10 Insane Reasons Actors Didn’t Return for Sequels

It's a tale as old as time that when two parties part ways in Hollywood it's down to scheduling conflict. While this is undeniably the genuine reason in many cases, sometimes this is just a generic line used to hide the true reasons for the split. John Turturro not reprising his role as Carmine Falcone in The Penguin is the most recent example of this, but it's certainly not the only one.

In 2011, Alec Baldwin admitted that he lied about scheduling conflicts being the reason he didn't return for Patriot Games after starring as Jack Ryan in John McTiernan's The Hunt for Red October. Instead, according to the actor, this had more to do with his replacement, Harrison Ford.

Apparently, thanks to a greenlit film falling apart, Paramount Studios owed Ford a lot of money. This was alleviated to some degree by his casting as Jack Ryan for Patriot Games, not to mention that, thanks to coming off the back of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Ford was able to bring far more star power to the franchise than Baldwin was.

David Kirkpatrick, the Paramount executive wholly blamed for the situation by Alec Baldwin, tells a different story, claiming that the original Jack Ryan actor got nervous and wouldn't sign off on the script for Patriot Games, resulting in a breakdown of trust and their relationship completely.