As it is in long-running TV shows, sometimes movie franchises have to take the bold step to recast a role, whether they want to or not.
Sometimes it's down to a murky behind-the-scenes reason and other times it's because they've decided to go in a different direction, rebooting a character (or a franchise) altogether so that it makes no sense to carry on with the same actor.
It can be a risky business, so we've decided to celebrate the times when a recasting has paid off.
1. Lando Calrissian – Solo: A Star Wars Story
Whatever you think of the movie itself, there's no doubt that the casting of Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian in Solo: A Star Wars Story was impeccable.
Taking over from Billy Dee Williams, Glover is so good that you wish the movie was a Lando solo outing, however good Alden Ehrenreich is as Solo. And given they were recasting a much-loved character (who will be back in Episode 9) with an actor guaranteed to bring a pretty strong flavour of his own to the recipe, the decision was never a sure thing.
2. Bruce Banner – Avengers Assemble
Very few people feel strongly about Edward Norton as Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk (or the movie itself), so it was never a risk to recast him for Avengers Assemble.
However, it was a gamble that, after two distinctly average movies, anyone would even care if Hulk wasn't in the team-up movie. Enter Mark Ruffalo – an actor best known for sensitive arthouse fare and by no means a box-office draw – yet Banner soon became one of the most-loved characters in the MCU. Just don't expect Ruffalo to ever do a solo outing.
3. Everyone – Star Trek
JJ Abrams returned to the original Star Trek characters for his reboot, so he didn't just have the risk of recasting one character, but the whole cast.
Against the odds though, the casting of the likes of Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Zoe Saldana and Anton Yelchin went down a storm with fans. (Shame that the sequel was a bit dodgy and the future's uncertain, mind.)
4. Obi-Wan Kenobi – Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Put aside your thoughts on The Phantom Menace for now and just concentrate on how difficult it would be to recast such an iconic character as Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Stepping into Alec Guinness's shoes was Ewan McGregor, who was then best known for the likes of Trainspotting and Shallow Grave, hardly blockbuster material. But due to his work studying the original performance, McGregor nailed the role of a younger Obi-Wan and the proof is in the fact fans actually want a solo movie.
5. Jim Rhodes – Iron Man 2
It's easy to forget what a risk Iron Man was back in 2008, but after it proved a huge success and launched a massive shared universe, surely the last thing you'd want to do is change any element?
However after some behind-the-scenes drama, Terrence Howard – who claims that producers wanted him to take a pay cut and that Robert Downey Jr "pushed [him] out" – was replaced by Don Cheadle. Five movies later and it's hard to remember Rhodey was ever played by anyone else.
6. The Joker – The Dark Knight
There's little more to say about Heath Ledger's towering performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight, which saw him awarded a posthumous Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
At the time though, it was hard to see how the Joker would fit into Christopher Nolan's more grounded take on Batman, given that all we could think of was Jack Nicholson's equally excellent – but completely different – Joker from Tim Burton's Batman. Ledger proved us completely wrong though. How's that for a magic trick?
7. Vito Corleone – The Godfather Part II
This is not so much a recasting as a perfect casting of a younger version, as Robert De Niro had the formidable task of taking over from Marlon Brando in the role of Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II.
De Niro was a relative unknown when he was cast in the role, although he had a role in Mean Streets under his belt. That didn't stop him excelling and following in Brando's footsteps by winning an Oscar for his take on Vito.
8. Hannibal Lecter – The Silence of the Lambs
While it never got as big as the subsequent sequel The Silence of the Lambs, Michael Mann's Manhunter boasted a brilliant turn from Brian Cox as Hannibal Lecktor (as he was called then), so it's a shame he didn't get a chance to reprise the role.
Instead, Jonathan Demme turned to an unlikely source in Anthony Hopkins to play the serial killer with a penchant for human flesh and organs. While he was a highly regarded actor, he'd never starred in a box-office hit. It's fair to say it paid off as it became only the third movie to win the Big Five Oscars, including Best Actor for Hopkins. Delicious. He reprised the role in Manhunter remake (or rather, the second adaptation of the book) Red Dragon and Hannibal.
9. Peter Parker – Captain America: Civil War
When the time came for Peter Parker to finally join the MCU, Marvel was faced with the challenge of rebooting a character who had only recently been rebooted.
It turned to Tom Holland, whose biggest role to date had been as Billy Elliot on stage. Yet all it took was a cameo role in Captain America: Civil War for fans to fall in love with his Spider-Man. His solo movie confirmed him as the best modern-day Spidey so far.
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
