10 TV Characters You Forgot Were Recast

When Jane The Virgin decided to do the age-old trope that is the time-jump, the show had to suddenly reconcile this decision with becoming a series that now hires child actors.

Sure, the pilot episode set them up to eventually have to go down this route, considering our main character Jane is artificially inseminated with a rich man's baby. But they could of escaped the child actor paradox if they had avoided moving up the timeline.

Nevertheless, the show's story was pre-planned out, the time-jump was inevitable, and so baby Mateo was subsequently aged to a terrible toddler; played by the adorable Joseph Sanders. Sanders played 4 year old Mateo, and portrayed him for the second half of season 3.

But when season 4 rolled around, Mateo suddenly looked... different. And as Jane The Virgin was always prepared to go meta, our beloved narrator warns us of the fact with a glib comment: "In Novellas, you must be prepared for change, after all".

Sanders was replaced by Elias Janssen, who had already played young Rafael on the show. Although fans were initially miffed by the recasting, Janssen did such a good job that everyone forgot that he hadn't originated the role!