A new Hope: Assessing the standard practice of using different actors for recurring soap opera characters

Soap opera fans become attached to the show, the characters and inevitably – the actors. It takes a very strong actor to take over a role of a beloved character, keep the integrity of that character, respect the previous actor, yet still make the role his own. Fans can be fickle and unforgiving.

There are two types of soap character recasts: the kind that replace a long-loved character because the show simply doesn’t want to get rid of this character, and the replacement of a more minor character to get the storyline over with. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Particularly quirky characters are hard to replace. Lackluster characters can come and go without viewers even noticing.

When Matthew Ashford left the character of Jack Deveraux on Days of our Lives the producers gave the viewers some time without the character at all. Enter a entourage of ‘non-Jack’ replacements and in the end we wouldn’t settle for anything less then the real thing – who actually happened to be a recast himself! In this case the best recast turned out to be irreplaceable!

General Hospital has it’s core characters that aren’t good candidates for replacement. There could never be another Audrey Hardy since she started in the 2nd season of the show back in the 1960s. While Ned Quartermaine has gone through a few changes, Alan and Monica Quartermaine could never undergo such a drastic overhaul.

A lot of times a replacement is inevitable. An actor may want to leave but the character has such a stronghold on the show that the producers have no choice but to recast. The best recasts often happen when there is time between the original actor’s exit and the new actor’s entrance. Viewers have had time to digest the show without this character so a new face with the same name isn’t as upsetting as seeing your favorite actor one day and a brand new one the next.

In the end viewers are usually just happy to have that character continue on the show. Sometimes the new actor takes the character to places the first actor couldn’t have and fans adapt to it. Occasionally the recast is so bad they have to remove them from the show for a while and regroup with a new actor months later. And the best is when the original actor decides to come back to us.