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

1. Erik Per Sullivan did not return for the upcoming Malcolm in the Middle revival. Costar Bryan Cranston explained that Erik was invited to return but declined. Bryan told the Fly on the Wall podcast, “I talked to Erik, and I said, ‘Hey, we got the show! It’s going to come back.’ He goes, ‘Oh, that’s fantastic!’ And I go, ‘Yeah, so we’re looking forward to having you back.’ He goes, ‘Oh, no, no, I don’t want to do it. But it’s fantastic.'” Caleb Ellsworth-Clark was cast in the role.

Fox

2. When *** and the City was revived into a sequel series, And Just Like That…, Kim Cattrall refused to return as her character, Samantha Jones. She explained, “It’s a great wisdom to know when enough is enough. I also didn’t want to compromise what the [original] show was to me. The way forward seemed clear.” She eventually returned for a brief cameo in a scene by herself.

HBO

3. 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.”

MTV / © MTV / Courtesy Everett Collection

4. 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.”

Nickelodeon

5. Adrian Grenier is noticeably missing from all The Devil Wears Prada 2 trailers. And it turns out he wasn’t actually invited back. “We’re all fans of the movie, whether or not we were in it,” Adrian told Page Six. “Obviously, it was a disappointment that I didn’t get the call to be in the sequel. But I also understand there was some backlash with Nate, the character, so that might have something to do with it.”

20th Century Fox

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6. 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.

Warner Bros. / © Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection

7. 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.” He did eventually make a cameo in Season 18.

CBS / © CBS / Courtesy Everett Collection

8. 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.”

Paramount / © Paramount / Courtesy Everett Collection

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9. 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

10. 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

11. 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.”

NBC / © NBC / Courtesy Everett Collection

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12. 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.”

The WB

13. 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.”

Gale M. Adler / © NBC / Courtesy Everett Collection

14. 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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