Soap Opera Recasts Can Be Shocking — and Thrilling!

Taking over a popular soap opera role can be hard on an actor.

Because you’re in someone’s home on their TV five days a week, the relationship between a viewer and their show’s characters can be very intense.

You become attached to one actor’s interpretation of the character and it’s hard to see someone else in the role. Here are some of our favorite success stories.

The Young and the Restless
This show has a great track record (most of the time) of holding onto its actors but sometimes a change has to happen.

It’s hard to believe, but Jack (Peter Bergman) and Jill (Jess Walton) aren’t the original actors but now they’re the only ones you can imagine in the roles. Recently, Justin Hartley had an uphill battle taking over the role of Adam, but he was incredibly successful, and his loss is still felt by fans to this day.

Days of Our Lives
While Peter Reckell was Bo Brady for most of the audience, there was a segment who loved Robert Kelker Kelly’s version of the character.

It’s hard to remember that Kayla was hugely popular when played by Catherine Mary Stewart from 1982-1983, but soap vet Mary Beth Evans stepped into the role seamlessly and really caught fire once the character was paired with Stephen Nichol’s Steve Johnson.

While everyone thinks of Matt Ashford now as Jack Devereaux, Mark Valley played him in between Ashford’s stints and was a huge success too.

General Hospital
Who would have believed that fans could accept anyone else in the role of Jason, but Billy Miller has won over fans with his nuanced interpretation.

While not nearly as difficult a task since Julian wasn’t exactly a beloved character, but William deVry has certainly made an imprint. Kirsten Storms replaced a very popular actress when she took over Maxie but there isn’t…continue reading on the next page —>

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While not nearly as difficult a task since Julian wasn’t exactly a beloved character, but William deVry has certainly made an imprint. Kirsten Storms replaced a very popular actress when she took over Maxie but there isn’t anyone who would argue that she is their Maxie.

The role of Carly had success with two out of three recasts and now Laura Wright completely owns the role.

The Bold and the Beautiful
The strength of this show is that it tends to keep actors for long periods of time. Eric and Brooke have had the original actors since Day One of the show.

One very successful recast though is Heather Tom, who replaced after many, many years Nancy Sloan who originated the role of Katie. The character of Thorne, originated by Clayton Norcross, has been successfully recast twice – with Jeff Trachta, whose Thorne sang often with true love Macy, and then again with Windsor Harmon.

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