There are certain movie franchises that have become notorious for their tendency to recast characters. Recasting is a necessary phenomenon in some movies, required because of actors’ availability or because they have aged out of the role. Other instances are driven by financial restrictions and the franchise’s longevity.
There are countless examples movie franchises rebooting and hiring a fresh cast of actors to play familiar roles. On the other hand, some franchises recast characters midway through. These are typically attempts to maintain an overarching narrative or established film series with new actors in the roles, and they have had varying degrees of success.
10 Marvel Cinematic Universe
Several characters have been recast in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The most prominent examples are Don Cheadle replacing Terrance Howard as War Machine after the first Iron Man and Mark Ruffalo replacing Edward Norton after The Incredible Hulk. However, there have been other notable examples of the MCU recasting characters. Thanos was initially played by actor and stunt performer Damion Poitier, but Josh Brolin took over the role in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1. It has also been announced that Harrison Ford will play General Thaddeus Ross after the death of actor William Hurt. Additionally, Fandral from the Thor movies and Ant-Man’s daughter, Cassie Lang, have both been recast.
9 James Bond
Eon Productions’ James Bond franchise has featured a total of six different James Bond actors across its 25 movies, and the character will be recast again for James Bond 26. Eon has also cast four actors as M (Bernard Lee, Robert Brown, Judi Dench, and Ralph Fiennes); four as Q (Peter Burton, Desmond Llewelyn, John Cleese, and Ben Whishaw); four as Miss Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell, Caroline Bliss, Samantha Bond, and Naomie Harris); and five as Ernst Blofeld (Donald Pleasance, Telly Sevalas, Charles Gray, Max von Sydow, and Christopher Waltz). Additionally, James Bond ally Felix Leiter has been played by eight different actors. These don’t include the non-Eon James Bond productions.
8 Batman
At least eight actors have played Batman across 19 live-action movies, with many reboots of the entire franchise. However, only one Batman series features recasts among its own movies. The Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher Batman movies released between 1989 and 1997 were purported to take place within the same timeline, but they featured three different actors as Bruce Wayne: Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, and George Clooney. Kilmer and Clooney were less well received, but Keaton’s was so iconic that he returned as Batman in 2023’s The Flash. Additionally, Billy Dee Williams, who played a young Harvey Dent in Batman, was recast with Tommy Lee Jones for Batman Forever.
7 X-Men
The X-Men franchise has recast characters several times, and many of these instances involved actors depicting the same characters in different timelines. There were, however, other recasting instances within individual series. Tyler Mane played Sabretooth in X-Men but was replaced by Liev Schreiber for X-Men: Origins Wolverine. Kitty Pryde was played by three actors across the X-Men movies (Sumela Kay, Katie Stuart, and Elliot Page). Colossus made a cameo in X-Men, played by Donald MacKinnon, but was replaced by Daniel Cudmore in the subsequent movies. Tomas Lemarquis played Caliban in X-Men: Apocalypse, but the character was played by Stephen Merchant in Logan. Finally, Pyro, Jubilee, and Blob were also recast.
6 Back To The Future
The Back to the Future franchise was plagued by recastings. Protagonist Marty McFly was originally going to be played by Eric Stoltz before Michael J. Fox was given the role. This, in turn, prompted his girlfriend, Jennifer, to be recast. Claudia Wells replaced Melore Hardin during production, and Jennifer would be recast again for Back to the Future 2. Elisabeth Shue took over the role, recreating the first movie’s final scene to be used in the sequel’s opening. Additionally, Crispin Glover did not return as George McFly in Back to the Future Part II. Controversially, Jeffrey Weissman was cast to replace him and dressed in prosthetics to resemble Glover.
5 Vacation
The Nation Lampoon’s Vacation series (now called Vacation) contains five central movies and a related spinoff. Each installment in the main series featured Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, Randy Quaid, and Miriam Flyn as principal characters. All the other returning characters, however, were recast for each movie. All of the children in National Lampoon’s Vacation changed between the movies, which Chase claimed was an intentional joke about how well the father knew his kids.
4 Atlas Shrugged
Atlas Shrugged is a science-fiction drama based on the 1957 novel by Ayn Rand. Atlas Shrugged: Part 1 received fairly poor reviews and failed to generate notable revenue. Nevertheless, a sequel was produced, dubbed Atlas Shrugged: Part 2. Reportedly, due to budget restrictions and the successes of its previous cast members, the filmmakers opted to completely recast for the sequel. They also replaced the crew. When production on Atlas Shrugged: Part 3 commenced, the producers once again decided to completely recast. Despite telling three consecutive stories about the same characters, every single character in each Atlas Shrugged movie was played by a different actor.
3 Scooby-Doo
The five live-action Scooby-Doo movies have completely recast a total of three times. The first movie, 2002’s Scooby-Doo, featured an all-star cast who returned for the sequel, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. The Mystery Inc. gang consisted of Sarah Michelle Gellar as Daphne, Freddie Prinze Jr. as Fred, Matthew Lillard as Shaggy, and Linda Cardellini as Velma. Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins, featured an entirely new cast that included Kate Melton, Robbie Amell, Nick Palatas, and Hayley Kiyoko. This cast also returned for one sequel, Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster. A direct-to-video spinoff entitled Daphne & Velma recast again, this time with Sarah Jeffery and Sarah Gilman in the title roles.
2 The Wizarding World
The extended Harry Potter franchise, known as The Wizarding World, has had two high-profile recasting examples. The first was Michael Gambon replacing Richard Harris as Albus Dumbledore from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban onward following Harris’s death. The second major example was Mads Mikkelsen taking over the role of Grindelwald for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledor after Johnny Depp was fired from role. There are, however, several other characters have been recast in Harry Potter, including Lord Voldemort, Bill Weasley, the Fat Lady, Griphook the goblin, and a swathe of students who were replaced as they became more central characters.
1 Frankenstein
The Universal Monsters franchise boasts many impressive renditions of Frankenstein’s monster. The first was deftly performed by Boris Karloff in James Whale’s Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein, as well as the third movie, Son of Frankenstein. The Ghost of Frankenstein featured The Wolfman‘s Lon Chaney Jr. in the role. Subsequently, Karloff’s acting rival and Dracula star Bela Lugosi took over the role for Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. Finally, Glenn Strange played the monster in the final three Universal Monsters movies depicting Frankenstein’s monster: House of Frankenstein, House of Dracula, and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. It remains one of the most recast roles in cinema history.
