Movie Villains Who Had To Be Recast

Everyone loves a good movie villain. Just look at characters like the best movie villains of the 1970s or the most iconic movie villains from the '90s. These adversarial figures have endured in pop culture because they're unabashedly wicked and the actors playing them are endlessly compelling to watch. Considering these nefarious foes often get the very best lines or most memorable moments in any given film, it's no wonder actors relish the chance to play such devious characters.

Alas, there have been several instances where these villain roles were recast. In these cases, performers missed out on the chance to reprise or initially play a certain big-screen baddie. No actor sets out to quit a high-profile role or the potentially lucrative payday that comes with such a gig, but no matter how enticing these roles were, larger external circumstances stepped in to ensure these castings never happened or were never repeated.

Some artists were prevented from taking on certain roles because of unforeseen scheduling conflicts. Others had to leave the project because of how the script was evolving or pressure from studio executives. Still others stepped away from certain villain roles due to how demanding the parts were. Whatever led to these snafus, these movie villain recastings offer a fascinating window into alternate paths in cinema history, not to mention the endless allure of portraying a silver screen foe.

"Say, Nicholas Hoult, care to raise a little hell?" With that faux-query from "Mission: Impossible" director Christopher McQuarrie to Nicholas Hoult on Instagram (via Variety), the world suddenly knew who was playing Gabriel, the main villain in "Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning: Part One." Apparently, this casting was made possible by Hoult impressing Tom Cruise with his "Top Gun: Maverick" audition years earlier. Though he lost out on playing Goose's son to Miles Teller, Hoult was now set to join the likes of Henry Cavill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Jon Voight (among others) in the rarified pantheon of actors who portrayed "Mission: Impossible" movie villains. As a cherry on top, Hoult was set to be the bad guy in both "Dead Reckoning" and its follow-up.

Unfortunately the COVID-19 pandemic shut down and delayed "Dead Reckoning" just a few weeks into principal photography, creating scheduling conflicts with other Hoult projects like "The Great" and forcing the actor to drop out. Esai Morales quickly took over the Gabriel role, leading to a radical overhaul of the adversary. McQuarrie divulged in a 2023 podcast interview that Gabriel's usage of the monstrous AI known as the Entity didn't exist until after Hoult left the role. Audiences never got to see Nicholas Hoult as the earlier, strikingly different Gabriel, but Hoult's take on Lex Luthor in James Gunn's "Superman" should satisfy those wanting this actor to "raise a little hell" as a blockbuster baddie.

Al Pacino's extensive filmography dates back to 1969, but one thing he's never done is provide voice work for a major animated movie. That looked to change with 2013's "Despicable Me 2," which initially cast Pacino as Gru's newest foe, El Macho. Just two months before the film's release, however, Pacino left the Illumination project over creative disputes regarding his character. 

That's quite the remarkable outcome given that he'd worked on the film for over a year and his role had already been animated. Still, Pacino's disdain for El Macho's final form led to him departing the production at the very last minute, leaving "Depiscable Me 2" in a tailspin. Benjamin Bratt was called in to re-voice the character just weeks before the film's theatrical debut, with his El Macho voice work eventually garnering solid marks from critics despite him being such a last-minute addition to the proceedings. 

Meanwhile, Pacino has never publicly talked about this character or expanded on what led to him leaving it. However, in recent years, some internet sleuths have tracked down snippets of Pacino's original El Macho voice-over performance, which offer a glimpse into the very heightened vocal affectations Pacino originally brought to El Macho. These found recordings are the only remaining evidence of the only time Pacino got close to finally doing voice-work in his esteemed acting career. 

It's hard to imagine Christoph Waltz and Johnny Knoxville being up for the same role. Can you picture Knoxville playing Nazi officer Hans Landa in "Inglourious Basterds" or Waltz enduring various painful stunts in "Jackass"? Yet these two vastly different performers were connected to a single movie character via the 2013 Blue Sky Studios animated feature "Epic." When the movie's star-studded cast was first announced, Knoxville was onboard to play the villainous blue-skinned Mandrake. This decision fit with the comedian-centric nature of the rest of the cast, with Chris O'Dowd, Aziz Ansari, and Jason Sudeikis filling out other supporting roles in the fantasy film.

However, by the time 2013 rolled around, "Epic" no longer had any room for a man who put his body through so much torture in "Jackass." Instead, Christoph Waltz, who was weeks away from scoring his second Oscar win (this time for "Django Unchained"), became the voice of Mandrake. While no reason was publicly given for the casting change, it's likely a more vocally intimidating actor was needed to provide "Epic" with a formidable villain. Who better to do that than Hans Landa himself? With this drastic recasting, "Epic" didn't just have another acclaimed actor to highlight on its posters, but Christoph Waltz and Johnny Knoxville were also now forever intertwined through at least one character in cinema history.

Sound editor Matthew Wood provided the voice for General Grievous in "Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith," as well as nearly all "Star Wars" media featuring the character since. This decision ensured that Grevious could have a consistent voice across all "Star Wars" properties, since it was much easier to get Wood back for TV shows or video games than, say, Samuel L. Jackson or Ewan McGregor. 

But this big casting coup for a sound industry legend almost never happened, since General Grievous was originally set to be voiced by Gary Oldman. However, a few months before the film's release, Oldman dropped out of the project, paving the way for Wood's casting. Years later, it was revealed that Oldman was replaced as the voice of Grievous because "Revenge of the Sith" was a non-union production shot in Australia. Since Oldman was a member of the Screen Actors Guild, director George Lucas could not obtain a waiver from SAG that would allow Oldman to participate in the film.

This was despite Oldman even recording some lines for the character, though these got replaced by Wood's vocals later on. Even without Oldman lending his acting prowess to this Separatist icon, "Revenge of the Sith" still had plenty of star power in its cast thanks to actors like McGregor, Jackson, and Natalie Portman.

As "The New Mutants" began barrelling towards a July 2017 start date for principal photography, Rosario Dawson was cast as the film's sole prominent adult character, Dr. Cecilia Reyes. Dawson already had extensive experience with live-action Marvel Comics adaptations, playing Claire Temple in various Netflix Marvel shows like "Luke Cage" and "Daredevil." This seemed like a fine fit for this genre veteran, not to mention that Dawson provided an experienced counterpoint to the younger actors assembled to anchor "The New Mutants." 

However, just 11 days before cameras started to roll, Dawson dropped out of "The New Mutants," with Alice Braga instead taking over the role of the nefarious Reyes. No major reason has ever been given for why Dawson eventually parted ways with the project, but it's clear that she dodged an infamous bullet. "The New Mutants" became one of the most heavily delayed superhero films of all time, with the project's initial April 2018 release date vanishing quickly and then getting replaced with a slew of different 2019 and 2020 dates. 

"Mutants" would finally hit theaters on August 28, 2020, just a few months after COVID-19 shut theaters down. Dawson, meanwhile, had extra time to take on roles like Ahsoka Tano in the Disney+ "Star Wars" TV universe. It's hard to imagine Dawson has any regrets about turning down this one superhero villain role.

Quentin Tarantino is notorious for hiring famous people to subvert their iconic star images in his movies. "Django Unchained," for instance, had handsome leading man Leonardo DiCaprio playing a despicable slave owner. Then there was Robert de Niro in "Jackie Brown," with this famously imposing guy playing a schlubby, paranoid gangster who constantly messes up his grand ambitions. 

At one point, Tarantino's "Kill Bill" would have continued this trend by having New Hollywood legend Warren Beatty take on the role of the title villain. Once the handsome sex symbol behind "Shampoo," now Beatty would be the malicious figure that audiences would root for Beatrix "the Bride" Kiddo (Uma Thurman) to kill over the course of two movies. It certainly seemed like a classic piece of Tarantino casting, but it was never meant to be.

In 2002, just before shooting began on the "Kill Bill" saga, Beatty left the project and David Carradine stepped in to play Bill instead. Tarantino claimed at the time that Beatty himself, after realizing he just wasn't fitting into the part, suggested Carradine should take on Bill instead. Years later, Beatty also divulged that the prospect of leaving his kids for so long to embark on the international "Kill Bill" shoot also led him to give up the gig. Everything worked out nicely, with Carradine excelling as Bill while Beatty and Tarantino maintained a fond admiration for one another even after their collaboration on "Kill Bill" fell apart.

As if the late, great Michael K. Williams having a lead role in "The Wire" — one of the most acclaimed TV shows in history — wasn't enough to secure him a legendary reputation, Williams was also very nearly in a "Star Wars" movie. Williams was set to play mobster Dryden Vos in "Solo: A Star Wars Story." This version of the character, which made it into the final film as a scarred human, would have been an alien heavily covered in prosthetics and CGI. 

Unfortunately, as all "Star Wars" geeks know, "Solo" ran into extreme production trouble when original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were fired from the project. While most of the cast members (like Alden Ehrenreich, Donald Glover, and Woody Harrelson) stuck around for new filmmaker Ron Howard, Williams couldn't stay due to his scheduling commitments to "The Red Sea Diving Resort" and "Hap and Leonard." Paul Bettany eventually took on the role of Vos in a reunion with his "A Beautiful Mind" director Howard.

Even after the drama of getting cut, Williams remained extremely positive about his brief experience in a galaxy far, far away, particularly regarding his working relationship with the other actors. Given Williams' experience imbuing memorable traits into any role, we can only imagine how unforgettable his take on the villainous Dryden Vos could have been. His presence certainly couldn't have hurt a more divisive "Star Wars" outing like "Solo."

Non-Irish moviegoers may have spotted David Murray's face occasionally in fleeting roles in projects like "King Arthur" and "Batman Begins," but the actor almost got a major American film role in 2009's "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra." Murray was initially signed to portray Destro, one of the film's big baddies who initially works as Cobra Commander's (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) superior, until fate sentences him to be the Commander's lackey.

Murray was all ready to go for director Stephen Sommers' film, but experienced issues with his visa that prevented him from joining the movie's globe-trotting principal photography. Thus, former "Doctor Who" lead Christopher Eccleston was snagged for the part instead. Now Destro would be played by a familiar "heroic" face rather than a relative unknown getting a chance at the big time.

Unfortunately, securing this role was far from a dream come true for Eccleston. The actor later commented that taking on Destro, along with his villainous role in "Thor: The Dark World," were career low points. Needless to say, he did not reprise this role for "G.I. Joe: Retaliation." As for Murray, he did get to show up in "The Rise of Cobra" after all, briefly appearing in the prologue as Destro's scheming ancestor. Not as glorious as a primary villain role, but at least Murray joined "G.I. Joe" in some capacity.

Who wouldn't want to cast Bob Hoskins in a movie? The "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" leading man was one of the best actors around during his esteemed career. Hoskins always lent immediate lived-in reality to any role he played and executed moral complexities with finesse. Even the video game adaptation that he regretted filming, "Super Mario Bros.," still featured Hoskins giving it his all on screen. Yet despite his track record, Brian De Palma shockingly chose to exclude Hoskins from the cast of "The Untouchables." 

Hoskins was originally set to portray Al Capone in the crime epic since the first choice for Capone, Robert De Niro, was busy with a Broadway play. Eventually, these conflicts got resolved and De Niro was cast in the part. Hoskins famously learned about the casting switcheroo in the newspapers, followed by De Palma sending him a hefty check for $200,000 as an apology for passing on him. Getting a nice payday for doing basically nothing, Hoskins humorously called De Palma to inquire if the director had any other roles lying around that the actor didn't have to play. 

With Hoskins getting passed over, "The Untouchables" delivered another iconic Robert De Niro performance as a gangster. As for Hoskins, he did just fine — and his career was plenty legendary — even without portraying the nefarious Capone in this 1987 box office sensation.

Tony Todd's filmography left an indelible mark on genre cinema that was especially felt in horror movies like "Candyman" and the "Final Destination" saga. However, Todd also had extensive experience providing voice-work in non-horror projects, such as his work as The Fallen in "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" or becoming a go-to voice for Darkseid in various direct-to-video animated DC Comics movies. That resume almost included lending his vocals to Dormammu in the finale of Marvel's "Doctor Strange."

Todd recounted how he did a lengthy recording session for Dormammu, a character that Benedict Cumberbatch had already recorded lines for. However, the "Doctor Strange" producers apparently wanted to keep their options open regarding how Dormammu would sound, recruiting Todd as a back-up option.

Just two weeks before the premiere of "Doctor Strange," Todd was informed that he didn't make the final cut. The film had opted to go with Cumberbatch for Domammu's voice. It was a disappointing development for Todd, but one he took in stride as he shifted focus to his countless other roles. Before passing away in November 2024, Tony Todd finally got to lend his iconic voice to a Marvel baddie by portraying Venom in the video game "Marvel's Spider-Man 2." The acclaim that greeted Todd's voicework on this title suggested that it was ultimately for the best that he made his Marvel villain debut on this PlayStation 5 phenomenon.

Australian actor Hugo Weaving has many different high points in his career, but most viewers are most familiar with his striking portrayal of villains like Agent Smith in "The Matrix" or Megatron in the "Transformers" movies. He got so associated with these roles that Hugo Weaving later proclaimed he was done playing villains. Before that fateful day, however, Weaving portrayed Hydra leader Johann Schmidt/Red Skull in "Captain America: The First Avenger." Though Red Skull ended up getting zapped into space by the Tesseract, it didn't seem out of the question for the character to come back someday. 

While this adversary from the 1940s did return in "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Avengers: Endgame," Weaving was no longer playing the character. As early as 2012, Weaving made it clear he didn't want to reprise this Marvel baddie. Instead, he wanted to focus on more personally fulfilling projects rather than giant blockbusters, so Ross Marquand took on the part.

By 2020, though, Weaving revealed he had actually enjoyed portraying Red Skull enough that he was very much open to playing the character again when Marvel inquired if he'd reprise the role in "Infinity War" and "Endgame." However, disputes over Weaving's pay and his frustrating communications with Marvel brass led to the "Matrix" veteran skipping this gig. With that, the Red Skull mantle was passed to Marquand.