Since Vanessa Marcil has trained us to think that like the swallows to Capistrano, she’ll always return to the ABC soap, we and the ABC soap would both balk at the notion of replacing her as “the one that got away” from Sonny and Jax. Besides, can you imagine the poor actress tasked with working into her performances more than 20 years of history that she wasn’t around to play? #daunting
Suggest recasting Jane Elliot’s queen of mean, and we’ll fix you with same bemused glare that Tracy would. It couldn’t — also can’t and won’t — happen. When an actor has created a true original, as Elliot most certainly did, you don’t do it the disservice of attempting to Xerox it. (See also: why there’s not a Mona Lisa 2.)
One of these days, Victoria Rowell and the powers that be at CBS are gonna have to settle their differences once and for all. Otherwise, there’s no way for Devon’s adoptive mom to bounce back from her ill-fated attempt to cliff-dive. The show definitely can’t recast; it learned that the hard way when Kent Masters King spelled Rowell in 2000.
Sure, you can recast a character like Jackie Templeton, even though she was briefly played by movie star Demi Moore. But the adventurer played by Jack Wagner since the 1980s? No, no and no again. The soap-hopping Melrose Place vet is as closely identified with his breakout role as he is with his pop hit “All I Need.”
We pity the fool who’d even try to don one of the brooches left behind by this three-time Emmy winner. When the soap vet (previously Laura Horton on Days of Our Lives) retired in 2012, her character was killed off — and dead is the way she should stay, looming over her descendants in judgment, much like her portrait (which, for our money, never should have left Eric’s living-room wall).
We’ll admit, we’ve entertained the idea of other actresses playing the part that Kristian Alfonso exited in 2020 after almost four decades (off and on). And we can’t deny that we wholly accepted Robert Kelker-Kelly when he took over for Peter Reckell in the 1990s as Hope’s true love, Bo Brady. But at this point, having withstood so much change, we suspect viewers would revolt if anyone else tried on Alfonso’s part for size.
When Anthony Geary retired in 2015, his rascally alter ego reminded everyone that Lucky and Lulu’s papa is a rolling stone and hit the road. It was a perfect exit, one that allowed Geary to return to facilitate the sendoff of the actress at No. 13 and leaves open the door for future visits. And let’s be real, after nearly 40 years, General Hospital could no more recast Luke than it could switch the focus of the show from the hospital to the Mob. OK, bad example.
Credit where it’s due: At times, it must be tempting to blow up the Young & Restless canvas by revealing that, while Kristoff St. John died in 2019, there was a mistake and his character lived; he just… uh, looks different now. But the show has never gone there and, as far as we can tell, never will. That’s smart. Respectful. Right.
Recast Port Charles’ dimpled don? Fughedaboudit. If Maurice Benard retires — and he’s been known to toy with the idea — the character will have to be retired along with him. Fans may have bought Billy Miller as Sonny’s right-hand man Jason, but no way would they buy even the reincarnation of Marlon Brando as the kingpin with a heart of gold.
Another actress ever replacing Melody Thomas Scott in the role that she assumed in 1979 is about as likely as Victor ever truly replacing Nikki in his heart: It just ain’t gonna happen. And thank heavens for that. Scott is as closely associated with her beloved character as Eric Braeden’s mustache is to his.
When Darlene Conley passed away in 2007, executive producer Bradley Bell knew that he could no more recast her outré character than kill her off. So ever since, Sally’s been said to be traveling the world with a rotation of young hotties. “Darlene was a bigger-than-life character,” Bell told People’s Bold & Beautiful special, “so she had to live forever.”
Remember back in the 1980s, when General Hospital lost Laura’s portrayer so Janine Turner was introduced as a new Laura, Jackie’s sister? Luke didn’t fall for the stand-in any more than viewers did, and if ya think that went badly, just imagine how the audience would react if someone other than Francis ever tried to play the real Laura.
Twin sister Samantha and lookalike Hattie might at times have tried to make us believe that Marlena isn’t so special, but we know better. So if Deidre Hall chooses to take her leave from Salem, the NBC soap is going to have to do what it’s done when she’s exited before: kill her character off or ship her out.
Should the day come that Eric Braeden decides to retire, the Mustache will have to be shaved, so to speak. The audience simply would never accept anyone except the Daytime Emmy winner in the role that he made his own in 1980 — and has been making iconic ever since.
If ever there had been any doubt that no one but the late Jeanne Cooper could truly embody the Duchess — and honestly, there wasn’t — Michael Learned’s temp run in the role erased it. As fine an actress as the star of The Waltons is, even she couldn’t outshine Kay’s baubles the way Cooper had.
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