Anna Pigeon Series: Cooper Levy Originally Cast as Manny

Cooper Levy had to get into character twice for Anna Pigeon. 

The Overcompensating star, who plays Jesse Garland in the new USA series, shared that he was originally cast in Manuel Rodriguez-Saenz’s role. 

“The casting for the show was a little wild,” Levy exclusively told E! correspondent Will Marfuggi at the Aug. 5 premiere. “Originally, I was cast as Manny and there was a shift. A week went by, I was Manny and then they called and said, ‘We want to try just playing Jesse.’”

And while Jesse isn’t featured in the original Nevada Barr books, Levy revealed his character is the TV counterpart’s love interest for Tracy Spiridakos’ Anna, detailing, “In Track of the Cat, it’s Rogelio.”

“They were like, ‘Give it a shot,’” Levy continued. “We did the chem read and it was a wonderful time. Being Jesse, I was like, ‘It’s going to be throwing it to the wind and just being a love interest.’”

Levy emphasized that while taking on the role of Jesse was a bit intimidating, the set couldn’t have felt more comfortable.