Rachael Leigh Cook: Turning down Rogue 'X-Men' role a 'huge misstep'

Rachael Leigh Cook is revisiting the past in Netflix's He's All That, but the 41-year-old actress wishes she could redo one element of her past.

In a profile for the New York Times, Cook expressed regret over pivoting to independent films after 2001's Josie and the Pussycats and subsequently turning down the role of Rogue in X-Men.

"I really thought what everyone told me was correct when they said, ‘What we need to do now is make sure you’re taken seriously,'" Cook explained. "I definitely did things for the wrong reasons."

Writer Ashley Spencer provided more context: "Pre-Josie, she had turned down the part of Rogue in the X-Men franchise in order to shoot multiple smaller films and avoid acting on a green screen. The superhero role went to her She’s All That co-star Anna Paquin instead. Cook is reluctant to draw more attention to her 'huge misstep,' noting, 'As soon as I saw the posters for it, I knew that I’d made a mistake.'"

X-Men premiered in 2000 with Hugh Jackman as the superhero Wolverine, a role he would maintain across nine films through 2017. Paquin played Rogue in four of the franchise's installments.

She's All That premiered in 1999 and starred Cook as unassuming Laney Boggs, who popular jock Zack Siler (Freddie Prinze Jr.) must turn into the prom queen after making a bet with fellow jock Dean Sampson (Paul Walker):