17 TV Show Characters Who Were Recast in the Middle of Their Shows

Dick York played the put-upon mortal husband of witchy housewife Samantha in the popular 1960s sitcom. He played the role for the first five seasons until his health problems (largely stemming from a back injury he suffered on a movie set) forced him to step away.

Following York’s medical departure, the writers realized they couldn’t really write out one of their main characters, so the solution was to recast in one of the most famous moves in TV history. Sargent stepped into the role and played Darrin for the show’s final three seasons.

Levy was cast in the first season of Shameless as the recurring character of Mandy, Mickey’s sister and, eventually, a friend of several of the Gallaghers. Although the role had potential to grow, Levy had to leave after five episodes due to being cast in the ABC sitcom Suburgatory.

Greenwell quickly replaced Levy and continued playing the role of Mandy through six seasons until she was written off the show.

Before he was playing the literal devil on Lucifer, Ellis appeared in one episode of Once Upon a Time‘s second season as the legendary archer of Sherwood Forest.

When the character of Robin Hood became a bigger part of the plot, the role was recast with Maguire, who remained with the show for several seasons.

The former Disney Channel star made the leap to a bigger role for the first two seasons of The Fosters. Following season two, Austin left the show, and his character’s fate was left up in the air following an accident in the season finale.

When The Fosters season three returned, they revealed that Jesus had survived but was now played by a new actor. Centineo continued in the role through the final season, before getting launched to young-adult stardom as Netflix’s latest go-to rom-com leading man.

Hubert-Whitten originated the role of Aunt Vivian, but a now-infamous feud with series star Will Smith resulted in her leaving the show after three seasons. “There will never be a reunion … as I will never do anything with an a**hole like Will Smith,” she told TMZ as recently as 2011.

Instead of writing Aunt Vivian off the show, they simply replaced her, adding Maxwell Reid to the cast beginning in season four and running through the show’s sixth and final season.

Nicksay played the youngest Matthews sibling in the beginning, but eventually, her parents and producers decided it was time for the role to be recast.

Starting in season three, Ridgeway played Morgan (albeit a slightly aged-up version of her), and she stayed in the role through the seventh and final season. Fun fact: in the sequel series Girl Meets World, the show winked at the dual Morgans by having both of them appear in the same episode – both playing Morgan!

Krosney was the first actress to play the eldest Baxter sister on the ABC sitcom. After just one season, though, she left the show, but her character remained.

Fuller took on the role of Kristin beginning in season two, and she’s still playing the character today!

Ephraim played Mandy, the fashionista middle Baxter daughter, for a full six seasons before the surprise recasting ahead of season seven.

McCook began playing Mandy in 2018, with the show winking on screen to her sudden brand-new appearance.

Fontana, who’s probably best known as Frozen‘s Prince Hans, acted and often sang as the grumpy bartender on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend through the second season. He left the show in 2016 (with a memorable send-off song) to focus more on his return to theater.

Fontana wasn’t available to reprise his role for the final season due to his commitments to Hello Dolly and Tootsie on Broadway, so instead, the show opted for a fourth-wall-breaking recast with Astin. Only the character of Rebecca can “see” that he looks different, as a metaphor for how people change.

Payton’s character of Harriette was, actually, the reason Family Matters existed in the first place. Her character first appeared as a fan-favorite elevator operator on Perfect Strangers and was picked for a spinoff. After a network shift to CBS, Payton was reluctant to continue and eventually left partway through the ninth season.

Elder (pictured here in 2018) took over the role of Harriette, but didn’t get to enjoy her leading lady status for long. She only played the role for eight episodes before the show was cancelled.

Grimes unexpectedly left the vampire drama ahead of season seven. While his reps insisted it was due to scheduling conflicts with his movie roles, Buzzfeed later reported that Grimes disagreed with the direction his character was set to take: a romance with Lafayette.

For the final season, Bunheads actor Parsons stepped into the role of James (and, yes, he did have that romance with Lafayette).

On the first season of the dark Archie Comics adaptation, Butler played jock Reggie Mantle. The character didn’t have much to do in the first season, so Butler chose to leave and take a role on 13 Reasons Why instead.

From season two on, Melton stepped seamlessly into the role of Reggie. And, as it turned out, he got more than a job out of it: he and costar Camila Mendes dated for over a year.

Kelly’s version of Eric Forman’s older sister was an iconic part of the sitcom. She recurred throughout the first several seasons, but had to leave before season six due to battling some health issues, including alcoholism.

For Laurie’s final appearances in season six, Moore stepped into the role.