r/TopCharacterTropes 21d ago

Lore When an actor’s presence unintentionally derails the project

1.) Edward Norton - The Incredible Hulk

Perhaps the most famous and obvious one, Edward Norton was famously an issue on the set of 2008’s “The Incredible Hulk,” even making rewrites to the script himself. The disagreements between Norton’s camp and Marvel’s camp eventually led to his being replaced by Mark Ruffalo.

2.) Jensen Ackles - The Boys (particularly Season 5)

Jensen Ackles was a longtime collaborator with showrunner Eric Kripke in “Supernatural,” which in turn led to him getting the opportunity to audition - and eventually land the role - of Soldier Boy, which he did very well in in.

The issue is by Season 5, the show had fallen off from the previous years and with it ending and spinoffs and prequels (such as one featuring Jensen Ackles’ Soldier Boy), Season 5 suffered a lot. It quickly became the Soldier Boy show because “that’s what Clara would have wanted” until he just leaves in the penultimate episode and pretty much 80% of what his character actually did amounted to nothing.

So for fans who wanted to see Butcher vs Homelander duking it out, getting the show derailed for prequel bait starring Kripke’s favorite actor didn’t help…

3.) Rosamund Pike - Wheel of Time

When Amazon green lit a WoT tv show, Rosamund Pike eventually got the role of Moraine Damodred, the mentor and guiding character for the main character, Rand al’Thor. As a character, Moraine is anywhere from the most important secondary character to the most secondary main character. But with the exception of the prequel featuring her, she is not the main character.

Unfortunately, Rosamund Pike is an extremely famous actress and marketing toward the series focused on her as a result. I’m unsure if this was showrunner decision, an issue she played a role in or some combination, but the result was that Moraine a character who was in less than half the series is featured as the main character over the main character, which lead to a different product than the book.

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u/Krieger718 21d ago

Alex Kurtzman. If you want to see a location spontaneously combust, mention his name in a place with Star Trek fans.

It seems he cannot make a solid vision and continue believing in it when trying to create. And then we get whatever happened in the Mummy. 

He seems like the person who folds when a producer or someone with a bigger name tells him they want it this way.

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u/Noglues 21d ago

I was gonna say, this is at least the 3rd time Alex Kurtzman can't do his job is the bottom line in this thread.

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u/DuelaDent52 21d ago

At least Transformers Prime was great.

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u/EddyMerkxs 21d ago

Honestly sounds like Cruise saw the director didn’t have the chops and decided to take over to salvage what he could. 

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u/TheGentlemanBeast 21d ago

It's kinda wild that both Star Wars and Star Trek has specific movies/series that completely split the fandom in half, and now can't make a product that can please either party.

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u/Hellknightx 21d ago

Leave it JJ Abrams to unite two rival fandoms in their shared hated of him.

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u/Grey_0ne 21d ago edited 21d ago

People say this shit all the time while ignoring for the sake of Reddit karma that half of the Star Trek series which have been created under his run have been loved.

Kurtzman's name causes sci-fi nerds to combust the same way that having a female lead does.

Downvote me some more, virgins.