Predecessor Casting Gag

"These are my boys!"

— Charles Martinet (Mario's longest-running voice actor in the video games) as Mario's father, proudly looking at his sons (played by Chris Pratt and Charlie Day) in The Super Mario Bros. Movie

A fairly common Casting Gag closely related to the Remake Cameo. This is when an actor from one iteration of a series is brought back to play their previous character's In-Universe predecessor in a remake or adaptation.

The most common form of this is for them to play their original character's parent in the remake. The one who metaphorically "birthed" the role thus gets to be the literal parent of the character.

It's a nice way for remakes to acknowledge an actor's contribution to their character and the franchise as a whole especially in the case of a lead character. Otherwise it's just a fun bit of trivia for the fans to look out for.

The other form this takes is for them to be someone who can look at their original character and still say "I paved the way for you" or "I've been in your shoes." The Mentor, a legacy predecessor, or maybe an older or retired person in the same line of work. This way they get to metaphorically pass the baton from one acting generation to the next.

Occasionally the predecessor character is actually invented for the remake for this purpose. In the original, the lead may have had their parents perpetually offscreen, or just never needed the pep talk scene from some other old head.

This trope is more about adaptations, reboots, or other "multi-versal" equivalents. Compare Significant Double Casting and Acting for Two when an actor plays two characters in the same work (that may or may not be relatives). See also Identical Grandson when two or more family members share the same appearance and possibly actor within the same work. Also not to be confused with actors playing against and reprising roles of their Real Life family members. See also Remake Cameo for any members of the original cast joining any role at all in a remake.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• In the English dub of Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, Aaron Dismuke portrayed a young Hohenheim, having previously played Hohenheim's son Alphonse in Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) (he was unable to reprise his original role due to having gone through puberty).
• Ghost in the Shell: Arise: Mary Elizabeth McGlynn has been the voice of Motoko Kusanagi for the entirety of the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex continuity. The announcement of Arise as a new installment in the franchise was a big thing back in 2013, so Mary flew to Funimation in Texas to audition for the lead role again. Arise would end up following the Japanese dub's own precedent of using a new cast for the characters because it was an Alternate Continuity from everything else, so Mary was cast in the role of Kurutsu, who served as Motoko's commanding officer within the JGSDF and ultimately the Big Bad of the entire storyline.
• In the anime reboot of Urusei Yatsura, Ataru's father and Lum's mother are voiced by the original voice actors of Ataru and Lum themselves from the 80s anime.
• Tokyo Mew Mew New, has Ichigo and Bu-Ling's mothers played by their respective voice actors, Saki Nakajima and Hisayo Mochizuki, from the original 2002 Tokyo Mew Mew anime.
• 2024's anime adaptation of Kinnikuman manga's Perfect Origin Arc sees the voice of the titular character from the original anime, Akira Kamiya voicing Kinnikuman's father King Mayumi, in addition to the character's old mentor Prince Kamehame.

Comic Books

• In a cross between this and Comic-Book Fantasy Casting, the parents of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (Boom! Studios) are drawn to resemble the original actors from the show. Billy's dad looks like David Yost, Kimberly's mom looks like Amy Jo Johnson , etc.

Films — Animation

• The Super Mario Bros. Movie: Charles Martinet, who usually voices Mario, Luigi, and most of the named male Super Mario characters in the video games, appears as Mario and Luigi's father among other roles in the movie.

Films — Live-Action

• Batman (1989): In an interview, Tim Burton said there were plans to have Adam West, who played Bruce Wayne in the 1960s, as Thomas Wayne, Bruce's father. In a separate interview, West said he was never contacted, implying this idea didn't get very far (West also said if they did offer him, he probably would have refused). That said, he did finally get to be Thomas Wayne in an animated adaptation decades later. See below.
• Judd Nelson played Joe Hunt in the 1987 TV movie Billionaire Boys Club. When the 2018 film rolled around, Nelson played Joe's father Ryan.
• The Brady Bunch Movie: Several members of the original cast have cameo roles:
  • Christopher Knight, the original Peter, plays Peter's gym coach who stops him from getting bullied in the lunch room.
  • Subverted with Barry Williams, the original Greg. He plays a record producer whom Greg visits to pursue his dreams of pop stardom...and tells Greg that the music he writes is terrible and he shouldn't bother.
  • Florence Henderson, the original Carol, appears at the end of the movie as Carol's mother.
• Enchanted is an Affectionate Parody of the Disney Princess movies, and features three of the princess actresses in small roles; Jodi Benson (the voice of Ariel) plays Robert's secretary Sam, with a fish tank in her office and the only one to meet Giselle in person. Paige O'Hara, the voice of Belle, appears in a Soap Within a Show, with the theme resembling "Beauty & the Beast". Finally, Judy Kuhn, who was the singing voice of Pocahontas, cameos as someone who answers the door to Edward while he's looking for Giselle.
• In the 1997 movie adaptation of Leave It to Beaver, Ken Osmond, who played Eddie Haskell in the original 50's show, appears as Eddie's father.
• Man of Steel: In the European French dub, Superman's biological father Jor-El is voiced by Emmanuel Jacomy. He voiced Superman himself in the French dub of the DC Animated Universe, a few video games, and several other animated adaptations such as many of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies.
• Maverick: Bret Maverick is frequently accompanied by Marshal Cooper, played by James Garner, who was Bret Maverick in the original series. At the end of the movie, we find out that Cooper is actually Maverick's father.
• In the 2012 film version of Les Misérables, Colm Wilkinson, the original stage actor who played Jean Valjean, appears as the Bishop who gives the film's version of Valjean his second chance at life by refusing to turn him in for theft and allowing him to leave with the valuables. While not a direct parental figure, his merciful actions are shown to be a constant guiding influence on the rest of Valjean's life and the Bishop appears as a spirit along with Fantine to welcome Valjean into heaven at the end of the film.
• The Parent Trap (1998): A rare villainous version. Meredith, the Gold Digger fiancé to the twins' father, invites her parents to the hotel they're all staying at. Meredith's mother "Vicki" is played by Joanna Barnes, who played Vicky, the Gold Digger fiancé to the twins' father in the original 1961 version.
• Pinocchio (2019): Geppetto, Pinocchio's creator and father figure, is portrayed by Roberto Benigni, who had previously played Pinocchio himself 17 years ago.
• Planet of the Apes (2001): Zaius, father of the villain General Thade, is portrayed by Charlton Heston, who played the protagonist of the original film adaptation. Zaius even gets to echo the last lines of the previous film.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows: In a deleted scene, April (played by Megan Fox), a street-level reporter is called in to meet with the head of the network Rita, played by Judith Hoag who played April herself in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990). Further Rita offers April an anchor desk, which is what Judith's April was vying for in her time. And even drops a not-so-subtle "we're basically the same person" as she's trying to appeal to Megan's April.
• Star Trek (2009): Subverted. Leonard Nimoy reprises his role as Spock but is an elderly version from an alternate universe (that is, the universe we know from Star Trek: The Original Series). He serves as a mentor to Zachary Quinto's younger version of Spock in the film and its sequel until he died offscreen in Star Trek Beyond as a direct result of Nimoy's death in 2016. The film would be dedicated in his memory alongside Anton Yelchin, who played Chekov in the Kelvin timeline films.
• Superman: The Movie: Lois Lane's mother Ella Lane is portrayed by Noel Neill, who portrayed Lois herself in the Kirk Alyn serials and The Adventures of Superman.
• West Side Story (2021): Rita Moreno, who played Anita in the 1961 original, has a role as a new character Valentina, the widow of Doc. She then is the one who saves Anita from her attempted rape at the hands of the Jets towards the end.
• Wonder Woman 1984: Diana tells the story of Asteria, said to be the greatest Amazon warrior who ever lived, the one who originally wore the armor Diana wears in the final battle and allowed the Amazons to escape the world of man. In The Stinger, Asteria is revealed to be still alive, helping the world of man from the shadows, like Diana, for centuries. And who plays her? Lynda Carter, of course.

Live-Action TV

• The Boys: Meta example in the original comics, the character of Hughie was deliberately based on actor Simon Pegg. When the TV series was made, Jack Quaid was cast as Hughie, with Pegg playing Hughie's father.
• The Flash (2014): Barry Allen is played by Grant Gustin. Barry's father, Henry Allen, is played by John Wesley Shipp, the actor who played Barry Allen in The Flash (1990). Shipp also plays Jay Garrick, the Flash from an alternate Earth (and Henry Allen's doppelgänger on that Earth), who acts as a mentor to Barry in a few episodes, getting both a role reprise and a mentor role.
• The Last of Us (2023): Ashley Johnson, the original Ellie, plays Ellie's mother in a flashback scene unique to the adaptation that shows her literally giving birth to Ellie.
• The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson: Craig talked about this trope after The A-Team disappointed at the box office.
  Craig Ferguson: The movie had one flaw that it just couldn't overcome. MR. T WAS NOT IN IT! I know he's too old to play the same character, but they couldn't bring him in for one scene to play the new guy's dad?
• The Railway Children: Jenny Agutter, who had played Bobbie in the famous 1970 adaptation, starred in a 2000 Made-for-TV Movie now playing Mother.
• Only Murders in the Building: An In-Universe example. Charles-Haden Savage, Jr. is an old actor still recognized for his role in a detective show, "Brazzos". He eventually gets a call from his agent with a proposal for a "Brazzos" revival show but Savage is not exactly happy at hearing that the revival would focus on a Spin-Offspring and he is being offered to appear as the younger Brazzos' uncle.
• Smallville:
  • Christopher Reeve, who is considered to have delivered the definitive portrayal of Superman, appears as Dr. Virgil Swann, a Stephen Hawking -like character who mentors Clark Kent (Tom Welling) on his Kryptonian origins.
  • Lois Lane's mother Ella is played by Teri Hatcher, who also played Lois in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.
  • Lara El, Clark's birth mother and Kara Zor-El's aunt, is played by Helen Slater, who played Kara Zor-El in Supergirl (1984).
• Supergirl (2015):
  • Kara's adoptive mother Eliza Danvers is played by Helen Slater, who played Kara in Supergirl (1984). Alex, Eliza's biological daughter, even notes how her mom ironically looks more like Kara than like her. On a lesser note, her adoptive father is played by Dean Cain, who had previously played Supergirl's cousin Superman in Lois & Clark.
  • Carl Lumbly, the longtime voice of Martian Manhunter in the DC Animated Universe, plays Martian Manhunter's father, M'yrnn J'onzz.
  • Jon Cryer, who previously played Lenny Luthor in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, plays Lenny's uncle Lex Luthor.
  • Laura Vandervoot, who played Supergirl on Smallville, appears in three episodes now playing Indigo.
• Wednesday: Christina Ricci played Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family and Addams Family Values. Here, she plays Marilyn Thornhill, Wednesday's botany teacher. This doubles as a way to distract from her eventually-revealed role as the Big Bad.
  • Another Addams Family example: In The New Addams Family, John Astin plays Gomez' father, having played Gomez himself in the '60s series.
• Zorro (1990): Don Diego's father, Don Alejandro, is played by Henry Darrow from season 2 onwards. Darrow previously voiced the character of Don Diego in the animated series The New Adventures of Zorro (1981), and played Don Diego in the short-lived series Zorro and Son in 1983.

Theater

• The 2012 Central Park production of Into the Woods featured Chip Zien, who created the role of the Baker, as the Baker's father, the Mysterious Man.
• In 2013 there was a run of Pippin on Broadway where John Rubinstein, the actor who originally played the lead character Pippin in the 1972 production, now played his father King Charlemagne.
  • Additionally, Priscilla Lopez played Pippin's mother in the original production and his grandmother in the revival.
• Lee Wilkof, the original Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors, played Seymour's father figure Mr. Mushnik in a 2003 production and again in a 2018 production.
• Judy Kuhn played Cosette in the original Broadway production of Les Misérables, and later played Cosette's mother Fantine in a 2006 revival.

Western Animation

• Batman
  • Batman: The Animated Series: Downplayed. In "Beware the Gray Ghost", the titular television hero who inspired a child Bruce to become Batman was voiced by Adam West, the first actor to play Batman on television in the 1966 series.
  • Batman: The Brave and the Bold: In the episode "Chill of the Night!" Batman is given the opportunity to travel back in time and meet his parents on the night of their murder. His father Thomas Wayne is voiced by Adam West who played Bruce Wayne in Batman (1966). Since they are at a Masquerade ball, Thomas is dressed in a costume reminiscent of Batman's earliest comic appearances, which Batman thinks must have inspired his own costume. Later in the scene, the ball is attacked by thieves, and Batman and Thomas work together to defeat them by throwing cutlery like batrangs. Thomas also calls Batman "Old Chum", which is what Adam West's version of Batman would call Robin.
  • The episode "The Super-Batman of Planet X!" has Kevin Conroy playing the Batman of the planet Zurr-En-Arrh. After Earth's Batman gets a little too comfortable with having superpowers, Zurr-En-Arrh's Batman helps him rediscover the advantages of being a Badass Normal.
  • The Batman features Adam West as the mayor of Gotham City for the first two seasons.
• In the 2019 Carmen Sandiego series, while escaping V.I.L.E. Island, Carmen has an encounter in the second episode with V.I.L.E.'s bookkeeper, voiced by Rita Moreno, who voices Carmen in the 1990s series. Carmen even steals her trademark outfit from the woman.
• Dora, the 2024 reboot of Dora the Explorer, features Dora's mother voiced by Kathleen Herles, who previously voiced the titular character in the first four seasons of the original series.
• DuckTales (2017):
  • In "Last Christmas!", a Time Travel episode, the child version of Donald Duck is voiced by Russi Taylor, who voiced Donald's nephews in the original DuckTales (and in a number of other works). Sadly, when she passed away in 2019 before Young Donald's planned second appearance in "The First Adventure!", the role was recast.
  • Played with. Jim Starling, an actor known In-Universe for playing Darkwing Duck on television, is played by Jim Cummings, the original Drake Mallard/Darkwing Duck from the Darkwing Duck cartoon. In "The Duck Knight Returns!", this universe's Drake Mallard is revealed to be an Ascended Fanboy of Starling's Darkwing, Taking Up the Mantle of Darkwing first in a Darker and Edgier reboot of the In-Universe series, and then as an actual superhero, more in the vein of the real world series.
• The Legend of Vox Machina: Meta example. According to Marisha Ray, Keyleth's elemental Ashari powers in Critical Role were heavily inspired by the Avatar from Avatar: The Last Airbender. In a flashback in "Pass Through Fire", Keyleth's mother Vilya is voiced by Janet Varney, the voice of Avatar Korra.
• Sabrina: The Animated Series: In this Animated Adaptation, Sabrina's aunts Hilda and Zelda are voiced by Melissa Joan Hart, the actress who played Sabrina herself in the original sitcom Sabrina the Teenage Witch. To a lesser extent, Sabrina was now voiced by Emily Hart, who had played Amanda in the sitcom. This version of Sabrina is a preteen and has had magic since childhood, just like Amanda.
• Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated: Shaggy's father Colton was played by Casey Kasem, the original voice of Shaggy for 35 years ^note (1969-1997; 2002-2009). This ended up being his final acting role.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012):
  • Season 3 has Renee Jacobs, the actress who voiced April in the original series, voicing April's mother.
  • Minae Noji, who played Karai in the 2014 film plays Tang Shen, Master Yoshi's wife who in this version is also Karai's mother.
• Transformers: Animated was planned to feature a human character voiced by Peter Cullen, the original Optimus Prime voice, who would teach this series's version of Prime about good leadership skills. That idea never came into fruition, however.
• ThunderCats:
  • ThunderCats (2011) has Larry Kenney, the original voice of Lion-O in the 1985 series as the voice of Claudus, Lion-O's father. He's even given one chance to show off how to properly use the Sword of Omens.
  • Thundercats Roar has Larry Kenney again this time voicing The Mentor Jaga.
• Young Justice:
  • Cyborg's father is voiced by Khary Payton, who is arguably considered the definitive Cyborg voice thanks to his work on Teen Titans and other DC productions. The crew seemed to go out of its way to point out the fact that Payton is not voicing Cyborg, who is instead voiced by Zeno Robinson. Additionally, Payton voices Ron Evers, who in the comics became an Evil Counterpart of Cyborg, but here is his classmate who yells Cyborg's Character Catchphrase "Booyah!" a lot.
  • Further, there was a whole team predecessor gag when Beast Boy has a dream sequence about his former team the Doom Patrol. Their members are voiced by the cast of Teen Titans, who were Beast Boy's current team in that continuity.
  • Miss Martian's father is voiced by Carl Lumbly, who famously voiced her uncle Martian Manhunter in Justice League, the lead martian hero in a show that instead starred the adult heroes.

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