History Main / LongRunnerCastTurnover

* On an international level, Teemu Selänne played in 6 Winter Olympics from 1992 to 2014 (equaling compatriot Raimo Helminen, who played his last 3 tournaments as Selänne's teammate), winning one silver and four bronzes for Finland. Among the seven players who went to 5 Olympics, only three won medals, two Finns (Jere Lehtinen - 1994-2010 - and Kimmo Timonen - 1998-2014) and the great Czech Jaromír Jágr, who not only won a Gold in 1998 but managed to appear in the annual World Championship (which he won in 2005 and 2006) in both 1994 and 2015, ''at 43'' in the latter.

* As of the start of season 16, only two of the original six cast members of ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' are still on the show. The original cast was Creator/MarkHarmon (Gibbs), Creator/MichaelWeatherly ([=DiNozzo=]), Creator/SashaAlexander (Kate Todd), Creator/DavidMcCallum (Ducky), Creator/PaulyPerette (Abby), and Creator/AlanDale (Director Morrow). At the beginning of season 2, Creator/SeanMurray ([=McGee=]) was promoted from repeat guest star to the main cast and Creator/BrianDietzen (Palmer) was added as a secondary cast member (eventually getting promoted to main cast status). At the end of season 2, Alexander's character was killed off and Dale's character was written out (occasionally returning as a guest star), and they were replaced by Creator/CoteDePablo (Ziva David) and Creator/LaurenHolly (Director Shepherd). Holly's character was killed off at the end of season 5 and was replaced by Creator/RockyCarroll (Director Vance). This cast held steady until the beginning of season 11 when de Pablo left the show, being replaced by Creator/EmilyWickersham (Ellie Bishop). Then Weatherly left the show at the end of season 13, being replaced by Creator/JenniferEsposito (Alex Quinn) and Creator/WilmerValderrama (Nick Torres); later that season, Creator/DuaneHenry (Clayton Reeves) was promoted to the main cast. Esposito's character only lasted one season, being replaced at the start of season 15 by Creator/MariaBello (Jacqueline "Jack" Sloane), and Perrette and Henry left at the end of that season, with Perrette being replaced by Creator/DionaReasonover (Kasie Hines). Bello and Wickersham left at different points in season 18, with Wikersham being replaced by Katrina Law (Jessica Knight). Harmon left in season 19, replaced by Gary Cole (Alden Parker). And that's not counting the turnover in important recurring characters who have not appeared in the opening credits (Joe Spano's Tobias Fornell has literally been around since episode 1, but a lot of other characters have disappeared or been killed off over the years). Given that Ducky, the last member of the original cast, spent much of season 15 and at least part of season 16 on sabbatical teaching and writing his memoirs, followed by retiring from his original position to take a part-time job that doesn't require him to appear in every episode, it's quite possible that David [=McCallum=] is transitioning towards retirement (his first big role was [[Series/TheManFromUncle in the 60s]], after all), though as of season 20 he's still officially on the cast.

* Once ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' became the property of [=DePatie=]-Freleng in late 1964, many of the mainstays like Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Foghorn Leghorn, Tweety Bird, Yosemite Sam and Pepe Le Pew were dropped. By 1966, Porky Pig, Sylvester and Granny were gone too, and would be joined by Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner before 1967. At this point, only Daffy Duck and Speedy Gonzales remained, whom would make their final appearance in 1968, roughly one year before the end of the Golden Age series. In their place were characters like Cool Cat, Colonel Rimfire, Merlin the Magic Mouse and Second Banana.

* In ''[[Series/{{Degrassi}} Degrassi: The Next Generation]]'', the cast has changed once since the show started in 2001 (not including Archie "Snake" Simpson):

** ''DegrassiNextClass'' marks the third time the cast turned over and barring Principal Simpson, no character has any link to the original 2001 cast.

* Long-lasting space-rock band Music/{{Hawkwind}} have been around for maybe forty years now and in that time have seen over ''fifty'' musicians come and go from the band; the only constant presence has been founder Dave Brock.

** Argentina lost the 2014 final and won in 2022, with only [[TheAce Lionel Messi]] and Ángel Di Maria being in both teams.

* The New England Patriots' 2001-04 and 2014-18 title runs shared only three people: coach Bill Belichick, quarterback Tom Brady, and defensive lineman Vince Wilfork. [[note]]Wilfork was present only from 2004-14, and not the Super Bowls before or after.[[/note]] In general, the dynasty, owing to its longevity, can be split into a number of groups:

* ''Series/SesameStreet'': Much of the cast has rolled over many times, with the exceptions of Caroll Spinney (Big Bird and Oscar), Bob [=McGrath=] (Bob), Loretta Long (Susan) and very occasionally Creator/FrankOz (Bert, Cookie Monster and Grover), who have been there since Day 1 in 1969, although appearances for [=McGrath=] and Long have become more infrequent since the mid- to late-2000s, and Oz's characters are almost always played by different performers. Spinney is also becoming less active, as his characters are now puppeteered by different people while he voices them, and occasionally they provide the voices themselves (which will now be done full time given Spinney's retirement in 2018 and then death in 2019). Aside from them, Emilio Delgado (Luis) and Roscoe Orman (Gordon) are by far the longest-tenured actors at 40 or more years.

** ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'''s cast and crew turnover is as legendary as its peak-and-valley history. In fact, the near-constant changing of cast members and writers ''is'' the reason why this show's quality shifts, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse.

* While [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_players_who_have_appeared_in_multiple_FIFA_World_Cups many footballers managed to appear in at least four]] editions of UsefulNotes/TheWorldCup, a few are standout cases.

* For a case where the gap is due to World War II, the only players to appear in the 1938 and 1950 tournaments were Erik Nilsson of Sweden (who ironically lost to Brazil in both tournaments) and Alfred Bickel of Switzerland.

* The Detroit Red Wings had a mini-dynasty with four UsefulNotes/StanleyCup titles, only two consecutive (1997-98, 2002 and 2008), to the point the last had a different coach. Five guys remained in all championships (Nicklas Lidström, Kris Draper, Kirk Maltby, Darren [=McCarty=], and Tomas Holmström), while Chris Osgood was absent from the third one. [=McCarty=] had left the team in 2005, returning in time for the 2008 Cup run. Those Cup wins came amidst a streak of 25 consecutive seasons in the playoffs[[note]]over a 26-year period due to the cancellation of the 2004-05 NHL season over a labor dispute[[/note]]. Steve Yzerman was the only Red Wing who had remained with the team from the last team that had missed the playoffs in 1990 to win the Cup in 1997[[note]]Joe Kocur had also been on the 1990 team, but had been traded away during the 1990-91 season and was in semi-retirement when he returned to the Wings in 1996[[/note]]. Six players from the 2017 roster that ended the streak, remained from the 2008 Cup win, and none of them were on the earlier Cup winners (Henrik Zetterberg, Justin Abdelkader, Jimmy Howard, Darren Helm, Niklas Kronwall, and Jonathan Ericsson).

* As of the start of season 16, only two of the original six cast members of ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' are still on the show. The original cast was Creator/MarkHarmon (Gibbs), Creator/MichaelWeatherly ([=DiNozzo=]), Creator/SashaAlexander (Kate Todd), Creator/DavidMcCallum (Ducky), Creator/PaulyPerette (Abby), and Creator/AlanDale (Director Morrow). At the beginning of season 2, Creator/SeanMurray ([=McGee=]) was promoted from repeat guest star to the main cast and Creator/BrianDietzen (Palmer) was added as a secondary cast member (eventually getting promoted to main cast status). At the end of season 2, Alexander's character was killed off and Dale's character was written out (occasionally returning as a guest star), and they were replaced by Creator/CoteDePablo (Ziva David) and Creator/LaurenHolly (Director Shepherd). Holly's character was killed off at the end of season 5 and was replaced by Creator/RockyCarroll (Director Vance). This cast held steady until the beginning of season 11 when de Pablo left the show, being replaced by Creator/EmilyWickersham (Ellie Bishop). Then Weatherly left the show at the end of season 13, being replaced by Creator/JenniferEsposito (Alex Quinn) and Creator/WilmerValderrama (Nick Torres); later that season, Creator/DuaneHenry (Clayton Reeves) was promoted to the main cast. Esposito's character only lasted one season, being replaced at the start of season 15 by Creator/MariaBello (Jacqueline "Jack" Sloane), and Perrette and Henry left at the end of that season, with Perrette being replaced by Creator/DionaReasonover (Kasie Hines). Bello and Wickersham left at different points in season 18, and Harmon left in season 19. And that's not counting the turnover in important recurring characters who have not appeared in the opening credits (Joe Spano's Tobias Fornell has literally been around since episode 1, but a lot of other characters have disappeared or been killed off over the years). Given that Ducky, the last member of the original cast, spent much of season 15 and at least part of season 16 on sabbatical teaching and writing his memoirs, followed by retiring from his original position to take a part-time job that doesn't require him to appear in every episode, it's quite possible that David [=McCallum=] is transitioning towards retirement (his first big role was [[Series/TheManFromUncle in the 60s]], after all), though he hadn't officially left the show yet when Harmon did.

* ''Series/KnotsLanding'': Michele Lee (Karen) and Ted Shackelford (Gary) were the only actors who were regular cast members for all fourteen seasons, though Joan Van Ark (Valene) was a regular for the first thirteen and returned for the {{Series Finale}}. Lee was the only actor to appear in all 344 episodes.

[[folder:Film]]

* The eighth season of ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987'' did away with Irma, Casey Jones, Mondo Gecko, the Punk Frogs, the Neutrinos, Leatherhead, Baxter, Groundchuck, and Dirtbag, in favor of new characters like Titanus. The ninth season eliminated the newbies from season 8 as well as the Rat King, replaced Shredder and Krang with Dregg, and Bebop and Rocksteady with Hi-Tech. April was replaced with Carter. In the tenth season, April came back to replace Carter while Hi-Tech was replaced with Mung.

* Only three regulars of ''Series/NightCourt'' made it all the way through the show's nine-year run: Creator/HarryAnderson as Judge Harry Stone, Richard Moll as Bull the bailiff, and Creator/JohnLarroquette as prosecutor Dan Fielding. Three different actresses filled the role of the second bailiff (as different characters). Karen Austin, who played the court clerk and was Judge Stone's original love interest, left before the first season was over and was eventually replaced by Charles Robinson as Mac. Four different actresses played public defenders--Gail Strickland in the pilot, Paula Kelly for the rest of Season 1, Ellen Foley for Season 2, and Creator/MarkiePost for the rest of the series' run.

* Only James Arness and Milburn Stone lasted through all twenty seasons of ''Series/{{Gunsmoke}}''.

* ''Series/{{Malhacao}}'': a Brazilian series that premiered in 1995... and remains on the air until today, having already had 27 seasons and counting! Until 2010, despite the changes in locations and the tradition of each season having a different protagonist couple, the series still tried to maintain a considerable amount of supporting characters each season. After that year, the producers finally decided to turn the series into an anthology with locations and different characters each season. Therefore, there is not a single character from the first seasons currently in the series.

* Theatre/{{Tsukipro}}, with 30+ stage plays over 5 series, has reached this level. The original 8 members of the ''Theatre/{{SQS}}'' cast have stayed together for 8 plays, if you count their guest appearance in ''Theatre/TsukinoEmpire: Unleash Your Mind''. As of the end of 2021, Haru, Arata, and Iku have all been played by three different actors. On the other hand, after ''Ura-Theatre/{{Zanshin}}'' in March 2022, Sato Yuusaku will have played Rui in fifteen different plays over six years.

* Only two cast members from Season 1 of ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' remain on the show as of Season 10 -- neither of whom were part of the main cast to begin with but were promoted to regulars in Season 2. Though the turnover is partly due to the AnyoneCanDie nature of the show, a few other longtime cast members, such as original lead Creator/AndrewLincoln, have had their characters PutOnABus with the door open to return in the future.

* ''Series/SesameStreet'': Much of the cast has rolled over many times, with the exceptions of Caroll Spinney (Big Bird and Oscar), Bob [=McGrath=] (Bob), Loretta Long (Susan) and very occasionally Creator/FrankOz (Bert, Cookie Monster and Grover), who have been there since Day 1 in 1969, although appearances for [=McGrath=] and Long have become less frequent since the mid- to late-2000s, and Oz's characters are almost always played by different performers. Spinney is also becoming less active, as his characters are now puppeteered by different people while he voices them, and occasionally they provide the voices themselves (which will now be done full time given Spinney's retirement and then death in 2018). Aside from them, Emilio Delgado (Luis) and Rosco Orman (Gordon) are by far the longest-tenured actors at 40 or more years.

* In addition to {{The Other Darrin}}s taking over in its English dub after 8 production years, the ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' Anime characters ''themselves'' qualify: outside of Ash, Pikachu, and [[TerribleTrio Team Rocket]], only Brock has been a co-star in multiple series and even he is currently relegated to TheCameo and/or [[LowerDeckEpisode Gaiden episodes]]. Ash's mother and Professor Oak are the only other exceptions,[[note]][[InexplicablyIdenticalIndividuals Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny]] don't count,[[/note]] and they usually only show up at the beginning and/or end of each series.[[note]]Alola represents a marked increase in [[MyBelovedSmother Delia's]] involvement in the series, though, again, she has only a few more appearances in that series than [[ContinuityCameo Brock & Misty]].[[/note]]

Hail to the LongRunner, the show that stands the test of time. But not all Long Runners pass that test unscathed. Actors die, [[RoleEndingMisdemeanor or get fired]], or [[MoneyDearBoy lose a contract dispute]], or retire, or simply don't want to play the same role for the rest of their foreseeable career, or are concerned about being TypeCast, or don't want to deal with the costars of that series anymore. But creators and executives don't want to let their CashCowFranchise or treasured premise go so easily. Alternately, often the inverse is true and shows often become Long-Runners due to allowing cast turn over. So the show continues with replacement cast members...and so occasionally you get shows where the show's main cast is completely different from the original. There's also the numerous cases of animated series whose dubbing cast changes due to a ChannelHop or an [[NoExportForYou export-stoppage]] being [[UnCanceled overturned]]. Nearly all of the above can apply to characters in Literature and other works without human actors if the series spans enough time InUniverse and/or [[AnyoneCanDie has a high turnover]].

See also RevolvingDoorCasting for shows that have a high cast turnover '''without''' running for a very long time. The RevolvingDoorBand is the music equivalent of this trope.

* ''Series/LawAndOrder'' ended with a completely different cast than when it started. The first major cast departure happened at the end of season one. The series lost its last original cast member at the end of its tenth season when Steven Hill's Adam Schiff retired[[note]]Hill was not in the pilot episode, however, with Roy Thinnes playing the DA role[[/note]], at which point he'd been the only remaining original for 5 years. So half of its run was done with no one from the first season cast. [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]] has [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_%26_Order#Casting_and_characters an entire section]] dedicated to the cast/character changes and overlaps. Similarly to Series/DoctorWho, Law & Order's frequent cast changes is credited for its longevity.

* ''Series/GreysAnatomy'' has only 3 of its original 9 main cast members among the 13 listed among the main cast as of season 18 (one of whom, Kim Raver, left after season 8 but return in a recurring capacity in season 14 before being upgraded back to regular). But there are also another ''15'' actors and actresses that are neither current nor first-season regulars but have nonetheless been regulars at some point.

*** Sun Belt Conference: Started as a non-football league in 1976 with six members, with two more joining in 1979. Of those schools, the only ones remaining in the league today are Georgia State and South Alabama—and Georgia State had left in 1981 before returning in 2013. After several years of lesser churn, all but three of the members left for other conferences in 1991, and the Sun Belt merged with the American South Conference, with Arkansas–Little Rock (now athletically known as Little Rock) also joining. Although the ASC was the larger league, the merged league kept the Sun Belt name. Of the 1991 entries, only Arkansas State, Louisiana, and Little Rock remain, and Little Rock will leave in July 2022. Five more schools joined between 1998 and 2000, and the SBC started a football league in 2001 with five full members and two football-only members. The only arrival in ''that'' time frame remaining in the SBC is Louisiana–Monroe, which became a full member in 2005. The SBC added two new members in the mid-2000s realignment, four more in the early-2010s realignment (three all-sports, one non-football), Coastal Carolina in 2016 (football in 2017), and most recently FCS upgrader James Madison and three C-USA members in 2022.

*** Big Ten Conference: Of its seven charter members from 1896, six are still present. Illinois, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue, and Wisconsin have been ever-present; [[UsefulNotes/UniversityOfMichigan Michigan]] left in 1907 but [[HesBack came back]] for good in 1917. Indiana and Iowa joined in 1899 and Ohio State in 1912, leading to a period of stability that lasted from Michigan's return to the departure of charter member Chicago in 1946. Michigan State's arrival in 1950 led to another long period of stability that ended with Penn State's arrival in 1990. The new lineup remained intact until Nebraska joined in 2011, followed by Maryland and Rutgers in 2014.

*** Pac-12 Conference: The conference's current charter dates only to 1959, but it claims the history of the Pacific Coast Conference, founded in 1915, as its own. Of the current members, only Cal and Washington have been ever-present in the conference, although three later PCC arrivals Stanford, USC, and UCLA have stayed put ever since joining. Two other PCC members, Idaho (1922–1959) and Montana (1928–1950), were not invited to join the Athletic Association of Western Universities (later the Pac-8, Pac-10, and Pac-12). Oregon, Oregon State, and Washington State were also not invited to join the AAWU at its formation, but all three joined by 1964. Arizona and Arizona State joined the Pac-8 in 1978, leading it to become the Pac-10, and the 2011 arrival of Colorado and Utah led to the current name of Pac-12.

*** Conference USA: Formed by a 1995 merger between two non-football leagues, the Great Midwest and Metro Conferences, it started out with 11 members, with the football league launching the next year with six. It was first raided by the Big East in 2005, losing five members to the Big East (three football, two non-football) and two non-football members to the Atlantic 10 Conference. At that time, it added six members, all with football. The early-2010s realignment saw a major raid by The American, with seven schools leaving in 2013 and 2014. C-USA responded by adding seven new members in that time frame, mostly from the Sun Belt Conference. By that time, the only remaining charter members were Southern Miss and UAB, with only Southern Miss having played in C-USA's first football season. Then in 2021, C-USA was the target of massive raids from The American and the Sun Belt, losing ''nine'' of its 14 members (including the aforementioned USM and UAB) to those leagues effective in 2023. C-USA survived by picking up four new members, FBS independents Liberty[[labelnote:*]]otherwise in the ASUN Conference[[/labelnote]] and New Mexico State[[labelnote:*]]otherwise in the Western Athletic Conference[[/labelnote]] and FCS upgraders Jacksonville State and Sam Houston. %% The ASUN Conference stopped calling itself "Atlantic Sun" in 2016.

*** Sun Belt Conference: Started as a non-football league in 1976 with six members, with two more joining in 1979. Of those schools, the only ones remaining in the league today are Georgia State and South Alabama—and Georgia State had left in 1981 before returning in 2013. After several years of lesser churn, all but three of the members left for other conferences in 1991, and the Sun Belt merged with the American South Conference, with Arkansas–Little Rock (now athletically known as Little Rock) also joining. Although the ASC was the larger league, the merged league kept the Sun Belt name. Of the 1991 entries, only Arkansas State, Louisiana, and Little Rock remain, and Little Rock will leave in July 2022. Five more schools joined between 1998 and 2000, and the SBC started a football league in 2001 with five full members and two football-only members. The only arrival in ''that'' time frame remaining in the SBC is Louisiana–Monroe, which became a full member in 2005. The SBC added two new members in the mid-2000s realignment, four more in the early-2010s realignment (three all-sports, one non-football), Coastal Carolina in 2016 (football in 2017), and most recently FCS upgrader James Madison in 2022 and three C-USA members no later than 2023.

*** Conference USA: Formed by a 1995 merger between two non-football leagues, the Great Midwest and Metro Conferences, it started out with 11 members, with the football league launching the next year with six. It was first raided by the Big East in 2005, losing five members to the Big East (three football, two non-football) and two non-football members to the Atlantic 10 Conference. At that time, it added six members, all with football. The early-2010s realignment saw a major raid by The American, with seven schools leaving in 2013 and 2014. C-USA responded by adding seven new members in that time frame, mostly from the Sun Belt Conference. By that time, the only remaining charter members were Southern Miss and UAB, with only Southern Miss having played in C-USA's first football season. Then in 2021, C-USA was the target of massive raids from The American and the Sun Belt, losing ''nine'' of its 14 members (including the aforementioned USM and UAB) to those leagues effective in 2023. C-USA survived by picking up four new members, FBS independents Liberty[[labelnote:*]]otherwise in the Atlantic Sun Conference[[/labelnote]] and New Mexico State[[labelnote:*]]otherwise in the Western Athletic Conference[[/labelnote]] and FCS upgraders Jacksonville State and Sam Houston.