Producer Hilton A. Green initially considered Jamie Lee Curtis for the role of Mary Loomis in Psycho 2, but Curtis turned down the role and Meg Tilly played the part instead. With the release of Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) from a mental institution — 22 years after his initial series of murders — Psycho 2 followed Norman's descent into provoked madness, in part, by Lila Loomis (Vera Miles), the sister of Marion Crane (Janet Leigh). Lila pretended to be Norman's mother to drive him crazy, and later in the film, a Hitchcockesque twist revealed that she had the help of her daughter Mary Samuels, otherwise known as Mary Loomis.

The casting of Jamie Lee Curtis in the role of Mary Loomis seems perfect since she is the real-life daughter of Janet Leigh, Norman Bates's famous shower victim in Hitchcock's 1960 original, Psycho. By this point in the early '80s, Curtis was no stranger to the horror genre: Following in her mother's footsteps, she secured her title as a bonafide Scream Queen with Halloween, Prom Night, and The Fog. Plus, she previously worked with Psycho 2 director Richard Franklin on the thriller Road Games. So why did Curtis turn down what appears to be the perfect role for her?

Related: Psycho: The True Story That Inspired Norman Bates

Unfortunately, producers picked the worst time to ask Curtis to appear in Psycho 2. The actress had resolved to quit horror after Halloween 2 (1981) due to fear of typecasting, and already had a John Landis comedy, Trading Places, in the works. Richard Franklin didn't appear too upset by this, claiming her casting in the sequel would have been "too obvious." In a 2003 interview in Eros Magazine, Franklin said, "I remember when I made Psycho II, a lot of people asked why we didn't use her in the lead. The answer was, it was too obvious." However, he admitted that Jamie and Janet witnessed one of the first screenings of the film.

Laurie Strode looking scared in Halloween

Though the timing was off and Franklin seemed satisfied with the casting of Meg Tilly as Mary, the inclusion of Jamie Lee Curtis would have established another Halloween and Pyscho parallel for the films' individual and collective legacies. After all, Dr. Loomis's name in Halloween derived from Psycho’s very own, Sam Loomis: Lila's husband, Mary's father, and Marion's former lover. A theory even goes so far as to proclaim them to be the same person.

The casting of Jamie Lee Curtis as Mary Loomis in Psycho 2 could have gone down in cinematic history as iconic or perhaps a bit cheap. The idea of her avenging her actual mother might have been a clever wink to adept movie buffs. Yet, Curtis had other plans for her career, and she did eventually reclaim her throne, returning to the blood-soaked genre and even Halloween in 2018.

More: How Modern Horror Movies Rescued Women From Hitchcock’s Hysteria