15 TV Characters Who Disappeared Or Were Recast, But It Wasn't Super Subtle

In The Golden Girls, Dorothy, Rose, Blanche, and Sophia originally had a housekeeper named Coco, who disappeared after the first episode and wasn't mentioned again.

Hot Topic

🔥 Full coverage and conversation on Bridgerton

There are obviously spoilers ahead for several TV shows.

1. First, when Robin Hood first appeared in Once Upon a Time Season 2, he was played by Tom Ellis in a guest-starring role. However, when Robin's role got much bigger in Season 3, he was recast with Sean Maguire, who played him for the remainder of the series.

ABC

At the time, Once Upon a Time co-creator Adam Horowitz said that scheduling conflicts prevented Tom from returning to the series. He said, "Although we love Tom Ellis, unfortunately, he wasn’t available. We remain huge fans of his, but because we have an arc planned for the character, we had to move forward."

2. In the pilot of The Golden Girls, Charles Levin starred as Coco, the ladies' housekeeper. However, he disappeared after the first episode. Originally, Estelle Getty was only going to be a guest star as Sophia, but after she was a hit with audiences, the show promoted her to a main character and ultimately cut Coco.

NBC

Writer Stan Zimmerman reflected on cutting Coco early in the show's run, saying, "As great as Coco was — and he was very funny, and I love that there was a gay character — it wasn't really needed, and they were smart to let that go." 

He added, "I wish they had dealt with it or had him back for a special episode…maybe he fell in love, went somewhere. Maybe he opened a B&B in Key West. I don't know. There's so many possibilities."

Hot Topic

Let's chat about all things Bridgerton

See our Bridgerton Discussions

3. For the first two seasons of Bridgerton, Francesca Bridgerton was played by Ruby Stokes. However, when the series returns for Season 3, she's now played by Hannah Dodd, and reportedly has a bigger role.

Netflix / Via youtu.be

Ruby reportedly left Bridgerton to lead Netflix's Lockwood & Co., which was ultimately canceled after one season. 

Posting about her casting on Instagram, Hannah wrote, "Terrified. I'll work my socks off I promise x."

4. In the backdoor pilot for Private Practice, a spinoff of Grey's Anatomy, Naomi Bennett was played by Merrin Dungey. However, when the show was picked up, Audra McDonald assumed the role in Season 1.

ABC

At the time, Variety reported that the swap from Merrin to Audra "was partly a chemistry thing between Dungey and Taye Diggs, who plays Naomi's estranged husband Sam, and that some were having trouble buying them ever having been a couple."

5. Keahu Kahuanui played Danny on Teen Wolf for the first three seasons. However, after Season 3, Danny left and never popped back up again, even after he revealed he knew about the existence of werewolves the entire time.

MTV

In an interview at San Diego Comic-Con for Season 5, creator Jeff Davis explained Danny's disappearance saying that he simply graduated from Beacon Hills High School early.

After it became clear that Danny was gone from Teen Wolf, Keahu also tweeted, "So many questions. So few I can answer," after fans were upset that Danny vanished.

6. Xochitl Gomez portrayed Dawn Schafer in The Baby-Sitters Club Season 1. Then, Kyndra Sanchez assumed the role for the show's second and final season. Xochitl stepped away from the role in order to star in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Netflix

Speaking about her departure from The Baby-Sitters Club, she said, "I felt really sad, but I knew that, just because of COVID, I couldn't be at one place and then another and then have to just switch all the time."

Reflecting on her time playing Dawn, Xochitl said, "That role meant everything to me."

7. Jake T. Austin notably starred as Jesus Adams Foster in the first two seasons of The Fosters. However, he left the show after Season 2 and was replaced by Noah Centineo. The show played off Jesus' appearance change as he simply grew up while he was away at a boarding school.

Freeform

After the Season 2 finale, which included Jesus being in a car accident, Jake announced his departure from the show, to the surprise of many fans.

Reportedly, Jake decided to leave the series after learning that Jesus' role would be reduced in the third season.

8. Ross Butler portrayed Reggie in Riverdale Season 1 before being replaced by Charles Melton for the rest of the series. Ross explained he decided to leave Riverdale in order to focus on having a bigger role on 13 Reasons Why.

Netflix

"Before Season 2 was confirmed for 13, I had to make the decision of whether I wanted to focus on one character or split two characters and have a smaller role on both shows," Ross said. "Reggie's a great character, but it's a different tone. I connected with Zach on a much more real level where I didn't have to create so much of a character for him."

Ross did return to Riverdale for the 100th episode and played an alternate-universe version of Reggie.

9. Family Matters originally centered heavily on the Winslow family, however, after audiences loved Steve Urkel so much, the central storylines on the show shifted. This led to the youngest Winslow daughter, Judy, disappearing one day as if she never existed. People often joke that Judy went upstairs one day, and never returned.

ABC

According to Rolling Stone, Jaimee Foxworth, who played Judy, was fired before Season 5 after seeing her role reduced to more of a background character in the previous two seasons. For the rest of the series, the remaining characters acted like she never existed, but audiences vividly remember the third Winslow daughter who just vanished.

Her last episode was Season 4, Episode 19.

10. Janet Hubert left The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air after she was offered a "bad deal" during Season 3. The series famously recast Aunt Viv, who was then played by Daphne Maxwell Reid for the rest of the show's run.

NBC

In The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air 30-year reunion on HBO Max, Janet spoke for the first time about her departure from the show and how "Hollywood disowned" her because of the rumors that she was difficult to work with. She said, "But you know those words, calling a Black woman difficult in Hollywood, is the kiss of death."

11. In The West Wing Season 1, Moira Kelly starred as Mandy Hampton, a White House media consultant who was a main character. However, when Season 2 began, Mandy was gone. The disappearance of her character even led to fans coining the term "Mandyville," which was used when any other character just vanished during the show's run.

NBC

Speaking about working with Moira, creator Aaron Sorkin said, "Moira Kelly didn’t have to audition; she was offered Mandy. Moira was a joy to work with, a total pro who understood as time went on that for whatever reasons — and those reasons had nothing to do with her considerable talent — it just wasn’t working."

12. In Roseanne Season 6, Jackie gives birth to her son Andy. After appearing in the rest of the OG series, he was never mentioned or seen in the spinoff The Conners. Ultimately, the show decided just to have Andy disappear and the series acts as though Jackie never had a child.

ABC

"We made a conscious decision that certain years were going to be part of the dream that was revealed at the end of the run of the original Roseanne, and [Andy] was part of the dream," The Conners showrunner Bruce Helford explained while referencing how the original series ends with Roseanne revealing she was actually writing a book about her life and she changed details.

Bruce continued, saying, "Andy fell into the same category for us as winning the lottery; [it's] something we chose not to acknowledge."

13. Friday Night Lights introduced Santiago, who moves in with Buddy Garrity and joins the Dillon Panthers after Lyla meets him at a juvenile detention center. He became an important member of the team but was never seen again after Season 2. In an interview in 2016, Ben Ciaramello explained that his character's storyline was likely cut short due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike.

NBC

Friday Night Lights, like other TV shows and movies filming at the time, had to halt production during the WGA strike. So, the season ended after Episode 15, which also marked Santiago's last appearance.

Ben said he ended up signing a deal with ABC when it became clear he was not going to be coming back to Friday Night Lights for Season 3. "That was a very rare situation that happened," Ben added.

14. In Game of Thrones Season 3, Ed Skrein played Daario Naharis; however, after the season, he was replaced by Michiel Huisman, and Daario went on to have a bigger role, too. At the time, Ed said, "My plan was to stay with Game of Thrones for the long haul. That was always my plan. I would have loved to. It was a wonderful experience, but politics led to us parting ways."

HBO

Recently, Ed and Michiel starred together in Netflix's Rebel Moon, and Ed discussed what it was like working together, saying, "There were no awkward standoffs with him or anyone in the cast. Michiel is a good dude. He’s a really good dude, and I loved spending time with him on set."

He continued, saying, "So that's the way it goes. People will replace me in the future and I will replace other people in the future, and I'll be a gentleman about it at all times."

15. And finally, in the pilot of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Scully and Hitchcock are seen with Daniels, another NYPD detective who hangs out with Scully and Hitchcock. After the first episode, she's never seen again.

Fox / NBC

On a Reddit AMA, showrunner Dan Goor reportedly said that Daniels could show up in Season 6, but that never happened. 

On the IMDb page for the first episode, the actor who plays Daniels isn't even credited.

Hot Topic

🔥 Full coverage and conversation on Bridgerton