Jason Earles Almost Didn't Audition forHannah MontanaWhen He Found Out His Character Was an Orangutan Puppet

Mar. 15, 2025

Jason Earles circa 2006 and in 2024.Photo:Jesse Grant/WireImage; Disney/Mark Von Holden

Jesse Grant/WireImage; Disney/Mark Von Holden

Jason Earleswasn’t super impressed with one of his co-stars in the originalHannah Montanapilot.On the most recent episode of theMagical Rewindpodcast, the actor told hostsWill FriedleandSabrina Bryanthat the beloved show’s original pilot script was so “dumb” he almost didn’t audition for the role of Jackson Stewart.“The original Jackson was the worst,” Earles, 47, said of his character, the older brother ofMiley Cyrus’ title role. “He was so introverted, and he didn’t know how to, like, handle his sister’s success. And so his way of coping with the world was talking with an orangutan hand puppet. It was awful.”“It was funny,” he added. “It was just really stupid.”Miley Cyrus and Jason Earles in ‘Hannah Montana’.Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty ImagesEarles ultimately did audition for the role, which he played in all four seasons ofHannah Montanaand in the 2009 movie based on the show. Despite his misgivings, Earles said he dove right into working with the puppet in preparation to film the series’ pilot episode.“I worked very hard. Like, I worked with a puppeteer, and the puppet itself was awesome,” he recalled. “We were three days away from shooting the pilot. We’ve done rehearsals for, like, five days with this puppet.”Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.Billy Ray Cyrus, Jason Earles and Miley Cyrus in ‘Hannah Montana’.According to Earles, the Disney Channel show’s writers eventually realized that his big-brother-kid-sister dynamic with Cyrus worked better without the simian intermediary.“If you watch the pilot, there’s a scene where Miley, myself, andBilly Ray [Cyrus]are sitting around the table in the kitchen, and we’re sort of bantering. And it’s one of the first times you really see Miley and I sort of talk junk to each other,” he explained. “We did that in one of the early run-throughs, and the writers were like, ‘Well, that’s what it is. He’s the one guy that’s not, like, impressed.’ ”“So, they actually ended up rewriting everything around that aspect of it and punted the puppet three days before we shot the pilot,” he said.

Jason Earleswasn’t super impressed with one of his co-stars in the originalHannah Montanapilot.

On the most recent episode of theMagical Rewindpodcast, the actor told hostsWill FriedleandSabrina Bryanthat the beloved show’s original pilot script was so “dumb” he almost didn’t audition for the role of Jackson Stewart.

“The original Jackson was the worst,” Earles, 47, said of his character, the older brother ofMiley Cyrus’ title role. “He was so introverted, and he didn’t know how to, like, handle his sister’s success. And so his way of coping with the world was talking with an orangutan hand puppet. It was awful.”

“It was funny,” he added. “It was just really stupid.”

Miley Cyrus and Jason Earles in ‘Hannah Montana’.Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images

Earles ultimately did audition for the role, which he played in all four seasons ofHannah Montanaand in the 2009 movie based on the show. Despite his misgivings, Earles said he dove right into working with the puppet in preparation to film the series’ pilot episode.

“I worked very hard. Like, I worked with a puppeteer, and the puppet itself was awesome,” he recalled. “We were three days away from shooting the pilot. We’ve done rehearsals for, like, five days with this puppet.”

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Billy Ray Cyrus, Jason Earles and Miley Cyrus in ‘Hannah Montana’.

According to Earles, the Disney Channel show’s writers eventually realized that his big-brother-kid-sister dynamic with Cyrus worked better without the simian intermediary.

“If you watch the pilot, there’s a scene where Miley, myself, andBilly Ray [Cyrus]are sitting around the table in the kitchen, and we’re sort of bantering. And it’s one of the first times you really see Miley and I sort of talk junk to each other,” he explained. “We did that in one of the early run-throughs, and the writers were like, ‘Well, that’s what it is. He’s the one guy that’s not, like, impressed.’ ”

“So, they actually ended up rewriting everything around that aspect of it and punted the puppet three days before we shot the pilot,” he said.

source: people.com