Shocking Behind-the-Scenes Secrets About 'Liv and Maddie'

This may be hard to believe, but it’s officially been eight years since Liv and Maddie premiered. The fan-favorite Disney Channel show hit screens on July 19, 2013, and fans cannot believe how fast time has flown by! It seriously feels like just yesterday that viewers watching the hilarious antics of Dove Cameron, Joey Bragg, Tenzing Norgay Trainor, Jessica Marie Garcia and Ryan McCartan, and there’s not a day that goes by that they don’t miss it, TBH.

When the show came to an end in 2017, Dove chatted with Teen Vogue about what she hoped viewers would take away from the series. “I would just say that human beings are stronger together,” the actress said at the time.

“Relying on someone else is not a sign of weakness; it shows strength that you’re able to accept that you need help. Your family and loved ones that you choose as your family is the most important thing the life energy you create around you is your life,” Dove added. “Liv and Maddie is such a positive, positive show, full of love and laughter. Obviously, because the twins are such different people it’s [about] accepting yourself as you are, as you come, not competing with those around you. It’s all about following your path and your bliss.”

During Dove’s time working on the show, a lot went down behind-the-scenes, so J-14 decided to investigate and we uncovered a ton of on-set secrets that fans probably didn’t know about the series! One major secret is that the blonde beauty had an entirely different role in the show before playing twins.

“Liv and Maddie didn’t start out as a twin show, I actually played a different character in the beginning, and it was neither of the twins. It was a completely different show at first, and it took a long time to get it to where it is,” the former Disney Channel star told Teen Vogue. “I’ve actually been working on it for five years though it’s only been on the air for four — that’s a long time when you’re young.”

Fans may also be shocked to learn that Sofia Carson almost starred in the series! Plus, did you guys know that Dove and Ryan had a long-term relationship in real life?! Yep, there’s actually a lot that went down when the cameras stopped rolling. Want to learn some more unknown facts about the show? Scroll through our gallery uncover some more Liv and Maddie behind-the-scenes secrets!

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Dove Helped Create the Twins

“I really truly was making it up as I went. I originally auditioned for another character, and they literally called me on the freeway and said, ‘Hey we’re picking up this show. You’re no longer Alana. You’re playing twins, and we’ll figure it out as we go. See you Monday,'” the star told BBC News in May 2021. “And I was like, ‘What on earth?!’ They had no proof that I could do it. They basically gave it to me and were like, ‘Alright, well one of them plays basketball, the other is an actor, the rest is up to you’ … I literally sat in an office for three months with my director, writing out every difference I could think of. One is left handed, one is right handed, their voices are different.”

Dove continued, “There are backstories that nobody will ever know except for me — but because I knew those, they were fully-fledged people in my mind.”

No Twins!

Dove slayed both her roles as twins Liv and Maddie Rooney in the Disney series, but when she auditioned, the show was totally different than what we’re used to. Get this — it was originally supposed to be called Bits & Pieces, and there were no twins!

“It didn’t start out with me playing twins! So when I came on set, I didn’t think I was going to be able to do it. I was a nervous wreck, because I didn’t audition to play the twins. I only auditioned to play one person, it was a completely different show in the beginning,” the actress explained to Young Hollywood in 2015. “I played one girl named Alanna who is neither Liv nor Maddie, and she didn’t have a twin – there was no twins. We went away for testing after we filmed the pilot and everybody got to say [what they wanted more of]. So the day I found out we got picked up, they were like, also it’s about twins, and you’re the twins!”

Dove Almost Didn’t Star

After Dove’s dad’s sudden death, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to continue acting so she almost turned down the role.

“I crumbled and panicked because I knew everybody would think it’s a dream come true, but I was having genuine panic attacks because I knew that Disney Channel was an overnight thing, and my dad had just died, and I was not trying to be in front of everybody because I couldn’t even process myself,” she confessed to EW in 2017. “But I was sobbing to my mom, who helped me weigh the pros and cons, and I finally got clear-eyed when I realized that Disney Channel is for kids. And I love kids. And I was going to get to work with kids all the time. And I started to cry all over again. Because what a treat, to be able to be someone for kids, to be a good role model, to be a big sister because I never was one.”

Liv Was Left-Handed

Get this, you guys — Dove decided to make Liv left-handed, and she didn’t even tell the producers about it! Yep, the star carried on doing it consistently for the entire show before one day revealing the news to the team!

“Our jaws dropped over that,” one of the showrunners, John D. Beck, told Just Jared Jr. in 2017. “We [had to] run upstairs to the editor … the three of us had seen so many cuts of all the episodes and we had to look through them all again, and we all hadn’t picked up on that.”

“We [even] talked to the props department after that and in the scenes where the girls were doing their homework, they have notebooks on their desks. There’s one that just looks like serial killer scrawl…and another that just had perfect little hearts over the eyes. Dove was completely dedicated,” Ron Hart added.

Sofia Carson Auditioned

Please take a moment to imagine how different the show would have been if Sofia had been cast as the lead and not Dove! Well, that was almost the case!

In an interview with Cosmopolitan, Sofia opened up about auditioning for Liv and Maddie. She explained that after she tried out for the role, that’s when Disney came to her with the idea for Descendants! And the rest is history.