The Other Darrin (original) (raw)

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheOtherDarrin

This entry is trivia, which is cool and all, but not a trope. On a work, it goes on the Trivia tab.

Narrator: Huh? Wait a minute! Who the heck are you?!
George: Me new George. Studio too cheap to pay Brendan Fraser.

This is when a new actor is brought on to play the same character as a previous actor who has left the series, with no explanation for the switch given to the audience. Named for the famous Darrin swap case: Dick York to Dick Sargent, on Bewitched.

Sargent-York became a notable phenomenon only with the rise of series television. Prior to TV, there was no expectation that a role in a theater production would be played by the same actor. It was, and still is, assumed that any production of a particular work would seek out whatever actors it wanted for the roles, and a single production can feature different actors in the same role on successive nights.

However, TV broadcasting made a bond between a role and a particular actor. Television audiences, unlike theater audiences, found it more difficult to suspend their disbelief in this respect. Maybe this was because reruns existed which would forever tie the appearance of a character to the actor that played them. Or maybe because a TV series, however long, is still perceived as a single, continuous narration — as opposed to multiple performances of a theater play.

In daytime soaps, there are several standardized ways this is done:

The new actor takes over with no announcement. In this variety, the actor is playing a character who has not recently been on the show. The audience is initially unaware that this person is the character we know, as his/her first interactions are always with characters who have joined the show since he left. Then someone he/she knew addresses him by name, and we are surprised. Though rarely seen outside daytime, this was done on CSI in the episode "Hollywood Brass", in which Brass's daughter was played by a new actress with a different hair color.
The new actor takes over a major recurring character, and the characters make a point to address them as such from the very beginning of the episode.
The first shot of the new actor will be accompanied by a short narrator announcement explaining that "the part of (character) will now be played by (new actor)." This is a more common method in telenovelas.

Contrast The Nth Doctor, which is the trope for cases where a character's new voice and appearance are explained in-universe. If there's a Time Skip and most of the cast remains the same then it can be a Time-Shifted Actor if the age difference justifies the particular change. For long-term cast attrition in general, see Long-Runner Cast Turnover. Flashback with the Other Darrin is a subtrope where a previous scene is reshot with the new actor.

This often is the case for spinoff series and video game versions of animated films. Celebrities typically do not reprise their roles in these cases, either because the producers cannot afford them, or because they work solely in films.

For obvious reasons, this phenomenon is much easier to hide in animated works, where actors aren't actually seen onscreen. In these cases, it might happen to a character who was originally played by a celebrity guest star who would be too expensive to hire for a regular or recurring role, necessitating the casting of a professional voice actor (or an established member of the regular cast). For example: Akira in The Simpsons was originally played by George Takei in a guest role, but by Hank Azaria in all subsequent appearances; and Roger "Booda" Sack in King of the Hill was originally played by Chris Rock in a guest role, but by Phil Lamarr in all subsequent appearances.

Unsurprisingly, this tends to be the cause of many cries of They Changed It, Now It Sucks! from the fandom, especially if the previous actor had been associated with the character for so long that they're considered to be the actor for that character. Sometimes though, the new actor can be wholly embraced by the fandom, with the new actor being regarded as the actor instead of the previous one. Unsurprisingly, when these two sides meet, the results tend to be predictable.

Compare Suspiciously Similar Substitute (when the characters have different names but are otherwise meant to be the same), Fake Shemp, The Other Marty, Obvious Stunt Double, Same Character, But Different (when there is a change in the character, without a change in creator). Directly related to Character Outlives Actor. Contrast with You Look Familiar for when the actor returns as a different character in a later installment or Vocal Evolution, where the actor stays the same but the voice they use for the character changes so much that unaware people might assume there was an actor change. Can be Hand Waved via Direct Line to the Author. Often subject to Replacement Scrappy-ism. Or on the other hand, look to The Pete Best when replacement surpasses the original in popularity. Often done with Continuity Reboots. Occasionally explained away with Magic Plastic Surgery. Usually the replacement is a Poor Man's Substitute.

Defiance of this leads to Role Reprise. If the original actor returns to the role later on after being recast, see The Original Darrin.

Examples:

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Advertising

Jack in the Box’s Jack Box was voiced by his creator Richard Sittig from his inception in 1994, until 2015 when Jack in the Box parted ways with Sittig’s agency, Secret Weapon. Since then Jack has been voiced by David Tomkins.
The GEICO gecko was voiced by Kelsey Grammer in his first ad, then Dave Kelly, and finally Jake Wood. The first one may be a different character; he doesn't work for the company, he just wants Geico customers to stop calling him by mistake.
Speedy from the Alka Seltzer commercials was originally voiced by veteran voice actor Dick Beals. When he was revived decades later, he has since been voiced by Debi Derryberry.
The baby in the E-Trade commercials has changed several times over the years for obvious reasons.
Altel's commercials featuring a group of nerds working for different cell-phone companies changed the actor playing the Sprint guy, notable because he later donned a previously absent afro.
Chicago area car dealership O'Conner Ford went through several spokewomen, all of whom were (allegedly) his daughter Katie.
- Another Chicago auto dealer, Howard Pontiac, went through two spokesmothers.
The M&M's' voices have changed a couple times. The red M&M was originally voiced by Jon Lovitz, but has since been voiced by Billy West. The yellow M&M was voiced by John Goodman for years, but is now voiced by J. K. Simmons.
Tony the Tiger has been voiced by Thurl Ravenscroft, Dallas McKinnon, Lee Marshall, Tom Clarke Hill (in the UK), and Tony Daniels (in Canada).
Lucky the Leprechaun for the Lucky Charms commercials was voiced by Arthur Anderson back in the day, but is now voiced by Doug Preis.
The Aflac duck was voiced by Gilbert Gottfried, although after he got fired making insensitive comments about the Japanese tsunami, he was replaced by Dan McKeague.
In the McDonaldland commercials, Grimace and Birdie were Frank Welker and Russi Taylor, but in The Wacky Adventures Of Ronald Mc Donald, they are replaced by Kevin Michael Richardson and Christine Cavanaugh respectively. Charlie Adler voices the Hamburglar in both however.
In Small Soldiers Major Chip Hazard was voiced by Tommy Lee Jones, but for a Burger King commercial he was voiced by Jim Cummings.
In a The Flintstones commercial for Busch Beer from 1967 most of the cast were able to reprise their roles with the sole exception of Jean Vander Pyl as Wilma Flintstone, for some reason she was unable to voice her so they had Betty's voice actress Gerry Johnson voice her instead.
Toucan Sam in the early Froot Loops commercials was voiced by Mel Blanc, which featured him speaking Pig Latin in a normal American accent. They decided to drop the Pig Latin gimmick and replaced Blanc with Paul Frees, giving him an English accent. Frees voiced the character until his death in 1986, after which Maurice LaMarche took over. He voiced the character for 35 years (save for a single commercial from 2020 where Matthew Curtis voiced the character, who was given a redesign that did not last long) until 2021 when Colin Cassidy took over the role when the character was redesigned that year.
- He was also voiced by several Australian actors for commercials in Australia, neither of whom giving him an English accent.
Jake from State Farm was originally played by a real State Farm agent (at the time) named Jake Stone. By the time it was decided to make Jake from State Farm the company mascot in 2020, Stone had already left State Farm, plus they felt that a professional actor should play him, so Kevin Mimms was hired as the new Jake. Mimms' first appearance in the role was a remake of the original Jake from State Farm commercial with Stone making a cameo.
KC the Penguin from Kid Cuisine has had three voice actors, two of them being David Kaufman and Chris Phillips.
Chris Phillips voiced Face, the first host of Nick Jr., from his debut 1994 until 2003, when he was replaced by Babi Floyd. He would shortly return to the role for a few NickRewind bumpers, but he was ultimately replaced by Cedric L. Williams in the 2022 reboot Face's Music Party.
Colonel Harland Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken/KFC, appeared in advertisements for the restaurant chain while he was still alive. After his death he was portrayed by actor Henderson Forsythe. In the 21st century increasingly comic spots have seen him played by Darrell Hammond, George Hamilton, Norm Macdonald, Rob Riggle, and Reba McEntire.
Gaffer from the Tetley Tea Folk was originally voiced by Brian Glover, but after Glover died in 1997, Gaffer was now voiced by Bobby Knutt until the campaign ended in 2017.
The Vicks Formula 44 commercial that spawned the line "I'm Not a Doctor, but I Play One on TV" originally starred Chris Robinson, who played Dr. Rick Webber on General Hospital. After Robinson left GH in 1986, the spot was refilmed with Peter Bergman (Dr. Cliff Warner on All My Children at the time).
This was invoked in a 2023 Liberty Mutual commercial in their "LiMu Emu & Doug" campaign where a cold reading by Doug implied he was to be crushed by a baby grand piano, and replaced with the "Struggling Actor" from a different Liberty Mutual commercial.
CinnaMon from the Apple Jacks commercials was voiced by Jeffery Anderson-Gunter in the majority of ads, but Jonathan Adams voiced CinnaMon in the ad for the short-lived Spin-Off cereal Cinnamon Jacks. An ad which is, to date at least, the final ad featuring the character.
Dig'em Frog (aka Dig 'Em or Dig 'Em the Frog) from the Honey Smacks (formerly known as Sugar Smacks, and then Smacks, with the cereal still going by the latter name outside America) commercials was first (mainly) voiced by Elmer "Len" Dresslar Jr from the 1970s up until 1991 where he was then replaced by Frank Welker who would voice the character until 1997 when production of commercials for the cereal stopped in America.
- While Dresslar Jr mainly served as Dig'em Frog's voice actor, prior to Welker taking on the role, the role also went to either Howard Morris, Larry Moran and Jeff Morrow if Dresslar Jr was not available.

Asian Animation

Common in 3000 Whys of Blue Cat. Blue Cat alone has been voiced by Wang Feng, Ge Ping, Zeng Ling, Song Xiaoyu, etc.
Two seasons of Happy Heroes were dubbed by Lookus. The second of the two dubbed seasons switches some of the voice actors for unexplained reasons.
Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf: The English dub. They keep changing the voices of the characters with each season they dub.

Fan Works

In SlifofinaDragon's Sengoku Basara fanfics, some of the characters have different voice actors, while some reprise their roles.

Literature

Animorphs essentially did this with most of the cover models, as the original models grew up and went off to college. The re-release, of course, did it again, replacing the original covers with updated ones and cover models who are the right age at the time of re-release.
Steve O'Brien illustrated the first four Dave Barry books. For the rest of his writing career, Jeff MacNelly (creator of the comic strips Shoe and Pluggers) illustrated both the books and Barry's recurring newspaper column. After MacNelly died in 2000, the illustrations were done by Gary Brookins, also MacNelly's successor on his two comic strips.
An in-Universe example occurs in the Dream Park novel The California Voodoo Game, when the role of Bobo the guide is commandeered by Alex Griffin so he can keep an eye on Bishop. The players take the exchange in stride, assuming that Bobo's original Game-actor came down with the flu or something.
For the French audiobooks of the Harry Potter series, Bernard Giraudeau narrated the first four books and passed away in 2010. Dominique Collignon-Maurin took over for the final three.

Music

UK band Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich have had to replace three of their number over the years, but always used the same Stage Name for each musician, even if, in Mick's case, the replacement isn't named Michael in real life. Rhythm guitarist John "Beaky" Dymond was replaced by Paul "Beaky" Bennett, and he was later replaced by Anthony Stephen "Beaky" Carpenter. Similarly, drummer Michael "Mick" Wilson was replaced by John "Mick" Hatchman. As of 2024, the band consists of a returning Beaky I alongside Dozy II, Mick III, and Tich III (Dave Dee was never replaced after his death).
The members of the Village People changed several times, although the personas (Cowboy, Cop, Indian, Biker, Soldier, Construction Worker) remained the same.
In the Eurobeat genre, several different singers may use a certain artist name over time. One example is Clara Moroni, who goes by many aliases like Cherry, Leslie Parrish, and Vanessa. When Moroni moved from the Time music label to Delta, she retired the Vanessa name for another vocalist at Time to use, although she still uses her other aliases.
KISS provides an odd example: though they still are referred to by their proper names, Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer have taken the makeup designs of their predecessors Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. This wouldn't be an issue, but for the fact that in the past, Eric Carr and Vinnie Vincent received their own unique makeup designs.
The Beatles:
- The version of "Love Me Do" that is heard on the Past Masters CD has Ringo Starr as its drummer. The version that got released as a single outside of the UK and Canada, and on the Please Please Me album in 1963, has Andy White in the beat seat (this version is identifiable by a tambourine played by Ringo), and the Anthology version features original drummer Pete Best.
- A notorious conspiracy theory surrounding the band alleges that Paul McCartney was secretly replaced by a lookalike after dying in a car crash in 1966.
"Love Is Where You Are" is performed by Diana Krall in the movie At First Sight. While she does appear on the soundtrack album, she performs "Easy Come Easy Go" - "Love Is Where You Are" is sung by Gigi Worth to the same musical backing used by Krall.
Herb of R&B duo Peaches & Herb has always been Herb Fame. But several women have performed in the duo as Peaches, including Linda Greene, who sang the female vocals in their biggest hits "Shake Your Groove Thing" and "Reunited".
Country Music group Dave & Sugar always consisted of male vocalist Dave Rowland and a constantly-changing pair of female backing vocalists referred to as the "Sugar".
At least three musicians have performed with Cradle of Filth as Jared Demeter, including Bryan Hipp, Paul McGlone, and the fittingly named (for this trope) Darren Donnarumma.
The character of Captain Jack was originally performed by a guy who apparently went by the stage name Sharky. He decided to retire after their first hit, and was replaced by the iconic Franky Gee, who stayed until his death ten years later. The group eventually decided to continue with another frontman, Bruce Lacy who plays the character to this day. (They also have a female singer who changed much more often but doesn't portray a specific character.)
In 1981, comedian Coluche temporarily replaced a sick Jacques Delaporte as Belzebuth (a horny demon) in performances of the song "La Salsa du Démon" by L'Orchestre du Splendid'.

Pinball

Twilight Zone: Tim Kitzrow, who voiced Rod Serling in the game. Justified in that Serling had died twenty years prior.
Michael J. Fox denied permission for Data East to use his likeliness for their Back to the Future pinball. Data East ended up using a substitute actor for the voice, and artist Paul Faris had his son play Marty on the playfield and backglass art. By all accounts, neither effort succeeded.
Stern Pinball's Batman, which used substitute voice actors for all of the characters.
In Junk Yard, the Time Machine modes "Mamushka" and "Payback Time" (in early revisions) have noticeably different voices, presumably because the original voices were licensed, and thus could not be used.
Part of the reason production of the Shrek pinball was delayed was due to the time required for Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, and the other actors to give final approval for their substitute voices.
In The Shadow, Tim Kitzrow provides the voice for Lamont Cranston/The Shadow, though Alec Baldwin's speech from the film itself appears as well.
In Jack*Bot, Lia Mortensen replaced Stephanie Rogers as the voice of The Machine.
Alien (2017): MU/TH/UR 6000 is voiced by Carol Thiel instead of Helen Horton (as in Alien).
Toy Story 4 (2022): Instead of Tom Hanks, Woody's voiced by his younger brother Jim (who frequently acts as a soundalike for the character in media outside of the original films).

Podcasts

Welcome to Night Vale had Carlos's first lines (a voicemail left for Cecil) spoken by show creator Jeffrey Cranor. Later episodes would feature Dylan Marron voicing Carlos.
During her brief appearance in season 1 of Batman: The Audio Adventures, Harley was voiced by Heidi Gardner. Season 2 sees Harley voiced by Gillian Jacobs.

Professional Wrestling

Mexican promotion AAA was the first federation of moderately well known luchadors Psicosis and La Parka. When the two had a falling out with AAA and left, AAA sued them for the gimmicks and gave the Psychosis and La Parka gimmicks to different wrestlers to use. The original La Parka (Adolfo Tapia) did something of a reverse Other Darrin by keeping the gimmick but changing the name to LA (La Auténtica/The Original) ParK. The original Psicosis (Dionicio Castellanos) uses the Nicho El Millionario gimmick in Mexico outside AAA.
- There was a short-lived running gag involving Los Payasos, a stable of 3-5 clown luchadores whose only difference was the hair color on their masks; as Mexican Tag Team matches require the leader being pinned/submitted to win when "Australian rules" are in effect they would all change their masks in the middle of a fight so they all would have the same as their current leader forcing the opposing team to pin/submit all of them.
Randy Colley (aka Moondog Rex) was the original Smash of Demolition and he claims to have come up with the gimmick. At the TV tapings for Demolition's first matches, which were done in WWE's home region of the Northeast, some of the fans recognized Smash as Moondog Rex and actually shouted "Moondog Rex" during the matches, rendering it impossible for Colley to continue under the gimmick. Barry Darsow replaced Colley as Smash and the rest is history.
In WWE, the role of Doink the Clown was given to several other wrestlers following the departure of Matt Borne (who first portrayed the character) until it was given to Ray Apollo (who portrayed the character until the he was phased out). As all this was going on, Borne continued to play Doink for several weeks in his new home, ECW, as part of a angle that led to his new gimmick, Borne Again. Doink has also been portrayed by Dusty Wolfe and Steve Lombardi, and a whole host of wrestlers have donned the costume temporarily as a part of various angles.
In TNA, 'Suicide' was supposed to be Frankie 'Kaz' Kazarian. Kazarian injured himself, and, since the gimmick involved a full-cover bodysuit and mask, the suit was given to Christopher Daniels. When Kazarian came back, TNA worked the switch into the angle, with some of the other wrestlers accusing Daniels of being Suicide.
- Later there was a third Suicide — Kaz returned to competing under his old name with no explanation, while the Suicide suit was worn by Kiyoshi.
- TNA managed to take it up to five wrestlers before the temporary retiring of the gimmick. Suicide disappeared for about two years, and came back with TJ Perkins under the mask. He received a title shot, and won, at which point Perkins was revealed as having been attacked before the match, and a different wrestler was under the mask. On the following episode, that man, the X Division Champion, was revealed to be Austin Aries.
- A promo following this tried to handwave it off as having been TJ Perkins all along. After this, Perkins would keep the Suicide outfit on during matches with slight alterations and under the name of "Manik". Backstage he appeared with the mask off. When he had a heel turn he kept the name but got an entirely new un-Suicide related outfit.
- Suicide returned in 2017 with Caleb Konley behind the mask. The gimmick would be retired again in 2018 when Konley became part of a tag team.
- Suicide returned again, facing off against Moose when he was using a gimmick that was against things from TNA's past. Suicide even teamed with TJ Perkins (going by Manik again, but using a different mask this time).
Ric Flair took the role as the Black Scorpion in 1990.
- Flair only appeared as the Black Scorpion in its final appearance, when he was unmasked. Previous appearances of the Black Scorpion were handled by other guys.
When Kevin Nash and Scott Hall — who were billed as Diesel and Razor Ramon, respectively — left the World Wrestling Federation in 1996, Vince McMahon decided that (because the characters were trademarked, and thus, legal property of the WWF) he would recast Diesel and Razor Ramon. Hence, Glenn Jacobs would perform as "Diesel" (one of Jacobs' many pre-Kane roles), while Rick Bogner became the new "Razor." Of course, it was obvious to fans these were Other Darrins performing these characters, and not just by lack of ability, but by overt explanation by the WWF announcers (including Jim Ross, who briefly turned heel as part of this gimmick). Not to mention that the genuine articles were appearing on WCW Monday Nitro every week, often at the same time during weeks that Monday Night Raw was pre-taped. The "Fake Diesel"/"Fake Razor" storyline proved unpopular and was soon dropped; Bogner left the WWF not long afterward, but Jacobs was repackaged as Kane... and the rest is history.
Último Dragón, after receiving his release from WWE, unmasked because there was talk of WWE bringing him back sans gimmick under his real name, Yoshihiro Asai. That never panned out, and for some reason Asai couldn't just go back to being Último Dragón, so he became the latest incarnation of Tiger Mask. In the short-lived promotion DragonDoor, Asai participated in a real vs impostor angle that made the Undertaker/Underfaker angle look good. Second Dragon, Dragon the Great, Tiger the Great, and all sorts of imposters were running around the promotion, and to keep things more confusing Asai would switch from being Ultimo Dragon to Tiger Mask to Tiger Dragon all in the same card.
When TNA decided to do an ECW reunion show called Hardcore Justice they wanted to bring back as many people from the old ECW as they could while Writing Around Trademarks, most of the guys used their old character but there were 2 indie wrestlers given old gimmicks to use both were kind of strange choices for different reasons:
- The Blue Meanie was played by Big Tilly who has worked off and on for TNA for the last half decade. While this normally would not be that bad (as the two bear a passing resemblance to each other, and Meanie was a big part of the bWo who are essential to any ECW reunion), but the problem was they showed the real Meanie (Brian Heffron) earlier that night in a prerecorded segment. Al Snow even pointed out that it was a different guy despite Nova insisting it was the original. Incidentally, the trope was invoked when Stevie Richards thought it was a little weird to have a fake Meanie — Nova launched into an explanation involving Bewitched and the two Darrins.
- The other replacement was Lupus, who was portrayed by an unknown named Samuel Shaw (who would later appear in TNA under his real name, and then go on to be WWE NXT's Dexter Lumis). This was strange because not very many people (even die-hard ECW fans) remember that there even was a Lupus — he only lasted about a month as a minor member of Raven's Nest, and only wrestled 2 matches!. Really, the Gigolo would have gotten a bigger reaction then him even if it was the real Lupus.
After CRUSH went under, several of its gimmicks were reused in Wrestlicious but used by different wrestlers (Felony went from Cheerleader Melissa to Radiant Rain, etc). On Wrestlicious itself, the woman who did Draculetta's rap was not the same one who wrestled as Draculetta.
Shortly after his WWE debut in 2011, the wrestler behind the Sin Cara mask, a luchador formerly known as Místico, failed a drug test and was suspended for 30 days. In order to keep the character from losing momentum, WWE developmental talent Hunico was brought in to wrestle under the Sin Cara mask until Místico's suspension was up. This was then turned into a storyline with Hunico wanting to take over the role of Sin Cara. This because at one point, Hunico had used the name Místico but with a different gimmick, but lost the right to use the name to CMLL who had given it to the man who was the Original Sin Cara, and the two entered a feud over who would be the "real" Sin Cara. In the end the original Sin Cara won a Mask vs Mask match, kept his mask and name, while Hunico is competing without a mask.
- Later when it appeared clear Sin Cara wasn't re-signing, they gave the Sin Cara gimmick back to Hunico and he has been Sin Cara ever since sorta karma-like. However even then the first Sin Cara, couldn't go back to his old moniker of Místico because CMLL ended up passing it on to another wrestler when he left. So now he is Myzteziz.
Randy Orton's wife is played by a different actress in every appearance, and none of them were his actual wife.

Radio

Halfway through the 20-year run of the The Lone Ranger radio serial, Earle Graser, who played the Ranger, died in a car crash, mandating a quick replacement. The producers covered up the voice change by having the Lone Ranger get shot in the neck by an arrow, requiring Tonto to speak on his behalf for several weeks, until Brace Beemer was chosen as the new Ranger.
Our Miss Brooks: Jeff Chandler was the original actor to portray Miss Brooks' Love Interest Mr. Boynton. When the show went to television, Eve Arden and producer Al Lewis felt that he wasn't believable as a shy biology teacher. Additionally, they felt it was for his own good, as he was becoming in demand in motion pictures at Universal Studios. Enter Robert Rockwell who would play Mr. Boynton on television, later radio episodes, and in The Movie Grand Finale. Due to the visual nature of television, Robert Rockwell ended up more associated with the role. Most fans find both actors to have done a fine job in the part
Howard Duff was replaced as radio's Sam Spade (on The Adventures of Sam Spade) by Steve Dunne, who sounded nothing like Duff.
On the other hand, when Harold Peary left The Great Gildersleeve, his replacement, Willard Waterman, sounded so much like Peary that few listeners could tell the difference.
When The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1978) radio series was revived in 2003, several characters were recast due to the original actors having died or otherwise become unavailable in the intervening decades, including Eddie, Slartibartfast, and Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz.
Tom Conway replaced Basil Rathbone on the old Sherlock Holmes radio series.
On The Shadow, Lamont Cranston and Margo Lane were each portrayed by a succession of voice actors.
The Whistler was portrayed by several different actors during the course of its run.
Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar had the distinction of being the last radio show of America's Golden Age of Radio, ending in 1961. The most popular of Johnny's six distinct voices, Mandel Kramer, also happened to be the last.
Big Finish Doctor Who:
- Adric is voiced by Andrew Sachs instead of Matthew Waterhouse in the audio "The Boy That Time Forgot" because Waterhouse, who last played Adric in the Doctor Who serial Earthshock in 1982, declined to participate. The change is still acceptable because Adric is no longer a kid but several hundred years old.
- In "The Light at the End", the First and Second Doctors are played by William Russell (who played the First Doctor's companion Ian Chesterton) and Frazer Hines (who played the Second Doctor's companion Jamie) respectively. The Third Doctor is played by an impressionist.
- All of the Companion Chronicles audios are prose stories that have the companion actor playing their Doctor, as well as themselves. Some of them use a Framing Device to explain that the companion is telling the story, and others don't and do it as a stylistic quirk - while some other audios use it for Metafiction (like "The Time Museum"). The quality of the impressions varies, but total accuracy in voice tone isn't the goal (especially as most Doctors end up being played by women more often than not) - most of them do a bang-on job of getting their Doctor's mannerisms down.
- In "The Kingmaker", the Fifth Doctor is made to finish a book he was contractually obligated to write. He listens back to some outdated voice notes made when he'd last tried working on it, which turns out to have been a whole other regeneration ago. The Fourth Doctor in this scene is played by Jon Culshaw from Dead Ringers, who is known for his uncanny impression of Tom Baker's voice.
- In Big Finish's "The Early Adventures" series, companions played by deceased actors were recast for the first time. Barbara Wright was recast with Jemma Powell, the actress who played Barbara's original actress Jacqueline Hill in An Adventure in Space and Time. Ben Jackson was recast with Elliot Chapman.
- Powell reprises the role of Barbara in "The First Doctor Adventures", which also has her fellow Adventure in Space and Time actors David Bradley, Claudia Grant, and Jamie Glover taking on the roles of the actors they played, replacing William Hartnell as the Doctor, Carole Ann Ford as Susan, and William Russell as Ian respectively.
When Benedict Cumberbatch came down with a nasty case of laryngitis, Tom Goodman-Hill stepped in as Captain Martin Crieff for Cabin Pressure's third-series episode "Newcastle". Although he didn't sound exactly like Cumberbatch, he did do an excellent job of mimicking the latter's speech patterns. The substitution was lampshaded in the opening scene, in which the crew, minus Martin, discuss what they would do if one of the pilots ever got sick. When Martin enters, Arthur comments that he's looking well, but Douglas says "I think he looks exactly the same as always."
- Karl the ATC is another example, as he was played by both Ewen MacIntosh and Dan Tetsell.
On at least one occasion Dick Emery played the part of Neddie Seagoon in place of Harry Secombe in The Goon Show. Lampshaded by the fact that he is referred to as Emery Type Seagoon.
Star Wars Radio Dramas: With a few exceptions, such as Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, pretty much every role was recast during the transition from film to radio, perhaps most notably was Brock Peters as Darth Vader and John Lithgow as Yoda. However, between the three separate adaptations, there were also some cast changes:
- Luke Skywalker: A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back featured Mark Hamill reprising his film role as Luke. However, he declined to return for Return of the Jedi, and Joshua Fardon was cast in his place.
- Lando Calrissian: The Empire Strikes Back featured Billy Dee Williams reprising his film role, but Lando was played in Return of the Jedi by Arye Gross.
- Boba Fett: In The Empire Strikes Back he was played by Alan Rosenburg, but Ed Begley, Jr. assumed the part in Return of the Jedi.
- Wedge Antilles: This character was heard in all three series, and was played by three different actors.
- The Emperor: Unlike in the films, however (at least, before the Special Editions) the Emperor was played by the same performer (Paul Hecht) in both The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
Journey into Space:
- Mitch was the most frequently recast of the four main characters. He was played by Bruce Beeby for the first seven episodes of Journey to the Moon and Don Sharp for the remainder of the first season. In a double case of overlapping with The Original Darrin, Beeby returned for The Red Planet and Sharp returned for The World in Peril. David Williams assumed the role in Operation Luna. In the sequels produced decades after the original run, Mitch was played by Nigel Graham in The Return from Mars, Michael Beckley in Frozen in Time and Jot Davies in The Host.
- Lemmy was played by David Kossoff in Journey to the Moon and The Red Planet, Alfie Bass in The World in Peril and Operation Luna, Anthony Hall in The Return from Mars, Chris Moran in Frozen in Time and Chris Pavlo in The Host.
- Unlike Mitch and Lemmy, Jet was played by the same actor, namely Andrew Faulds, throughout the original series. In later decades, the role of Jet was assumed by John Pullen in The Return from Mars, David Jacobs in Frozen in Time and Toby Stephens in The Host.
- At only three, Doc was played by the fewest actors of the four main characters: Guy Kingsley Poynter throughout the original run, Ed Bishop in The Return from Mars and Alan Marriott in Frozen in Time and The Host.
The Wacky Musical Adventures of Ronald McDonald: Intergalactical Magical Radio, an Audio Adaptation of The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald that fell into obscurity due to its only release being through distribution on the in-flight radio of United Airlines, had Grimace, Birdie and Hamburglar respectively voiced by their standard commercial voice actors at the time Frank Welker, Russi Taylor and Carl W. Wolfe rather than their Wacky Adventures voice actors Kevin Michael Richardson, Christine Cavanaugh and Charlie Adler.

Theatre

This is standard for any play — if a show runs long enough, several actors play the same character. This leads to intense debates about which actor or actress is the "best".
- Bears mentioning here that it happens quite regularly in plays where the understudy steps in due to illness, vacation, etc. of the main performer.
- One very notable case is Agatha Christie's play The Mousetrap which has been running continuously for literally decades leading to actors who have played younger characters in the show taking over the roles of older characters as they've become too old to play their younger characters.
- Shakespearean actors have been known to do this as well—Ellen Terry, for example, played the Prince of Sicilia in The Winter's Tale at age eight, and later in life appeared as Hermione in the same play.
- Many cast recordings of musicals have used different singers, with the regular actor being unavailable due to contractual reasons (e.g. Irra Pettina replaced with Kitty Carlisle on Song of Norway, Ethel Merman with Dinah Shore on Call Me Madam), illness (Howard da Silva replaced with Rex Everhart on 1776), or having too small a singing part to bother (in which case another cast member usually would fill in). One unusual case is the original cast recording of Company being reissued on LP with Larry Kert (who replaced Dean Jones shortly after the Broadway opening) overdubbing all of Dean Jones's vocals. In a bizarre case of crosscasting, Gabey's two solos in On the Town were sung by Mary Martin (substituting for John Battles) on the original cast album.
- Aversion: While much of the Broadway cast of The Phantom of the Opera has changed greatly since its original 1986 run, the actor playing Firmin remained the same up until 2012.
  * Although the long run at Toronto's Pantages Theatre did change leads, notably featuring KISS's Paul Stanley, who returned for the final two weeks of performances due to patron demand. Even there, the actress playing Madame Giry remained the same from beginning to end.
  * And played straight with the role of Christine, which is so taxing that an "alternate" actress is cast to handle two of the eight weekly performances.
- Some runs of the The Producers hang a lampshade on this. Tony Danza at one point played the part of Bialystock, who in the script is insulted by Leo Bloom as "FAAAAAAATTT!!" When the line came up with Danza playing the part, the decidedly trim Danza responds, confused, "What?" Leo then, somewhat uncertainly, asserts, "You ... used to be fat..."
Some shows deliberately change a character's actor mid-season, others will alternate between actors, as ACT does with Scrooge in their annual production of A Christmas Carol.
Averted by William Shakespeare. When comedian Will Kemp left Shakespeare's company, the clown or jester characters in Shakespeare's subsequent plays have a noticeably different tone, as they were written with the darker, more cerebral style of Kemp's successor, Robert Armin, in mind.
In A Very Potter Senior Year, Meredith Stepien replaces Bonnie Gruesen (from the first two installments) as Hermione. Of course, in true StarKid fashion, it's lampshaded. Hermione breaks her nose at the beginning of the musical and fixes it with a spell, but looks different.
Hermione: Well, I may look different, but you guys should just treat me like I'm the same old Hermione you know and love. [to audience] And that goes for all you too. [she winks at audience]
- Julia Albain was unable to appear in the third installment, so her roles from the second were recast, with Brant Cox taking over Percy Weasley, while the Hogwarts Express "candy lady" was given as a cameo appearance by the troupe's agent, Pat Brady. Albain's main role of Crabbe was killed offscreen.
- Luna Lovegood, played by Arielle Goldman in the second installment, was also recast in the third... not because Goldman was unavailable, as she's still in the third show, but because they got Evanna Lynch, Luna's actress from the Harry Potter film series, to take over.
This may sometimes happen if a show moves theatre or does a tour in a different country; one or two actors may retain the same role, but the rest will be more local.
2.5D stage plays, such as The Prince of Tennis and Tsukiuta will have series of plays in short runs of 1-3 weeks, followed by bluray releases of the final performances filmed live. So after a few years, a character will likely be played by a new actor, but in a sequel, as opposed to in the same play.
In That Mitchell and Webb Look, the Numberwang sketches usually had Simon and Julie played by Paterson Joseph and Olivia Colman, respectively. For the stage show adaptation, The Two Faces of Mitchell and Webb, the roles were instead taken over by James Bachman and Abigail Burdess. This was actually Lampshaded by the host:
In-Universe in Fairview. It's a very meta play in which four white audience members leave the audience and insert themselves into a Dom Com about a black family throwing a birthday party for Grandma. Suze, marginally less racist than the other three white folks, plays Grandma and is rather subdued. The other three decide she's being boring, so the other white lady, Bets, starts acting as Grandma and does so in a far more flamboyant "yas queen" sort of way.
Hatchetfield:
- Due to Robert Manion being asked to leave Team StarKid, characters he played in the first two musicals and the first season of Nightmare Time have been passed along to different actors:
  * In the second season of Nightmare Time, Nick Lang would portray Pete Spankoffski, Professor Hidgens, and Cop #2 from The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals — necessitated by Manion's removal happening only a month before the season's release, leaving Lang, the director of the series, little time to do anything other than re-record Manion's parts by himself until the season finale, in which Joey Richter took over the role of Ethan Green from Black Friday.
  * In Nerdy Prudes Must Die, the role of Pete was passed on to Richter, and Curt Mega took over Manion's semi-recurring role as the local Hatchetfield news announcer.
  * In Workin' Boys, Jeff Blim took over the role of Hidgens.
- Kendall Nicole declined to appear in the second season of Nightmare Time to focus on her education, leaving Lauren Lopez to take over her role as Hannah. How permanent this recasting is remains to be seen.
- The Lords in Black, being Eldritch Abominations, are somewhat nebulous in characterization, resulting in most of them having been played by two different actors in the two speaking appearances they've had so far:
  * Wiggly was voiced by Nick Lang in the promotional material for Black Friday but by Jon Matteson in the show itself and all subsequent appearances.
  * Blinky and Tinky are played by James Tolbert and Jeff Blim respectively in the Nightmare Time season 1 episodes in which they debut, and by Lauren Lopez and Curt Mega in Nerdy Prudes Must Die, as Tolbert and Blim were not members of the production's cast.
  * Nibbly and Pokey are both played by Nick Lang in the Nightmare Time season 2 episodes in which they debut, and by Kim Whalen and Corey Dorris in Nerdy Prudes Must Die.
  * In a reading of the upcoming story "Miss Holloween", four of the Lords in Black retained their actors from Nerdy Prudes despite Tolbert and Blim being present, suggesting that the Nerdy Prudes lineup is now status quo; however Nibbly was read by Mariah Rose Faith due to Whalen being Miss Holloway in the same scene.

Theme Parks

At Disney Theme Parks:
- Whenever there is a need for characters from The Haunted Mansion to do something new, Corey Burton and Joe Lehery (the narrator from Freakazoid!) take over for the Ghost Host for Paul Frees, while Susanne Blakeslee voices Madame Leota for Eleanor Audley (appropriate, since Blakeslee has also taken over Lady Tremaine and Maleficent as well).
- Haunted Mansion Holiday has Imagineer Kim Irvine as the projected face of Madame Leota (lip-synching to Susanne Blakeslee's voice); Irvine's mother, Leota Toombs, acted in the original projections of Madame Leota's head.
- Captain Hook had a different voice actor for Walt Disney World's version of Peter Pan Flight.
- The same can be said for The Hag in the older version of Snow White's Adventures in the early 90s.
- The often reviled "Under New Management!" version of the Walt Disney World version of the Enchanted Tiki Room had Pierre being voiced by Jerry Orbach instead of Ernie Newton from the original attraction who'd died two years prior to it's debut.
- Tigger was voiced by Paul Winchell in the Walt Disney World version of The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, but was voiced by Jim Cummings in the Disneyland version as Winchell had retired by then.
- At Disneyland's Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT!, they were able to get the actual actors to reprise their roles for the cinematic portions of the ride except for Vin Diesel apparently, as the voice of Baby Groot is very different than what was used in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
- The Avengers: Quantum Encounter attraction for Disney Cruise Line recasts Ultron with the voice of Ross Marquand, replacing James Spader, the actor who provided the character's voice in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
- In The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, the ride (like its source show) is hosted by Rod Serling, but Serling's voice is provided by Mark Silverman as the real Rod Serling passed away in 1975 (Silverman was selected through a blind audition that was held with cooperation from Serling's widow). Archival footage of Rod's appearance in the episode "It's a Good Life" is used and synchronized with Silverman's voice while the background is digitally replaced to make it look like an authentic Serling narration for the ride.
- Doug Live! used about four different actors for the main five characters in the play. One that stood out was the second Doug, who was in his mid-40s, while most of Doug's other actors were around their 20s.
The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera at Universal Studios Florida had several characters recast due to the deaths or health problems of their original voice actors.
- Elroy Jetson is voiced by Patric Zimmerman, who also voiced him in Jetsons: The Movie, due to Daws Butler's death two years prior. Another one of Butler's characters, Yogi Bear, is voiced by Greg Burson.
- Dick Dastardly is voiced by Michael Bell instead of Paul Winchell, as Winchell was still recovering from a stroke during production of the ride. He eventually recovered and returned to voice Dastardly one final time in the Fender Bender 500 segments of Wake, Rattle and Roll.
- George Jetson is voiced by Jeff Bergman, due to George O'Hanlon dying before production began. He had filled in for O'Hanlon in some parts of Jestons: The Movie.
- Barney Rubble is voiced by Frank Welker due to Mel Blanc's death.

Web Video

Mortal Kombat: Legacy: Plenty of cast changes between seasons 1 and 2. The only one that was acknowledged was that of Shang Tsung being recast from Johnson Phan to Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (reprising his role from the 1995 film). Apparently, it's his new form after his previous one was killed by Liu Kang. The unexplained recasts include Johnny Cage (Matt Mullins to Casper Van Dien), Stryker (Tahmoh Penikett to Eric Jacobus), Mileena (Jolene Tran to Michelle Lee), Raiden (Ryan Robbins to David Lee McInnis), and Sub-Zero (Kevan Ohtsji to Eric Steinberg).

New George

When the narrator notices that George isn't played by Brendan Fraser in the sequel, the new George explains that he got recasted.

The Other Darrin (original) (raw)

Examples:

New George

Alternative Title(s): Sister Becky, Same Character New Actor, Other Darrin