10 Actors Who Were Recast After The Pilot Episode
3. Jeff Yagher - Tom Hanson (21 Jump Street)
Modern viewers may know 21 Jump Street only as a buddy cop comedy vehicle for Jonah Hill and Jeff, but once upon a time, in that far-flung, oft-romanticised world that was the 1980s, it was a hit TV show starring, umm, Jeff Yagher...
Back when the show was called Jump Street Chapel (before the studio ditched the religious connotation), the little-known Yagher was the original choice for the central part of Officer Thomas Hanson. But whether he looked too old to be playing a police officer going undercover in high school, or whether he just didn't jell with the role, we may never know.
What we do know is the showrunners gave him the boot after filming the pilot.
Yagher was swiftly usurped by a fresh-faced Johnny Depp, which is lucky for the latter as this is quite literally the part that made him, opening the door to roles in a what's-what of indie cult pictures, like Cry-Baby and Arizona Dream, alongside an illustrious career as Tim Burton's gothic ken doll.