When Reality Interrupts Fantasy

A wonderfully interesting aspect of entertainment is when creators of a TV show or movie have to change the rules of their created world because something in the real real world forces them to. The best example of this is when an actor dies or leaves a show before it's finished. There are a number of ways to fix this, some more imaginative than others.

1. Pretend like nothing happened. "Maybe if we don't say anything, fans won't notice that's Michael Gambon and not Richard Harris."

2. The acid/burn/whatever technique, as in Bolt: "I'm afraid your injuries were more severe than we had previously thought, my dear. We had to completely reconstruct your face."

3. Kill them off. Mr. Eko was supposed to enjoy four seasons on Lost, but decided to discontinue after little more than one. If his death on the show seemed a little sudden and unwarranted, that's probably because it was.

4. Cut them out of the story. Suddenly, you spin off into the lives of different characters. Are the other ones still alive? Maybe, but you're not worried about them right now. They're busy with other, less screen-worthy stuff.

Whatever the method, you can be sure the audience will adapt. If the switch is made well enough, they'll take it in stride. Even if they don't like that you switched, their desire for the preservation of the franchise is usually enough to handle the change. No one seems to have many problems with, say...

 

Or...

At any rate, the change from one actor to the next is a wonderfully interesting subject, and it doesn't have to be a negative occurrence at all. In some cases, it even enters into the rules of the show's reality and is expected to happen, as in Doctor Who. The Doctor routinely changes his appearance every so often, with the show currently featuring the 11th incarnation of its star. So normal is it, that fans refer to each Doctor by his number: "Ten is my favorite, but Eleven is starting to grow on me," etc. This is my favorite answer to the actor switch-up question, the most imaginative, and the best integrated into a show's storyline.