Spongebob Squarepants almost sounded a little different. In an interview with CBR, Animaniacs star Jess Harnell recalled his audition for a role in the popular Nickelodeon series, even though he didn't make the final cut.
Asked which one of his projects surprised him the most over his long career, Harnell recalled, "Sometimes, you never know what's going to really hit the bullseye in popular culture. I remember, years ago, I did a number of auditions for a certain cartoon and that came down to the wire and I almost got the role and I didn't, in the end. That's fine, because the guy who got it did a fantastic job, but I remember thinking, 'Well, you know, how long is a show about a talking sponge gonna last, anyway?'"
"So you never know! You never know what's going to hit the zeitgeist, and there's certain things you get your hopes up about and think, 'Oh, this one's gonna be a very big deal' and nobody ever hears of it! And there's other things that last forever," he added.
Harnell, of course, has played his fair share of iconic characters. In addition to his role as Wakko Warner in Animaniacs, he voiced Ironhide in the Transformers film series and Crash Bandicoot throughout the popular game franchise of the same name. His past credits also include The Tick, Wreck-It Ralph, The Super Hero Squad Show, ChalkZone, Drawn Together, Codename: Kids Next Door, Cars, Johnny Bravo, 2 Stupid Dogs and many more.
Debuting in 1999, SpongeBob SquarePants has remained popular on Nickelodeon for two decades, with an entire generation growing up with the character and his undersea home of Bikini Bottom. The show follows the title character as he balances his job at the Krusty Krab and his friendships with the other various characters in his hometown, including his neighbors Patrick and Squidward.
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run stars Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Carolyn Lawrence, Rodger Bumpass and Clancy Brown, with Awkwafina and Keanu Reeves. The movie arrives in theaters in early 2021. Harnell also voices Wakko in the Animaniacs revival, which is now streaming on Hulu.