History Main / RecastAsARegular

** Robert Duncan [=McNeill=] guest starred as Starfleet cadet Nicholas Locarno in the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "[[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E19TheFirstDuty}} The First Duty]]". The writers of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' wanted to use the character as a regular, but the possibility was raised that this would have required paying royalties to the writers of "The First Duty" for every episode the Locarno character appeared in, so in order to avoid the potential issue, they created a [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute "new"]] character named Tom Paris instead and cast [=McNeill=] in the role.
** In the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' season 1 finale "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E25TheNeutralZone The Neutral Zone]]", Marc Alaimo guest-starred as Commander Tebok, the first TNG-era Romulan. In the season 4 episode that introduced the Cardassians, "[[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E12TheWounded}} The Wounded]]", Alaimo guest-starred as the Cardassian leader Gul Macet. When the Cardassians' role was expanded for ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', the producers wanted Alaimo back, but [[AffablyEvil the Macet character was too nice a guy to make a good villain]], so they removed his truly unfortunate facial hair and named the new character [[BigBad Gul Dukat]]. The ExpandedUniverse explains the resemblance by making them cousins ([[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness and the facial hair, otherwise nigh-unknown on Cardassians]], as something Macet grew specifically so he would look ''less'' like Dukat).

** Tim Russ did guest roles in TNG, ''Film/StarTrekGenerations'' and [=DS9=] before becoming Tuvok on ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''. Ironically, the actor for the TNG era's only Vulcan regular once got the Vulcan nerve pinch applied to him by Picard (who is theorized to have learned it from mind-melding with Sarek or later Spock in their previous guest appearances.) Also, some time after ''Generations,'' there was a flashback episode about Tuvok on the ''Excelsior'' under Sulu, meaning Tuvok and his other lookalike were both Starfleet officers at the same time on ships of the same class.

** Edward Winter may or may not count, depending on [[WordOfGod which]] [[WordOfDante word]] you believe. In his first appearance, Winter played an overzealous Intelligence officer named Captain Halloran, and all subsequent appearance he played his noted character Colonel Samuel Flagg. However, while there is a slight but noticeable difference in the characters' demeanor (Halloran was easily convinced to drop everything and join in a poker game), one common theory among fans is that Halloran was Colonel Flagg using an alias, since aliases and disguises are later established to be something Flagg frequently makes use of; this theory is helped by a later appearance in which Flagg [[ContinuityNod reminds Sidney Freedman they played poker once]].

** Edward Winter may or may not count, depending on [[WordOfGod which]] [[WordOfDante word]] you believe. In his first appearance, Winter played an overzealous Intelligence officer named Captain Halloran, and all subsequent appearance he played his noted character Colonel Samuel Flagg; while there is only a ''slight'' difference in the characters' demeanor (Halloran was easily convinced to drop everything and join in a poker game), knowing how Flagg frequently uses very many different aliases, one common theory among fans is that Halloran was one of his aliases. That theory is helped by a later appearance in which Flagg [[ContinuityNod reminds Sidney Freedman they played poker once]].

*** It runs in the Jones family, as Creator/FreemaAgyeman, who plays [[Characters/DoctorWhoMarthaJones Martha Jones]], previously appeared as Torchwood tech [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E12ArmyOfGhosts Adeola Oshodi]]. This one is explained away by Martha herself — she mentions that she had a cousin named Adeola, thus it's a StrongFamilyResemblance.

** Ian Marter played Lieutenant Andrews in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E2CarnivalOfMonsters "Carnival of Monsters"]] before joining the regular cast as Harry Sullivan.

** In an inversion, Jacqueline Hill, who played original companion Barbara Wright, later returned as the Tigellan Lexa in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E2Meglos "Meglos"]].

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS16E6TheArmageddonFactor "The Armageddon Factor"]], Lalla Ward played Princess Astra — whom Romana liked so much that she modelled her [[TheNthDoctor next regeneration]] on her.

** Peter Purves played two different characters in the ''same serial'' ([[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E8TheChase "The Chase"]]) — FakeAmerican Morton Dill and new companion Steven Taylor.

** Creator/TakeshiKusao is in an early filler episode of ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' as Pigero, a one-shot character who helps out Gohan. He returns over a hundred episodes later as BreakoutCharacter Trunks. Creator/AyaHisakawa played Chiko in the same episode, then returned nearly thirty years later [[TheOtherDarrin to assume the role of Bulma]] after [[AuthorExistenceFailure the death]] of her longtime actress, Creator/HiromiTsuru.

** Creator/MajelBarrett was cast as the nameless "Number One" officer in the original pilot, "The Cage", before being cast as recurring character Christine Chapel in ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', Lwaxana Troi in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' and ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'', and the voice of Federation starships from ''TNG'' onwards. [[note]]While she initially voiced ship computers in ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'', [[AuthorExistenceFailure her passing]] has resulted in the role being passed to Creator/LaniMinella.[[/note]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In the Canadian French dub, Alain Zouvi voiced several one-shot characters such as [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS5E7BartsInnerChild Brad Goodman]], [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E2YouOnlyMoveTwice Hank Scorpio]], and [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E23HomersEnemy Frank Grimes]]. Afterward, ever since "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E8LisaTheSkeptic Lisa the Skeptic]]", he became the official voice actor for both Smithers and Apu, replacing [[AuthorExistenceFailure the late Jean-Louis Millette]] in both roles.

* Creator/HoukoKuwashima played the Arrancar Cirucci Sanderwicci in ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' before she took over for the ailing Creator/TomokoKawakami [[note]]Who died the year before the anime ended.[[/note]] as Soifon. She also took over for Kawakami as Fuyuki Hinata in ''Manga/SgtFrog'' after playing Meru in the 2007 ''Sgt. Frog'' movie ''The Deep Sea Princess''.

* In ''Series/BlakesSeven'', Creator/GlynisBarber played the regular character Soolin in the final season, after playing a tiny role in one episode of the first season as one of the Federation's techno-undead "Mutoid" soldiers.

** Creator/TomLenk, known for playing Andrew in the evil geek trio during ''Buffy''[='=]s sixth season (and beyond), originally appeared in a bit part as one of Harmony's vampire minions.
** Andy Hallett, best known as Lorne from ''Angel'', was originally an extra in the ''Buffy'' episode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E10Hush Hush]]".

** Mark Lenard did a one-off as a Romulan Commander in the TOS episode "Balance Of Terror" before becoming beloved recurring guest star Sarek beginning in "Journey To Babel".

** Creator/JeffreyCombs has appeared in several ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' and VOY roles both before and after his main role as recurring [=DS9=] villain Weyoun. In ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' he was cast as the Andorian Captain Shran, an uneasy ally of Captain Archer. Supposedly, he was supposed to join the cast as a regular in the fifth season had it been made.

* ''Series/TheXFiles'': Nicholas Lea appeared in an early episode "Gender Bender" playing a character named Michael, then returned later as series regular Alex Krycek.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' and the Franchise/{{Whoniverse}} have [[TropeOverdosed several examples]]:

** Joanna Merlin played two minor characters in ''Series/LawAndOrder'', in a total of five episodes, before becoming the regularly recurring judge Lena Petrovsky in ''SVU''.

** Elizabeth Marvel played four different one-off characters across the three main series before becoming recurring defence attorney Rita Calhoun in SVU.

** Isabel Gillies appeared as a VillainOfTheWeek in a Season 8 episode of the mothership before being cast as Kathy Stabler, wife of Det. Elliot Stabler, in ''SVU''.

** Jay O. Sanders played a Killer-Of-The-Week in one episode of ''Criminal Intent'' before playing Cpt. Hannah in the final season.

** Takao Yamada played Sabu, one of a trio of thieves in ''Denziman'' episode 30. He then appeared in the next season, ''[[Series/TaiyouSentaiSunVulcan Sun Vulcan]]'' as supporting character Sukehachi Yazawa. Episode 33 featured Kin'ya Sugi as guest character Sabu; he previously appeared in Episode 34 of ''Battle Fever J'' as a car owner, then went on to play [[TheDanza Kin'ya Samejima]]/Vul Shark in ''Sun Vulcan''. Episode 26 also featured Creator/RyuseiNakao in a live-action role as Gou Koyuki. His next Sentai role came twenty-four years later as ''[[Series/TokusouSentaiDekaranger Dekaranger]]'' BigBad Agent Abrella, and then another decade before he voiced ''[[Series/ShurikenSentaiNinninger Ninninger's]]'' Masakage Tsugomori.

** Takao Yamada played Sabu, one of a trio of thieves in ''Denziman'' episode 30. He then appeared in the next season, ''[[Series/TaiyouSentaiSunVulcan Sun Vulcan]]'' as supporting character Sukehachi Yazawa. Episode 26 also featured Creator/RyuseiNakao in a live-action role as Gou Koyuki. His next Sentai role came twenty-four years later as ''[[Series/TokusouSentaiDekaranger Dekaranger]]'' BigBad Agent Abrella, and then another decade before he voiced ''[[Series/ShurikenSentaiNinninger Ninninger's]]'' Masakage Tsugomori.

** ''Series/BakuryuSentaiAbaranger'' had two future alumni in guest roles in TheMovie. Creator/ToshioFurukawa voiced the villain, Galvidi, then played TheNarrator of ''Dekaranger''. Robert Baldwin played a ship captain and returned in the next Dino Sentai, ''Kyoryuger'', as Ramirez/Kyoryu Cyan.

** Nobuo Yana appeared as Dr. Shinigami ([[Series/KamenRider Not that one.]]) in ''Goranger'' episode 53, and returned three episodes later [[TheOtherDarrin to take over from Mitsuo Ando]] as [[BigBad The Black Cross Fuhrer]]. Episode 53 also had Creator/IchiroNagai as [[MonsterOfTheWeek Baseball Mask]]. Nagai later voiced the also baseball themed Devil Batter in ''JAKQ'', and would later voice ''Gekiranger's'' BigGood, Master Xia-Fu.

** Takao Yamada played Sabu, one of a trio of thieves in ''Denziman'' episode 30. He then appeared in the next season, ''[[Series/TaiyouSentaiSunVulcan Sun Vulcan]]'' as supporting character Sukehachi Yazawa. Episode 26 also featured Creator/RyuseiNakao in a live-action role as Gou Koyuki. His next Sentai role came twenty-four years later as ''[[Series/TokusouSentaiDekaranger Dekaranger]]'' BigBad Agent Abrella.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'', Creator/TaraStrong voiced Timmy [=McNulty=], a {{Jerkass}} neighbor of the babies around Angelica's age, before going on to voice Tommy's brother Dil.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'': In the Spanish dub, Luis Miguel Perez did additional voices and dubbed the songs, "Doing the Sponge" and "Loop De Loop", before replacing Oscar Zuloaga as Plankton.

** Creator/SamanthaJo played one-shot minor villain Car-Vex in ''Film/ManOfSteel''. She went on to play the Amazon Euboea in both ''Film/{{Wonder Woman|2017}}'' and ''Film/{{Justice|League 2017}} [[Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague League]]'', who has a tad more notable things to do.