Best replacement actor on a film franchise or long-running tv series

[caj]

Replacing an actor in a popular or important role can be tricky. Who in your opinion has been the best replacement actor/actress for a character in a film franchise or long-running tv series?

[Osiris-Rex]

George Clooney for Val Kilmer in the Schumacher Batman films. B&R was total crap but at least Clooney brought some personality to the character.

[Howard Allan]

BJ Hunnicutt for Trapper John on M*A*S*H*.

[j9ac9k]

Woody for Coach on "Cheers"

Edward James Olmos as Lieut Castillo on "Miami Vice" (don't recall the guy he replaced)

Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. Nobody can touch Connery, but he was definitely a lot better than Dalton, Moore or Lazenby.

David Tennant on "Doctor Who"

[AnthonyO'Brien]

Mark Ruffalo as Banner

Dick York as Darren

[TriggerWarning]

Alysion Hannigan as Willow on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In the original pilot she was played by another actress. Its interesting to watch because its largely shot for shot the same as the pilot that ended up airing except its not the Willow we all know. And Buffy was a brunette as Sarah Michelle Gellar hadn't died her hair blonde yet.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Woody for Coach on "Cheers"

Oh yeah. When I saw Cheers for the first time I was introduced to the Woody Boyd character as one of the cast and immediately took a liking to him.

[Mark Trail]

BJ Hunnicutt for Trapper John on M*A*S*H*.

I would have said Col Potter for Col Blake myself.

[Osiris-Rex]

Erica Durance for Laura Benanti as Alura on Supergirl. While Laura Benanti was great as Aunt Astra, her Alura was rather stiff and boring. Maybe that was intentional, but Erica Durance brought a lot more energy to Alura.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

Don Cheadle for Terrence Howard as War Machine.

Howard might actually be the better actor -- he's had great acclaim for many of his roles from Hustle & Flow to TV's Empire, but I think Cheadle is better for War Machine because Cheadle is a better supporting actor/second banana, where Howard is meant for lead roles. So, yeah, it's kind of a strange compliment for Cheadle, I know.

Howard just announced his retirement from acting, so we'll never know if he could have led a superhero movie himself.

This OP question is hard because it would be far easier to list the recasts that were NOT as good as the original.
- Donna Reed on Dallas
- Jack Coleman, Emma Samms, Karen Cellini on Dynasty (although the first two were good, just not as good)
- Dick Sargent on Bewitched
- George Clooney as Batman -- in my opinion the worst of the original 3
- any of the Brady Bunch daughter replacements
- Lee Meriwether as Catwoman (I like Eartha Kitt as Catwoman because she's so different that you really can't compare her to Newmar)
- John Astin as Riddler

etc. etc.

[AnakinFlair]

Erica Durance for Laura Benanti as Alura on Supergirl. While Laura Benanti was great as Aunt Astra, her Alura was rather stiff and boring. Maybe that was intentional, but Erica Durance brought a lot more energy to Alura.

That's not quite fair, though. The Alura we saw on the show when it was Benanti was a computer hologram that just LOOKED like Alura. That was meant to come off flat. The only time we really saw Benanti as Alura (outside of the dream episode) was the opening moments of the first episode. Whereas Erica Durance actually got to play the real Alura over several episodes. So I would only call that recasting necessary instead of better. But I did like seeing Erica Durance again.

[Riv86672]

BJ Hunnicutt for Trapper John on M*A*S*H*.

I would have said Col Potter for Col Blake myself.

One thing I liked about M*A*S*H* even as a kid, is they didn’t replace their characters w. clones of the departing character. They always changed things up.
Trapper was a horndog, cheating on his wife while overseas, while BJ was a dedicated family man.

Burns was an idiot and minimal surgeon, while Charles was a better surgeon than anyone at the camp, and easily able to keep up in terms of pranks and schemes.

Col. Blake was a nice guy but easily manipulated, letting the others run the show. Col. Potter was NOT having that shit, though he did mellow out once he established his Command.

Even Klinger, who was already on the show, was shown to be no Radar. He had trouble taking over the Company clerk job, but once he got it down, he did it in his own style.

[Scott Taylor]

Generally MASH followed the movie at first, but once it took off as a show they got rid of the irreverent tone for the most part and focused on real issues. The early stuff was mostly cornball with a few serious moment, the later stuff the opposite. So casting followed that mold.

Hawkeye stayed the same actor through the entire series but his character changed during the second phase. He became way less of a womanizer. Hotlips changed as well, from first to second phase, though she was more consistent. Radar and Father Mulcahey seemed to be pretty much the same throughout the show's history.