Five actors who should never have reprised their most iconic roles
There are some films that, while great, are better off left alone, with the business of making sequels becoming a multi-million dollar venture as producers squeeze every last drop out of a once beloved story. It seems as though people are far too afraid of creating original ideas, with IP now being milked for everything it’s worth, even at the risk of destroying something that used to be great.
It could be the endless number of seasons released for Stranger Things, which has now completely killed the charm of the first season and the lovable rogues who saved Hawkins from despair. Or it could be the endless live-action remakes that kill the heart of previously animated stories.
While some of them work out okay, there are others that are so bad that they make us lose respect for the actors who agreed to reprise their once-great roles, tainting a character through creative decisions that make no sense and ruining everything we used to love.
Some are truly appalling, and others are just slightly disappointing, but here are five actors who never should have reprised their most iconic roles.
Five actors who should have never reprised roles:
Aliens (James Cameron, 1986)
While Aliens might be a perfectly fine film, and a sequel that is generally loved by most people who watch it, it still sticks out like a sore thumb compared to the masterful subtlety and suspense of the first film. Where Alien was slow-burning and tactful about how it portrayed the monsters, with few appearances that only add to the omnipotent sense of threat, Aliens feels like a mainstream action-horror that leans into every old trick in the book.
It might be an entertaining watch, but it feels so contradictory to the first film that perhaps Sigourney Weaver should have left it alone. The fact that even Ridley Scott himself didn’t want to direct this sequel just goes to show how much it deviates from the tone of the first film, with Weaver’s character arc being particularly strange after she is forced to get in touch with her ‘maternal side’ and is the only one looking after the child. It feels unfaithful to the original film, given that she was groundbreaking for not falling into these feminine cliches, with most female characters being subjected to these stereotypes in the action genre. It might be a good enough film, but it feels wrong compared to what Scott achieved in the first film, and I can’t help but feel that Weaver should never have starred in it.
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (Ol Parker, 2018)
Mamma Mia! is one of those unique masterpieces that can elevate any mood and capture the attention of any audience member, regardless of whether you’re an ABBA fan or not. Sophie’s mad conundrum over which of her dads should give her away at her wedding is ridiculously entertaining, with infectious tunes that fill every fibre of your being as they shimmy around in the sun. We all have the same fantasy of living on a Greek island while dancing around to show tunes, and it’s a story that was better off left alone and sadly ruined by the abysmal sequel.
Thankfully, Meryl Streep knew better than to star in a sequel and ruin too much of a good thing, but the likes of Amanda Seyfried and the other original cast were not aware of this unspoken rule, starring a steaming pile of trash that makes absolutely no sense. The first film is shot on location in Greece, while the sequel mostly takes place in front of shocking green screens and shatters the tropical illusion. Mamma mia, we should not have gone again.
Paddington in Peru (Dougal Wilson, 2024)
The first two Paddington movies were widely proclaimed as being cinematic masterpieces, with the plight of the beloved British bear becoming a symbol of our culture and a calling card to enjoy the simpler pleasures in life. The announcement that Paddington would be returning for a third and final film shook fans all over the world, despite ending up being a disappointing end to a once-great series.
The only person smart enough to avoid the trap of a shocking sequel was Sally Hawkins, with the actor steering clear of the calamity that was Paddington in Peru. However, everyone else in the cast has no excuse for starring in such a blatant cash grab, with Ben Whishaw’s titular character ending on a flat note after being reunited with his family in the most bizarre of ways after a strange Indiana Jones-esque scramble through the jungle after the discovery that Paddington is in possession of a valuable relic that he’s apparently had since the very beginning. It was astoundingly lazy writing, and not something that should ever have been made.
And Just Like That (2021, Michael Patrick King)
Carrie Bradshaw might be one of the most iconic television characters of the 2000s, but her arc should have ended with the final season of Sex and the City in 2004. From her shopping addiction to on-and-off relationship with Mr Big, everyone immediately fell for Carrie’s relatable messiness and refreshing approach to thirty-something life, with the show defining a generation of television through its revelatory portrayal of women and their sex lives.
However, the recent reboot is a completely baffling mess, with storylines that don’t feel authentic to any of the characters that we know and love, leading us to re-examine the original show through the skewed lens of their current lives. While Kim Cattrall was smart enough to stay away from it, the others were not, with Sarah Jessica Parker’s push to revitalise the show remaining a clear mistake as audiences puzzle over the many strange character choices being made that ruin the magic of Carrie Bradshaw’s definitive ending in the original show.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (John Tiffany, 2025)
Nothing screams desperate and jobless as much as Tom Felton’s involvement in the upcoming Harry Potter and the Cursed Child production, with the HBO adaptation of the series causing backlash after JK Rowling’s disgusting anti-trans ideology and involvement in one of the most hateful campaigns of all time. The entire cast of the reboot have been rightfully criticised for their participation in a project that will only further fund Rowling’s hate campaign, drawing more attention to her bigotry and causing more harm to an extremely marginalised and at-risk community.
Nobody from the play but Tom Felton was in the original cast, which feels embarrassing and pathetic, given that everybody else has moved on and achieved something else with their lives. But Felton clearly has no other opportunities coming his way, and so he decided to align himself with one of the most awful people on the planet to revitalise his fading fame and line his pockets.
