“There’s something different about you… but I can’t quite put my finger on it.”
As Superman & Lois with its third season gets ready to unveil a “new” Jonathan Kent — and with both Outlander and The Witcher also in queue to slap new faces on existing characters — TVLine is looking back at more than three dozen times when a TV role was suddenly recast, the sometimes surprising reasons why, and if that change in appearance was ever accounted for on-screen.
Of course, we all know the tale of Bewitched‘s two Darrins, and how the Fresh Prince set got flipped-turned upside down by a family feud. Lord knows, Dynasty and other other Dynasty were no strangers to recasting roles, multiple times. And I can assure you that Last Man Standing fans very much marveled at Mandy’s significant makeover.
* This is not a list of every primetime, mid-series recast; that’d be impossible.
* We did not include any recasts dictated by real-life tragedy, or the extremely common aging up of a tyke.
* Roles that were recast before a show ever premiered are detailed here.
* Switcheroos on daytime soaps happen far, far too often, though we did single out the one that stands out for us, to this day.
Read on for the stories behind nearly 40 infamous small-screen recasts, then drop a comment with your thoughts below. Which of these recasts still bug you? And which were for the better?