still can’t bring herself to revisit.

“I’ve never been able to watch the last episode because Victor’s character dies and I just can’t see it,” she said of her on-screen father, played by Victor Garber. “I can’t even see it.”

For Garner, the impact of playing Sydney has extended far beyond the five seasons she spent on the series.

The actress said in July that the role made her “more brave” — and remains one of the projects she is proudest to have been a part of.

“It’s something I’m so proud to be a part of,” she said.

on People

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