25 Badly-Cast Older/Younger Versions Of Characters That Honestly Just Confused Me

Slapping on some makeup and copying a hair color does NOT make up for bad casting!

Sometimes, a TV show or movie casts the *perfect* younger or older version of a character.

Disney

But sometimes, the casting falls short, and the new actor looks nothing like the old one. Here are 25 serious missteps in casting that I can't forgive.

1. First...young Howard Stark in Captain America: The First Avenger vs. older Howard Stark in Avengers: Endgame.

Marvel

This is just not the same person. Also, the older Howard really doesn't look all that much older than the younger Stark — when hasn't it been, like, 30 years?

2. They shouldn't have recast older Cassie from Avengers: Endgame to Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. The new Cassie looks nothing like the young one from the first two films.

Marvel

The actor who played Cassie in Avengers: Endgame looked much more like Cassie, and I don't know why they recast her. Once again, wrong eye color!!!

3. Young Pietro from Wandavision and older Pietro from Avengers: Age of Ultron also look completely different.

Marvel / Disney+ / Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection

Marvel has more money than god, and yet they couldn't even attempt to find a realistic-looking Pietro?

4. You really expect me to believe that this kid grows up to be Don Draper on Mad Men? No way.

AMC

5. Young Shawn on Psych is a realllll stretch for me.

USA Network

Older Shawn doesn't even have freckles.

6. I feel like they didn't even TRY to get a young actor to play the younger version of Sherlock on Sherlock.

BBC / Courtesy: Everett Collection

Benedict has such unique bone structure, and NONE of it was present in the kid.

7. Remember that flashback episode of Gossip Girl that showed young Carol and Lily? Well, Carol has changed a LOT over the years.

The CW

8. Younger and older Giuseppe Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries don't even look related.

The CW

This is just not the same person. Period.

9. Young Damon also wasn't very good.

The CW

They got the eye color and dark hair, but their skin tone, nose, brows, and jawline are totally different. 

10. I know kids' hair can darken with age, but I still feel like for recognizability, they should've at least found an actor with the same hair color for young Nick on New Girl.

Fox

I'll give it to this kid; he captured Nick's grumpiness. But he looks nothing like him.

11. Or at least the same eye color. I mean, really. The show constantly talks about Jess' light blue eyes.

Fox

I'm actually pretty sure this actor is the sibling of the young Nick actor, because they have the same last name. The other actor who played young Jess (in all the other episodes with Jess flashbacks — she was much better) must not have been available.

12. Next is younger Harry in Mamma Mia!: Here We Go Again, and older Harry in the same film.

Jonathan Prime / Universal Studios /Courtesy Everett Collection

Young Harry's face is SO much longer and more angular than older Garry's face.

13. And also younger and older Sam from the same film.

Jonathan Prime / Universal Studios /Courtesy Everett Collection

Their hairlines are completely different — which might make sense if older Sam had the farther back hairline, but his is actually much lower. And their noses and faces are different shapes too!

14. Aaaand Donna, too, tbh.

Jonathan Prime / Universal Studios /Courtesy Everett Collection

First of all, young Donna is clearly a brunette from her eyebrows and roots. Second of all, their noses and face shapes and eyes are all completely different.

15. I hate to say it, but...the new Aegon in House of the Dragon doesn't even look much older than the last one, and they look like entirely different people.

HBO

Isn't the new Aegon supposed to be, like, a full adult now? He looks 16.

16. And his younger brother not only looks 20 years older, but he looks totally different from what he used to look like.

HBO

Once again, his hairline is lower down than the younger actor's, and his bone structure, eye(s), and nose are totally different. Their lips and chins are basically the same, though.

17. Orange is the New Black had SUCH good casting for most of its younger versions of characters, so it was a disappointment when we finally met Red's younger self.

Netflix

18. Same with Nicky. The kid version of her was decent, but I just have a hard time believing these are the same person.

Netflix

19. Young Locke on Lost was a real stretch, tbh.

ABC

I kind of see it in the eyes, but the nose and face shape and lips....nope. 

20. They also did Sayid dirty, honestly.

ABC

Anthony Keyvan actually played the younger version of Naveen Andrews again in Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, so some people thought this was good casting, I guess.

21. Ian McKellan has such a distinct look...and it's not one that matches Michael Fassbender. Only one of these men is Magneto to me.

Murray Close/ 20th Century Fox / courtesy Everett Collection

22. Young Han Solo in Solo and older Han in A New Hope are both ruggedly handsome, but they are definitely not the same person.

Lucasfilm

23. I was honestly kind of always frustrated with young Hope in The Originals/Legacies, because she looks nothing like her parents. The older version is better on that front, but...then she looks nothing like her younger self.

The CW

This one isn't that bad because her face shape is pretty on point, but I will never get over them changing Hope from a super-pale ginger with freckles to a tanner girl who obviously was just dying her hair red. Justice for actual gingers!!

24. I have a real hard time believing that this little version of Kaitlyn Cooper turned into the version on the right in just a year and a half on The O.C.

Fox

25. And finally, this isn't to say the actor did a bad job, but I really don't see this kid as a younger Ryan Reynolds in The Adam Project. I just don't.

Netflix