8 Drastic TV Recastings That Worked

8. Bobby Draper - Mad Men

AMC Mad Men has had more Bobby Drapers than Spinal Tap has had drummers. The role has been recast not once, not twice, but three times, with four different child actors playing Don Draper's son. The first two were harmless, but they seemed to struggle with the logistics of filming (John Slattery once joked that no matter how many Bobby's they had, they couldn't find one who wouldn't look right into the camera lens). Jared Gilmore, the third Bobby, seemed like a step up. He was a reasonably strong child actor who had good chemistry with Kiernan Shipka, his television sister. But then he was cast as the lead on ABC's Once Upon a Time, so they had to go back to the drawing board. (Also playing a factor may have been Gilmore's supposedly difficult relationship with January Jones, who he gave a less than favorable report on, warning the next Bobby to watch out for her and calling her "unapproachable".) For the past two seasons, Mason Vale Cotton has been performing the role since the beginning of the fifth season, and it looks like he'll be here to stay. At twelve years old, he's entirely capable of carrying more complex story lines, although unfortunately any child actor outside of maybe Christian Bale circa Empire of the Sun is going to look like an acting schlub next to the remarkably talented Shipka. Still, we've seen genuine moments from him, like when he comforts the African-American man in the movie theater after Martin Luther King's death.
Contributor
Contributor

Audrey Fox is an ex-film student, which means that she prefers to spend her days in the dark, watching movies and pondering the director's use of diegetic sound. She currently works as an entertainment writer, joyfully rambling about all things film and television related. Add her on Twitter at @audonamission and check out her film blog at 1001moviesandbeyond.com.