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1[[quoteright:350:[[Series/{{Misfits}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/misfits05x_3.jpg]]]]
2 [[caption-width-right:350:[[Series/{{Misfits}} Being a superhero delinquent is not steady work.]]]]
3A show which suffers an excessive regular turnover in the main cast. Regulars might last for a season or two at the most and even the (seemingly) most vital characters have a very high chance of being dropped at the end of the year. This is not merely a large cast -- the core cast at any one time might be pretty small, just prone to being replaced.
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5Generally, this happens most organically where a series is mostly concerned with a place of work, such as a [[Series/{{ER}} hospital]] or [[Series/TheBill police station]] at which some turnover might be expected, but it is not limited to such. For obvious reasons, this is much more likely to happen in a {{Long Runner|s}}; long-running shows without turnover frequent enough to qualify for this designation might still qualify for LongRunnerCastTurnover.
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7The actual way the old characters are written out can range from merely PutOnABus to ChuckCunninghamSyndrome. Expect a lot of SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute style replacements. When a new regular conveniently shows up just as another is shown the door, that's a ConvenientReplacementCharacter.
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9In music, this is RevolvingDoorBand.
10----
11!!Examples:
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15[[folder:Based around a place of work]]
16* ''Series/SavedByTheBellTheNewClass'' dropped three of its seven regulars at the end of its first year (including the main character). It did the same thing the following year, including a survivor of the first season. And so on, and so...
17** Season 1 began with Mr. Belding, Megan, Weasel, Vicki, Scott, Lindsay, and Tommy D.
18** For season 2, Weasel, Vicki, and Scott were dropped and replaced with Screech, Brian, Bobby, and Rachel. This was due to the six students in season one merely being [[{{expy}} expys]] of the original cast, and ''Saved By The Bell: The College Years'' getting cancelled led to Dustin Diamond returning.
19** For season 3, Megan, Brian, and Bobby left, and R.J., Ryan, and Maria arrived.
20** For season 4, Tommy D, Lindsay, and R.J. were dropped and Eric, Nicky, and Katie arrived.
21** For season 5, Rachel was replaced by Liz.
22** For season 6, Ryan was replaced by Tony. Seasons 6 and 7 were filmed concurrently so there were no further cast changes on the show. Only Mr. Belding was on the show from beginning to end.
23* ''Dream Team'', the British soap opera set in a soccer club, featured dozens of characters during its ten-year run, the great majority lasting a year or so. And an ''absurdly'' high death toll for a soccer club.
24** Partially justifiable, in that much like in real life, players would sign for the club, before being sold on in a transfer window. Or, more than likely in the show, die.
25* ''Series/{{Baywatch}}'' was infamous as with the exception of David Hasselhoff, one is hard-pressed to find a cast member who stayed for more than a few seasons. The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWsR-rN9mco&t=3m28s changing opening credits]] showcases the turnover with even Hasselhoff himself absent for the show's final season.
26* ''Series/MakoMermaidsAnH2OAdventure'' had three seasons (the second one was split in half by Netflix), at each season the main mermaid trio had some change in casting:
27** Season 1 the trio was formed by Nixie, Lyla, and Sirena.
28** Then, by season 2 (and season 3 according to Netflix), we had two replacements, with Nixie and Lyla being replaced with their respective [[{{expy}} expys]] Mimmi and Ondina.
29** On season 3 (or season 4), Sirena was replaced with Weilan, who, this time, was a completely different character. So, by this season, none of the mermaids from the first season was present in the cast anymore.
30* ''Series/LawAndOrder'' and its assorted spinoffs. When Diane Neal left SVU, she actually said she was surprised she lasted as long as she did, considering Creator/DickWolf is known for liking to constantly rotate its cast members. The original series ran for twenty years before its reboot, and the last original cast member, Steven Hill, left after ten. If you don't count him as original because he wasn't in the pilot, the last one left after five (Creator/ChrisNoth). At 17 seasons Lt. Anita Van Buren (Creator/SEpathaMerkerson) had the longest tenure, joining at the beginning of season 4 and staying until the original series was cancelled after season 20.
31** This is particularly prevalent in SVU: for almost all of the series, the only consistent [=ADAs=] are Novak, Cabot, Barba, and Carisi. Every other ADA never lasts any more than a season (and in one case, the new ADA was cycled out in the same episode she premiered in).
32* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'', LongRunner that it is, has cycled out nearly its entire cast over the years.
33** As of Season 20, the only cast members still remaining in the main cast from Season 1 are [=David McCallum=] as Ducky, Sean Murray as [=McGee=], and Brian Dietzen as Palmer--the latter two having not been listed as main cast in season 1 (in Dietzen's case, rightly so as he was more of a recurring character), and [=McCallum=] are [[AdvertisedExtra not actually being a regular anymore]], with Ducky becoming a recurring character starting season 15 and his screentime is noticeably dramatically reduced especially in the recent episodes, with [=McCallum=] only appeared three episodes in the eighteenth season at one point and Gibbs (portrayed by Creator/MarkHarmon) leaving the show just 4 episodes into the nineteenth season (and being more of a guest star for those four episodes; Harmon wanted to leave the show at the end of Season 18, but the network said they wouldn't renew the show without him on it).
34** ''Series/NCISNewOrleans'' likewise had a lot of turnover, with only Pride, Loretta, and Sebastian remaining throughout the whole run--and only Loretta keeping the same role throughout, as Pride eventually got promoted and Sebastian wasn't a field agent at first.
35* By the time ''Series/NYPDBlue'' had finished its 12-season run, only one original cast member -- Creator/DennisFranz -- was left. The original cast included David Caruso, Creator/AmyBrenneman, James [=McDaniel=], Sherry Stringfield, and Nicholas Turturro in addition to Franz. The final season, again in addition to Franz, included Creator/MarkPaulGosselaar, Gordon Clapp, Bill Brochtrup, Creator/HenrySimmons, Jacqueline Obradors, Creator/CurrieGraham and Creator/BonnieSommerville.
36* Seminal British police drama ''Series/TheBill''.
37* ''Series/{{ER}}''. Even Doctor Carter eventually left the show (as a regular). And during two or three seasons (with the exception of some occasional episodes), NONE of the original series regulars were there. Curiously, ALL of them returned (briefly, mostly for only one or two episodes) for the last season.
38** A final season episode lampshades this when an original character runs into two of the final season regulars. The original character starts naming people who were working at the hospital when he left and the later characters start naming characters who worked at the hospital when they started. They find no overlap and nothing in common to talk about.
39* Any David E. Kelley show.
40** Later seasons of both ''Series/AllyMcBeal'' and ''Series/ThePractice'' had older cast members being replaced by younger, sexier versions because either the actors would quit or Kelley would just get bored with their characters.
41** ''Series/BostonLegal'' and ''Series/BostonPublic'' were the worst offenders as literally every season of both shows was littered with disposable characters that never gelled with the rest of the cast. Sometimes cast members would even get replaced mid-season. ''Series/BostonLegal'' was likely worse, literally having only one season without a major cast shift or several. ''Series/BostonPublic'' at least had two seasons that kept the cast whole for the entire season run. Also, ''Legal'' literally ended with only two characters who were there from the beginning, James Spader's Alan Shore and William Shatner's Denny Crane, and its final season featured three cast members who had only been a part of the main cast for one season prior. ''Public'' held onto five of its original cast members and two more had been there since the second season.
42* For a series that had five full seasons and two truncated ones, and focused heavily on the personal lives of the characters, ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'' actually had a surprising number of cast changes; so many that Richard Belzer (John Munch), Clark Johnson (Meldrick Lewis), Yaphet Kotto (Lt. Al Giardello) and Kyle Secor (Tim Bayliss) were the only four regular cast members (out of 19 in total) to last from start to finish.
43* While the core group of interns in ''Series/GreysAnatomy'' has remained constant until recently, there has been a constant parade of attending surgeons and new interns. In the later seasons, so many new characters appear and then rapidly disappear that the show appears to be just throwing characters at the audience to see who sticks.
44** As of season 9, the most important characters are 3 out of the 5 original main characters ([[RealLifeWritesThePlot due to real-life circumstances]]) and {{Ascended Extra}}s who have been on the show for at least 3 years. The new interns rarely come back.
45* ''Series/{{Spooks}}'' has run for ten years and kills off or writes out main characters frequently and with extreme prejudice, something that starts in episode 2. Of the original cast, only one remains, but he's more of the boss over the other main characters.
46* The process is slower than in other examples, but ''Series/{{Degrassi|TheNextGeneration}}'' has gradually retired its early characters in favor of new ones. Snake is the only one who's been a main character the whole time, and he's usually a minor character.
47* ''Series/{{Damages}}'' tends to revolve around this trope with the appeal of the show generally being that most of the guest stars (and series lead Glenn Close) are film actors (William Hurt, Martin Short, John Goodman, etc.) or other actors who normally don't do TV. In a given season these actors usually play the BigBad or other characters that are somehow tied up in the plaintiff's case. At the end of the season, a case is usually resolved and most of the supporting cast are either killed off or [[PutOnABus put on buses indefinitely]].
48** Season 1: [[spoiler: Ray Fiske and David Connor]] are both killed off (though the latter is a ForegoneConclusion).
49** Season 2: Arthur Frobisher is demoted to guest star. Claire Maddox, Daniel Purcell, and Wes Kruik are added to the cast, all get put on buses by seasons end.
50** Season 3: [[spoiler: Tom Shayes]] is killed off. Joe Tobin, Marilyn Tobin, and Leonard Winstone are added to the cast. All three plus Arthur Frobisher are either killed off or PutOnABus at the end of the season.
51** Season 4: Howard Erickson and Jerry Boorman are both added and PutOnABus at season's end.
52** Season 5: Channing [=McClaren=] added.
53* Brazilian soap opera ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malhacao Malhação]]'' has had a lot of this while it ran from [[LongRunner 1995 to 2020]] - even changing the setting (from a gym to a high school, then another high school, and then in 2010 it started having a different setting every year... including [[RevisitingTheRoots one season in a gym!]]) to justify it. The actor with the longest run (6 years) even joked he and the runner-up (5 years - and then [[TheBusCameBack 12 years later the character showed up again]]) stood so long because they never scored with anyone in the soap opera.
54* ''Series/{{Casualty}}'' has old cast members leave and new ones join at least once a season on average. As of March 2017 (Season 31) only one character, Nurse Charlie Fairhead, has been continually appearing since the very first episode in 1986 (one other character from the first episode is still around, but has had three separate tenures as a regular; the first from 1986-1993, the second from 1998-2003 and the third from 2016 onwards). Every other member of the original cast had left by 1990.
55* At the end of Season Three of ''Series/{{House}}'' it looked like they were going to do this; two of House's interns resigned and the third was fired, so at the beginning of Season Four he started holding tryouts for a new batch. Then all three of the former interns returned, though Foreman was the only one that came back to the Diagnostics department. Then it got complicated, but by the end of the series, the only members of House's original team that weren't working at Princeton-Plainsboro in some capacity were Cameron and [[spoiler: House himself, for the last fifteen minutes or so]].
56* ''Series/StElsewhere'' had a large core cast, 26 regular cast members in just six seasons; a monster number for a network show. For comparison, ''Series/LawAndOrder'' only had 25 regulars during its run, and it ran for twenty years! Only six ''St. Elsewhere'' cast members received billing in the opening credits from the first episode to the last; William Daniels, Ed Begley, Jr., Howie Mandel, David Morse, Christina Pickles, and Creator/DenzelWashington. However, there were many recurring characters, such as Norman Lloyd, Eric Laneuville, Bonnie Bartlett, Sagan Lewis, and Jennifer Savidge, who were there since the first season but received PromotionToOpeningTitles later on.
57* ''Series/TheMindyProject'', based around an ob/gyn practice, had two actors that started in the pilot remain on the show: Mindy Kaling and Ed Weeks, while another, Ike Barinholtz joined in Episode Two and remained til the end. All the other supporting actors either left the show during/after the first season or were introduced in later seasons.
58* ''Series/BabylonFive'' had a bit of this, due to cast members being written out for various reasons and replaced with new characters who take up their positions at the titular space station, starting with [[TheCaptain station commander]] Jeffrey Sinclair being replaced in the second season by John Sheridan due to actor Michael O'Hare's health problems. Done deliberately over the course of the final season, as the characters who had been the core cast in key positions aboard the station drift away or move on to new positions one by one, and a new person takes ups the mantle. In the penultimate episode of the series Sheridan, Delenn, and Lennier all leave and as they do they take one last look at the station, where they see the station's new leadership watching them from Command and Control. The shot is similar to a cast shot from the first season's intro, but the only original cast member left on the station is Vir, who was once an Ambassador's assistant and is now an Ambassador. (And he wasn't even in the original pilot). Everyone else, from the station's commander to security chief to chief doctor to the ambassadors have changed, leaving both the station and the future in new hands.
59* ''Series/TheRoyal'': The hospital staff changes all the time, both during and between seasons. Seven main characters have made it from the premiere to the finale, but considering there's been over 30 main characters over the eight-season run with a dozen or so at a time, that's not a lot. The show has a bit of a tradition where nurses and younger doctors come and go.
60* Although ''Series/TheGoodWife'' had a fairly stable cast throughout its seven seasons, its successor series, ''Series/TheGoodFight'', is much more fluid, thanks to a combination of characters designed to last only one season and some fairly frequent turnover of more consistent characters. Although the series was initially built around three different characters--Diane Lockhart, who'd been a regular character all through ''Wife'', Lucca Quinn, introduced in that show's final seasons, and Maia Rindell, a new character created for ''Fight''--only Diane makes it to the end of the series, with Maia making her exit in season 3 and Lucca only sticking around for the beginning of season 5 because her original planned exit in season 4 couldn't happen because of COVID.
61[[/folder]]
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63[[folder:Not based around a place of work]]
64* ''Series/The100'' is a show where AnyoneCanDie and frequently do. Between shifting alliances, multiple wars, apocalypses (yes, plural), and even [[spoiler: traveling to another planet]] very few characters last more than a season or two, and only a handful survive all the way from the beginning.
65* ''Series/GameOfThrones'' had 44 regulars over eight seasons. Only nine of them were regulars throughout, with two others only missing Season 5. Considering its gigantic core cast, that's a pretty low number.
66* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': The final (television) season.
67** ''Transition Show'' sees high school students Walter Denton, Harriet Conklin and Mr. Boynton PutOnABus. This also marks the end of appearances by recurring characters Miss Enright and Stretch Snodgrass. Enter Mrs. (Winona) Nestor, Mr. Munsee, Mr. Albright.
68** ''Who's Who" sees Miss Brooks take leave of longtime landlady Mrs. Davis to be a tenant of her sister Angela. Elementary school student Benny Romero becomes a RecurringCharacter.
69** "Big Ears": Mrs. Ruth Nestor replaces her sister, last appearance by Mr. Albright.
70** "Have Bed, Will Travel" Mrs. Davis moves in with her sister (and Miss Brooks) and begins to share landlady duties with Angela.
71** In "Gym Instructor", Mr. Talbot is appointed to the faculty as the new phys-ed teacher.
72** "Land Purchase" Exit Angela, who sells her sister her house. Angela has built a motel and leaves to run her new business (never mentioned before).
73** "Library Quiz" sees Mr. Talbot's last appearance.
74** Finally, in "Connie and Frankie", TheBusComesBack and LoveInterest Mr. Boynton returns to teach at Mrs. Nestor's Elementary School for the final seven episodes.
75** This revolving-door was averted on the concurrent radio series, which continued with the same cast and characters. TheMovie GrandFinale followed the radio casting and continuity.
76* ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'' is a fairly mild case; only two main characters lasted to the end but most other characters stayed on the show for two to three years:
77** Season 1: Sabrina, Salem, Aunts Hilda and Zelda, Harvey, Libby, Sabrina's friend Jenny, and biology teacher Mr. Pool.
78** Season 2: Jenny and Mr. Pool are both dropped, replaced by a new friend named Valerie and Vice Principal Kraft, respectively. Albert the Quizmaster was added for the season's running plot of Sabrina getting her witches' licence.
79** Season 3: Other than Albert the Quizmaster being dropped, the cast remained the same as in season 2.
80** Season 4: Valerie and Libby were both dropped, replaced by an apprentice witch named Dreama, and Harvey's old friend Brad, who turns out to be a witch hunter. Both characters are dropped after this season. Another new character, a barista named Josh, is also introduced in this season but doesn't join the opening credits until season 5.
81** Season 5: With the departure from the high school setting, Vice Principal Kraft is dropped. Sabrina's old flame Harvey also leaves the regular cast, a decision so unpopular that it was reversed in season 6. Sabrina's new college roommates, Roxie, Morgan, and Miles, are all introduced.
82** Season 6: As noted, Harvey rejoins the main cast. There are no other cast changes for this season.
83** Season 7: With Sabrina's college graduation, Miles is dropped from the series, as is Josh. Aunts Hilda and Zelda move back to the Other Realm, leaving Sabrina and Salem alone, and the last remaining original cast members to have appeared throughout.
84* ''WebVideo/Lonelygirl15''. Danielbeast is the only character who was on the show from start to finish, and even he had some short phases of being PutOnABus.
85* ''Franchise/PowerRangers''. Fairly justified in newer seasons that are actually completely different teams, but for the first several seasons, the main cast remained more-or-less consistent... except when it didn't, starting with the replacement of the red, yellow, and black rangers in season 2.
86** [[Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers Season 1]] begins with Jason, Zack, Billy, Kimberly, and Trini. Tommy joins midway through.
87** [[Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers Season 2]]: We have Rocky replacing Jason, Adam replacing Zack, and Aisha replacing Trini, all midway through the season.
88** [[Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers Season 3]]: Katherine replaces Kimberly midway into the season, and Tanya replaces Aisha [[LastEpisodeNewCharacter at the end of the season]].
89** [[Series/PowerRangersZeo Season 4]]: There are only five Rangers, so Billy steps down, leaving Tommy, Adam, Rocky, Tanya, and Katherine. Jason temporarily returns midseason, before departing again at the end of the season.
90** [[Series/PowerRangersTurbo Season 5]]: Between seasons 4 and 5 (The ''Turbo'' Movie), Justin replaces Rocky. Midway through season 5, Tommy, Adam, Tanya, and Katherine are ALL replaced with T.J., Carlos, Ashley, and Cassie, respectively. At the end of the season, everyone heads into space on a rescue mission except Justin, who stays behind to be with his father.
91** [[Series/PowerRangersInSpace Season 6]]: Andros appears and gives the team new powers, and then they begin replacing the ENTIRE cast each year, starting with [[Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy Season 7]].
92* ''Series/BlakesSeven''. Originally Blake, five other people, and a computer. By the fourth series, it was no Blake, five people, only two of whom were in the first series, and two different computers. Because of the first season's use of DebutQueue over the first few episodes, only one actor, Creator/MichaelKeating as Vila, appeared in every episode of the show.
93* Soap opera ''Series/{{Neighbours}}'' (and probably others of its ilk) is known for having a small cast of longer-running (usually older) characters and a substantial contingent of high-schoolers with a very high turnover rate.
94* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''
95** Season 1: The initial main cast is Buffy, Xander, Willow, Cordelia, and Giles.
96** Season 2: Angel joins the main cast.
97** Season 3: Oz joins the main cast.
98** Season 4: Angel and Cordelia leave for ''Series/{{Angel}}''. Oz leaves midseason, and Spike and Riley join the main cast after Oz leaves.
99** Season 5: Anya and Dawn join the main cast. Riley leaves midseason.
100** Season 6: Giles leaves the main cast, but remains on as a guest star. Tara joins the main cast for a single episode, [[spoiler:right before being killed off]].
101** Season 7: No changes. The final main cast is Buffy, Xander, Willow, Spike, Anya, and Dawn.
102* ''Series/DoctorWho''
103** Revolving-door casting is part and parcel of the series format, as the lead actor changes every few years (no actor to date has played the Doctor for more than seven seasons, with most leaving after three). The change is actually part of the show's continuity (and is its own trope-namer: TheNthDoctor).
104** The show's co-starring character, the companion, is also subject to high and frequent turnover:
105*** In the 1960s, there were fairly frequent cast changes in calendar terms, though so many stories were done per year early on that short-term companions stayed through a significant number of episodes. Sara Kingdom and Katarina were both regulars for part of only one story, ''The Daleks' Master Plan''. It was rare for someone to stay for more than two seasons and during the original 1963-1989 series, only two actresses stayed with the series as companions for more than three complete seasons.
106*** Season 3 of the original 1963-1989 series, notable as [[Creator/WilliamHartnell William Hartnell]]'s final full season, is a particularly stark example even within the context of the longer length of the '60s seasons, with the Doctor rotating through a total of seven companions (one a regular for only four episodes) across 45 episodes.
107*** The revival series, which launched in 2005, has kept to this format, with several companions leaving after only one season (though they came back for guest appearances later), a couple staying for two seasons, and only four modern-era companions (Amy, Rory, Clara, and Yaz) staying for more than two complete seasons.
108** Although occasionally criticized for this, the ongoing cast turnover is directly credited as a major factor in the show's extreme longevity, in part because, especially in the revival era, the introduction of a new Doctor or a new companion (or sometimes both at the same time) serves as a relaunch and a jumping-on point for new viewers, while also refreshing the show's format and writing. It helps that the changeovers from the 10th to 11th and 12th to 13th Doctors coincided with a change in showrunner.
109* ''Series/{{Lost}}'' is notorious for its AnyoneCanDie mentality that results in ''at least'' two main character deaths every season (except the first), plus several new regulars each year:
110** Season 1: [[spoiler: Boone]] died and [[spoiler: Walt]] was kidnapped/PutOnABus
111** Season 2: Ana Lucia, Eko and Libby join the cast. [[spoiler: Shannon, Ana-Lucia, and Libby]] all died, the latter two as part of a double murder. [[spoiler: Michael]] was PutOnABus.
112** Season 3: Ben, Juliet, Desmond, Nikki, and Paulo join the cast. [[spoiler: Eko and Charlie]] both died. [[spoiler:So did Nikki and Paulo, who were series regulars for the first 14 episodes, but no one cares about [[TheScrappy them]]]].
113** Season 4: Daniel, Charlotte, and Miles join the cast. [[spoiler: Michael]] returned from his bus trip [[BackForTheDead and died]]. [[spoiler:Claire]] wandered off into the jungle and vanished.
114** Season 5: No one joins the cast, though Ilana and Caesar were almost regulars; [[spoiler:Caesar dies however]]. [[spoiler: Charlotte and Daniel]] both died. [[spoiler:Locke]] dies, but [[spoiler:Terry O'Quinn]] stays on as [[spoiler:Jacob's nemesis]].
115** Season 6: Recurring characters from previous seasons [[spoiler:Frank, Richard, and Ilana]] join the main cast, [[spoiler:Juliet]] dies, and [[spoiler:Claire]] returns. [[spoiler:Locke, the Oceanic Six and various other characters]] also appear [[spoiler:as alternate timeline selves]].
116* The TV series ''Series/MissionImpossible'' (1966-73) was one of the earliest examples of this; only Barney (Greg Morris) and Willy (Peter Lupus) were regular characters for the entire show's run. There is only one case of two consecutive seasons without at least one major character being replaced (2nd to 3rd).
117* ''Series/EarthFinalConflict'': The villain Sandoval (Von Flores) was the only character who stayed throughout the whole run.
118* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' was meant to switch out most of its main cast every season, but this was changed. Instead, everyone from season 1 has immunity from death or bus trips ([[spoiler:Nikki]] died but [[spoiler:Ali Larter]] played a new character, [[spoiler:Nathan]] stuck around for half a season after his death). Even recurring characters that weren't promoted, like the Haitian, get this immunity. Meanwhile, every volume introduces at least a dozen characters that appear in most, sometimes all episodes and are all replaced with a new set of characters. The only one that stuck was, ironically, introduced as one of a few one-off villains in the early half of his first volume.
119* Due to the circumstances surrounding its creation, this occurred with ''Anime/{{Robotech}}'', which changed casts whenever it began adapting a new anime and thus began a new cycle. Twenty-one years later, when ''WesternAnimation/RobotechTheShadowChronicles'' was produced, it replaced the cast ''again'', combining a handful of characters taken from all three cycles with several new ones.
120* ''Series/{{Skins}}'' switches out its entire cast every two seasons.
121* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'': Following [[spoiler: Zhaan's]] departure in Season 3, at least one character was replaced with a new character each season.
122* ''Series/TwentyFour''. Only Creator/KieferSutherland has appeared in every episode, with the runner-up (Mary Lynn Rajskub) lagging behind by about fifty episodes. Some get jettisoned between seasons (Day 4 and Day 7 ditched most of the main cast except for Jack Bauer), but for the most part, characters departed the show [[AnyoneCanDie by getting brutally killed off]]. Of the Main and Recurring characters from Day 1, only a tiny handful are still alive by the end of the series run, and only Jack Bauer is still actually ''in'' the show.
123* Series/DragonsDen changes the Dragons every season or so, with at least one investor leaving per series. Indeed, out of the whole cast, only Peter Jones and Duncan Bannatyne have stayed for all eleven seasons, with almost everyone following on from Rachel Elnaugh leaving after only a couple of seasons. Deborah Meaden is the exception to the rule as she came in as Elnaugh's direct replacement and is still there.
124* ''Series/{{MASH}}'' is a [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]] example as while very few regulars were there from beginning to end, all of them were there at one or the other.
125** Season 1: The role of Father Mulcahy is recast after the pilot, though the new actor ends up lasting the entire series. Spearchucker Jones is dropped midway through the season (as the producers incorrectly believed there were no black surgeons at MASH units in Korea) and Ho-Jon is dropped after the season. Corporal Klinger arrives midway through the season for what was intended to be a guest star role and [[BreakoutCharacter proves so popular that he becomes a regular in later seasons]].
126** Season 4: Colonel Potter arrives in the season premiere to replace the departed Colonel Blake, whose [[{{Retirony}} plane was shot down on the way back to the States after his discharge]] in the previous season's finale. Trapper John Macintyre also leaves at the start of the season and is replaced by B.J. Hunnicutt.
127** Season 5: Major Frank Burns suffers a mental breakdown and is sent away, replaced by Major Winchester.
128** Season 7: Corporal Radar O'Reilly receives his discharge; rather than adding a new regular, Klinger takes over his duties. This leaves Alan Alda as Hawkeye and Loretta Swit as Major Houlihan as the only two regulars from the pilot.
129* ''Series/{{Misfits}}'' lost all its original regular cast members over the third and fourth seasons (one departed between the second and third seasons, two were written out at the end of the third season, one departed in murky circumstances just before the fourth season was about to start filming after being convicted of assault, and the last of the original cast members was written out halfway through that season). The second half of the fourth season and all of the fifth and final season had none of the original main characters.
130* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' is the king of this trope, due to its large cast that [[AnyoneCanDie can all die in a moment]]. Over eight seasons, there have been 25 "main" cast members and over 100 "also starring" and recurring actors. Of those, only [[spoiler:three]] have been in every season of the show without dying: [[spoiler:Rick, Carol, and Daryl]].
131* ''Series/{{Homeland}}'' did a lot of this rather abruptly when it shifted gears from being about Carrie investigation of Brodie to Carrie's further and largely unrelated adventures as a bipolar CIA agent. As characters associated with Brodie are left behind, and other character attrition takes its toll, the original cast is whittled down to just Carrie and [[spoiler:Saul]] by the seventh season.
132* ''Series/TekWar'' began with four made-for-TV movies, then went on for 18 hour-long episodes. Most of the main characters from the four movies were carried over to the TV series, but then, almost all of them were either written out of the show or simply stopped appearing before the TV season was half-way finished. The only characters from the four movies to appear regularly through the series were central character Jake Cardigan and supporting cast member Lieutenant Winger.
133* ''Manga/HunterXHunter'' is a rare manga/anime example, with [[HeterosexualLifePartners Gon and Killua]] as the two constants throughout the series while other characters, like Kurapica and Leorio (who are ostensibly part of the main cast), go unseen for long stretches of time. The main characters in each are:
134** The Hunter Exam Arc: Gon, Killua, Kurapica, and Leorio.
135** The Zoldyck Family Arc: Gon, Killua, Kurapica, and Leorio (again).
136** The Heavens Arena Arc: Gon and Killua.
137** The Phantom Troupe Arc: Gon, Killua, Kurapica, and Leorio (again).
138** The Greed Island Arc: Gon, Killua, and Biscuit.
139** The Chimera Ants Arc: Gon, Killua, Kite [[spoiler: (who gets killed off early on)]], Knov and Morel's teams, and Chairmen Netero; with Meruem as a VillainProtagonist.
140** Chairmen Election Arc: Killua, Alluka/Nanika, Leorio, and the Zoldyck family butlers for the Alluka storyline, and the Zodiac Twelve for the election storyline.
141** The Dark Continent Arc: Kurapika, Leorio, Ging and the Zodiac Twelve.
142* ''Series/CanadasWorstDriver'' has a new batch of contestants every year, which means [[Administrivia/PeopleSitOnChairs they don't count.]] The panel of experts, however, do. The current crop -- Cam Woolley, Philippe Létourneau, Shyamala Kiru, and Tim Danter -- have been around since Season 8. They are the only ones -- out of 14 experts -- to have been around for more than three seasons. Of the others, Peter Mellor, Dr. Louisa Gemboura, and Scott Marshall were the only ones to last more than ''one'' season (three for each).
143* The Starz ''[[Series/SpartacusBloodAndSand Spartacus]]'' series: due to the [[AnyoneCanDie extreme frequency of character death]], the only actor to appear regularly in all four seasons is Creator/ManuBennett as Crixus. Two other major characters appear start-to-finish, but [[TheOtherDarrin with different actors]].
144* Danish kids' show ''Klassen'' - which is about the day-to-day life of a bunch of six graders - has gradually replaced its cast from season 1 to season 3, the point that none of the original actors appear in season 3. In season 2, a bunch of new characters are added, and while most of the season 1 characters still have a role, they are generally DemotedToExtra. In season 3, all of the season 1 characters have been written out, yet another bunch of new characters have appeared, and the season 2 characters have been demoted. The RealLife reason for the cast replacement is that the producers only want kids in the age range of 11 to 14 to portray sixth graders (and most of the season 1 actors are 14 to 15 by now), but in-universe no reason for the replacement is given, and it comes off as very weird given that the characters are all supposed to be in the same class.
145* Unlike other Series/{{Arrowverse}} series, which have a core cast of characters, ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' swaps heroes in and out on a regular basis -- characters often disappear for a season before returning as regulars. Guest appearances of former main cast members tend to be the rule, rather than the exception. Main characters are added and removed at any time during the season, suggesting that the series showcases DC characters by design. As of Season 7, the only actors that have been on the show from the start are Creator/CaityLotz (Sara Lance/White Canary) and Creator/AmyPemberton (Gideon, the Waverider's sentient AI), the latter of whom mostly does voice acting. By that point, all the main characters from the first three seasons bar those two have left.
146* ''Series/{{Community}}'' is a relatively mild example, having lost three actors (Chevy Chase, Donald Glover, and Yvette Nicole Brown) from the original seven-member study group. The show brought in Jonathan Banks to fill in the core cast for the fifth season, and Keith David and Paget Brewster for its sixth and final season.
147* The US version of ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'' has always had its fourth cast member be one of a rotating cast of regulars (like Creator/GregProops, Chip Esten, and Brad Sherwood) and the occasional special guest (like Creator/WhoopiGoldberg and Creator/RobinWilliams)
148* ''Series/{{Vikings}}'' has a high character turnover due to taking place over several decades of deadly intrigue and war. By the end of season 5, only [[spoiler:two]] characters who appear in season one ([[spoiler:Lagertha and Bjorn]]) are still a part of the story, and one of those is a TimeShiftedActor.
149* While roughly one-third of ''Series/{{Alias}}''' cast of regulars remained throughout all of the show's five seasons, this still left almost a dozen other actors with shorter stints. Lena Olin, Melissa George, Mia Maestro, Rachel Nichols, Balthazar Getty, Elodie Bouchez, and Amy Acker all lasted one season or less, while Bradley Cooper, Merrin Dungey, David Anders, and Greg Grunberg lasted two.
150* ''Series/{{Reign}}'''s status a historical drama with very fluid directions and foci made for this; the show lasted only four seasons, but of a total of twenty regular cast members, only three made it all the way from start to finish.
151* Soap opera ''Series/SantaBarbara'' was an infamous example of this, nearly every character having had at least two actors portraying them. By the end of its run, only one actress had remained for its entirety without changing actress, and she hadn't even appeared during all its years!
152* The original ''Series/OneDayAtATime1975'' had three billed regulars make it from the beginning to the end of its 9-season run. However, other cast members disappeared and appeared pretty frequently for what was essentially a family sitcom. The show starts out with Ann, her daughters Julie and Barbara, Ann's boyfriend David, and building superintendent Schneider. David exits after season 1, and neighbor Ginny enters in Season 2. By Season 3, Ginny is gone. The cast remains small and stable for Seasons 3 and 4: Ann, her daughters, and Schneider. In tumultuous Season 5, Max joins the cast as Julie's husband, but Julie exits the same year, with Max following soon after. Ann's boyfriend Nick is added in Season 6, along with his son Alex, but by Season 7, Nick has been killed off, leaving Alex in Ann's care; Julie and Max begin recurring again and Ann's frenemy Francine gets occasional opening billing. For Season 8, Barbara's husband Mark has been added to the title sequence, as well as Ann's mother, Katherine. In the final season, Alex leaves, and Ann marries Sam, who is added to the opening credits. Julie once again leaves the show (although Max remains).
153* A non-television example: UsefulNotes/MonsterJam has had this happen a lot with the drivers of the trucks. One example is Monster Mutt, whose driver seems to change every year.
154* The original version of ''Series/{{Survivors}}'' was only on the air for three seasons, and only actress Creator/LucyFleming lasted through the entire run. This came about partly due to behind-the-scenes [[TroubledProduction turmoil]], and the series being a post-apocalyptic AnyoneCanDie scenario.
155* ''Series/{{Glee}}'', taking place in a high school, saw many students come and go. Only Rachel, Will, Sue and Artie were main characters for the entire 6-season run. While supporting characters were introduced and dispatched with reckless abandon, just among the main cast:
156** Season 1: The initial cast consists of students Rachel, Finn, Mercedes, Kurt, Tina, Artie, Quinn, and Puck; teachers Will, Emma and Sue, and Will's wife Terri.
157** Season 2: Students Brittany and Santana join the main cast, as does Kurt's father Burt.
158** Season 3: Recurring students Mike and Blaine are promoted to main cast, while Terri departs after being OutOfFocus for most of the previous season and Burt returns to being a recurring character.
159** Season 4: In a major shake-up, most of the main characters graduate, with some of their post-high school lives being followed and some not. Despite this, there are only a few major cast changes; Quinn and Emma are reduced to supporting cast, and Sam joins the main cast after being a FakeGuestStar in seasons 2 and 3.
160** Season 5: After being [[FakeGuestStar Fake Guest Stars]] throughout season 4, Jake, Marley, Unique, Ryder and Kitty are added to the main cast, while Mike, Puck, Mercedes, and Brittany, all of whom besides the latter had been OutOfFocus the previous year, left the main cast, as did Finn, whose portrayer [[DiedDuringProduction passed away.]]
161** Season 6: Jake, Marley, Unique, Ryder and Kitty are out, as are Santana and Tina. Mercedes joins the main cast again, as does Coach Beiste, who had been a major recurring character since season 2.
162* ''Series/H2OJustAddWater'' and ''Series/MakoMermaidsAnH2OAdventure'':
163** ''Just Add Water'' doesn't fall victim too extremely:
164*** Season 1 stars mermaids Rikki, Emma, and Cleo, plus Cleo's boyfriend Lewis.
165*** Season 2: The main cast of four remains, but numerous supporting characters from Season 1 are inexplicably never seen again, including mentor Miss Chatham, mean girls Miriam and Tiffany, Emma's love interest Byron, Zane's dad, and the only character whose disappearance is explained, Cleo's mum.
166*** Season 3: Emma's actress is unable to return, replacing her with new mermaid Bella, and Bella's love interest Will is made a new main cast member right away, replacing Emma's second love interest Ash; the only other regular character to vanish is local hangout owner Wilfred, with Rikki and Zane taking over his shop. Lewis has to depart halfway through Season 3 but comes BackForTheFinale.
167** ''Mako Mermaids'', however, has to replace mermaids far more often, with the entire original trio being PutOnABus over the course of the series resulting in a completely different trio at the end. Zac, Evie, and the entire supporting cast last all three seasons.
168*** Season 1 stars Lyla, Nixie, and Sirena, featuring Zac.
169*** Season 2: Lyla and Nixie are replaced by Mimmi and Ondina; Evie is PromotedToOpeningTitles and Erik debuts [[spoiler:but has a FaceHeelTurn at the end of the season and does not return for the third]].
170*** Season 3: Sirena is replaced by Weilan.
171[[/folder]]

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