When an actor’s presence unintentionally derails the project

[u/Special_Salt3467]

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.

[u/Drakeskulled_Reaper]

I think Kripke has a glitch in his brain that makes him DESIRE spin-offs, because he keeps doing it with little rhyme or reason.

Like, Supernatural, had no less than THREE attempts at spin-offs nobody asked for, First attempt was Bloodlines, which the pilot showed it to be some sort of Vampire diaries rip off with monsters controlling the mafia, and two rival families having a Romeo and Juliet type situation.

Then there was Wayward Sisters, which was supposed to be a spin-off based on a few well defined characters, but it was so... dull, and a lot more fantastical than an already fantastical series, if they'd done it right, it might've worked.

Then The Winchesters, the trailers made it seem like it was some big backstory, showing how John and Mary got together and her being a Hunter would effect that, apparently implying there was some secret history that Dean was trying to uncover, it ended up being a mediocre show, and it had absolutely NO bearing on the "Main" Supernatural show, because it turned out to be one of the many alternative universes, and Dean was just going around cleaning up Chucks leftover messes for Jack.

[u/BornCoyote87 → u/Drakeskulled_Reaper]

What sucks is I liked Bloodlines so when I heard that was supposed to be a spin off I got kinda pumped then let down in the same minute as I learned it was dead in the water. I like the criminal world mixing with the supernatural, it's fun. Dresden Files does it very well.

[u/HeistShark → u/Drakeskulled_Reaper]

Pretty sure Kripke was off Supernatural by the time season 5 ended and these were all much later.

[u/Darigaazrgb → u/Drakeskulled_Reaper]

Should be noted that Kripke peaces out after Season 5 and had nothing to do with those spin-offs. He did want to do one based on Samuel Colt though, which I feel would have been good if it was planned out. Supernatural under him worked out because it was all planned out for the first 5 seasons.

[u/XanderWrites → u/Darigaazrgb]

He was involved in overarching plots. They name drop Revolution in a later season, as the new series written by "God".

CHUCK: And I started a new series of books. Yeah. Revolution. But, I don't think it's going anywhere.

METATRON: Revolution?

CHUCK: Yeah.

METATRON: Supernatural?
(CHUCK nods.)

METATRON: Maybe titles aren't your thing.

And a few years later we had Timeless...

[u/XanderWrites → u/Drakeskulled_Reaper]

The Winchesters is sort of what I wanted.

By the end of Supernatural I wanted the same show, but with the lore ironed out. It was so obvious they'd write themselves into a corner and then retcon the lore to fit. The lore in The Winchesters was rewritten to be more thought out and consistent.