One of the main actors on 'Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt' almost wasn't on the show
The 46-year-old actress plays one of the series' outspoken leads, the wealthy Jacqueline Voorhees, who hires Schmidt (Ellie Kemper) as a nanny.
However, Krakowski nearly wasn't on the Netflix series. She was a last minute addition.
The actress was originally set to appear on a different comedy over on Fox called "Dead Boss" until the network decided not to move forward with it.
In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the actress explained how she was added to "Unbreakable" only five days before the then-NBC comedy was previewed at the network's upfronts event for advertisers.
"I got that dreaded call on a Wednesday afternoon from the producer and creator of Dead Boss that it was not going to get picked up," Krakowski told THR. "I was sitting at my desk chair, wondering who from the cast I was going to call first to commiserate, and within an hour I got the call from Tina."
From there, filming for "Unbreakable" moved pretty quickly.
"I got fitted on Friday, I filmed on Saturday and they inserted scenes of mine from the upfront package," said Krakowski.
The actress likened the initial taping of her character as "guerilla-style" with a green screen.
"I just stood on a platform," Krakowski explained to THR. "There were no actors there, but I read the scene with a stand in and script supervisor. They just pasted me in, and I started filming a few weeks later. I really didn't even know who I was playing. It was that quick. We filmed it properly again once I knew where everything was going."
During a recent Q&A for the series Business Insider attended, Krakowski divulged more on her last minute addition.
"I was not in the original pilot, and so I was shown selective scenes after I had gotten hired and said yes," said Krakowski. "They didn't want to play me everything because they were going to redo bits and sort of work towards that."
NetflixShe said there was one moment where she was sold on joining the series.
"They showed me the very first scene when they go to the 'Today' show," Krakowski continued. "The minute that PA [production assistant] goes, 'Thank you, victims,' I was like, 'You can stop the tape. I'm in.' It was so up my alley."