10 Iconic Movie Characters Weirdly REPLACED In Movie Sequels
6. Elizabeth Swann - Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides & Dead Men Tell No Tales
Despite the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise basically being the Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) Show, Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) is nevertheless one of blockbuster cinema's most prominent and memorable female leads, largely due to Knightley's amusing straight-guy performance.
Swann was an outright protagonist in the first three films, though ended up sitting our number four, On Stranger Tides, due to a desire to work on other projects.
While Blackbeard's daughter Angelica (Penélope Cruz) initially seemed like a fitting replacement, the film went further and literally introduced ridiculously obvious younger substitutes for not just Elizabeth but also her love interest Will Turner (Orlando Bloom).
On Stranger Tides gave us mercenary Philip Swift (Sam Claflin) and mermaid Syrena (Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey), who were very clearly fashioned as "the new Will and Elizabeth."
Reception was wildly mixed, and so neither returned for the fifth and most recent film, Dead Men Tell No Tales.
Though Knightley did reprise the role of Elizabeth for a brief cameo she literally filmed in a single day, Elizabeth was again replaced with a younger substitute for the bulk of the movie.
This time the new Elizabeth was astronomer Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario), a headstrong young woman who clashes with Jack Sparrow, not unlike a younger Elizabeth herself.
The similarities were striking enough that Carina basically felt like a reboot of the Elizabeth character, yet to the film's modest credit Carina was also the best part of it.
Even so, it's incredibly rare to see a character replaced in such overwhelmingly blatant fashion twice in the same franchise. And with Knightley now fully done with Pirates of the Caribbean, don't be that surprised if it happens a third time in the next one.