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The Other Darrin

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bewitched_darrin_7688.jpg
York's on the left and Sargent's on the right. Which Dick do you prefer?

"Dick Sargent — didn't he play Dick York on Bewitched?"
— Crow, Mystery Science Theater 3000, "Parts: The Clonus Horror"

This is when a new actor is brought on to play the same character as a previous actor who has left the series, with no explanation for the switch given to the audience. Named for the famous Darrin swap case: Dick York to Dick Sargent, on Bewitched.

This became a notable phenomenon only with the rise of series television. Prior to TV, there was no expectation that a role in a theater production would be played by the same actor. It was, and still is, assumed that any production of a particular work would seek out whatever actors it wanted for the roles, and a single production can feature different actors in the same role on successive nights.

However, TV broadcasting made a bond between a role and a particular actor. Television audiences, unlike theater audiences, found it more difficult to suspend their disbelief in this respect. This was likely because reruns existed which would forever tie the appearance of a character to the actor that played them. While a play or even a series of plays could have the characters played by different actors, television could not because the original would still be around in the old episodes.

In daytime soaps, there are several standardized ways this is done:
  1. the new actor takes over with no announcement. In this variety, the actor is playing a character who has not recently been on the show. The audience is initially unaware that this person is the character we know, as his/her first interactions are always with characters who have joined the show since he left. Then someone he/she knew addresses him by name, and we are surprised. Though rarely seen outside daytime, this was done on CSI in the episode "Hollywood Brass", in which Brass's daughter was played by a new actress with a different hair color.
  2. the new actor takes over a major recurring character, and the characters make a point to address them as such from the very beginning of the episode.
  3. the first shot of the new actor will be accompanied by a short narrator announcement explaining that "the part of (character) will now be played by (new actor)." This is a more common method in telenovelas.

Contrast The Nth Doctor, which is the trope for cases where character's new voice and appearance are explained in-universe. If there's a Time Skip and most of the cast remains the same then it can be a Time-Shifted Actor if the age difference justifies the particular change. For long-term cast attrition in general, see Long-Runner Cast Turnover.

This often is the case for spinoff series and video game versions of animated films. Celebrities typically do not reprise their roles in these cases, either because the producers cannot afford them, or because they work solely in films.

Compare with Suspiciously Similar Substitute, Fake Shemp, The Other Marty, and Obvious Stunt Double. Directly related to Character Outlives Actor. Contrast with You Look Familiar. Can be Hand Waved by the Literary Agent Hypothesis. Often subject to Replacement Scrappy-ism. Often done with Continuity Reboots. Occasionally explained away with Magic Plastic Surgery. Usually the replacement is a Poor Man's Substitute.

Defiance of this leads to Role Reprisal.

Examples:

Alternative Title(s): Sister Becky, Same Character New Actor, Trading Bonds, Other Darrin

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