10 Actors Who Got Kicked Out Of Their Own Movie Franchises
These franchises continued without their feature attractions.
Putting together a successful movie franchise is incredibly challenging at the best of times, but if there's one thing that audiences love about them, it's the consistency that comes with a familiar face leading the charge.
Everyone watches the Mission: Impossible movies expecting the reliable insanity of Tom Cruise, and if he were suddenly removed from the series, interest would surely wane considerably.
Yet there are many instances of name actors having juicy roles ripped away from them for a multitude of reasons, be it their own personal problems, a change in direction at the heart of the studio, or perhaps something a little more ambiguous that's still being debated to this day.
Whether these films suffered or succeeded as a result of their recasting, each nevertheless left fans enormously miffed, while the actors themselves often expressed their frustration at being deprived of roles that could've netted them millions in future earnings.
Despite seeming to have a meaty role locked down for the considerable future, these actors all got the premature boot...
10. Edward Furlong - Terminator
Though the Terminator franchise is perhaps best defined by the iconic, statuesque presence of Arnold Schwarzenegger's T-800, there's no denying that the most vital human character is future resistance leader John Connor.
The character was formally introduced in Terminator 2: Judgment Day as a young boy, played quite brilliantly by Edward Furlong, and when plans finally came together for a third film in the early 2000s, the role was clearly Furlong's for the taking.
Though Furlong indeed signed on for Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines by summer 2000, Warner Bros. eventually decided to recast the character due to Furlong's highly-publicised substance abuse issues during pre-production.
In addition to fans being hugely disappointed that Furlong was replaced with the admittedly decent Nick Stahl, Furlong missed out on what would've been a lucrative payday with clear sequel potential. Later, the character was played by Christian Bale and Jason Clarke in the fourth and fifth films respectively.
Furlong was brought back to "reprise" the Connor role in the recent Terminator: Dark Fate, though disappointment hit once again when it turned out he simply provided a facial likeness for the film's opening scene, where a young John is unceremoniously killed off.