Martin Riggs, Lethal Weapon
Old: Clayne Crawford
New: Sean William Scott
Reason for Recast: After issuing an apology after reports of his on-set behavior ("emotional abuse and creating a hostile environment") surfaced, Crawford found out via social media that Fox was looking to recast the Fox drama's lead role. American Pie's Scott will join the show as a new character, who is reportedly Martin's brother who will also be called "Riggs."
Becky, Roseanne
Old: Lecy Goranson
New: Sarah Chalke
Reason for Recast: When Goranson left to go to college, Chalke took over the role…only for Goranson to return and reprise the role again, sharing it with Chalke. Got all that? And in the 2018 revival, both Beckys appeared, with Chalke's new character looking to Goranson's Becky as a potential surrogate.
Reggie, Riverdale
Old: Ross Butler
New: Charles Melton
Reason for Recast: Melton took over the role of Archie's frenemy in the CW hit series after Butler's duties on Netflix's 13 Reasons Why kept him from returning for season two. Equal opportunity hotness on all teen shows!
Kaitlin Cooper, The O.C.
Original: Shailene Woodley
New: Willa Holland
Reason for Recast: Series cretor Josh Schwartz said the reason for the casting switch was because they needed to age the character up a bit, telling The Huffingtong Post, "We had an idea to send her away and then, a couple of years later, the plan was to bring her back. The version of Kaitlin Cooper that we were going to bring back to the show was a little bit older than Shailene would've been able to achieve on her own and was kind of a very different character, which Willa was great for. But obviously, Shailene is super talented and it's awesome to see her take off." (Woodley and Holland are the same age IRL.)
Sarah Braverman, Parenthood
Old: Maura Tierney
New: Lauren Graham
Reason for Recast: The Gilmore Girls star took over the role after Tierney exited for breast-cancer treatments. After going into remission, Tierney went on to star in The Affair, while Graham found love with Parenthood co-star Peter Krause. Don't you just love a happy ending?
Jesus, The Fosters
Old: Jake T. Austin
New: Noah Centineo
Reason for Recast: The Wizards of Waverly Place star abruptly left the Freeform show in season three, with Austin eventually revealing he "wanted to do roles with more substantive content." He went on to compete on Dancing With the Stars.
Aunt Viv, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
Orignal: Janet Hubert
New: Daphne Maxwell Reid
Reason for Recast: Though creative differences and contract negotiations were cited as the explanation for Hubert's exit, the actress was never shy from voicing her belief that star Will Smith was the real reason behind her departure.
Morgan, Boy Meets World
Old: Lily Nicksay
NEW: Lindsay Ridgeway
Reason for Recast: No official reason was ever given for the season three recast of Cory's little sister, with "a long timeout" given as a reason for Morgan's onscreen absence. However, both actresses appeared as Morgan in the revival Girl Meets World's series finale.
Robin Hood, Once Upon a Time
Old: Tom Ellis
New: Sean Maguire
Reason for Recast: Ellis' loss was definitely Maguire's gain, as the recurring role became one of the ABC fantasy hit's male leads after the recast went down due to Ellis' unavailability to return.
"Although we love Tom Ellis, unfortunately he wasn't available," series co-creator Adam Horowitz told TVLine at the time. "We remain huge fans of his, but because we have an arc planned for the character, we had to move forward."
Spartacus, Spartacus
Old: Andy Whitfield
New: Laim McIntyre
Reason for Recast: After Whitfield died in 2012 after a battle with non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma at age 39, McIntyre played the titular character for the remainder of the Starz series' run.
Jason DiLaurentis, Pretty Little Liars
Old: Parker Bagley
New: Drew Van Acker
Reason for Recast: Though Bagley portrayed the mysterious Jason during season one, Van Acker took over when the character was given more screen time/a potential romance with Aria (Lucy Hale). (PLL recast several other roles during its run, too.)
Daario, Game of Thrones
Old: Ed Skrein
New: Michiel Huisman
Reason for Recast: "It was a wonderful experience, but politics led to us parting ways," Skrein told EW.com of his departure. "And from there I just said, ‘Okay, look forward, be positive. Keep calm and carry on.'" Translation: Producers wanted to go in a different direction with Dany's boytoy.
James, True Blood
Old: Luke Grimes
New: Nathan Parsons
Reasons for Recast: Grimes reportedly left the HBO hit series in 2014 because he was uncomfortable playing a gay character. HBO cited Grimes having issues with "the creative direction of the character" as the reasoning behind his exit. Grimes' publicist denied the reports, saying his departure was due to scheduling conflicts.