Veronica Mars is an American television series created by Rob Thomas. The series premiered on September 22, 2004, during UPN's last two years, and ended on May 22, 2007, after a season on UPN's successor, The CW Television Network. Balancing murder mystery, high-school, and college drama, the series features social commentary with sarcasm, and off-beat humor in a style often compared to film noir. Set in the fictional town of Neptune, the series starred Kristen Bell as the title character, a student who progressed from high school to college during the series while moonlighting as a private investigator under the wing of her detective father. The first season had seven regular characters. As Thomas had conceived the show as a one-year mystery, he decided to introduce and eliminate several characters in order to create an "equally fascinating mystery" for the series' second season. Thomas needed "new blood" since he felt unable to bring back the Kanes and the Echolls and "have them all involved in a new mystery". The third season features a cast of ten actors who receive billing, an increase from the nine actors in the second. Three of the regulars in the second season are written out of the series, two new characters are introduced and two others are upgraded from recurring roles. Overview Main characters Veronica Mars Kristen Bell portrays the titular Veronica Mars, a high school junior and skilled private detective. More than 500 women auditioned for the role; Bell felt that it was "just luck" that Rob Thomas saw that "I have some sass to me, and that's exactly what he wanted." Bell thought that her "cheerleader looks and outsider's attitude" set her apart from the other women who auditioned. Duncan Kane Teddy Dunn portrayed Duncan Kane, Veronica's ex-boyfriend and Lilly's brother. Dunn originally auditioned for Logan but ended up portraying Duncan Kane. Dunn left the series midway through the second season because Thomas felt that the Logan-Veronica-Duncan love triangle had run its course. He needed to put "other guys in her life" to keep the series fresh and attributed Dunn's removal to fan interest in the Logan-Veronica relationship, saying "it became clear that one suitor won out". Logan Echolls Jason Dohring played Logan Echolls, the "bad-boy 09er" son of an A-list actor. Dohring originally auditioned for the role of Duncan Kane. After his audition, the producers asked Dohring to audition for Logan's character,