10 Times Actors Played Multiple Characters In The Same Franchise (& It Worked)

Summary

• Some franchises double-cast actors to play unrelated characters, showcasing their versatility within a series.
• Double-casting reveals the talent of actors and provides opportunities for them to portray different personas.
• Appealing contrasts can be created by reusing actors in different roles within a franchise, offering fresh perspectives to viewers.

Some franchises that have gotten too big for their own good (and even some that are just beginning) have double-cast actors, having them play two (or more) completely unrelated characters. This is the opposite of movie franchises recasting characters, condensing the cast rather than expanding it. There are some obvious scenarios where an actor would play two characters — twins, clones, descendants, etc. However, some multimedia franchises are simply big enough and have so many characters that producers reuse actors, rather than going through the casting process again.

The appeal of this is evident; the cast and crew have worked with this actor before and know they are reliable. Actors who play multiple roles in one movie or TV show generally do so because the people involved like working with them. Talented actors should be able to take on completely different personas, and getting another role in the same franchise may be no different from a new job. In some cases, audiences are treated to an amazing contrast where they see how versatile an actor is.

10 Andy Serkis In Star Wars

Played Snoke & Kino Loy

Andy Serkis joined the Star Wars roster for the sequel trilogy, first appearing as Supreme Leader Snoke of the First Order in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This role played into Serkis’ reputation for being cast as CGI characters, most famously Gollum and Caesar. Serkis is a fine big bad up until Snoke is killed by Kylo Ren in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, cutting short his storyline in the new trilogy. However, Serkis made a surprise return to Star Wars shortly after this.

Maybe the Star Wars producers felt they had wasted Serkis, or maybe him being cast in Andor was a coincidence. Either way, Serkis plays Kino Loy, a major character in the highly-praised three-episode prison break arc of what is widely considered the best Star Wars TV show of the Disney era. Kino’s fate is ambiguous by the end of the season; however, Serkis is confirmed to be returning for Andor season 2.

9 Peter Capaldi In Doctor Who

Played The Twelfth Doctor & Lobus Caecilius

Peter Capaldi played two Doctor Who characters, something which is an informal tradition in every era of the show. Before being cast as the Twelfth Doctor, Capaldi appeared in season 4, episode 2, “The Fires of Pompeii,” during the David Tennant era. In the titular setting, Capaldi plays Lobus Caecilius, a family man and merchant who hopes to enter politics in ancient Rome. Ironically, this is also Karen Gillan’s first Doctor Who episode; she is credited only as “Soothsayer,” and later went on to become the Eleventh Doctor’s companion, Amy Pond.

The frequency at which
Doctor Who
does this suggests that the people behind the franchise enjoy playing with the thematic implications of double-casting.

Doctor Who does address Capaldi’s two characters’ identical likenesses in-universe, as the new regeneration of the Doctor subconsciously chose Caecilius’ appearance for himself. Meanwhile, actors including Colin Baker and Freema Agyeman also played multiple characters in the Doctor Who universe. The frequency at which Doctor Who does this suggests that the people behind the franchise enjoy playing with the thematic implications of double-casting.

8 Jenna Ortega In Wednesday

Played Wednesday & Goody Addams

Wednesday is the latest iteration of the Addams Family franchise and Jenna Ortega is the newest actress to take on the iconic role. Everyone instantly fell in love with Ortega’s deadpan performance, but she was also cast as the mysterious Addams ancestor Goody. Wednesday and Goody are subtly different yet equally spooky, giving Ortega the chance to show off all the different nuances she can portray.

The casting choice was made for the obvious reason that Wednesday and Goody are supposed to mirror each other, both visually and in terms of their goals. Goody is a perversion of Wednesday, with blond braids instead of black and a more whimsical presence. Goody will likely continue to play a role in the story in future seasons of Wednesday as Wednesday learns to master her power; therefore, this will continue to be a double role for Ortega.

7 Warwick Davis In Harry Potter

Played Griphook & Professor Flitwick

Warwick Davis played the dramatically different roles of Griphook and Professor Flitwick in the Harry Potter movies. The former is a Gringotts goblin who simply takes Harry to his vault in the first movie; he reappears in the final installment for a more action-packed sequence of robbing a bank vault with several betrayals among the main group. However, there is an argument that Davis actually played three Harry Potter characters.

Flitwick looks completely different in the third Harry Potter movie than from the first two. This is because Davis’ character in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban wasn’t originally supposed to be Flitwick. The Hogwarts Choir and its director were conceptualized by Alfonso Cuarón, who cast Davis when Flitwick doesn’t appear elsewhere in the movie. However, the next director Michael Newell preferred Flitwick’s new appearance, so the Hogwarts professor and choir director were merged into one character.

6 Benedict Cumberbatch In The Hobbit

Played Smaug & Sauron

Although the Hobbit movies are not the best of the extended Middle-earth franchise, Benedict Cumberbatch’s performance as the dragon Smaug is chilling. This also marked an ironic reunion between Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman that probably pleased fans of Sherlock, in which the actors respectively play Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. Cumberbatch also provided the voice of Sauron for the three Hobbit movies.

The role of Sauron has been passed around a lot, as the character is mostly a disembodied force in the Lord of the Rings trilogy who acts through the Nazgûl and the One Ring. Who plays him depends on whether he is a voice, a faceless soldier, or taking on a human appearance (as he does in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power). However, handing off Sauron to Cumberbatch worked for the Hobbit movies and saved some time, allowing the filmmakers to draw a connection between the two villains and the different temptations they are associated with.

5 Majel Barrett In Stark Trek

Played Federation Computer, Dr. Christine Chapel, & Lwaxana Troi

Majel Barrett (sometimes credited as Majel Barrett Roddenberry) was known as the “First Lady of Stark Trek” because of her marriage to the franchise’s creator and star Gene Roddenberry. Barrett appeared in almost every iteration of Star Trek before her death in 2008, as her voice is famously used for the computers in the movies and TV; she is variously credited as “Federation computer,”“Starfleet computer,” and “Enterprise computer.” Barrett also took on some more substantial roles across the decades of the franchise.

Barrett’s most significant character is probably Dr. Christine Chapel, who first appeared in Stark Trek: The Original Series and returned for some later movies and shows. She also played Lwaxana Troi in Star Trek: The Next Generation and DS9. Recurring actors in numerous different roles is a staple of Star Trek; looking out for Barrett’s next cameo is part of the fun. The distinct characters were also spread out enough throughout the franchise to not interfere with one another.

4 Bill Murray In Ghostbusters

Played Dr. Peter Venkman & Martin Heiss

Bill Murray is one of the original faces of Ghostbusters, making it unsurprising that the producers would want to feature him in the tonally different legacy sequels. 2016’s Ghostbusters was the first movie in the franchise to come out since the original two installments led by Murray and the rest of the original cast. Ironically, this Ghostbusters reboot had a completely different approach to including Murray than Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.

Murray plays Martin Heiss, a debunker of supernatural phenomena, in the 2016 movie. This character who doesn’t believe in ghosts is ironically set against Peter Venkman, one of the most famous Ghostbusters. Peter then returned as a legacy character in the later movies. It’s odd that the Ghostbusters franchise jumps back and forth with the role Murray plays, but given how detached 2016’s Ghostbusters is from the rest, it works for Murray to have a completely different role.

3 Vaughn Armstrong In Stark Trek

Played 12 Different Star Trek Characters

Once again, actors taking on two, if not several more, roles spread out across the different series is a long-held tradition of Star Trek. However, none have played more distinct characters than Vaughn Armstrong. Armstrong played 12 characters in Star Trek, spanning several TV shows, appearing in a total of 27 episodes. The characters are spaced out enough — with several depending upon complicated makeup and prosthetics — that Armstrong’s presence is an Easter Egg for the fans rather than a glaring plot hole.

However, no one can deny that Armstrong’s incredibly varried talent as an actor contributes to making the gimmick work. Many of his characters only have one or two-episode arcs. Armstrong’s best-known Star Trek character is Admiral Maxwell Forrest, mainly due to him being a recurring character in Star Trek: Enterprise who appears in 14 episodes.

2 Hugh Keays-Byrne In Mad Max

Played Toecutter & Immortan Joe

Hugh Keays-Byrne was among the skeleton cast and crew that produced the first Mad Max with a minimal budget before it became a massive blockbuster franchise. He plays the main villain Toecutter in the first movie, who kills Max’s family to avenge a fellow criminal Max killed, and is then killed by Max himself. Keays-Byrne then returned to play Immortan Joe, the tyrannical leader of the Citadel in Mad Max: Fury Road.

Practically speaking, Fury Road came out decades later and Immortan Joe is created with too much makeup and prosthetics for there to be any resemblance between the characters. However, Keays-Byrne’s actually worked remarkably well as a subtle homage to the franchise’s origins in the movie that reinvented it. This is also a soft tradition for Mad Max, as Bruce Spence also plays two apparently different characters in Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.

1 Gemma Chan In The MCU

Played Minn-Erva & Sersi

Gemma Chan’s two MCU roles happened within only a few years of each other; the double-casting is difficult to miss and a little awkward. It requires some more suspension of disbelief on the part of the audience and the simple acceptance that Minn-Erva and Sersi have nothing to do with one another. However, this is well worth it when Chan is amazing in both roles. Minn-Erva was a change of pace for Chan, but she nails the character’s cold persona and cutting remarks.

There was no one else who could have better embodied Sersi, which is probably why Marvel decided to go ahead and cast Chan again.

On the other hand, Sersi is very much like some of Chan’s other characters: graceful, contemplative, and caring. There was no one else who could have better embodied Sersi, which is probably why Marvel decided to go ahead and cast Chan again. Eternals is a weaker MCU movie in other regards, but its cast is impressive. Double-casting an actor within a franchise can be critiqued for how it inherently breaks the fourth wall, but the audience is well aware that it is fiction and should judge the performances in their own right.