‘The Cheetah Girls’ Almost Starred Solange Knowles As This Main Character

When it comes to iconic Disney Channel foursomes, the titular girl group from “The Cheetah Girls” will always be right up there at the top of the list. Members Raven-Symoné (Galleria), Adrienne Houghton (Chanel), Sabrina Bryan (Dorinda) and Kiely Williams (Aqua) will forever be remembered for their roles in the franchise, but, originally, the lineup looked a little bit different.

During an interview with Bryan, in honor of the first movie’s 15th anniversary last month, International Business Times learned that a different actress-singer was set for the role of Aqua. The mystery member was none other than Solange Knowles.

“The auditions were long,” the “Dancing With the Stars” alum told IBT of the casting process. “They auditioned hundreds of girls for the four roles… I went to a couple more callbacks, and then the last and final callback, they had Raven there. She was being brought on as Galleria. And Adrienne came in, and I was a fan of 3LW…Raven I knew. I had already heard talks about ‘That’s So Raven.’ I had already seen some of the audition calls for it. So, I knew that show was being filmed. So, that wasn’t a surprise. But also, Solange Knowles was there. And she was originally booked as Aqua. Beyonce’s little sister.”

The first “Cheetah Girls” premiered on Aug. 15, 2003, but the casting and filming started the year prior. At that point, Solange wasn’t the accomplished artist that she is today, but she was just about to start down that path. This would’ve been her first major acting role and first movie role, but she didn’t have much time for it because she was getting ready to release her debut album, “Solo Star,” around the same time.

Debra Martin Chase, an executive producer of “The Cheetah Girls” franchise, explained to IBT that when the release date of Solange’s album was pushed up, her dad, Mathew Knowles, didn’t think she could do both. He didn’t believe she could properly promote the album, which was released on Dec. 26, 2002 in Japan and Jan. 21, 2003 in the United States, while doing the film, so she pulled out of the Disney Channel Original Movie.

IBT’s request for a comment from Solange’s representatives was not returned.

The time between Bryan’s casting and the start of movie rehearsals was when Disney brought on Williams, who was a member of 3LW with Houghton, on for the role of Aqua.

“I had no contact with any of the girls from the audition, so I really kind of found out at the first rehearsal when Kiely showed up,” Bryan said.

She continued: “I don’t know at what point [Solange dropped out]. It must’ve been during their negotiation process or something behind the scenes. She never came to rehearsal. By the time we started, it was Kiely the whole time… that was the year Solange was getting ready to release an album. She was working on her own solo artist-type stuff, and, I think, from what I’ve heard, was that they were just worried that it being her first album that it was gonna be a little bit too much for her to be able to juggle everything, with filming and all that kind of stuff.”

Williams herself wasn’t aware of the cast change that happened all those years ago until IBT mentioned it in an interview last month.

“Oh, I didn’t know that,” Williams said about Solange nabbing the part originally.

With three movies, three soundtracks, two non-movie albums and multiple tours, “The Cheetah Girls” was a huge success for Disney Channel. Who knows if it would’ve all worked out the same way if the Aqua switch never happened, but one thing’s for sure, Raven-Symoné, Houghton, Bryan and Williams are the names you’ll find at the top of that iconic Disney foursome list.