What happens when you’re making a sequel to a horror movie and you want a character that survived the first one to be in it, but that actor isn’t available or just plain isn’t interested? Well, folks, this is Hollywood we’re talking about, and the show must always go on.
In horror movies and big time Hollywood hits alike, there have been countless times over the years where filmmakers have been forced to re-cast roles so that beloved characters could return for sequels. Obviously, the ideal situation is for the actor who played a character in one movie to be the same actor who plays that character in the next movie, but things don’t always work out as planned. Sometimes those actors demand too much money to return; other times they’re too busy doing something else.
Here are 12 situations where a role was re-cast for a horror sequel!
1) TOMMY JARVIS – FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 5/PART 6 – JOHN SHEPHERD/THOM MATHEWS
Tommy Jarvis was of course played by a different actor in all three installments of the Friday the 13th franchise that he appeared in. Since Part 5 took place many years after the events of Part 4, Corey Feldman naturally had to be replaced by an adult actor for that sequel, which ended up being newcomer John Shepherd. Though Shepherd was offered the role of Tommy Jarvis again in Part 6, he demanded far too much money to return, and he has noted in recent years that he’s glad the studio didn’t meet his demands.
Director Tom McLoughlin was sold on Thom Mathews being the new Tommy Jarvis, both because of his established name within the genre (having previously starred in Return of the Living Dead), and because he felt the actor could believably play a grown-up version of Feldman’s Jarvis.
2) MIKE – PHANTASM/PHANTASM 2 – A. MICHAEL BALDWIN/JAMES LEGROS
Though director Don Coscarelli planned on having all of the actors from Phantasm reprise their roles for the sequel, Universal had other plans. Executives wanted to replace both Michael Baldwin and Reggie Bannister with recognizable actors, but Coscarelli fought tooth and nail to keep them on board. After a round of auditions, Universal offered him the chance to keep only one of the two actors and replace the other character with a new actor, and Coscarelli was forced to re-cast the role of Mike, bringing in actor James LeGros.
A. Michael Baldwin ended up returning to the role for both Phantasm 3 and 4 and reprises it once again in upcoming sequel Phantasm: Ravager.
3) ANGELA BAKER – SLEEPAWAY CAMP/SLEEPAWAY CAMP 2 – FELISSA ROSE/PAMELA SPRINGSTEEN
Since the follow-up to Sleepaway Camp was made five years later, Felissa Rose had by that point taken a lengthy hiatus from acting and was focusing on her studies at New York University. As a result, she was unavailable to reprise the role of summer camp slasher Angela Baker. The role was filled in Sleepaway Camp 2 by Bruce Springsteen’s younger sister, Pamela, who also returned for the second sequel.
Much to the delight of fans of the first film, Felissa Rose made her triumphant return as Angela Baker many years later, in the 2008 sequel Return to Sleepaway Camp.
4) CLARICE STARLING – SILENCE OF THE LAMBS/HANNIBAL – JODIE FOSTER/JULIANNE MOORE
It would be quite an understatement to say that it was a daunting task for Julianne Moore when she took over the role of Clarice Starling for the decade-later sequel to Silence of the Lambs. Though Foster won an Academy Award for playing the character in 1991, and had up until 1997 confirmed that she would in fact be a part of the sequel, she eventually turned the project down. Reports suggested that she was asking too much money to return, but her official word was that she was simply too busy filming another movie at the time.
Many actresses were considered for Clarice 2.0, including Angelina Jolie and Gillian Anderson, but Julianne Moore, suggested by Anthony Hopkins, was given the role due to her proven versatility as an actress. Foster was quoted after the movie came out as saying that the characterization of Clarice in the film “betrayed” the original depiction of the character.
MORE RECAST ROLES ON NEXT PAGE!
5) LINDA – THE EVIL DEAD/EVIL DEAD 2/ARMY OF DARKNESS – BETSY BAKER/DENISE BIXLER/BRIDGET FONDA
In a decision that confused many fans, and resulted in some considering Evil Dead 2 to be a remake of sorts, Sam Raimi recapped the events of the first Evil Dead in the beginning moments of the sequel to bring audiences up-to-speed with where the story was. What made this so confusing was that a rights issue prevented him from using clips from the film, forcing him to shoot brand new footage for this summation of events.
Rather than bringing a whole bunch of actors in for a quick opening sequence, Raimi instead chose to excise three characters from the first Evil Dead and show only Ash and his girlfriend, Linda, going out to the infamous cabin in the woods. As if that wasn’t confusing enough, Linda became a whole different person for this pseudo-remake, with original actress Betsy Baker being replaced by Denise Bixler. Baker was pregnant at the time, which forced Raimi to re-cast.
Linda again changed bodies in Army of Darkness, where she was portrayed in flashback scenes by none other than Bridget Fonda.
6) KRISTEN PARKER – DREAM WARRIORS/DREAM MASTER – PATRICIA ARQUETTE/TUESDAY KNIGHT
The only dream warriors left standing after the third part of the Elm Street saga were Kristen, Kincaid, and Joey; and all three characters returned in the follow-up, Dream Master. In a forced decision that made my childhood very confusing, Kristen was not played by Patricia Arquette, while the other two warriors were the very same Kincaid and Joey we fell in love with in Dream Warriors.
Since Patricia Arquette was pregnant at the time Dream Master was filming, Tuesday Knight was brought in to take her place. As a result, it would be many years before I even realized the Kristen from Dream Warriors was the same Kristen as the one from Dream Master. Not easy for a child to grasp!
7) MARYBETH DUNSTON – HATCHET/HATCHET II – TAMARA FELDMAN/DANIELLE HARRIS
Adam Green’s plan for Hatchet II was to make it bigger and better on every level than the first one, a plan that quite frankly worked out perfectly when original Marybeth, Tamara Feldman, wasn’t interested in reprising her role. From what little I’ve heard in regards to this, she and Green had some sort of falling out, which forced him to move on without her.
With Feldman’s departure from the sequel, a spot was opened up for Green to make good on his bigger and better promise, which is precisely what he did when he cast beloved genre veteran Danielle Harris in the role. With Harris on board, the character became a true “final girl” icon, and she later reprised the role in Hatchet III.
8) JAMIE LLOYD – HALLOWEEN 4 & 5/HALLOWEEN 6 – DANIELLE HARRIS/J.C. BRANDY
Before Danielle Harris was given the opportunity to take over an established role for a sequel, she herself was replaced in the role that made her a household name. Since Halloween 6 was written to take place six years after the events of Halloween 5, and since six years had actually passed between the filming of the two movies, it seemed to make perfect sense that Danielle Harris would return to play a teenage Jamie Lloyd.
Dimension indeed wanted Harris to reprise the role, but due to a series of issues, including salary disputes and Harris’ disapproval of the script, particularly in regards to the decision to kill the character off so early in the film, Harris declined involvement; and British actress J.C. Brandy took over the role. Interestingly enough, Harris and Brandy are friends in real life.
MORE RECAST ROLES ON NEXT PAGE!
9) VERONICA QUAIFE – THE FLY/THE FLY 2 – GEENA DAVIS/SAFFRON HENDERSON
With Seth Brundle obviously dead at the end of The Fly, the only logical way to make a sequel was to have Veronica give birth to their mutant love child and go from there. The plan was to bridge the gap between the two films by having Geena Davis reprise the role for the opening birthing sequence, but since Davis wasn’t into the idea of revisiting a character that was going to be immediately killed off, Saffron Henderson (who played the rocker chick Jason kills with a guitar in Jason Takes Manhattan) was brought in for the scene.
Cleverly, a clear shot is never seen of Veronica’s face in her one scene, so it’s hard to even tell that it wasn’t Davis. In flashback scenes, Henderson’s voice was even dubbed over Davis’.
10) MOTHER FIREFLY – HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES/THE DEVIL’S REJECTS – KAREN BLACK/LESLIE EASTERBROOK
It was of course the late Karen Black who played Mother Firefly in House of 1000 Corpses, and though Rob Zombie wanted to bring her back for the grounded-in-reality sequel, the actress lost the role when she couldn’t come to a contractual agreement with Zombie. Black reportedly demanded a much higher salary to return as the matriarch of the Firefly family, and since Zombie couldn’t afford to pay her what she needed, he had no choice but to replace her with Leslie Easterbrook.
11) YOUNG MICHAEL MYERS – HALLOWEEN (2007)/HALLOWEEN II (2009) – DAEG FAERCH/CHASE WRIGHT VANEK
You might have noticed that the young actor who played a ten-year-old Michael Myers in the first half of Rob Zombie’s Halloween was played by a totally different child actor for the flashback scenes in Halloween II. Though the two films were only filmed a couple years apart, Daeg Faerch had already grown much larger than he was in the first film, so Zombie had to make the decision to bring a new actor in, who was closer to the size Faerch was when they shot Halloween. Chase Wright Vanek lucked out, becoming the sequel’s new Michael Myers.
12) RICKY CALDWELL – SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT PART 2/SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT 3 – ERIC FREEMAN/BILL MOSELEY
No performance on this list is more awesomely awful than Eric Freeman’s in the oddball sequel Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2, which saw him uttering lines like “Garbage Day!” with the corniest of glee. Billy’s brother returned for the franchise’s second sequel, though it was horror icon Bill Moseley – fresh off his star-making role as Chop-Top – who was brought in to take over the role. And seeing Moseley with a fish bowl atop his head, revealing an exposed brain, is mostly what makes Part 3 a worthwhile installment in the series.