Warner Bros. Television/Album/Entertainment Pictures via ZUMA PressIt's been 30 years since screenwriter Rob Thomas came up with the idea for Veronica Mars and, after all this time, that original pitch has finally been unearthed.
Except, it wasn't about Veronica Mars at all. Instead, the 1996 "Untitled Teen Detective" treatment—intended to be a YA novel at first—was centered around a 17-year-old boy named Keith in Austin, Texas. That's right, marshmallows—California's Veronica Mars didn't even exist.
Thanks to a new dramatic reading of the original pitch by Kristen Bell for Entertainment Weekly, we now know that much like Veronica, Keith worked with his dad at his private investigation agency. However, unlike Veronica's dad, who was voted out as sheriff after accusing Jake Kane of killing his daughter Lilly, Keith's dad was no longer a homicide detective because he allegedly sent the wrong men to death row in a chocolate shop murder case.
While the original plot definitely has its differences, the origins of Veronica Mars are still there if you read close enough. Both teens feel out of place at their high schools. Both don't have much of a relationship with their mothers—Keith's mom left her husband for a computer executive while Veronica's mom was an alcoholic who started a new relationship after becoming sober.
As for their love interests, Keith was enthralled by a classmate named Greta Hall, who doesn't know he exists and is dating a football player. Meanwhile, Veronica dated Duncan, Logan and "Piz." Both had male sidekicks—in the original, Keith's best friend was Reginald, while on TV, Veronica and Wallace were often side by side.
"Wow, Rob. That is a lot of flowery language, not that we need to dull it down, but maybe tone it down a bit?" Bell teased after her dramatic reading of his pitch. "You're coming on a little strong."
To hear all the details of how the original was intended to play out, watch Entertainment Weekly's clip above.