New Face, Same Character: Soap Recasts: Love ‘Em or Hate ‘Em?

Recasts happen. Every soap opera has done it.

Sometimes they work out great, like Nikki on The Young and the Restless (yes, Melody Thomas Scott is a recast), Laura on General Hospital (yes, Genie Francis is a recast), Hope on Days of Our Lives (yes, Kristian Alfonso is a recast), and the jury is still split on The Bold and the Beautiful’s Thorsten Kaye (Ridge), but it’s looking tolerable.

Sometimes, however, they’re a disaster. Y&R never quite got Ashley right when she wasn’t being played by Eileen Davidson, and some GH fans never accepted any Lucky but Jonathan Jackson.

So how do fans really feel about their favorites swapping faces? Here’s what over 6,000 had to say.

Quality Control
There’s no one answer, it really depends, hedge 59% of you.

Peter Bergman made an amazing Jack on Y&R, but that thing that DAYS did, where they recast Roman with Josh Taylor, who’d once played Chris on the same show — while the original Roman, Wayne Northrup, was there — you’re still having a hard time wrapping your brains around it.

Retire That Number!
No, no, no, 23% of the audience stamped their feet like a tantruming toddler. People don’t morph into someone else in real life, and they shouldn’t in “reel” life, either. No matter how good the actor is, it’s still jarring. If an actor is leaving or getting fired, so should the character.

The Show Must Go On
Actors coming and going shouldn’t derail a story, point out a more reasonable 17%. Fans deserve a payoff, and if it needs to be played by a different face, that’s not optimal, but it beats being left hanging.

How many actors have played Hamlet, or MacBeth, or Romeo and Juliet? If it’s good enough for ol’ Bill Shakespeare, it should be good enough for the soaps!