Selena Gomez Was Going to Play Hannah in '13 Reasons Why' to Transition Her Career

Selena Gomez has been thinking about 13 Reasons Why for a long, long time.

When Selena first fell in love with the novel 13 Reasons Why, by Jay Asher, and decided to take it on as a project, she was actually going to play the lead character, Hannah.

Selena‘s major credits to that point had all been Disney based, and she was looking for material to push her career even further.

“Originally, my mom and I found the project because I wanted it to be a transition piece,” she explains to The Hollywood Reporter.

The story touched Selena on so many levels. Not only because it was edgier material than she’d ever done, but because she deeply related to the lead character

“I see myself as Hannah so much,” the now-24-year-old explains. “I wanted it to feel like anyone can see themselves in this.”

But as Selena delved deeper into getting the project made, she started to feel like maybe her presence in the movie would be more of a distraction.

Selena stepped away from Hannah and put her full support behind newcomer Katherine Langford, who’s since been praised for the role.

What do you think of Selena‘s decision to step away from the role?