Over the years, several actors landed a role on a major TV show — only to be recast or cut entirely before it aired.
From Daenerys Targaryen on Game of Thrones to Sookie St. James on Gilmore Girls, certain TV characters have become so iconic that it’s almost impossible to imagine they were initially played by other actors. In the original Game of Thronespilot (which was later scrapped), Tamzin Merchant played the Mother of Dragons; meanwhile, in the unaired Gilmore Girlspilot, Alex Borstein took on the role of Sookie, which was ultimately played by Melissa McCarthy.
In other cases, stars including Morris Chestnut and Jason MacDonald shot scenes for major TV shows but were removed from the final edit altogether.
Here are eight stars who were cut from major TV shows before they could make it to air.
Morris Chestnut on A Different World
At the beginning of his acting career in the early 1990s, Chestnut landed a role on the sitcom A Different World.
While on the R&B Moneypodcast, the actor shared that the part involved serving food behind a counter and greeting students when they approached him. “So I did that in the audition. I smiled and said hi, and so that was it,” Chestnut said.
Chestnut said he got paid a pretty penny for the role, earning a paycheck of $1,500 per week. However, the scene was later cut from the episode.
Alex Borstein on Gilmore Girls
In the unaired original Gilmore Girls pilot, Borstein took on the role of Sookie St. James before Melissa McCarthy was recast in the part.
According to Vulture, Borstein had to drop out of the project because MadTV wouldn’t let her break her contract.
Luckily, Borstein found her way back to the series as she took on the roles of Miss Celine, Emily Gilmore’s stylist, and Drella, a harpist at the Inn.
Jason MacDonald on Sex and the City
MacDonald has appeared on shows from The Vampire Diaries to Sweet Magnolias, but his part on Sex and the Citywill never see the light of day.
In March, the actor discussed his flirty storyline with Kristin Davis‘ Charlotte York while on Davis’ podcast Are You a Charlotte?. MacDonald said he was cast as a man named Emerson, who appeared on season 2, episode 13, titled “Games People Play.”
MacDonald said their scenes took place at an Upper East Side bridge party, where Emerson and Charlotte were paired as partners for the game. “Then someone accused us of cheating, and then we went around the corner, and you put me up against the bookshelf and kissed me,” MacDonald told Davis.
The situation then ended with the party host walking in on Charlotte and Emerson and requesting they leave the event
Nathan Wetherington on Gilmore Girls
Before Jared Padalecki‘s Dean Forester had a meet-cute moment with Alexis Bledel as Rory Gilmore, Nathan Wetherington played the cute boy in a leather jacket on the show’s unaired pilot.
“Gilmore Girls was my first experience on set, ever, professionally,” Wetherington told Entertainment Weekly in March 2018. “We shot that scene, like, 45 times so they could get the books to fall the right way. It took all day.”
However, after Gilmore Girls was picked up, Wetherington received a letter telling him the part of Dean was being recast, he told the outlet.
Tamzin Merchant on Game of Thrones
Although Emilia Clarke took the reins as the Mother of Dragons on HBO’s Game of Thrones, the legendary character was initially played by Merchant in the original pilot.
When that pilot was scrapped and reshot, Clarke took over as Daenerys Targaryen. Despite the switch-up, Merchant called shooting the pilot “a really great lesson,” in a January 2021 interview with Entertainment Weekly, revealing she actually backed out of the role at first.
“It was a lesson that if my guts are telling me a story isn’t something I’m excited to tell, then I shouldn’t try to be excited just because other people are telling me that I should be excited,” Merchant told the outlet.
Amanda Walsh on The Big Bang Theory
The creative minds behind The Big Bang Theory recast the female lead several times. Jodi Lyn O’Keefefirst landed the role of Katie, the original name of the character. She was ultimately replaced after the table read by Amanda Walsh, who filmed the unaired pilot.
However, the show’s creators said test audiences found Katie to be too harsh, so they reworked the script to create the bubbly Penny, the team told Entertainment Weekly in September 2022.
“[Walsh] was terrific in the role, but the role was misconceived,” co-creator Chuck Lorre told Entertainment Weekly.“It was our responsibility.”
Kaley Cuoco eventually stepped into the part.
John Posey on Full House
John Posey filmed the originalFull Housepilotas the sweet Tanner family patriarch, Danny Tanner, before the late Bob Saget took on the role of the beloved character.
According to Posey, ABC’s first choice for the role was Saget, but he was initially unavailable to film the pilot due to a shooting conflict.
However, once Saget’s schedule freed up, creator Jeff Franklin fought “so hard” to reshoot the entire pilot, Jodie Sweetin told Taboo’s Comics & Kicksin June 2026.
Posey was notified his role was being recast after receiving a message on his pager. “It seemed like everything was fine. We shot it. I learned as much as I could in a short period of time,” he told Yahoo! in 2014. “And next thing I know… ‘Hey, you’re no longer employed.’ “
Maura Tierney on Parenthood
Maura Tierney was originally cast as Sarah Braverman on Parenthood before Lauren Graham took over as the older sister on the NBC drama.
Tierney withdrew from the series after she underwent surgery for the removal of a breast tumor in 2009. A spokesperson for the ER alum toldThe Hollywood Reporter at the time that Tierney was “deeply disappointed” to no longer be participating in the show.
“Ms. Tierney and her doctors remain confident that the outcome of her treatments will be positive,” the spokesperson added.
Tierney was later declared cancer-free. “I think I always kind of lived in the moment. I don’t think [cancer] changed me that way,” she told PEOPLE in July 2012. “But I spend a lot more time with my family now – that’s one solid difference.”
Read the original article on People
