TV Show Villains Who Got Recast

It's not unusual for an actor to leave a show that's still running, even if their character is too important to exit the story as well. When that happens, that character has to be recast. And it's not always a secondary member of the ensemble, either — there are a number of noteworthy examples of TV shows that recast the main character. Whether due to contract issues, drama on the set, the death of said actor, or any number of other reasons, sometimes the show must go on even when an actor is no longer willing or able to do so.

What about when this happens to a show's bad guy? It might stand to reason that a villain is one of the more expendable types of characters on a show, and it would be easy to just dispatch of an antagonist if the actor has exited the cast. But that isn't always an option, either because the villain in question is the show's big bad, a legacy nemesis who's heavily intertwined with the franchise, or is still in the middle of their arc and can't be abandoned yet. Here are instances when a show has had to recast one of its villains for one reason or another — and in a few cases, several times over — and mostly managed to make it stick.

A key figure in Hannibal Lecter's backstory is a millionaire named Mason Verger, who is one of Lecter's patients while the latter is still a working psychiatrist. Dr. Lecter does unspeakable things to Mason — though some would argue that those things aren't entirely unwarranted, given Mason's own crimes as a child molester — and that turns the two men into bitter enemies for years to come. While we don't meet Verger until decades after all that ugliness went down, when he made his screen debut (played by Gary Oldman) in the 2001 film "Hannibal," his early relationship with Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) was explored in the 2013 NBC series of the same name.

Verger joined "Hannibal" in Season 2, played by actor Michael Pitt. But Pitt exited the series after only playing Verger for a single season, with Joe Anderson taking the role for the show's third and final season. Given that Verger's face is severely disfigured for Season 3, the change wasn't quite as jarring as it might have been otherwise. Despite rumors that Pitt was a difficult presence on the "Hannibal" set, leading to his departure, the official word is that it came entirely down to scheduling conflicts that forced Pitt to quit the show.

"Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" found success in the 1990s by reframing the dynamic between Clark Kent and Lois Lane in the context of a will they/won't they workplace comedy. With the realization that the iconic DC superhero's adventures on the small screen didn't always have to take the traditional fantasy adventure, villain of the week route, "Smallville" debuted the following decade — this time as a coming-of-age drama that followed the character from high school through early adulthood. 

Unlike "Lois and Clark," which never went all that deep on Superman lore, "Smallville" ended up debuting a number of legacy comic characters big and small. One of those characters was Morgan Edge, a villainous media mogul and crime boss who had been in the comics since the 1970s. On the show, his connection to the former was abandoned entirely and he was instead just a straight-up evildoer. Morgan Edge was played by veteran actor Rutger Hauer for the character's first two episodes. Then Patrick Bergin took over for Morgan's third and final episode, due to the ever-prolific Hauer not being available to see the role through to its end. Because the two actors looked so different, it was written into the plot that Morgan Edge had had plastic surgery.     

In 2019, Hauer joined the list of "Smallville" actors you might not know passed away when he died at 75 from pancreatic cancer.

Superman wasn't the only classic comics character reinvented for the teen drama crowd. Archie, Betty, Veronica, Jughead, and the rest of the gang also saw a similar reimagining for the 2017 CW series "Riverdale." Among the popular series' large ensemble was the character Reggie Mantle, whose history in "Archie" comics as the titular character's longtime frenemy goes all the way back to the 1940s. The "Riverdale" version was played by Ross Butler — in Season 1, at least.

Butler was also a series regular on Netflix's "13 Reasons Why," which also debuted in 2017. Ultimately, trying to work on the two shows simultaneously wasn't possible for Butler, and he chose "13 Reasons Why" over "Riverdale." Charles Melton played Reggie from Season 2 onward. But Butler surprised audiences when he reprised the role of Reggie for the 100th episode of "Riverdale," playing an alternate dimension version of the character, called Reggie Prime, who ends up in a fight to the death with the Melton version.

When looking at every version of Catwoman ranked worst to best, the 1966 "Batman" TV series not only has three separate representatives on the list, but all three are near the top. Now, it should be noted that the show had multiple examples of villains who changed actors over the course of the show's run. Three different people also played Mr. Freeze, while two actors portrayed the Riddler across the show's three seasons and a movie. But we're focusing on Catwoman's three performers here because each were equally iconic in the role, and each brought a very distinct flavor to Batman's oldest villain crush.

Julie Newmar became the first person to ever portray Catwoman in live action when she originated the version of the character in the 1966 "Batman" series, staying in the role for two seasons. Eartha Kitt then stepped in for Season 3, seeing the role through to the end of the show. As for the film, it was actually released after the show's first season and included most of the same cast from that season — except for Newmar, who was replaced by the one-and-done Lee Meriwether, with Newman resuming as Catwoman for the show's second season.

It should also be noted that there was technically a fourth Catwoman actor in the franchise, Marilyn Watson, who joined several other uncredited stand-ins for villains who made cameos for the show's penultimate episode in Season 3. 

Apparently "Suits" recast its biggest villain, but most fans didn't notice for a good reason: the original version never actually made it to air. Daniel Hardman — a formerly disgraced lawyer who showed up in Season 2 to make life miserable for Harvey (Gabriel Macht) and Jessica (Gina Torres) — became a frequently recurring antagonist throughout the rest of the series, and he was always played by David Costabile. But Hardman was actually supposed to be on "Suits" from the very beginning.

Under his original name of Phillip Hardman, the co-founder of Pearson Hardman LLP was played by Victor Garber and had several scenes in the show's pilot episode. But all of those scenes were cut — though the full original version subsequently aired in other parts of the world — causing the show's narrative to retool a bit and instead have Hardman be absent for the entirety of Season 1 before making his grand entrance in Season 2. When that retooling happened, the character's first name was not only changed from Phillip to Daniel, but the actor playing Hardman was changed as well to fit the new direction the show's creators ended up taking the character in.  

Perhaps more so than any other single TV series in recent memory — or any series in history that didn't go on for multiple decades like soap operas and the like — "Game of Thrones" saw a lot of character get recast. But one that probably got the least attention was the Night King, which stands to reason since it's a character that is under heavy amounts of make-up and also comes with some effects work to complete the look.

When the Night King first joined the show in Season 4, he was not only physically portrayed by actor Richard Brake, but Brake's face was even used to mold the prosthetics that the actor would wear as the character. This meant that the Night King's face was similar to that of Brake's, something that needed to be addressed when Brake stopped playing the character after Season 5. It has never been officially stated why Vladimir Furdik took over the role of the Night King from Season 6 onward, but some have speculated that it was due to the villain being more physically active in the final three seasons. Furdik mostly being a stunt performer made him a better fit for that version of the White Walker leader.

Though it's easy to miss without seeing the two versions of the Night King side by side, the Furdik version's prosthetics were indeed changed to match that performer's face rather than continuing to use the ones that looked like Richard Brake.

"Superboy" — renamed "The Adventures of Superboy" halfway through its four-season lifespan — ran on TV in syndication from 1988 to 1992. It followed a young Clark Kent as the titular hero, already going full bore with his powers and his Earth-saving responsibilities, unlike the version later portrayed in "Smallville."

But Superboy himself changed actors between Season 1 and Season 2, from John Haymes Newton to Gerard Christopher. Arch-nemesis Lex Luthor also switched actors in the hiatus between the first two seasons, with Scott Wells playing Luthor for four episodes of Season 1 before Sherman Howard took over to play the villain for the bulk of his arc on the show. Howard also wrote one episode of "Superboy" each for Season 3 and Season 4. 

Lex Luthor was also famously recast years later in the Arrowverse, with Jon Cryer playing the role in "Supergirl," "Batwoman," "The Flash," "Arrow," and "Legends of Tomorrow," but not "Superman and Lois" — Michael Cudlitz played Luthor there. But the two actors didn't actually swap within the same series, and are technically two different universes' Lex Luthors, so it's not exactly a recast in the same way it was for "Superboy." 

What is it about television adaptations of DC Comics properties that characters can't seem to retain the same actor from start to finish? Another Batman villainess that saw three different actors play her on a single series was Ivy Pepper, aka Poison Ivy, in Fox's "Gotham." Like Bruce Wayne himself, Ivy was a child at the start of the series, played by Clare Foley for the first two seasons. Then, in Season 3, she goes from young teenager to full-grown adult in an instant as the result of contact with another character's aging powers. 

The showrunners had wisely backed away from allowing Ivy to demonstrate her classic seduction powers when the character was still a child, and instead came up with a reason to fast-forward her to adulthood so they could finally start going down that road.. The suddenly adult Ivy then became a main character in Season 3 of "Gotham," played by Maggie Geha. 

Geha only came back for two episodes of Season 4 before leaving the show, with actor Peyton List becoming the third and final Ivy on "Gotham." This was the result of yet another character retooling by the showrunners, this time to get away from the lighter, funnier portrayal that Geha brought to the role and make way for Ivy's full transformation into the darker, more sinister character that was apparently always the end goal.

Out of every show on this list, Apple TV+'s "Foundation" is the only one still running, but the recasting in question has yet to be seen. Based on the Isaac Asimov book series of the same name, "Foundation" brings the villain known as The Mule from the page to the screen, played in the show's second season by Mikael Persbrandt.

Persbrandt only played The Mule for four episodes, a stint that series co-creator David S. Goyer suggested was only a tease of what was to come for the character and his effect on the show's universe. It would seem that Persbrandt doesn't have what it will take to make The Mule a bigger and more pivotal presence on the show, as actor Pilou Asbæk has been tapped to replace Persbrandt for Season 3 and presumably beyond. Until we can see Asbæk's portrayal and directly compare it to Persbrandt's, the jury is out on which actor we prefer in the role. 

As of now, there's no announced release date or window for Season 3 of "Foundation," with some of the more optimistic predictions suggesting it could be before the end of 2025.

The Borg Queen has been played by a number of actors over the years in various "Star Trek" films and TV shows. But there is a canonical explanation for this, as there isn't one single Borg Queen — instead, it's a role that can be held by any entity that serves as the main voice of the entire Borg collective and can be transferred from one being to another as needed.

Given how much of Jean-Luc Picard's (Patrick Stewart) history is tied to his run-in with the Borg, it went without saying that the alien race was going to figure heavily in "Star Trek: Picard." When the Borg Queen finally showed up in Season 2, she was voiced and portrayed by actor Annie Wersching. It would sadly be Wersching's final screen credit before her death in 2023. But the Borg Queen wasn't done with Picard yet and still had a part to play in the final season. So who played the Borg Queen in "Star Trek: Picard" Season 3? Not counting the alternate-universe Agnes Jurati (Alison Pill) version, the second incarnation of the main universe Borg Queen was voiced by Alice Krige and portrayed physically by Jane Edwina Seymour. 

Krige's appearance was noteworthy to longtime "Star Trek" fans as she had previously played the Borg Queen in the movie "Star Trek: First Contact" as well as an episode each of the series "Star Trek: Voyager" and "Star Trek: Lower Decks."

The third main incarnation of "Power Rangers," "Power Rangers Turbo," was first introduced in the franchise's second feature film "Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie." The movie served as something of a passing of the torch between the original series cast and the cast that would form the then-upcoming "Power Rangers Turbo" season. It also featured a mix of old and new villains, including the introduction of the big bad of the "Turbo" series — Divatox.

In the film, Divatox was played by Hilary Shepard Turner. But when it came time for the TV show, Turner was replaced by Carol Hoyt. As it turns out, Turner had gotten pregnant since the movie, and the time she needed off for maternity leave just so happened to coincide with when filming needed to start on the series. But the role of Divatox was still hers when she was ready to come back to it, and Hoyt only ended up being a temporary replacement for the first half of the sole "Turbo" season. 

Turner would play Divatox for not only the second half of "Turbo" but for the character's five-episode stint in the next "Power Rangers" series, "Power Rangers in Space." So this was actually just a temporary villain recast, but a villain recast all the same.