Old: Clayne CrawfordNew: Sean William ScottReason 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."
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.
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!
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.)
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?
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.
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.
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.
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."
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.
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.)
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.
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.