10 TV Characters They Couldn't Stop Recasting
The Mountain was played by three different actors, believe it or not.
The nature of TV production is so enormously complex, in many ways considerably more so than a single movie that's simply shot over a period of several months.
The multi-year nature of any hit TV series requires the co-ordination of a massive cast and crew, and so it's simply inevitable that actors have to be recast every now and then.
Perhaps a performer is unable to return due to the ever-precarious scheduling conflicts, or maybe the showrunners simply decided they ultimately weren't a good fit for the character.
Whatever the reason, these TV characters were replaced a frankly silly number of times over the course of their respective series.
In some cases it's clear that the producers didn't think their initial castings through, while in others it's just a fact of Hollywood that actors move on from a role if they've got a better offer elsewhere. That's showbiz.
While in some instances the recasting was evidently for the better, in others it continued to be a huge distraction throughout the rest of the series.
At least in some shows the creatives had the sense to make light of their predicament rather than stubbornly try to ignore it...
10. Judith Grimes - The Walking Dead
Let's kick things off with by far the most ridiculous case of serial recasting in the history of television.
In The Walking Dead, Judith Grimes is the young daughter of the late Lori Grimes (Sarah Wayne Callies) and Shane Walsh (Jon Bernthal).
Because fans have effectively seen Judith grow from a baby into a young girl before their very eyes, the part has been played by numerous actresses - an absurd 18 of them, in fact - across the show's 11 seasons.
This is in part because, as is standard practise for infant characters in TV shows and movies, Judith was played by numerous sets of twins.
This is a classic tactic that allows studios to work around Hollywood's child labour laws that restrict the amount of time a young actor can spend on set.
In season three, Judith was played by Adelaide and Eliza Cornwell, and also Loudyn and Leighton Case, while in season four three different sets of twins ended up taking the part - Tinsley and Anniston Price, Eleora and Elisea DiFranco, and Sophia and Delia Oeland.
Season five saw Judith played by Charlotte and Clara Ward, and then Kiley and Jaelyn Behun, before things finally began to settle down.
Chloe and Sophia Garcia-Frizzi assumed the part from season six to season nine, bar two season eight episodes where Judith was played by Kinsley Isla Dillon.
And most recently, from season nine onwards, Cailey Fleming has played Judith in dozens of episodes. You might recognise Fleming as having also briefly played a young Rey in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
If nothing else, the relentless recasting of Judith confirms the huge challenge of including an ever-changing baby or infant character among a series' ensemble cast.