11 Actors Who Refused To Return For Reboots Of Their Iconic Movies And TV Shows (And Why)

1.Dylan O’Brien was offered a chance to reprise his role as Stiles Stilinski in the 2023 film sequel to Teen Wolf: The Movie, but ultimately he turned it down. “It was a difficult decision. A lot went into it,” he told Variety. “The show couldn’t be more dear to me. It was the first thing I ever did, and so many people there are extremely dear to me. It was something I was trying to make work, but it all happened very fast. We didn’t really know that it was happening, and they kind of just threw it at us a little bit, which is fine because we all love the show. We were trying to figure it out.”

He added, “Ultimately, I just decided it was left in a really good place for me, and I still want to leave it there. I wish them well, and I’m going to watch it the first night it comes out. I hope it fucking kicks ass, but I’m not going to be in it.” Teen Wolf costars including Tyler Posey, Holland Roden, Crystal Reed, Colton Haynes , and Tyler Hoechlin all returned for the movie. MTV / © MTV / Courtesy Everett Collection

2.The sitcom iCarly got a revival in 2021, with almost all of the original cast reprising their roles. Jennette McCurdy, who played Sam Puckett in the original series, was noticeably absent and opened up in her memoir about her mental health being the main reason she didn’t return to the series. “Miranda, I’m not doing the reboot. There’s nothing you can say to convince me,” she wrote, recalling a conversation with costar and friend Miranda Cosgrove. “She tells me she thinks the reboot could be an opportunity for all of us in the cast to ‘get back out there,’ maybe get some other opportunities from it.”

Miranda also said that “it’s really good money” to try to convince her, but Jennette felt some things were more important than money: “And my mental health and happiness fall under that category,'” Jennette recalled telling Miranda. “There’s a moment of silence. It’s one of those rare moments where I feel like I didn’t say too much or too little. I feel like I represented myself accurately, and there’s nothing I would change about the way I said it. I feel proud. We wrap up our conversation, promising to keep in touch and hang up.” The series lasted three seasons, with Miranda, Jerry Trainor, and Nathan Kress returning to their original iCarly roles. Nickelodeon

3.In 2016, Full House returned with a Netflix reboot called Fuller House, a continuation of the Tanner family’s story, set up similarly to the original series. Almost all of the main cast returned to act in the series in some capacity except for Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, who played Michelle Tanner. Both were offered the chance to return, but Ashley told executive producer Bob Boyett that she didn’t “feel comfortable acting” after not being on camera since she was 17, while Mary-Kate felt that the timing wasn’t right.

Years later, in an interview with Andy Cohen, Full House costar John Stamos explained that he was heartbroken when he first heard the news but totally understood. “We were disappointed, but we understood,” he explained. “I remember Lori [Loughlin] saying to me, ‘It’s like, they won two or three CFDA [Council of Fashion Designers of America] Awards. That’s like winning two or three Oscars. If you won three Oscars, would you come back and do this?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, maybe not.'” Since their time in Full House , Mary-Kate and Ashley have received massive success with their high-end clothing line, the Row. Warner Bros. / © Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection

4.Criminal Minds was rebooted just two years after its series finale, and nearly the entire cast returned to their roles. Matthew Gray Gubler, who starred in all 15 seasons as Dr. Spencer Reid, was notably absent from the reboot. Matthew wanted to explore other projects at the time, but he has since said he’d love to return to the show, saying, “Hopefully, it will soon work out.”

A.J. Cook, who plays JJ on the series, spoke to BuzzFeed about continuing the series without Matthew. “Matthew is one of the most charismatic, larger-than-life, yet very real people I’ve ever met. It was actually really, really difficult for me when I found out he wasn’t gonna be able to come back,” she said. “I considered not [returning]. I was like, ‘I don’t know how to do this without him. Like, how do we do this?’ [Our characters are] best friends. I kind of struggled with that at first. But when we started seeing the scripts, it’s just such a strong storyline that it made me feel a lot better when I saw where it was all going. But yeah, he’s so great, and definitely miss him. Hopefully we will see him again soon. We’re definitely setting some things up. … We all want him there. Hopefully that will all come together, because he’s so much fun to be around. He’s just that guy that you want to be around. Good energy.” CBS / © CBS / Courtesy Everett Collection

5.Mean Girls had a mini reboot, with several of the movie’s main cast playing their roles in a Black Friday commercial for Walmart. However, Rachel McAdams, who played Regina George, was not involved. When asked why she didn’t do the commercial, she said, “I don’t know; I guess I wasn’t that excited about doing a commercial, if I’m being totally honest. A movie sounded awesome, but I’ve never done commercials, and it just didn’t feel like my bag. Also…I didn’t know that everyone was doing it. I would, of course, always love to be part of a Mean Girls reunion and hang with my Plastics, but yeah, I found that out later.”

Lindsay Lohan, Lacey Chabert, Amanda Seyfried, Daniel Franzese, and Rajiv Surendra all returned to their roles. Paramount / © Paramount / Courtesy Everett Collection

6.In 2019, Hellboy was rebooted with David Harbour starring in the title role. When Ron Perlman, who played the role in Guillermo del Toro’s original movie and sequel, was asked about returning to the franchise again, he said he was open only if Guillermo was on board. “It was none of my business,” he said of the 2019 film. “It would only provoke me into whatever things I didn’t need to add to my list of grievances. … If Guillermo were to wake up one day and say, ‘You know what, Ron? We need to finish the trilogy,’ which is an idea that is near and dear to me, I’d be there in a heartbeat. But without him, I have no interest in donning the makeup again. And you know, I just turned 70. So I would actually go down in history as being the oldest superhero!”

Universal / © Universal / Courtesy Everett Collection

7.In 2019, The Hills got rebooted as a series called The Hills: New Beginnings, with several of the original cast returning for the show. Lauren Conrad notably didn’t return for the show. When asked if she’d seen any episodes, she said, “I honestly haven’t seen it. I think it’s great. I’m glad they were able to do it again. I actually don’t watch any reality television. It’s a little triggering for me!”

MTV

8.When Heroes got rebooted with Heroes Reborn, Zachary Quinto was adamant about not returning to the series. In an interview with BuzzFeed, he said, “No, I’m not going to go back. It was such a meaningful experience for me … I just felt like I didn’t want to go back to it. … It’s a great thing to be a part of. I just felt like I need to cultivate other outlets for myself.”

Heroes Reborn ended up lasting only one season. NBC / © NBC / Courtesy Everett Collection

9.When Gilmore Girls got its revival, A Year in the Life, almost the entire cast returned to their roles. Notably missing was Chad Michael Murray, whose character, Tristan, was recast. When asked why he didn’t return, he explained, “I heard [it was happening], and I wasn’t available at the time. I’m pretty positive I was having a baby — my first child. It just did not work into what we were doing at that moment, so I know that somebody went out and was Tristan, but it wasn’t me.”

Anton Narinskiy was recast in the role. The WB

10.Frasier was recently rebooted with Kelsey Grammer returning to his iconic role. However, when David Hyde Pierce received an offer to return to the series as Niles, he rejected it. “I never really wanted to go back,” he admitted. “It’s not like I said, ‘Oh, I don’t ever want to do that again.’ I loved every moment. It was that I wanted to do other things.”

He explained that he had so many other projects lined up that he wanted to do but wouldn’t be able to if he signed on to the reboot. “And I just thought, I don’t want to be committed to a show and not be able to do stuff like this ,” he said. “And I also thought, They don’t actually need me . Frasier has moved on to a new world. They have new characters. And I think I’m right. It’s doing great. And the new people they have are great.” Gale M. Adler / © NBC / Courtesy Everett Collection

11.Finally, Ghostbusters was rebooted in 2016 and revived again in 2021 with Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, and Annie Potts all reprised their original roles and even returned for the 2024 sequel Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. However, Rick Moranis has yet to return to the franchise. When asked why he didn’t make a cameo in the 2016 reboot, he simply said, “It just makes no sense to me. Why would I do just one day of shooting on something I did 30 years ago?”

Columbia Pictures / © Columbia Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection

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