13 Times Actors Came Suuuuper Close To Getting Recast (And Why)

Actors getting recast on TV shows and in movies isn't anything new. However, what viewers may not realize is how close some actors have come to getting replaced in their iconic roles.

Here are 13 times actors came suuuuper close to getting recast (and why):

1.After the first Twilight movie, Taylor Lautner was told, "Thank you for your participation, but we're recasting you for the rest of the franchise," because "in the middle of New Moon [the book], he transforms into this 25-year-old-looking, built, muscular man." However, he did some "hardcore working out for about nine months" and re-auditioned for the role.

On Call Her Daddy, Taylor said, "Their plan all along was to cast a 16-year-old, which they did. I was 16 at the time. And then, they were going to cast, like, a mid-20s guy to carry on and be Jacob for the rest of the franchise. I had to fight for my role back."

2.The Friends showrunners really wanted Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green, but, because she was already committed to the CBS sitcom Muddling Through, she wouldn't be able to stay longer than the first half-season. Had the other show been successful enough to be renewed, then Jennifer would've reportedly been replaced or written out of the show.

Muddling Through landed a poor time slot, premiering on a summer Saturday night. It didn't get enough viewers to warrant more episodes, so Jennifer was free to continue starring on Friends.

3.Also on Friends, Helen Baxendale was almost replaced as Emily, Ross's wife, because of her lack of comedic chemistry with David Schwimmer.

In his memoir Directed By James Burrows, director James Burrows wrote, "Schwimmer had no one to bounce off. It was like clapping with one hand... Often, you can't recast, because of tight shooting deadlines or other logistical considerations. You need someone who gets laughs. Sometimes you start an arc and it ain't working out, so you have to get rid of that person. If it's a day player, it's a quick goodbye."

4.Director/cowriter Roland Emmerich and producer/cowriter Dean Devlin wanted Will Smith as Captain Steven Hiller in Independence Day, but the studio allegedly told them, "No, we don't like Will Smith. He's unproven. He doesn't work in international [markets]... You cast a Black guy in this part, you’re going to kill foreign [box office]."

Dean told the Hollywood Reporter, "Our argument was, 'Well, the movie is about space aliens. It's going to do fine foreign.' It was a big war, and Roland really stood up for [Will] — and we ultimately won that war."

Roland added, "It was pretty shortly before the shoot, and we still hadn’t locked in Will and Jeff [Goldblum]. I put my foot down. 'Universal people are calling every day, so give me these two actors or I move over there.' I don't think it would have been a possibility [to actually move studios], but it was a great threat."

5.Harry Melling, who played Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter franchise, lost weight before Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, so he was almost recast. However, rather than simply being allowed to be himself, he had to wear a "fat suit" in order to reprise his role.

He told People, "I think it was an unconscious thing when it started to happen. I went to drama school when I was 18, and that's kind of where the weight shifted, not for any sort of major need on my side, but it's just something that just happened. And I've done a lot since drama school, went to do lots of theater. I think one of the blessings of that sort of stage in my life was the fact that I didn't get recognized. I had this history of being part of the films, but also, I felt like I had the opportunity to sort of cause a new start, which I think is useful."

He had a bigger role in a deleted scene.

6.Tobey Maguire starred as Peter Parker in Spider-Man, but when Spider-Man 2 was in development, he was reportedly experiencing back problems. However, the studio allegedly felt that he was using his pain as a threat during negotiations because he wasn't happy with his salary, so they told him they'd recast him. Tobey reportedly agreed to renegotiate and to undergo medical tests to prove his back was in good enough condition to handle the role.

The studio reportedly considered Jake Gyllenhaal as a replacement.

7.After the pilot for The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was filmed, the then-incoming NBC president decided that the role of Carlton Banks should be recast. However, he ultimately decided to stick with Alfonso Ribeiro.

Alfonso told Digital Spy, "So there was a moment where essentially I was hired and rehired — you may look at it that way! There was a large chance that the Carlton character would have been played by somebody else. But luckily enough, the decision was made to continue to have me do it — and I guess the rest is history."

8.When director/cowriter Mary Harron finally got American Psycho off the ground, she wanted Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman, but the film's financiers wanted a more well-known actor. She refused, and the studio replaced them both...then eventually came back around and rehired them.

Christian told GQ, "Even though other people were cast, other directors were on board, I just kept on prepping, and I would call Mary up, and she would say, 'Christian, they've given it to other people.' And I was like, yeah yeah yeah, no, it doesn't matter. We're still gonna make it. And she was like, oh, he has lost the plot. And all my friends were saying that to me, like, 'What are you doing?' ... And lo and behold, look at that, it did eventually come back. So that felt like a great victory."

9.Early into filming A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, producers were "very concerned" about Patricia Arquette and "were talking about possibly recasting that part [Kristen Parker]" because she "had a little bit of cold feet on her first day."

Director Chuck Russell told Xfinity, "I said, 'No, this girl has such a beautiful, haunted quality about her that made her believable in that role.' She's an amazing actress, a totally truthful actress."

Patricia told Vanity Fair, "I never knew that I was gonna be recast. I'm glad that Chuck Russell stepped in to intervene. There were some times on the set they would get upset with certain choices that I'd make. Like, I'd try a door handle in a dream, and then I'd turn and then I'd try it again, but that was just my instinct, and they ended up using it in the movie. They didn't use the other takes where I tried it once. So sometimes I would get yelled at for choices that I'd make, but then they'd end up in the cut."

10.On Full House, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen were almost replaced as Michelle Tanner. Costar John Stamos tried to get them fired because they "cried a lot," which made it "very difficult to get the shot."

At the Television Critics Association's 2015 press tour, John said, "They brought in a couple of unattractive redheaded kids. We tried that for a while, and that didn't work. [Producers] were like, all right, get the Olsen twins back. And that's the story."

11.Wesley Snipes played the titular role in the original Blade trilogy. He told Vice, "During the negotiations for [Blade: Trinity], they asked me if I'd consider doing the role again, but I was like, nah. So, the agency I was with told me that [the studio] was going to give me 'til Wednesday to make a decision or they were going to move on. And I was like, what? We just did two movies and made money for everybody, and you're saying to me that if I don't want to do the third one, you'll make it without me and find somebody else?" He ultimately accepted the role.

He continued, "And I was like, 'OK, let them give it to somebody else, because we had already decided we didn't want to do it anyway.' We were already thinking about focusing on dramatic pieces at that time. But you know how that all turned out in the end."

12.When Marvel first asked Chris Evans to test for the titular role in Captain America: The First Avenger, he turned them down because he'd recently begun experiencing panic attacks on set and was considering walking away from acting. However, his family, therapist, and costar Robert Downey Jr. helped convince him to accept when the studio came back with a straight-up offer.

On the Hollywood Reporter's Awards Chatter podcast, Chris said, "It was the best decision I've ever made, and I really owe that to [Marvel president] Kevin Feige for being persistent and helping me avoid making a giant mistake. To be honest, all the things that I was fearing never really came to fruition."

13.And finally, when Marina Sirtis was negotiating her contract for Star Trek: Nemesis, the studio allegedly "threatened to fire [her] and recast Troi, well not actually recast, but they said, 'We are going to fire you and hire Jeri Ryan [Seven of Nine from Star Trek: Voyager]."

At the 2017 event Star Trek Las Vegas, she said, "And I said. 'Well Jeri Ryan won't do it for that money, that is for sure.'"

Three years prior, at Destination Star Trek in London, Jeri said, "The call came, and they said, 'Put Jeri Ryan in the movie,' and I'm like, okay…in what way are you going to put Jeri Ryan in this movie? 'Well, we're going to replace one of the characters with Seven'…which makes absolutely no sense."