18 Awkward Times Hollywood Refused To Cast Someone New, And Instead Recycled The Same Actor They’d Already Used For A Part

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18 Awkward Times Hollywood Refused To Cast Someone New, And Instead Recycled The Same Actor They’d Already Used For A Part

Usually, when actors play multiple characters on a show or in a movie series, it’s because there’s a whole twin/clone/doppelganger situation going on.

Chuck Zlotnick / Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Marvel / courtesy Everett Collection

…She starred as Sersi in Eternals. Sersi is an immortal figure created at, like, the start of time, right??? So, why is there a random Kree woman who looks just like her?

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Marvel Studios / Courtesy Everett Collection

2. Another MCU example is Michelle Yeoh, who played a minor role in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2…

Marvel

…Then played a larger role in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Are they variants of each other????

Marvel

3. A season before Dean-Charles Chapman became known as Tommen on Game of Thrones…

HBO

…he actually played Martyn Lannister! I mean, I guess they’re both Lannisters (Tommen by blood, not name), but…still. This is wrong.

HBO

4. Personally, I find this one especially egregious. Before Peter Capaldi took on the ultimate Doctor Who role, that of the Doctor himself…

BBV

…he played Caecilius in a Season 4 episode. Why?!?

BBC

5. It gets worse. That Season 4 episode also featured Karen Gillan in a minor role — essentially an extra, but still. She was recognizable.

BBC

Almost exactly a season later, Gillan became the Doctor Who companion Amy Pond. Did they love shooting that Season 4 episode so much they just had to bring back two minor characters to be main ones? Did Doctor Who begin then abandon a conspiracy to get all their new doctors and companions from past seasons??? The world may never know.

BBC

6. TBH, it really grinds my gears when a former minor character is later cast as a SERIES REGULAR. Like Diane Neal, who played Casey Novak for over a decade on Law and Order: SVU.

NBC / Courtesy Everett Collection

It pains me to tell you that two seasons before Casey first appeared, Neal played Amelia Chase, a criminal in Season 3.

NBC

7. Harry Morgan was well-known (and even won an Emmy!) for playing Col. Potter on M*A*S*H (post-Season 4) and AfterMASH, but he’d actually been on an earlier season of the show as well — as, you guessed it, folks, a different character. When will my suffering end?

20th Century Fox / Courtesy: Everett Collection

In the Season 3 premiere, exactly one season earlier, he’d played Major General Steele — in fact, the entire episode was centered around him. And his costume was VIRTUALLY THE SAME. You’re telling me this didn’t confuse anybody??? At least make him LOOK different!!!

CBS

8. Tom Lenk became a main character (or, at least, the main source of comic relief) in the last season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but he’d also actually been in the show before…

UPN

…albeit with stage makeup/prosthetics. In Season 5, he’d played the vampire Cyrus. I’ll give a bit of a pass to this one as he at least looks different, but the Buffy casting team is on thin ice.

UPN

9. Similarly, Warwick Davis appeared in two roles in the Harry Potter films, but you likely didn’t notice because of his prosthetics and makeup. He played Hogwarts Professor Flitwick…

Warner Bros / Courtesy Everett Collection

…as well as playing the Gringotts goblin Griphook. My mind was BLOWN when I found this out. I’m still coming to terms with it.

J.K.R. / Warner Bros./ Courtesy Everett Collection

10. This is a small one, but I’m including it because I noticed it even as a kid. Back when Torrey DeVitto was just getting her start, she appeared on Drake & Josh — here she is as “Denise Woods” in Season 2, a college student Drake hits on.

Nickelodeon

And here she is as Tori in Season 3!! WHAT IS THE TRUTH??

Nickelodeon

She was also in a Season 1 episode according to IMDB, but her character wasn’t named, and I scrolled through the episode and couldn’t find her. 

11. Look, I get that writers sometimes do it as little in-jokes. Psych had a ton of examples — oftentimes, writers stepping in to do a small part. For example, producer Andy Berman played a part in a Season 1 episode…

USA Network

…and also in a Season 6 episode. He also plays a zombie in Season 8. I guess it’s kinda cute and funny that they did this, but it ALSO HURTS MY BRAIN.

USA Network

These were definitely not the same character because the second character had a strong accent. 

12. Another minor Psych one that bothers me — this guy, Peter Benson, who played two different characters only FIVE EPISODES APART. Psych, what are you trying to do to me?

USA Network

13. Two and a Half Men is another repeat offender. Judy Greer spent two episodes as Herb’s sister Myra in Season 4…

CBS

But she became much better known as Bridget, Walden’s ex-wife, in Season 9 of the show. She even continued to play Bridget in later seasons! And we never heard from Myra again. Quite suspicious, if you ask me.

CBS

14. Jennifer Taylor also played multiple roles — she was best known for playing Charlie’s fiancée Chelsea…

CBS

…but she’d actually played THREE separate characters prior to that! THREE!!!!

CBS

Nothing against Jennifer Taylor, but…was there not a single other woman in the world available?

Finally, we’ll end with a few examples that I actually like, because the actors’ second role was just a voice and/or motion-capture role.

15. John Rhys-Davies was best-known for playing Gimli in Lord of the Rings…

New Line / courtesy Everett Collection

…But he actually played (well, provided the voice) for Treebeard, too!

New Line

16. Similarly, Sean Gunn played Calendar Man in The Suicide Squad…

Warner Bros.

…While also providing voice — and motion capture — for Weasel.

Warner Bros.

17. He did something similar in the Guardians of the Galaxy films, providing motion capture for Rocket Raccoon (and acting as a stand-in for the actors)…

Jay Maidment/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

…as well as playing Kraglin.

Disney+ / Courtesy Everett Collection

18. And finally, Mark Hamill obviously reprised his role as Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi…

John Wilson/ Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Lucasfilm Ltd. /Courtesy Everett Collection

…But you may not know he also voiced Dobbu Scay in the film!

Lucasfilm / Disney

That’s all I got for ya right now — which examples am I missing? Ruin my day by letting me know in the comments below!