17 TV Shows And Movies That Just Straight Up Forgot How Aging Worked

    I feel like it shouldn't be this confusing.

    Hannah Marder
    by Hannah Marder

    BuzzFeed Staff

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    TV shows and movies are always getting real confused about ages — which mostly translates to casting 22-year-olds as middle-aged moms, or 27-year-olds as teenagers.

    Jackson as a 27-year-old teenager on Hannah Montana
    Bob D'Amico / Disney Channel / Courtesy Everett CollectionCollection

    But sometimes they get tripped up in their actual characters' ages, with characters aging super fast, super slow, not at all, or even ending up younger than they started.

    NBC

    Here are 17 times TV shows and movies just got character ages/aging all kinds of messed up!

    1. Wendy ages super slowly in the Peter Pan films.

    Wendy as a kid, then 40 years later with a young son
    Disney

    Peter Pan 2: Return to Never Land takes place during World War II. But the first Peter Pan takes place in 1900. If we say Wendy is around 12ish in the first film, then in 1939 when World War II began she should be in her fifties. Except she looks more like in her early thirties, and her children are under the age of 10. 

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    2. And the Beast also seems to age super slowly in Beauty and the Beast.

    The Beast in a photo before his transformation and then right after, 10 years later, at age 21
    Disney

    Lumière says they've been objects for 10 years, but the narrator in the prologue says the rose blooms until the Beast's 21st birthday — so is he 11 when the curse starts? I feel like we can assume no, since he doesn't look 11 in that "before" photo — but then he doesn't seem 10 years older in the after photo either??? What is the truth?

    3. Forrest doesn't seem to change appearance in Forrest Gump, despite his mother and Jenny aging.

    Forrest as a teenager, then 20 years later
    Paramount Pictures

    You could say it's only because they didn't want to change actors, but they didn't change actors with teenager-to-adult Jenny or with his mother — they simply made the characters look older. However, Forrest doesn't seem to age from 16 on. 

    4. Lily Collins stated that Emily was supposed to be around 22 in Emily in Paris, meaning that A) she was only 9 when Gossip Girl, her and her friends' "favorite show," began airing, and B) she somehow skipped years of work experience to get the job she had.

    Emily saying "My friends and I were obsessed with 'Gossip Girl'"
    Netflix

    I love Gossip Girl, but I don't know what parent would allow their 9-year-old child to watch it. Another cast member later said Emily was actually 24, but still, that seems pretty young for her position/Gossip Girl obsession.

    5. Belle went from 5 to 15 in just a year on Days of Our Lives.

    Belle as a baby then a year later as a teenager
    NBC

    (Suggested by josephsays)

    6. P.T.'s daughters don't seem to age at all in The Greatest Showman.

    P.T.'s daughters a few minutes into the film then at the end, many years later, looking the same
    20th Century Fox

    (Suggested by cs613)

    7. In Revenge, Sammy is given to a 9-year-old Emily as a puppy. But then Jack still has him almost 20 years later, and he seems perfectly healthy!

    ABC

    It's technically possible, but Sammy really doesn't look that old!

    8. Also on Friends: Joey turns 31 before Rachel even turns 30, even though Joey was established from the start as the youngest of the group.

    All the friends at Rachel's 30th birthday
    NBC

    According to Insider, Joey says he's 25 in Season 1, after Monica has established that she and Rachel are 26. However, in a later season, Rachel mentions that he's 31, which is before we see her 30th birthday episode.

    9. Dumbledore appears decades older than the Jude Law version in a flashback from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

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    Dumbledore visits Tom Riddle's orphanage in 1937, just 10 years after the events of the second Fantastic Beasts film, where he's played by Jude Law. As you can see above, it seems like a *bit* more than 10 years have passed.

    10. Obi-Wan Kenobi turns from a young thirtysomething into an old man over 19 years in Star Wars.

    20th Century Fox

    Luke is 19 in Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope. We saw Obi-Wan deliver him in the third prequel — so the pictures above should be about 19 years apart. However, Ewan McGregor was only 34 when Episode III came out, and Obi-Wan appears to be in his sixties or seventies (he has white hair, people!!) in Episode IV.

    11. Howard Stark barely seems to age over almost 30 years in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

    Howard Stark in 1942 and not much older in 1970
    Marvel

    Barring the change in actors, Howard Stark doesn't really seem to age that much between 1942 (during Captain America: The First Avenger) and 1970 (during Avengers: Endgame, when Tony and Steve go back in time).

    12. And neither does Peggy Carter, as seen in the minimal difference between her in Captain America: The First Avenger and in the time travel scene in Avengers: Endgame.

    Peggy in 1942 and not much older in 1970
    Marvel

    You can't really make her out through the window, but from what you can see, she hardly looks any older than in 1942.

    13. In Les Misérables, Cosette is just a little kid in 1823, but nine years later she's a fully grown adult.

    Universal Pictures

    Cosette looks like she's maybe 6 or 7 when Valjean rescues her, but nine years later she's clearly an adult and not a teenager (Seyfried was 27 at the time). Maybe this was just a casting error, but it seemed like a lot of growing up to do in under a decade.

    14. In Harry Potter, James and Lily appear to be middle-aged every time we see them (such as in the Mirror of Erised, in the photo book Hagrid gives Harry, and in the Forbidden Forest), despite having died at age 21.

    Harry seeing his parents in the mirror
    Warner Bros. Pictures

    I feel like everyone forgets how young Lily and James were. Even the actors for Sirius and Lupin were far older than they should've been — Sirius and Lupin should've been 34 in the third film.

    15. And Snape, Lupin, and Sirius are way too old to have gone to school with Lily and James.

    Warner Brothers / courtesy Everett Collection

    Gary Oldman was 46, David Thewlis was 41, and Alan Rickman was 57 — their characters should've been in their mid-thirties.

    16. Almost directly after Jo and Alaric's twins are born in The Vampire Diaries, there is a three-year time jump. However, after the time jump, the twins appear to be at least 6.

    Caroline's twins at age 6
    The CW

    The actors playing them were at least 6.

    17. And finally, Kaitlin Cooper completely disappears after the first season of The O.C., only to return in Season 3 much older.

    Kaitlyn as a kid and then a teenager just a year later
    Fox

    This is only a year in the show's timeline.

    Are there any examples that always annoy or confuse you? Let us know in the comments!

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