Actor Ryan Gosling is once again making certain ladies and gentlemen across America swoon, just like he did in his The Notebook days, thanks to his turn in the musical romance La La Land. But there was almost another, totally different 2016 hit film that nearly nabbed Gosling, and it didn’t have a whole lot of singing and dancing. I’m taking about Doctor Strange, a film for which Marvel Studios had circled Gosling’s name for not too long ago, before ultimately going with Benedict Cumberbatch.

Although we didn’t get to see the Gos take form as the Sorcerer Supreme, a concept artist named Court Chu has shared two illustrations on his blog (via Comic Book.com) that he created from back when Marvel Studios was keen on this casting. From the sound of it, Marvel quickly moved on from the idea of casting Gosling, as Chu said in his blog, “I worked probably not even a day on some version of Doctor Strange years ago, and back then they wanted Gosling.” The drawing feature a more comic book-influenced costume than the one that ended up on screen. You can see the concept drawings down below in our gallery.

So would Ryan Gosling been a good choice for Marvel’s premiere sorcerer? As much as I like him as an actor, I’d say probably not. I wouldn’t go as far as saying we dodged a bullet–Gosling is talented enough that he might have made it work–but even though he’s 36 years old, he still looks younger than his years, and I’ve always seen the character of Doctor Strange as a man who’s at least in his 40, having been a celebrated surgeon for a long time before the accident that ultimately led him down the path to becoming a sorcerer. Benedict Cumberbatch is only 40 himself, but can pull off older better than Gosling can.

Incidentally, Gosling wasn’t the only big star who was in considered for the part Actors like Joaquin Phoenix and Jared Leto were also once in the running. What do you think of Gosling almost being our Doctor Strange? Do you like the idea, or were you happy with the version we got? Let us know down below in the comments.

Image: Marvel Studios