30 Easter Eggs Hidden in Your Favorite Horror Films

26 Bits of TV Trivia We Didn’t Find Out Had Identical Twins Until a Few Seasons in When the Writers Ran Out of Ideas

CBS Cancels Stephen Colbert and ‘The Late Night’ Franchise, Citing ‘Financial Reasons’

40 Random Bits of Pop-Culture Trivia That Sprang Haphazardly Out of Our Crime-Inspecting Uncle’s Head

Stephen Colbert Holds Off on Criticizing Paramount, President Trump in Gracious ‘Late Show’ Cancellation Response

36 Actors Who Were Swapped Out When You Weren’t Looking

Et tu, Captain Planet?

36 Actors Who Were Swapped Out When You Weren’t Looking

January 19, 2024

Rachel Dawes, the entire cast of Captain Planet, even the M&Ms! Nothing is what it seems. Hollywood cannot be trusted.

Click right here to get the best of Cracked sent to your inbox.

36

Bruce Banner

THE AVENGERS Bruce Banner CRACKED.COM EDWARD NORTON MARK RUFFALO Norton hated the character and refused to promote the movie at all, thinking it was a sinking ship. Enter Ruffalo, who came on board just in time to ride the MCU rocketship into the stratosphere.

35

Viva Rock Vegas

VIVA ROCK VEGAS Fred and Barney CRACKED.COM JOHN GOODMAN/RICK MORANIS MARK ADDY/STEPHEN BALDWIN This wasn't even a modern reboot; they tried to replace Goodman and Moranis with a guy who played second fiddle to Mr. Bean and a bargain Baldwin a mere 6 years after the first movie. — Source

34

Return of the Jedi

RETURN OF THE JEDI The Emperor CRACKED.COM IAN MCDIARMID MARJORIE EATON/CLIVE REVILL Before McDiarmid took over the role, the original Emporer consisted of Revill's voice, Eaton's face, and a pair of chimpanzee eyes. — Source

33

BACK TO THE FUTURE Marty McFly CRACKED.COM ERIC STOLTZ MICHAEL J. FOX Even though his 4 weeks as McFly were reshot (at a cost of $3 million), Stoltz still made it into the film as the fist that punches Biff. The actors apparently had real beef, so there was some extra oomph in this particular take. — Source

32

HANNIBAL Clarice Starling CRACKED.COM JODIE FOSTER JULIANNE MOORE Foster declined to reprise the role because the sequel was too f*ed up for her liking. Seeing Moore opposite Anthony Hopkins just wasn't the same. — Source

31

THE DARK KNIGHT Rachel Dawes CRACKED.COM KATIE HOLMES MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL Both actresses were given a pretty flat damsel-in-distress to play, but Gyllenhaal managed to give her enough depth that we cared what happened to her. — Source

30

FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM Percival Graves CRACKED.COM COLIN FARRELL JOHNNY DEPP Yeah, fine, Depp is technically Grindelwald, but the idea that Johnny Depp has been lurking inside of Colin Farrell this whole time is a... deeply discomforting notion. — Source

29

The M&M’s

The M&M's CRACKED.COM JOHN LOVITZ/JOHN GOODMAN BILLY WEST/J.K. SIMMONS Red and Yellow may be low-key the most bonkers voice acting dynasty of all time. Kevin Bacon almost took one of the roles, but had to turn it down because his wife, ironically, has a phobia of talking food. — Source

28

THE FOSTERS Jesus CRACKED.COM JAKE T AUSTIN NOAH CENTINEO Austin ducked out after season 2, and Centineo stepped in partway through season 3. The formula remained the same: hairless dude - shirt + eyebrows = Jesus. — Source

27

HARRY POTTER Lavender Brown CRACKED COM KATHLEEN CAULEY/JENNIFER SMITH JESSIE CAVE The role was played by Cauley and Smith - two black actors - right up until she became Ron's love interest, when she suddenly became a white girl. It's magic! — Source

26

30 ROCK Angie CRACKED.COM SHARON WILKINS SHERRI SHEPHERD Wilkins made a brief appearance as Tracy Jordan's wife for one episode, before Shepherd was brought in to create the combastic character we know and love. — Source

25

GAME OF THRONES Daario Naharis CRACKED.COM ED SKREIN MICHIEL HUISMAN Skrein left after season 3 to be in The Transporter: Refueled. Sure, the character's whole thing is that he changes appearance, but like, come on... In retrospect, this was one of our first red flags. — Source

24

HARRY POTTER Dumbledore CRACKED COM RICHARD HARRIS MICHAEL GAMBON Harris was the original Dumbledore, but he passed away in 2002 after only 2 movies in the role. Gambon picked it up starting with Prisoner of Azkaban through the end of the series. — Source

23

CAPTAIN PLANET AND THE PLANETEERS The entire cast CRACKED COM The original cast included Whoopi Goldberg, Jeff Goldblum, Martin Sheen, and Sting. Sure, they later scooped up LeVar Burton, among other heavy hitters, but you can't beat that 'berg-'blum duo. — Source

22

The O.C.

THE О.С. Kaitlin Cooper CRACKED.COM SHAILENE WOODLEY WILLA HOLLAND Woodley played the role as a recurring character for the first 2 seasons. When they wanted to give the character a bigger role, they also decided to make her a bit older-something they thought Woodley couldn't pull off. — Source

21

THE MUNSTERS Cousin Marilyn BEVERLEY OWEN PAT PREST as MARILYN زة MARJEYN CRACKED.COM BEVERLEY OWEN PAT PRIEST Owen left the show so she could move back to New York and marry her Sesame Street writer boyfriend. In fact, she only took the role in the first place because she assumed the show would fail. — Source

20

ROSEANNE Becky CRACKED.COM LECY GORANSON SARAH CHALKE The two actresses leapfrogged each other for a while, even swapping out from episode to episode in the 8th season. — Source

19

The Return of Jafar

THE RETURN OF JAFAR Genie CRACKED.COM ROBIN WILLIAMS DAN CASTELLANETA Williams refused to reprise the role, after Disney broke the conditions of a very generous contract negotiation. So we got the voice of Homer Simpson instead. — Source

33 Retro Bits of Classic TV That Will Only Come in If You Turn Your Antenna A Little to the West

30 Toys, Gadgets and Hobbies That Aren’t for the Faint of Heart

26 Bits of TV Trivia That Got Caught in Our Tractor Beam When We Were Trying to Abduct a Cow

33 Wildly Hilarious Times People’s Wires Got Crossed

32 Random Bits of Pop-Culture Trivia Told to Us Repeatedly by a Well-Meaning but Chronically Interrupting Paperclip

31 Surprisingly Wholesome Moments from History

18

BOY MEETS WORLD Morgan CRACKED.COM LILY NICKSAY LINDSAY RIDGEWAY Nicksay left after season 2, on good terms. One of Ridgeway's first lines credited the change in appearance to an extremely long time-out.

17

THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL-AIR Aunt Vivian GRACKED.COM JANET HUBERT-WHITTEN DAPHNE MAXWELL REID Hubert-Whitten left because she had major beef with producers, and once said I will never do anything with an asshole like Will Smith. — Source

16

Family Guy

FAMILY GUY Meg CRACKED.COM LACEY CHABERT MILA KUNIS Chabert voiced Meg for the first season, before leaving to focus on Party of Five. — Source

15

MAD MEN Bobby Draper Х CRACKED.COM MAXWELL HUCKABEE MASON VALE COTTON Four different kids played Bobby, and each was given a different nickname, like Slurpee Bobby and Bucket Head Bobby. — Source

14

THAT 70'S SHOW Laurie GRAGKED.COM LISA ROBIN KELLY CHRISTINA MOORE Kelly lost the role due to a drinking problem, and Moore only appeared for one season before Laurie was shipped off to beauty school. — Source

13

RIVERDALE Reggie CRACKED.COM ROSS BUTLER CHARLES MELTON When Melton took over the role, he was told not to even watch Butler's performance, and to make the character his own. — Source

12

BEWITCHED Darrin CRACKED COM DICK YORK DICK SARGENT Sargent took over when York needed to recover from some debilitating back pain. Fans were not into it. — Source

11

MODERN FAMILY Lily CRACKED.COM JADEN AND ELLA HILLER AUBREY ANDERSON-EMMONS The twins hated playing Lily, and were replaced by Anderseon-Emmons starting in season 3. — Source

10

BACK TO THE FUTURE Jennifer GRACKED COM CLAUDIA WELLS ELISABETH SHUE Wells skipped the sequels to care for her dying mother. The opening scene of Part II was painstakingly reshot with Shue. — Source

9

The Aflac Duck CRACKED.COM GILBERT GOTTFRIED DANIEL MCKEAGUE Gottfried was replaced in 2011 after some bad tweets about the Japanese tsunami. McKeague won a nationwide contest to be the new voice. — Source

8

Toucan Sam CRACKED.COM MEL BLANC MAURICE LAMARCHE Blanc (Looney Tunes) played Sam as an American speaking pig latin. Paul Frees (Disney) later gave him his English accent, which LaMarche (Futurama) kept when he took over. — Source

7

Morty Seinfeld

SEINFELD Jerry's Dad CRACKED.COM PHIL BRUNS BARNEY MARTIN Bruns played Morty in season 1, but was passed over for the crankier Martin. — Source

6

The Night King

GAME OF THRONES The Night King CRACKED.COM RICHARD BRAKE VLADIMIR FURDIK Casually replacing the show's Big Bad in season 6 should have been a big red flag for GoT fans. Perhaps this actor will round out the character in a satisfying way! Oh, my sweet summer child... — Source

5

HOME ALONE 4 Kevin McCallister BUT DONT WORRY... Disney CRACKED.COM HE COOKS Hr CLEANS MACAULAY CULKIN MIKE WEINBERG They actually brought back ALL of the characters, and NONE of the actors, but Kevin is the most egregious. — Source

4

SCOOBY DOO Shaggy CRACKED.COM CASEY KASEM WILL FORTE The tragedy here is that Matthew Lillard wasn't even given a chance to play Shaggy in Scoob!, despite having almost 150 appearances under his belt! — Source

3

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET Freddy Krueger CRACKED.COM ROBERT ENGLUND JACKIE EARLE HALEY The 2010 remake misused Haley, giving us a less playful, more serious, and altogether less scary Freddy. — Source

2

THE OFFICE Pam's Mom CRACKED.COM SHANNON COCHRAN LINDA PURL Cochran was the first Helene Beesly, but by the time Michael hooks up with her, she's played by Purl (and has apparently dyed her hair?) — Source

1

Mae Whitman

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT Her? CRACKED.COM ALESSANDRA TORRESANI MAE WHITMAN The original plan was to keep replacing Ann Veal every season, but Whitman proved perfectly forgettable. — Source

Tags:

Visual

Scroll down for the next article

Must Read

Movies & TV

This Is What Made Larry David Cry During His Unreleased Documentary

Movies & TV

Adam Sandler Was Hugely Relieved When His Daughters Didn’t Suck at Acting

Movies & TV

Bob Barker Had to Be Convinced to Say the B-Word in ‘Happy Gilmore’

Movies & TV

‘Rick and Morty’ Promo Teases the Return of An Estranged Season One Side Character

Movies & TV

38 ‘SNL’ Characters Who Carried the Show (And Hosts Who Almost Ruined It)

Trivia & Jokes

35 of the Funniest Tweets from Thursday, July 17, 2025

VIRAL ON CRACKED

1

30 Wild Secrets People Have Been Keeping for Very A Long Time

2

What Makes a Great Homer Episode? ‘Simpsons’ Showrunner Matt Selman Talks About the New Homer-Centric Disney+ Stream

3

Don McLean Says Weird Al’s Cover of ‘American Pie’ Is ‘Better Than the Original’

4

12 Farm-Fresh Trivia Tidbits for Friday, May 2, 2025

5

15 Hollywood Nepotism Babies

I agree to the Terms of Service

Add me to the weekly newsletter

Add me to the daily newsletter

I am AWESOME