While television has created some huge stars, the fact remains that most TV actors are expendable. The main cast of beloved series such as Friends, The Big Bang Theory, and Game of Thrones have been able to command huge salaries on back of those shows’ massive popularity, and executives are clearly happy to pay them. But actors are rarely more important than the series itself, and stars are usually written out of a show when they decide to leave (or are fired).
But while a main character might simply be killed off or moved out of town once an actor leaves the role, there’s an even easier solution for smaller roles and supporting cast members–simply change the actor. The producers of Friends weren’t about to recast, say, Ross, but switching the actor who played his ex-wife was no problem. Similarly, characters played by younger children frequently have to be recast when the kids grow up, go to school, or simply leave the profession.
Actor switches happen all the time, and many go unnoticed by viewers. But there have been some bigger ones over the years. Some of these were smaller roles in huge shows, and some surprisingly big switches that were unavoidable to keep the series going. And some were totally deliberate recastings. So here are 11 key actor changes that have taken place over the years…