10 TV Characters They Couldn't Stop Recasting

[@trinaq]

I liked that "Til Death" eventually turned Meta, with one character realising that he's in a sitcom, and noticing that the actress playing his wife kept changing.

[@surferzapper20]

The Boy Meets World example gets even wilder when you notice they actually changed the mother's name. Topanga's parents were originally Jedidiah and Chloe, not Jedidiah and Rhiannon.

[@JennaIsOverIt]

Ive literally never noticed the moms name

[@plothole181]

Less relevant to this video, but Topanga also went from the younger sister of Nebula Lawrence to an only child. Which also went along with earlier descriptions of her parents making them sound incredibly hippy-like and the later ones becoming increasingly more uptight characters, who would never have named their kid Nebula (and them naming their kid Topanga seemed out of character).

[@eddierascalhaskell4954]

​@@plothole181Shawn had an unseen sister early on and another brother before Jack was introduced

[@plothole181]

@@eddierascalhaskell4954 Yeah. Which is what made everything after his mom ran off weird, especially how he acted like Jack was his first sibling. Did either of those siblings have an actor though? Because Nebula Lawrence had an actor.

[@eddierascalhaskell4954]

@@plothole181 Shawn's 'other' brother was in the episode "Pink Flamingo Kid".

[@justme8592]

What, no Doctor Who? Probably the longest and greatest recasting coup spanning 50 years... and counting.

[@Michaelthekiwi]

Probably the most famous recasting not on this list is that of Vivian Banks on the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Janet Hubert-Whitten played the role for the first three seasons and was replaced (for reasons not entirely clearly explained, except everyone agrees she was fired) with Daphne Maxwell Reid for the final three seasons. The producers made light of it, with DJ Jazzy Jeff (who played a fictional version of himself in the show) remarking in the first episode of Season 3 that Vivian Banks looked different since having a baby, which the character did at the end of Season 3. This was in line with the many fourth wall breaks in the show.

[@glenndallas7171]

I would think Becky from Roseanne would be the most famous, since they recast, then brought back the original, then periodically swapped them as a joke. Then used BOTH actresses in the sequel.

[@gfear24]

If I had to guess it was because she was always trying to upstage Will on the show that is about Will. While Janet was the better Aunt Viv, Daphne provided a better chemistry with the rest of the cast.

[@njf1410]

How can Elie not include the ultimate recasting - Doctor Who? Particularly the ingenious invention of regeneration when the original actor became too ill to continue. Continual recasting for 60 years!

[@gregorybrannan7202]

The best one was purposely forgetting Anne from Arrested Development! 😂

[@Scallywag96]

They only changed her once, with the original joke being they would recast each time Anne would appear to show how forgettable she was. Once they got Mae Whitman, however, they decided to stick with her

[@gregg6831]

No love for Red Dwarf's Christine Kochanski?

[@DavidJacobs-rl1rj]

Sure there is! But she doesn't qualify for this list because she was only recast once. They would have to bring the character back played by someone other than Claire Grogan or Chloë Annett (which I actually think they should do, tho I love both actresses)

[@gregg6831]

@DavidJacobs-rl1rj there was another Kochanski in Statis Leak, wasn't there? Plus, the younger version in Pete.

[@bonusbaby801]

8:54..."Robins & Williams"😂...Sigh...I miss Robin Williams

[@teddyray8597]

I watched The Walking Dead faithfully from beginning to end and I didn't notice Judith changing until the time jump, when it was obvious.

[@diabeticsrule1763]

yeah, I kinda don't think it should be on this list. I have not watched the walking dead but as they stated, it is very common to use multiple babies for such young characters and I doubt anyone really noticed. Maybe over 18 is an extreme amount of babies/kids to play one role but idk

[@rockero1313]

and they shouldn't count babies because it's a norm to replace them. the only show that (I think) never replaced a bay was "Little House on the Prairie", and even then they used twins.

[@tintinismybelgian]

Alexander (Worf's son) from Star Trek kept getting recast, too.

[@tempvsfrangit3854]

Everybody, even Worf, forgets how many actors portrayed his son Alexander; quick search says five, to include K'mtar and actor Richard Martinez in the image Worf had in his quarters on DS9.

[@stuartbarton2420]

I'm surprised to see Last Man Standing isn't on this list. One of the daughters was recast twice at least.

[@ryan.noakes]

I was expecting to see Becky from Roseanne on here

[@JeantheSecond-ip7qm]

There were only two Beckys. Even though they switched more than once.

[@ryan.noakes]

@JeantheSecond-ip7qm didn't they get to the point where it was episode to episode you didn't know which actor it would be though?

[@DavidJacobs-rl1rj]

Even though there were only 2 actresses playing Becky, I thought she might be on the list just for the fact of how many times they switched back and forth between them. I mean, that would technically make it qualify for the list... it's still a ridiculous number of recastings, just between the same 2 people lol

[@ryan.noakes]

@@DavidJacobs-rl1rj 100%

[@claytonberg721]

They even went meta on the whole thing, with John Goodman playing an adult DJ having lost his mind saying 'they say she's the same but she's not the same' over and over again.

[@rickyvillalobos4508]

I just knew Topanga’s dad was going to make the list

[@Libertyfudge]

Three different actors portrayed Mr Freeze on the 1960s Batman show

[@syntrilliumc.e.p.9326]

They also did that regarding Catwoman: Julie Newmar, Eartha Kitt and Lee Meriwether.

[@dhenderson1810]

​@@syntrilliumc.e.p.9326 They recast the Riddler with Frank Gorshin playing him season 1 for 8 episodes. In season 2 the Riddler was played by John Astin. In season 3, Gorshin returned to the role for one ep.

[@dearthditch]

Soaps would be an extreme example. Over decades illnesses, contracts ending and deaths made roles have to change repeatedly

[@JMcMillen]

That's the truth. I remember some characters that would get recast any time they were off the show for a short while.

[@dhenderson1810]

Often they will recast but then get the original actor years later to reprise the role. Also sometimes they will hire the same actor to play completely different characters.

[@SpamEggSausage]

actors who got fired from soaps often got replaced

[@jaredhardman3378]

I expected Monk's wife, the first season or two she was just a picture in a frame, but in later seasons she was brought in in different flashbacks and even a dream sequence. They finally settled on one actress for the last season.

[@NicCageFan]

Shawn Spencer from Psych has frequent flashbacks and young Shawn was recast a lot. Same with Gus.

[@AdamDMurray]

Just twice

[@franck3279]

I like when they at least acknowledge it. My favorite is in french webserie Damned, where a recasted character is overkilled offscreen by a demon then brought in a bucket to Jesus, who says something in the line of ’I’m good at miracles, less at jigsaw puzzles’

[@gfear24]

"You know? Ever since you had that baby, something looks different about you." - Jazz on Fresh Prince of Bel Air referencing the change of Janet Hubert for Daphne Maxwell Reid as Aunt Viv.

[@plothole181]

Roseanne did this with the blonde daughter. The two versions of her have a conversation with each other over the credits that references each of them preferring the original or replacement actor from another famous recasting and then they played around with the two actors switching back and forth when the original actress was able to return. In the sequel serieses the original actress returns full time, but the replacement actress played a woman who was going to use the daughter as a surrogate and they comment about how they could be sisters.

[@Joemama55122]

What about The Doctor ;)

[@syntrilliumc.e.p.9326]

Because that just don't count, considering thats been one of the main things of that character ever since the introduction of the 2nd doctor.

[@EvaFull]

Top 10 Shows with Multiple Recastings??

[@EvaFull]

The Goldbergs (2013-2023)

[@cpma5094]

How about Last Man Standing? 2 daughters played by 2 different actresses each and 2 or 3 actors as the grandson.

[@jacobdrolet4262]

Amazing video

[@HariSeldon913]

Dr. Rudy Wells on 6MDM/Bionic Woman. Martin Balsam, Alan Oppenheimer, and Martin E. Brooks took turns playing the role. They paid enough attention that they had the same Rudy if there was a flashback to a previous episode at least.

[@herewaskendra]

Thank you for using "cast" correctly.

[@markross6785]

Was waiting for poison ivy from Gotham to show up on the list because that character had ridiculous transformations for each recasting

[@glenndallas7171]

This is a great shout.

[@michaellee4276]

Or Catwoman in Batman 66.

[@GodofMMA23]

Game of Thrones Mountain

[@franck3279]

And Dario

[@UItraVioIet]

Sorry, but kids growing older and "so much make up you have no idea who the actor is" don't count for numerous recasts of what's supposed to be the same character.

[@joelwright4317]

The character of Jenna Wade, a romantic interest from Bobby Ewing’s past in “Dallas”, was played by three different actresses. Priscilla Presley played the definitive version.

[@foxypink3359]

They had to keeping recasting Judith on TWD because of child labor laws here in the US. In that a child actor cannot be onset for longer than 16 minutes in a single day. Also the children they cast for her grow so quickly that they have to keep swapping them out. Unlike other shows when they have twins

[@rfresa]

No mention of Doctor Who? Just because the show has a baked-in alien explanation, doesn't mean the main role hasn't been recast at least 14 times!

[@SamButler22]

Tracy and Peter Barlow, Peter Beale

[@wilks2006]

I don’t see how walking dead makes his list. It has to happen as the story advances and people age out to keep timelines consistent. It’s not like they took Daryl and then changed him out three time.

[@DesertKitsune]

I'm surprised Dynasty is only on here once since they had 3 different people play Alexis as well.

[@pluck8913]

Really? Becky Conner didn't make this list? I mean yeah only two actresses played the role, but they litterally switched back and forth multiple times during it's run. No one beats that.

[@Cyphyxia]

Was Shane or Rick ever confirmed to be the father of Lori's daughter

[@crisbandiola]

Shane

[@salvation120]

There are a number of times that Rick admits he knows Shane is the biological father, notably talking to Shane about it in a hallucination in season nine.

[@CyclopsWasRight616]

there are ZERO TV characters that they can't stop recasting.

[@dhenderson1810]

When you recast, at least recast a lookalike.

[@marcelohuerta1970]

It's weird that you mention Tora Ziyal by her family name all the time... I'm sure you remember that Bajoran names have the family name first, and that most people know the character as Ziyal...

[@Haematite]

Gordon from the Sesame street for ages i though he was played by an up and coming Steve Harvey. Rosco Orman looks like him

[@dhenderson1810]

I thought the guy's name was actually Gordon. I thought all the human actors used their real first names.

[@matthewbazan4603]

they really gotta stop saying great actor, I almost thought you said "late" actor and i jumped outta my seat

[@michaellee4276]

There are two main kinds of recastings. When an actor was too big for a minor role. Or when the role was too bug for an actor. The first can happen when the cast actor becomes too big for a small role, or if a big actor was cast in a cameo that become recurring. The second is usually when a minor character becomes big and the actor isn't good enough. The corrallary is when they expand a role just to keep a hot actor (like Andy Bernard), or they write out a character because their actor sucks.

[@philipfritz-f8x]

Still no cinematic phone conversations!

[@robshimer]

I always thought that the practice of using twins for baby characters was because babies are hard to control. Why was there a clip of Big Bang Theory there?

[@freddie488]

What a cope out counting kids in this list! Do better Whatculture, do better!

[@Cullenatorable]

Last man standing shoukd definitely be in this list

[@robsolf]

5:55 That's not Kate Micucci.

[@timothymorton2092]

What about the role of the Doctor in Doctor WHO

[@OH_MY_DOGGG]

Dina Spybey you might better know as Dina Waters.

[@midnightfury4584]

Monk’s Dale “The Whale” Biederbeck; 3 different actors.

[@seanpat0161]

So was Trudy Monk

[@garywb1642]

Cagney and Lacey

[@MichaelNewmanII]

Sorry! Thee is only ONE Gordon on Sesame Street

[@iainkilcar7463]

What about the doctor from doctor who, they keep recasting that role.

[@CyclopsWasRight616]

i am not a fan of Dr. Who, but surely, he/she should have been on this list.

[@sarahblunden4372]

Ben Mitchell Eastenders as well as Peter, Lucy and Martin Lucy Robinson in neighbours Garth Stubbs in Birds of a feather

[@brentrogers9974]

'The Doctor' in Doctor Who?

[@RogueCarrot]

You mention Kate Micucci but don't even show video of her in the episodes? That's the only reason I clicked on the video. God I hate you guys. WTF?

[@frankenviews4069]

Does "The Doctor" count?

[@TheKalaxis]

Ben f***ing Mitchell in Eastenders. Pretty sure every actor in England has played him in at least one episode by now 😑

[@franck3279]

What about Georges Mickeal ’s bland girlfriend in Arrested Development?

[@dhenderson1810]

Apparently, George Michael wasn't interested in girls.

[@amyadams656]

Really reaching with Judith.

[@ThisIsMeAndNotYou]

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