Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller shared a whopping piece of insight with Playbill.com recently:

Lee Pace almost didn't portray Ned.

Originally, the new series "was going to be a spin-off of Dead Like Me. Then I left, halfway through the first season, to do Wonderfalls, which only lasted four episodes."

However, that series starred the Pushing Daisies male lead, Lee Pace, for whom Fuller wrote the part of Ned.

"His agents declined, but his manager went around them, and told [Pace] that he should really read the [pilot] script," Fuller said, saying Adam Brody was next offered the part of Ned, but "he was not looking to do another series immediately." relates Fuller.

Fortunately, Pace's manager got involved - and the rest, soon enough, will be TV history.

Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.