Landing a role in a major franchise can set an actor up for life. Sometimes, however, creative differences, scheduling conflicts, or other facts lead to them exiting a role earlier than planned.
Here are 14 actors who quit or were fired from major franchises (and why):
1.
Neve Campbell played Sidney Prescott in five Scream movies. However, she declined to return for Scream VI. In 2022, she told Deadline, “As a woman, I have had to work extremely hard in my career to establish my value, especially when it comes to Scream. I felt the offer that was presented to me did not equate to the value I have brought to the franchise.”
So, the film focused on newer characters instead, but they left the door open for Sidney to return — and she’s reportedly returning for Scream 7.
2.
Robert Duvall played Tom Hagen in The Godfather and The Godfather II, but he declined the third film over a salary dispute. In 2004, he told CNN, “I said I would work easily if they paid [Al] Pacino twice what they paid me, that’s fine. But not three or four times, which is what they did.”
Tom Hagen was killed off-screen before the start of the movie, and he was replaced by the new character B.J. Harrison, played by George Hamilton.
3.
Megan Fox played Mikaela Banes in the first two Transformers movies. She was supposed to appear in Transformers: Dark of the Moon, but in 2009, she told Wonderland that director Michael Bay was “a nightmare to work for” and compared him to a dictator. Michael told GQ that executive producer Steven Spielberg reportedly told him to, “Fire her right now,” but Steven told Entertainment Weekly, “That’s not true. That didn’t happen.”
Her character was replaced with Carly Spencer, who was played by Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.
4.
In Back to the Future, Crispin Glover played George McFly. However, he had moral qualms about the film’s message after the ending was changed so the McFlys got wealthy. For the sequel, he was offered significantly less money than his costars. Then the offer was cut by an additional $25,000. Feeling like he wasn’t wanted in the movie, he turned it down.
Back to the Future Part II used footage that Crispin had shot for the original film. Additionally, Jeffrey Weissman played George McFly by wearing facial prosthetics based on molds production had of Crispin’s face.
5.
Kathleen Cauley originated the role of Lavender Brown in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. At the time, Lavender was a minor, non-speaking role.
Then, in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Jennifer Smith took over the part, which was still a background character
However, when she became a larger role and a love interest for Ron Weasley in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, she was recast with Jessie Cave, who stayed in the role for the rest of the series.
Here they are side-by-side.
6.
Hugo Weaving signed a three-picture deal with Marvel, but he only played Johann Schmidt/Red Skull in Captain America: The First Avenger. He was asked to reprise the role in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, but they reportedly wanted to pay him less than his Captain America salary for both movies combined.
In Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, Red Skull returned through a mixture of stand-ins and CGI. Ross Marquand provided his voice.
7.
Richard Dreyfuss reportedly turned down an offer to reprise his role as Hooper in Jaws 2 because Steven Spielberg wasn’t returning as director.
8.
Terrence Howard — who had a three-picture deal with Marvel — played Rhodey/War Machine in Iron Man. However, during sequel negotiations, he was only offered 12.5% of the salary he’d initially been promised. So, he reportedly refused to return to the role over the pay dispute.
Don Cheadle took over the role in Iron Man 2 and all subsequent Marvel Cinematic Universe projects.
Here they are side-by-side.
9.
Josh Dallas played Fandral in Thor. However, he had to leave the role before the sequel because of his commitment to Once Upon a Time.
Zachary Levi replaced him in the sequels.
10.
Keanu Reeves played Jack Travern in Speed, but he turned down the sequel because he “didn’t respond to the script.”
So, Speed 2: Cruise Control introduced Jason Patric as Officer Alex Shaw in his place.
11.
In Avengers: Endgame, Emma Fuhrmann had a brief appearance as an aged-up version of Cassie Lang.
However, she was replaced by Kathryn Newton in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Emma didn’t know about the recasting until it was announced at Disney’s Investor Day in 2020.
Here they are side-by-side.
12.
In the first three Halloweentown movies, Kimberly J. Brown starred as Marnie Piper.
However, in Return to Halloweentown, she was replaced by Sara Paxton. Disney had spoken to Kimberly about the possibility of returning for the fourth movie, but, for reasons unknown to her, they decided to go in a different direction.
Here they are side-by-side.
13.
Damion Poitier already had a small role (Man #1) in The Avengers when the director decided to film an extra scene featuring Thanos. Since the role hadn’t been cast yet, Damion stepped in.
His appearance as Thanos was uncredited, and the role was recast to Josh Brolin in Guardians of the Galaxy and the subsequent MCU movies that Thanos appeared in.
14.
And finally, Edward Norton played Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk (2008). Initially, Marvel was onboard with his plans for a The Dark Knight-esque duology, but “as it turned out, that wasn’t what they wanted.”
Mark Ruffalo has been in the role since The Avengers.
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