Spilling The TeaAll The ’13 Reasons Why’ Behind-The-Scenes Secrets That You Never Knew About

Mental health professionals and therapy dogs were present on set

Throughout the entire series, Stanford University staff psychologist Helen H. Hsu acted as a consultant for the show. According to The Atlantic, Helen “provided feedback on some draft scripts, and on how to portray some of the show’s themes.”

One of the show’s stars, Dylan, also told Popsugar that there were puppies present on set.

“hey had therapy dogs on set,” he explained in April 2017. “There was a puppy per hour. They really tried to help out. The puppies helped.”

Katherine Langford was cast via Skype

During an interview with W Magazine Katherine revealed that her entire audition for the show was over Skype.

“They kept calling me back and re-auditioning me. When I tested for it over Skype, that I was like, ‘Oh, maybe I’ve got an okay chance of this.'” the actress said.

You can buy Hannah Baker’s blue nail polish

By know, viewers know that Hannah Baker famously labeled her cassette tapes with bright, blue nail polish. Well, as it turned out, she used nail polish from the brand Sinful Colors, called Endless Blue.

Many cast members auditioned for different roles

TBH, the show could have been very different because, as it turned out, not every actor auditioned for the role they ended up getting. Initially, Katherine went out for the part of Jessica Davis instead of Hannah Baker, Devin — who ultimately played Tyler Down — auditioned to be Clay Jensen and scene-stealer Brandon Larracuente — who played Jeff Atkins — went out for the role of Justin Foley!

You can read the entire story from Tony Padilla’s point of view

When the 13 Reasons Why novel first hit the shelves in 2007, the publisher RazorBill created an entire blog from Tony Padilla’s point of view called “Hannah’s Reasons.” It may be a few years old now, but the site is still up and running and tells Hannah’s entire story from the perspective of her BFF and confidant.

Some of the cast members have a matching tattoo

After the first season hit the streaming service, some of the show’s cast members went to a tattoo parlor together and got a semi-colon (;) permanently inked on their body. What’s the significance? Well, according to one of the star’s Tommy Dorfman, it “stands for an end of one thought and a beginning of another. Instead of a period, authors use the semicolon to continue a sentence. For us, it means a beginning of another chapter in life, in lieu of ending your life.”

The show’s lighting has a deeper meaning

Some viewers may have noticed that throughout all four seasons of the show, there’s a serious lighting change that signifies flashback scenes as opposed to present day. Well, according to Hannah Payne — who played Stephanie in the show’s first season — this was intentional.

When Hannah was alive, the show has more “warm tones,” but scenes taking place after her death had “more blues, grays, and cooler colors.”

This same theme went on throughout Seasons 3 and 4, even when Hannah wasn’t there.

Christian Navarro learned to drive for the role of Tony Padilla

Before he booked the role of Tony Padilla — who famously drives a red car throughout the entire series — Christian didn’t have his license. The actor told Popsugar in 2017 that the show got him both driving lessons and his license!

“I landed, they took me to a driving lesson, and I said, ‘You guys made a mistake here.’ But they were very generous and they really wanted me for the role,” he dished. “They got me driving lessons and my license, and now I’m a licensed California driver, much to my dad’s horror!”

Selena Gomez was meant to play Hannah Baker

By now, it’s widely known that Selena was an executive producer on the show, but did you know she was actually supposed to be the star? Yep, the actress explained why she decided to ultimately turn down the role while talking to The Hollywood Reporter in 2017.

“I wanted it to feel like anyone can see themselves in this,” she said. “A book is frightening for me because I know the cult following it has, which is the reason why I didn’t want to be in it. Originally, my mom and I found the project because I wanted it to be a transition piece.”