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[[Justified Trope]] in [[Command Roster|military]] and some business settings where there are specific roles.
A [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]] is dangerously prone to becoming [[The Scrappy|hated by the fanbase]], creating a [[Replacement Scrappy]].
For ''very'' suspiciously similar substitutes, see [[Backup Twin]]. Compare [[Discard and Draw]], which does the same sort of thing with superpowers instead of characters. The [[Inverted Trope|inversion]], where the ''same'' character fills a ''different'' role, is [[Same Character but Different]].
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* In ''JLA'' comics, Vibe was a member of the poorly received [[Dork Age|Detroit League]] who, like the other newcomers to the team introduced in that run, had a stroke of misfortune or two when the roster needed to be cleared up for a new team. In his case, he died. Later, the Conglomorate, a rival team to the Justice League, is formed, featuring Vibe's identically-powered brother Reverb (as well as Vibe's JL teammate Gypsy). This was written by the same writer who killed off Vibe in the first place, mind you; of course, Reverb lacks Vibe's out-there personality and is generally unlikable for the opposite reason.
* [[John Byrne]]'s run on ''[[Wonder Woman]]'' dumped the supporting cast established by the previous creative team, most notably archaeologist Julia Kapatelis and her daughter Vanessa, in favor of his own creations, most notably archaeologist Helena Sandsmark and her daughter Cassandra.
* Lana Lang started her existence blatantly filling the role of [[Lois Lane]] when they started telling stories about Superman's childhood as [[Superboy]]. Unlike her modern incarnation, she was both the love interest and the nosy inquisitive girl always trying to prove Clark was Superboy.
* The early 1960s ''[[Doctor Who]]'' comics had the Trods, who were a suspiciously similar substitute for the Daleks, who were unusable at the time due to the rights to publish Dalek comics being in the hands of a different company.
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** This is changed in the [[Animated Adaptation]], where Mauser becomes a good guy, whereas Harris remains an antagonist.
** Also, when Steve Guttenberg refused to reprise his role as Sgt. Mahoney for the 5th and 6th movies, Commandant Lassard's nephew Nick was brought in to fill Mahoney's shoes, while the 7th movie had a cadet named Kyle Connors also fill the very same spot.
* When the Wachowski siblings wrote the second and third ''[[The Matrix|Matrix]]'' films, they originally intended to bring back the character of Tank from the first one. But after they had a falling-out with his actor, they created Link as a replacement.
* Roman in ''[[Two Fast Two Furious]]'' replaced Dominic from ''[[The Fast and the Furious]]'' as the [[Anti-Hero]] with a criminal past. Though it's worth noting that Brian is now the main character with Roman as his sidekick, instead of co-lead with Dom.
** Both Roman and Dom are back in ''[[Fast Five]]''.
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** Don't forget him promptly sleeping with his dead brother's widow.
** Not to mention how Landfill pretty much told him everything about his friends, so he feels that he's already known them all his entire life.
* The [[Keanu Reeves]] character in ''[[Speed]]'' was replaced by Jason Patric's character in [[Speed 2 Cruise Control|the sequel]], with [[Sandra Bullock]] being the holdover from the first film and having mentioned her previous relationship.
* A rather bizarre set of examples occurred within the ''[[Godzilla]]'' franchise regarding the monster Baragon. First, ''[[Destroy All Monsters]]'' was going to have Baragon be the monster seen destroying France. Unfortunately, the suit was too badly damaged and instead Gorosaurus was used (Ironically, the dub version [[I Am Not Shazam|still calls Gorosaurus "Baragon"]])...And Baragon himself was reduced to a mere 10 second cameo. Later, Baragon was going to appear in ''[[Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla]]'' but the suit was still too damaged to function and Anguirus was used instead. In both cases, Anguirus and Gorosaurus were given traits that were originally attributed to Baragon (IE: Jumping and burrowing).
** And then averted in ''[[Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack|Godzilla Mothra King Ghidorah Giant Monsters All Out Attack]]!'', when the director wanted to use Varan, Anguirus and Baragon as the Guardian Monsters, but the studio wanted more popular kaiju. This time, Baragon survived the axe.
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* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]''. Jonas Quinn was sort of like Daniel Jackson... but from another planet! However, after Michael Shanks decided to return as a regular, Jonas Quinn was abruptly and permanently written out of the series at the beginning of the seventh season.
** Quinn sometimes had knowledge that made very little sense for an alien. Daniel, of course, was a linguist and archaeologist who had spent his career studying Earth languages and cultures. How Quinn, an alien, was able to spontaneously recognize markings on an alien ship as similar to ancient Celtic is unclear.
** Despite being the [[Trope Namer]] for a while, Jonas Quinn wasn't even the best example of this trope on this show. Cam Mitchell, an Air Force colonel with a snarky sense of humor and a tendency to make pop culture references (like the actor Browder's character in ''[[Farscape]]'') replaced Richard Dean Anderson's character, Jack O'Neill, when he started [[Commuting on a Bus]] to spend more time with his family. This somewhat falls under the "military role" exception, but is more likely due to a desire to have a new leading man, particularly one with a built-in audience. In addition, the "military role" exception doesn't explain their sufficiently similar personalities; Mitchell hadn't [[Seen It All]] like O'Neill, had a lower rank and lacks the Ancient gene, but other than that they could have delivered the same lines.
** This trope received its [[Lampshade Hanging]] (along with about a hundred others) in "200," when an actor backs out from playing the lead in the [[Show Within a Show]] based on the SG team's adventures, leading to the page quote above. And at the end, we find out the "Colonel Danning" character from ''Wormhole X-Treme!'' was substituted. "Dr. Levant" is not indicated to have had a [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]] when he left the show, but much like the ''real'' ''Stargate SG-1'', they may have resolved to never speak of it.
** Staite's Dr. Keller also replaced Dr. Beckett on ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' as the caring and sometimes out of his/her element doctor, despite having appeared on the series previously as a different character.
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* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' has Balthazar, who's very, very similar to the now-dead Gabriel, much to the displeasure of half the fandom.
** One could argue that ''Crowley'' is the suspiciously similar substitute, assuming of course that the show even needed to replace Gabriel in the first place.
** Later in the series, fans commented that the character "Frank" was just an unnecessary replacement for Bobby, who was taken away from the leads to supposedly "strip the show back down to just the brothers."
* David Spade's and James Garner's characters on ''[[8 Simple Rules]]''.
* On ''[[Cheers]]'', the sweet-natured, dimwitted old bartender Coach was replaced by the sweet-natured, dimwitted young bartender Woody Boyd. Rebecca Howe (a ruthless and hot corporate exec) was more distinct from her predecessor Diane (a bookish and pretty in a girl-next-door-way barmaid), but Rebecca gradually became more and more like Diane.
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*** Taurik, a Vulcan Ensign who appeared in a single episode of ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'', became a recurring crew member in ''Voyager'', where he was called Vorik, for the same reason that Locarno became Paris and T'Pau became T'Pol. Jeri Taylor, a producer on ''Voyager'' and the mother of the actor (Alexander Enberg) who played Taurik and Vorik, once quipped that the rhymedly named Vulcan Ensigns were identical twin brothers.
* Actually this trope has been in ''[[Star Trek]]'' from the start were Captain Pike is replaced after the [[Pilot]] with Captain Kirk. Both are square jawed, two fisted adventurers with a close friendship with the ship's physician and a mild romantic interest in a female yeoman.
** Pike was not exactly an established character, though, since the pilot was not shown in the series' regular run. Yes, it was chopped up to become the story-within-a-story of "Menagerie" but that was run well after Kirk was established as Captain.
** The characters of TOS were based on the characters originally conceived for the rejected pilot, with Pike becoming Kirk, Boyce becoming Bones, Smith becoming Rand, etc.. This practice is extremely commonplace when a Pilot turns into a green-lighted series. Similarly, the characters of TNG were based on the characters of the abandoned "Star Trek: Phase II" series: Will Decker became the similarly-named Will Riker; Decker's old flame, the empathic Deltan Ilia, became Riker's old flame, the empathic Betazed Troi; and Xon, the Vulcan struggling to understand humanity, became Data, the android struggling to understand humanity. A writer's strike proved to be nothing more than a minor inconvenience for TNG: they just dusted off some old "Phase II" scripts and went to work.
*** And, of course, Xon was created to replace Spock when [[Leonard Nimoy]] decided he didn't want to do the "Phase II" series.
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** The UK kids' show ''[[Why Dont You]]...'' is another example, but is had one notable exception in its later years: Ben, the Welsh [[Mad Scientist]], was evidently considered un-substitutable, so he continued past the typical age, eventually playing a [[Red Dwarf|Holly]]-style computer program based on the original Ben, so that the disparity between his age and the rest of the cast wasn't an issue.
* Before the series adopted its [[Super Sentai|Japanese counterpart]]'s format of each season essentially being a standalone show, ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'' did have some cast changes, always preserving the number of [[Token Minority]] characters. The second Pink Ranger, Katherine Hillard, is an especially egregious example, not being much like [[The Ditz|her predecessor]] before becoming a Ranger, but then rapidly becoming her clone. ([[Dark Action Girl|Dark Action Girls]] take heed: [[Good Is Dumb]]).
** Let's not forget ''[[Power Rangers Zeo]]'' where they replaced the African-American yellow ranger Aisha with a girl in Africa who she was apparently [[Switched At Birth]] with.
** They did manage a successful change in ''[[Power Rangers Lost Galaxy]]'', where actress Valerie Vernon had to leave due to being diagnosed with leukemia. Originally they were going to take the previous pink ranger and bring her in as a replacement, but when that deal fell through, they took [[Power Rangers in Space|the previous season]]'s reformed [[Big Bad]], Karone, and made her the replacement. In this case, the character was vastly different because she had aspects of [[The Atoner]].
** Another successful change was [[Johnny Yong Bosch|Adam Park]], the second Black Ranger. While Zack was fun-loving and energetic, Adam was fairly quiet and thoughtful. Early on, this was pretty much all his character had to him, but an ad-lib in [[The Movie]] ([[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|his dejected "I'm a frog..."]] when finding out what his spirit animal is) gave him some Woobie points and being the second-longest serving ranger gave him fairly decent character development. He's one of the most popular characters in the series now and the only pre-Disney buyout ranger to appear in the 15th anniversary [[Reunion Show]].
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** ''[[Kamen Rider Decade]]'' has done this to most of the cast of the shows they visited, using the conceit of [[Alternate Universe|Alternate Universes]]. Sometimes these changes are justified (for instance [[Kamen Rider Kuuga]]'s actor considers the series an [[Old Shame]]). However, a good number of actors have returned to play their original characters as well, even if they're also AU incarnations.
** The old-school Riders had a recurring, cross-seasonal ally named Tobei Tachibana. He started out as Hongo's friend who ran the motorbike racing club, but got more and more involved with things Rider-related just due to being close to the guys trouble followed most, becoming something of a [[Badass Normal]]. When [[The Powers That Be]] decided to bring the character back in ''[[Kamen Rider Skyrider]]'' but the actor declined, the Tachibana role in that and [[Kamen Rider Super-1|the following]] series went to the nigh-identical Genjiro Tani. His personality and role were exactly Tachibana's, and sometimes past Riders talked to Tani as if they knew him ''much'' better than they did, as if scripts with Tachibana in mind had already been written. They really shoulda gone the [[Magic Plastic Surgery]] route.
* The ''[[Metal Heroes]]'' series ''[[Space Sheriff Gavan]]'' had Gavan's [[Bridge Bunny]] Mimi leave to see to her ill mother for the last 3rd or so of the series, and replaced with a character called Marin who was basically the exact same character minus the [[Love Interest]] part (since Mimi was only leaving for a short while so her and Gavan were still technically in a relationship) Unlike most examples though Marin was already an established character on the show as a [[Bridge Bunny]] to Gavan's [[Mission Control]] and was specifically called in to fill in for Mimi.
* Will Bailey on ''[[The West Wing]]'' appears to have begun as a [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]] for Sam Seaborn (right down to ''several'' "passing the torch" incidents in which Sam encouraged Toby to accept Will's help with the Inauguration speech, Will was semi-formally inducted into Sam's old position, etc.), but the writing of the show shifted after [[Aaron Sorkin|Aaron Sorkin's]] departure, and within a year Will's character had shifted jobs into the Vice-President's office and was portrayed more as a cynical political operative than as an idealist.
** Joshua Malina (Will) has even described himself as a worse-looking, less-expensive Rob Lowe (Sam).
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* In the Australian teen series ''[[Wicked Science]]'', the girl in Toby's group, Dina, was replaced by Toby's cousin Sasha in Season 2.
* Mr. Harmon, Old Mr. Grace, and Mr. Spooner replacing Mr. Mash, Young Mr. Grace and Mr. Lucas on ''[[Are You Being Served?|Are You Being Served]]''.
** Also Mr Grainger, the head of menswear, was replaced by Tebbs, Goldberg, Klein, and Grossman before they eliminated role and made Mr Humphries head of the department.
* Charlie Crawford replaced Mike Flaherty as the Deputy Mayor on ''[[Spin City]]''. The key difference was that Charlie was a [[Handsome Lech]] and Mike wasn't.
** Charlie Crawford was played by [[Charlie Sheen]], who also played Charlie Harper in ''[[Two and A Half Men]]''. Sheen ended up getting fired from the show due to his drug problems and for making derogatory remarks about the show's creator and executive producer. Harper was killed off and replaced by Walden Schmidt, played by [[Ashton Kutcher]]. Both characters are immature womanizers.
* When Gomer Pyle left ''[[The Andy Griffith Show]]'' in 1964 for his own spin-off, ''Gomer Pyle USMC'' (of "'PYYYYLE!'...'Shazam!'" fame), he was replaced by equally hayseed cousin Goober Pyle.
** Up to that point, Goober was only [[He Who Must Not Be Seen|referred to by Gomer]] as a running gag; his materializing as Gomer's replacement would be something like ''[[Seinfeld]]'''s Kramer being replaced by the infamous "Bob Sacamano." Weird.
*** Well, technically, Goober ''did'' appear in one episode ("Fun Girls") prior to Gomer's departure from Mayberry.
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** The real offenders are the early companions. Once Barbara and Ian left, Steven replaced them. Before that, Vicki replaced Susan, and was later replaced herself by Dodo, with Sara and Katarina briefly holding the role. The companion model of a young heroic male and attractive young female was used as a counterpart to the older Hartnell, and the slightly old Troughton, at which point it was changed for a sidekick-type model. There were several exceptions -
*** Polly and Ben were a pair, and separately didn't fit the ideas of a female and male companion. They were seen with Jamie, the new version of the young heroic male.
** The original plans for Season 7 had Zoe as the Third Doctor's companion; when her actress declined to stay on, they created Liz, a similar [[Hot Scientist]], to replace her.
*** Stephen Fry had to pull out of writing a script because he couldn't find the time to rewrite his episode to accommodate Martha Jones instead of Rose Tyler as the companion.
* ''[[Torchwood]]'' did this in ''Children of Earth'' with Lois, who fills the role Martha was joining to play had Freema Agyeman been available.
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** On a similar note, a few years earlier, Stephen Fry was supposed to be the second regular on [[Whose Line Is It Anyway?]], but backed out at the last minute (he didn't actually like doing improv that much). He was replaced by...Tony Slattery.
*** Stephen Fry and Tony Slattery were both members of the Cambridge Footlights at the same time, by the way. And Slattery took up the position of Footlights president after Fry's good friend and frequent collaborator Hugh Laurie served in that position for a year.
* ''[[NCIS]]'' did this on several occasions.
** At the end of Season 2, NCIS agent Kate Todd is shot and killed by Ari Haswari, a Hamas terrorist working undercover within Mossad. Then at the beginning of Season 3, Mossad agent Ziva David, Ari's sister, joins the NCIS team as a Liaison Officer. Ziva resembles Kate physically- both are slim, brown eyed brunettes. And Ziva quickly picks up Kate's habit of engaging in rivalry, banter and [[Unresolved Sexual Tension]] with NCIS agent Tony DiNozzo. Otherwise, Kate and Ziva are quite different characters, but this is not a case of [[The Other Darrin]].
** The fifth season of ''[[NCIS]]'' ends on a [[Cliff Hanger]] which implies that Tony, Ziva, ''and'' McGee will all be substituted, and, indeed, the sixth season premiere shows Gibbs leading a new team, with establishing shots helpfully indicating which of the previous characters' niches the new agents fit into. The trope is then fairly quickly subverted and by the end of the second episode of the season, the team is reunited and back in business.
** Subverted in the 7th season opener when the team interviews replacements for Ziva. Two don't live up to their hype, and one came in at the wrong time. {{spoiler|Ziva returns at the end, at least physically.}}
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* Sandy Duncan's character on ''[[The Hogan Family]]'', which was ''Valerie'' before Valerie Harper quit.
* Neil Morrissey as Tony Smart from series 2 of ''[[Men Behaving Badly]]'', replacing Harry Enfield as Dermot Povey. Since this happened on [[ITV]], and the show only became popular after the third series was taken up by [[The BBC]], most viewers have only the vaguest idea there ever ''was'' a Dermot Povey. (In one [[Clip Show]], a single scene from series 1 is shown, prompting Tony to ask "Who was that?")
* ''[[That '70s Show]]'' replaced Eric and Kelso with Randy, who had similar personality traits of both other characters.
** Yet instead of getting an empty-headed loser, which were the funniest parts about Eric and Kelso, we ended up with a smart pretty-boy, which is ultimately, a [[Mary Sue|Gary Stu]]. [[Replacement Scrappy|This did not go unnoticed by the viewers.]]
* In ''[[Blake's Seven|Blakes Seven]]'', substitutes are always the same gender as the outgoing character, for no particular reason but to make up the numbers. {{spoiler|Jenna is replaced by Dayna, Blake is replaced by Tarrant, and Cally is replaced by Soolin.}} Slightly subverted in the episode 'Rescue', though, where the tough guy and the female pilot are replaced by a male pilot and a tough chick, respectively.
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** Their personalities are not remotely similar, though.
** ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' also inverted the trope with Kennedy, who was deliberately made very different from Willow's previous love interest Tara. Perhaps not the best idea, as Kennedy was pushy, arrogant, and abrasive where Tara was shy, gentle and empathetic. [[The Scrappy|She was not received well]].
* Meanwhile, in the spinoff ''[[Angel]]:''
** There's a textbook [[Subverted Trope|subversion]] in season 1, after Angel loses Doyle. He complains that his link to the Powers That Be is gone, only to be told that "whenever a door closes, another opens." Enter a very Doyle-like character...who turns out, after a series of misdirections, to be the [[Monster of the Week]], not the new sidekick. Cordelia [[Discard and Draw|gains Doyle's powers and role]].
** Doyle himself was a [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]] for Whistler, a character who appeared briefly in flashbacks in ''Buffy'''s second season finale and recruited Angel to the side of good. Both are sarcastic demons (half-demon, in Doyle's case) who work for the [[Powers That Be]]. Doyle was originally intended to ''be'' Whistler, but the actor was unavailable when the show was greenlit, so they reworked him as newcomer Doyle.
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* Season three of ''[[M.I. High]]'' replaced Daisy, Blaine and their boss. A number of minor characters are also gone as well. In fact the only characters who have been carried over from the last season are Rose, [[Big Bad|The Grand Master]] and the school headmaster.
* ''[[Knight Rider]]'' replaced [[Wrench Wench]] Bonnie Barstow with April Curtis for the second season, then brought back Bonnie the next year.
* ''[[Happy Days]]'', upon the leaving of [[Ron Howard]], brought in a family friend named Roger who replaced the 'straight-man' tendencies of Richie.
* There have been seven [[Iron Chef|Iron Chefs]]: Chen Kenichi (Chinese), Hiroyuki Sakai (French), Masaharu Morimoto (Japanese), and Masahiko Kobe (Italian) are the ones American viewers are most familiar with. The dubbed version tried to push the idea that Morimoto was the direct successor to Rokusaburo Michiba, the original IC Japanese. In truth, Morimoto was a substitute to a substitute: Michiba's replacement was Koumei Nakamura (Who can be spotted behind Chairman Kaga in the opening credits, where Kaga is standing behind the pile of strawberries). There's also the original IC French, Yutaka Ishinabe (Who's portrait can be spotted in the opening panorama).
* Season 7 of ''[[24|Twenty Four]]'' introduces Janis Gold, a frumpy bespectacled computer technician, who basically is the FBI's version of Chloe. They bring Chloe back for a few episodes, and they don't get along.
** The character of Mandy is another example. If the producers couldn't get Mia Kirshner the actress who played her they created another sexy terrorist. Season 4's Nicole is a prime example, because she behaves in EXACTLY the same way as Mandy would, {{spoiler|she has sex with a character to get him on side, then reveals her true colours. Mandy did more or less the same thing in the first episode}}
* Lucy replaced Kate in ''[[Not Going Out]]''.
* Dr. Jesse Travis replaced Dr. Jack Stewart in season 3 of ''[[Diagnosis: Murder]]'' although he was a very different character and it's generally regarded as a change for the better.
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* ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined]]'' replaced Billy Keikeya with Tory Foster. This is actually the only Battlestar example. Given the improvisational nature of the series' writing it's unclear if Billy would have followed a similar arc to Tory, had Paul Campbell remained on the show.
** Well, at the very least, he ''probably'' wouldn't have slept with Anders and Baltar.
** This trope is played straight or averted, as the lack of similarity between the two characters is noted by Roslin and Adama in Tory's very first appearance.
* In ''[[The George Lopez Show]]'', Carmen is replaced with Angie's niece Veronica Palmero because of creative differences between Carmen's actress, Masiela Lusha, and George Lopez. Veronica is pretty much the same as Carmen, only more shallow and with a sadder story.
* In ''[[Scrubs]]'', the character of Laverne was killed off, due to the writers being under the impression the 6th season would be the last. It wasn't. Cue Nurse Shirley, who is ''played by the same actress that played Laverne''! This is lampshaded when JD nicknames her "Laverneagain." The hospital's [[Logging Onto the Fourth Wall|fake website]] uses the exact same picture for both nurses' profiles.
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* Seen repeatedly in ''[[Gene Roddenberry]]'s [[Earth: Final Conflict]]'', due to the show's unusually high cast turnover rate. In fact, the only character to last through all 5 seasons was series villain Agent Sandoval.
* ''[[Gene Roddenberry]]'s [[Andromeda]]''. The character of Tyr, a Nietzschean who could not be trusted was replaced by Rhade, a Nietzchean who could not be trusted. Tyr went on to become a complete wuss when the actor guest-starred in later episodes.
** The character of Doyle in the final season is also somewhat of a replacement for Lexa Doig's Andromeda when her role needed to be reduced due to the actress's pregnancy. Doyle provided a love target and protector for Harper, among other regular Rommie duties.
*** Doig similarly played a replacement doctor in ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'', though her character was less-developed than the one she replaced, {{spoiler|Dr. Frasier,}} and the replacement was not immediate.
*** Doig's husband is also Michael Shanks, whose Daniel was SG-1's original character substituted for with Jonas Quinn.
* ''[[Lexx]]'' couldn't get the actress who played Wist back, so they created a second gorgeous blonde [[To Serve Man|predator]] with a childlike demeanor in Lyekka.
* ''[[The Tick (animation)]]'' suffered from a number of poor copies meant to be substitutes when Fox failed to get the rights for any characters besides The Tick and Arthur. But given that it was Fox, no one was really surprised as the show's days were numbered from day one.
** Though, to give credit where credit is due, Bat Manuel is one of the funniest television characters ever.
*** Even better the actor who played Bat Manuel in the live action version of The Tick played the Mayor in the [[Batman]] movie ''[[The Dark Knight Saga]]''.
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* On ''[[Leverage]]'', Gina Bellman's pregnancy required a hasty write-off of Sophie before she started showing, so she was replaced for half a season by Tara Cole (played by Jeri Ryan).
* Carried out with style by British fantasy show ''[[Hex]]'', where new girl Ella, an experienced witch, shows up at the start of the second season and by the end of the second episode has {{spoiler|[[It Makes Sense in Context|stabbed original lead witch Cassie]] and taken her place as the show's main character.}} She goes on the have an almost identical doomed relationship with [[All Girls Want Bad Boys|demon spawn Malachi]] that Cassie had with demon Azazeal in the first season. To round things off, Malachi is Cassie and Azazeal's [[Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome|magically-aged]] son.
* ''[[Drop the Dead Donkey]]'' replaced Alex, the one sensible person in the Globelink office, with Helen, a virtually identical character, at the end of the second series. Both of them even had one-night stands with Dave (despite Helen being a lesbian).
* Averted in, of all things, ''[[Mutant X]]'', which saw Lexa replace Emma at the start of the final season after {{spoiler|Emma's death in the previous finale.}} Counts as an aversion because, rather than the new character being designed to fill [[Super-Hero Speciation|the superpowered gap in the team]] the old one had left, telempathic Emma was replaced with light-manipulating Lexa, whose personality, loyalties, and storyline were radically different to Emma's.
* On ''[[The Cosby Show]]'', when Rudy got too old to be the Cute Little Kid, a step-granddaughter was written into the cast to be fill the role. Unlike other examples, Rudy stayed.
** To quote Wyatt Cenacc on ''[[The Daily Show]]'': "WHY WOULD YOU THROW RUDY UNDER THE BUS?! SHE'S STILL THE SAME RUDY!!"
* Really head-spinning example from THE PAPER CHASE: When the study group is formed during the pilot episode, one woman is included. In the very second episode, that character's place in the study group, with no explanation, has been taken by another woman, Logan, who remains a major character throughout the series.
* On ''[[Myth Busters]]'', Kari Byron went on maternity leave, and was replaced by Jessi Combs for a few months. The original Build Team was Kari, Tori, and ''Scotty'' ([[Wrench Wench]]) who left the show under "personal reasons" and was replaced by the now better known Grant. And there is also Christine, a "Mythtern" before the Build Team came into play, who directly assisted Jamie and Adam and had a certain resemblance to Scotty.
* [[Criminal Minds|Emily Prentiss and David Rossi]] were replacements for Elle Greenaway and Jason Gideon respectively. Both characters were initially hated by many fans, but gained pretty good fanbases the longer they remained on the show.
** The trope is played straight with Prentiss, but not Rossi. [[Word of God]] from creator Ed Bernero on the "About Face" commentary says they wanted to make him as least like Gideon as possible, so they made him an egotistical wannabe rock star of a profiler who doesn't really "do" teams, and the first thing he does is [[Take That|shoot a bird]].
*** To clarify: Jason Gideon was part ornithologist and part birdwatcher. Many times throughout [[Mandy Patinkin]]'s run you would hear and see references to his characters' love for birds. A [[Take That]] indeed!
*** And now, since JJ's departure, there will be another new character joining the team--meet Ashley Seaver , FBI cadet and {{spoiler|based on previews, the daughter of a serial killer}}. Yes, she does look like JJ superficially, but whether is she a good, distinct, well-drawn out character in her own right (despite the physical similarities) or a Scrappy Mary Sue copycat replacement will be determined soon when her first episode airs.
*** Subverted by the fact that the majority of the fanbase disliked Seaver prompting the return of JJ (and Prentiss who left at the end of last season).
* A few from ''[[Neighbours]]'', though the straightest examples may be Tom Ramsay replacing his brother Max, and Oliver Barnes being hastily written in to replace his brother Will/Sebastian, even taking over his whole character arc.
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* Annie replaced Fi as the protagonist in the final season of ''[[So Weird]]''. Like Fi, Annie had paranormal encounters which she posted on a website. The "twist" was that she was a [[Idol Singer|singer]].
* Averted and played straight by ''[[The Red Green Show]]''. The marina owner changed from the reasonably-built but lazy Glen Brachston to the overweight and even ''lazier'' Dwight Cardiff. However, they averted this with the role of animal control officer: the original one, Garth Harble, loved animals, while replacement Ed Frid was terrified of them.
* On ''[[Home Improvement]]'', Heidi replaced Lisa as the Tool Girl on the [[Show Within a Show]] ''Tool Time'' in season three. Lisa was a [[Flat Character]] and Heidi started out as one but she eventually had some [[Character Development]].
* ''[[Primeval]]'' had Sarah Page, who {{spoiler|was killed because her actress couldn't continue acting for the show}}, and was replaced by Jess Parker. However, their roles are very different; Sarah was an expert in mythology and ancient cultures, while Jess is a techie and team coordinator.
** Sarah in turn replaced Jenny Lewis, who was an alternate-timeline duplicate of Claudia Brown, played by the same actress but with a completely different personality and role, an inversion of the typical [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]].
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* Reviews of ''[[The X Factor]]'''s new judges Kelly Rowland, Tulisa, and Gary Barlow recall up their respective predecessors, Dannii Minogue, Cheryl Cole, and Simon Cowell. Some reviewers even noted that Tulisa even physically resembled Cheryl in terms of looks and personality.
* ''[[Upstairs, Downstairs]]'' replaced Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Richard and Lady Marjorie Bellamy, with Georgina, the daughter of a couple killed in the Titanic disaster alongside Lady Marjorie. The changeover wasn't immediate, and demure, idealistic Elizabeth had a very different character to the louche Georgina, but Georgina filled the same role, so it may count. Lady Marjorie's role went through two changes as well, with Hazel and then Virginia Bellamy taking over the position of mistress of the house. Downstairs, after Emily's {{spoiler|suicide}}, the show also went through a handful of identikit kitchenmaids before settling on the hapless Ruby.
* On Fox's ''[[New Girl]],'' the character of "Coach" (Damon Wayans, Jr.) appears only in the pilot. By the time the second episode rolls around, we instead have "Bishop," (Lamorne Morris) another young, handsome, goateed, athletic African-American roommate. The switch is given something of a [[Hand Wave]], with the explanation that Bishop is the "real" roommate, and that Coach was just subletting while Bishop was off playing pro basketball in a Latvian league. The actual reason for the switch is that Wayans shot the pilot while his ABC show ''Happy Endings'' was on the cancellation bubble, and between the pilot being shot and the show being picked up as a full series, ABC decided to renew ''Happy Endings''...Which did the same for Wayans' contract.
* Leonard Rossiter's final role on UK television was as a supermarket manager in the dreadful sitcom ''Tripper's Day''. After his death, he was replaced by [[Bruce Forsyth]] and the show was renamed ''Slinger's Day''. This was even worse than the original but was somehow renewed for a second (six-episode) season and even crossed the Atlantic to become ''Check It Out''.
* Averted in ''[[Twin Peaks]]'', when [[Kyle Mac Lachlan]] talked the producers out of turning teenage sexpot Audrey Horne into the love interest for his character, Agent Dale Cooper. Instead, they introduced [[Heather Graham]] as Annie ... a formerly suicidal former nun. Definitely not a teenage sexpot.
* Amy Amanda Allen was put on a bus and replaced for ten episodes by Tawnia Baker on ''[[The A-Team]]''.
* One episode of ''[[El Chavo
* Mitchell, a reformed vampire with a troubled past who's sworn off blood and lives alongside a werewolf and a ghost, was killed off at the end of Series 3 of ''[[Being Human (UK)]]''. Series 4 replaces him with Hal... a reformed vampire with a troubled past who's sworn off blood and lives alongside a werewolf and a ghost.
** At the same time, George, the resident werewolf, also left. His role in the house was replaced by another werewolf who had almost nothing in common with George. The reason? Tom, his replacement, had been an on-and-off recurring character since the first series. Zero new characterization was required.
* Put-upon straight man, oftentimes [[Only Sane Employee]], and Leslie's original love interest Mark Brendanawicz leaves [[Parks and Recreation]] at the end of Season 2, the same time put-upon straight man, [[Only Sane Employee]], and Leslie's love interest Ben Wyatt joins the cast.
* In ''[[Misfits]]'' when Nathan left, due to actor Michael Sheehan not wanting to continue to Series 3, he is replaced by Rudy, and equally mouthy character who like Nathan has the habit of saying outrageous things for shock value (or perhaps because he just doesn't think before he speaks). Subverted slightly in that Rudy has a literal dual personality; he splits into two different Rudys. The 'other' Rudy is more tactful and caring.
* ''[[Bedlam]]'' replaces Jed, [[I See Dead People|a man who sees ghosts and works to put them at rest]] and investigating the house's mysteries, with Ellie, a girl who can see ghosts, investigating what happened to Jed.
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* After [[The Fall (band)|The Fall]]'s frontman Mark E. Smith and keyboardist/girlfriend Julia Nagle had a major falling out in the late 1990s, tensions between the two intensified, with the two first breaking up and then Nagle leaving The Fall ca. 2001. Suspiciously Similar Substitute -- and Smith's eventual third wife -- Elena Poulou became The Fall's keyboardist in late 2002.
* David Gilmour started out as this during his first weeks with [[Pink Floyd]] in order to cover for the increasingly unstable Syd Barrett. After Barrett's departure, Gilmour was originally supposed to continue playing guitar the way Syd used to; this lasted until about late 1968 when the band started shifting its musical direction.
* [[Guns N' Roses]] did this multiple times. Slash, Duff, and Steven Adler were all replacements originally. After the "classic" version of the band dissolved, Slash was replaced with guitar virtuoso [[Buckethead]] while Duff was replaced with Tommy Stinson (a member of the punk band The Replacements). Izzy Stradlin was replaced by Richard Fortus, who looks like Izzy on steroids. Buckethead was replaced by fellow virtuoso and oddly named Bumblefoot. 2009 rolls around and their newest guitar player wears a top hat, smokes while playing, plays a Les Paul, and is known for his bluesy style.
* [[Sublime]] singer Bradley Nowell died of a drug overdose shortly after their breakthrough hit. The band tried to reform over a decade later with sound-alike Rome Ramirez, causing a major argument and eventual legal battle with Nowell's family: The family thought no one should tour under the Sublime name, and the band wanted to finally get to play for all the fans they gained since 40oz to Freedom was released. Eventually the settled on calling the band "Sublime with Rome."
* Arena-rock über-group Journey is enjoying something of a career resurgence, largely in part to having hired Phillipines-born singer [[Ascended Fanboy|Arnel Pineda]] to handle lead vocal duties. And while Pineda looks not-a-lot like their former powerhouse tenor Steve Perry, their similarity in vocal tone is [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EvRZBJIKf4 undeniable].
* After blonde bassist/vocalist Peter Cetera left brass-drenched band [[Chicago (band)|Chicago]] in 1985 to embark on a solo career, Chicago responded by hiring sandy-haired singer/bass player Jason Scheff to replace him. Didn't hurt that Scheff's vocal tone was a near [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO8dVXTHiBw cut-and-paste of Cetera's], either. And when Chicago's next few singles included the pseudo-Cetera-sounding "Will You Still Love Me?" and "What Kind Of Man Would I Be?" many casual fans didn't even notice the switch.
* Current [[Yes]] vocalist Benoït David sounds quite a lot like erstwhile Yes vocalist Jon Anderson. This probably isn't surprising since they plucked him out of a [[Ascended Fanboy|Yes tribute band]]. Trevor Horn, who handled lead vocals on the band's 1980 album ''Drama'', also sounds rather similar to Anderson.
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* Jack Allen from ''[[Adventures in Odyssey]]''. After addressing the [[Replacement Scrappy]] issue head-on by openly admitting that he could never replace Whit... he pretty much replaced Whit. He was generally well-received, though, and after resolving some storylines that hinged on "Whit's" presence, he developed into his own character.
* In ''[[The Navy Lark]]'', Troutbridge's Number One in the first season, Dennis Price, was replaced by Stephen Murray in all the following seasons. They were different characters, but shared some of the same knowledge and responses.
* In ''[[The Jack Benny Program]]'', there were several cast changes over the years: Bob Crosby for Phil Harris; Dennis Day for Kenny Baker.
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** ''[[Sonic Battle]]'' has a different Gamma substitute, "Chaos Gamma" -- a mass-produced model based on Gamma without enough intelligence to rebel against its master.
* The [[Updated Rerelease|Maniax Chronicle Edition]] of ''[[Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne]]'' chucks out [[Devil May Cry|Dante]] in exchange for the series' own Raidou Kuzunoha. Consensus says it's an improvement.
** The main reason is that Raidou has the Pierce skill, an absolute necessity if you want to face the [[True Final Boss]] (and honestly, at the point you recruit Raidou/Dante, that's the only thing ''left'' for you to do). Dante was cool, but his lack of Pierce, inability to ''get'' Pierce (because you couldn't fuse him with anything) and permanent consumption of one of your party slots reduced him to [[Awesome but Impractical]].
* The first print versions of ''[[Punch-Out!!]]'' for the NES starred Mike Tyson as its final opponent. Eventually Nintendo's license to use Tyson's likeness in a game expired (and since he was no longer the undefeated world heavyweight champion, renewing the license was less desirable...and would become even less so when Tyson was convicted of rape a year later), so the 1990 reissue substituted Tyson with the fictional Mr. Dream, a white boxer with similar stats.
** The Wii installment has a boxer named Disco Kid. This was originally supposed to be a character named Kid Quick from the first arcade game, but as the staff updated his design, he changed so radically that they decided it would be easier to make an entirely different character out of him. His files on the disc are still labeled "kid_quick."
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* In ''[[Marvel vs. Capcom Clash of the Superheroes|Marvel vs. Capcom]]'', the developers couldn't use [[Iron Man]] due to licensing issues, despite being previously featured in ''Marvel Super Heroes'', so they simply [[Palette Swap|recolored his sprite]] from that game to make [[War Machine (Comic Book)|War Machine]]. When Capcom was able to use Iron Man again for ''[[Marvel vs. Capcom 2]]'', they gave War Machine the moveset of his "Hyper War Machine" counterpart from the previous game in order to [[Divergent Character Evolution|distinguish him]] from Iron Man, who used War Machine's regular moveset from the previous game (which in turn, was based on Iron Man's move set from ''Marvel Super Heroes'').
* The heroes of ''[[Golden Axe]] III'', Kain Grinder and Sarah Barn, look and fight similarly to Ax Battler and Tyris Flare, respectively (though the U.S. version still mistakenly refers to them as Ax and Tyris). Sarah even gets Tyris' repertoire of fire magic. Gilius Thunderhead is the only character from the previous installments to return in that game, though not as a playable character.
* ''[[Fire Emblem]] 7'' - full circle, actually. Nils is the not so [[Spoony Bard]] in the introductory campaign of ''Fire Emblem 7'', then he's replaced by Ninian, his sister. But then {{spoiler|Ninian kicks the bucket, so Nils replaces her in the final battle}}.
** [[Fire Emblem Tellius|Danved is definitely not Devdan.]]
** From one game to the next half the cast will be this for the previous game. There's a set of archetypes that are well known in the fandom such as the two (occasionally three) cavaliers and the [[Crutch Character|Jeigan]].
* In the PSP Game ''[[Jeanne D'Arc]]'', {{spoiler|Liane is burned at the stake in Jeanne's place, and replaced by Cuisses}}, who is, thankfully, virtually the same. (Because {{spoiler|Liane}} was probably one of your healers)
* The first two partners in ''[[Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door]]'', Goombella and Koops, are similar at first to the first two in the original ''Paper Mario'', Goombario and Kooper, having the same attacks and abilities- except upgraded. Also, unlike Kooper, Koops actually has a ''personality''. After that though, the partners are all new, although {{spoiler|Admiral Bobbery has the same abilities as Bombette and Vivian's field ability is functionally identical to Bow's}}.
** In ''[[Super Mario Land]]'', Princess Daisy took up the "kidnapped princess" role Peach normally has in other Mario games.
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* From ''[[Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire]]'' onward, ''[[Pokémon]]'' games feature Pokémon that are somewhat similar (or substitutes) of already existing Mons. Example: Instead of Caterpie, Metapod, Butterfree, Weedle, Kakuna, and Beedrill as Bug-type Mons that evolve from worm-like creatures with a cocoon stage in the middle, we get Wurmple (essentially Weedle, with same stats and attacks) which can evolve into Silcoon, then Beautifly (similar to Butterfree) or Cascoon, then Dustox (a Poison-type like Beedrill, but a moth).
** Also, Seviper replaces Ekans and Arbok in Hoenn games, due to the latter two not being native to Hoenn.
** All the playable trainers of the main series, are, of one gameplay point of view, near identical between themselves. And more male trainers have the appearance reminiscent of Red, the original Player Character.
*** Lampshaded in the Generation II games and their remakes: The final battle between the player character and Red, despite being the final epic battle of the game, features no dialogue, as the player characters rarely speak.
** And more obviously, each game features different monsters filling certain gameplay 'slots'; the Fire/Water/Grass starter trio, rodenty Normal-type and bird Flying-type [[Com Mons]], and so on.
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* In ''[[Samurai Warriors]]'', perky [[Ninja]] girl Kunoichi got replaced by Nene, the wife of Hideyoshi Toyotomi. They meet up briefly in a gaiden battle in [[Warriors Orochi]] 2, and Kunoichi [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] said replacement: "Well, if it isn't my [[Spiritual Successor]]!" (And those are her exact words).
* According to [[Word of God]], Roxas from ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' was made one of these on purpose in ''358/2 days'', due to worries that people might be uncomfortable playing through the whole game with a character who plays too differently from Sora. So his stats, abilities and even magical capabilities were Sora-fied. This, however, is justified, since Roxas and Sora are essentially the same person anyway.
* Everytime [[The Legend of Zelda|Link]] get's an [[Exposition Fairy]] who actually ''is'' a [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|fairy]], she will be this to the original [[Exposition Fairy]] herself, [[Stop Helping Me!|Navi]]. Although Tatl is considerably less helpful. "It's a bombchu! you don't know how to defeat them?"
** There's also Maladus, the main villain of ''Spirit Tracks'', who greatly resembles the normal main villain of the series, Ganon.
* Nu-13 was killed off at the end of ''[[Blaz Blue: Calamity Trigger]]'' by falling into a dead time-stream. ''[[Blaz Blue: Continuum Shift]]'' introduced Lambda-11, who re-uses Nu's sprites and rebalanced versions of Nu's moves. Justified because both characters are mass-produced robot clones.
** ''Continuum Shift'' later reveals that {{spoiler|Lambda-11 actually has Nu's soul.}} Expect this trope to happen again if a sequel to ''Continuum Shift'' is announced, because {{spoiler|Lambda also dies in the end of ''Continuum Shift''.}}
* In ''[[Rival Schools|Project Justice]]'', [[Large and In Charge]] school principal Raizo doesn't make a playable appearance, the storyline explanation being that he was hospitalized thanks to an assassination attempt on his life. When that assassin (Kurow) becomes playable, his movelist is basically Raizo's own, with a few completely new moves thrown in to differentiate the two.
** You'd think a white-haired and feral man-mountain and a gray-haired 15-year old with Freddy Krueger's gloves wouldn't be too similar. You'd be not-right.
* ''[[Legend of Dragoon]]'' replaces {{spoiler|Lavitz with Albert after the former's death}} and also replaces Shana with Miranda later on. Functionally, they're almost identical, having the same additions and spells with a few minor traits. Although to some, Miranda is pretty much a [[Replacement Scrappy]].
** That would be because of the fact that Miranda has nothing really unique about her compared to Shana sans her personality, which is rarely expressed or see after the conclusion of the Mille Saseau arc in the game. Albert, on the other hand, is a significant supporting character with a distinct personality. Not to mention the fact that Lavitz's Additions have of the speed of a [[Mighty Glacier]] while Albert's Additions are more of a [[Lightning Bruiser]] type.
* In ''[[Baldur's Gate]] 2'', {{spoiler|1=Imoen, a red haired human thief/mage is captured early in the game. Luckily, Nalia, a red haired human thief/mage is one of the first NPCs encountered afterwards.}}
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*** A recent episode {{spoiler|brought back Chromastone and revealed his connection to the alien race Diamondhead comes from}}.
** ''[[Ben 10: Ultimate Alien]]'' introduces Fasttrack, who shares the exact same coloration and [[Super Speed|powers]] as XLR8, which is rather peculiar, as his existence could be considered redundant and unnecessary, considering Ben likely ''has'' XLR8 in his Ultimatrix, as almost every alien he's had in the previous two series is unlocked. Though he seems to be somewhat stronger and Matt Wayne [[Word of God|did say]] that Fasttrack is stronger. XLR8, however, sees use in the ''[[Man of Action Studios]]''-helmed ''[[Ben 10 Generator Rex Heroes United|Heroes United]]'' Crossover with ''[[Generator Rex]]''.
*** Though the mentality behind making another very fast character (and similar substitutes in general) could be accepted if one were to consider the idea that of the million aliens connected to the Ultimatrix, it's highly likely that several of them naturally have the same powers.
**** This of course circles back to why sets of 10 were created. [[Fridge Brilliance|Variety without redundancy.]]
* In ''Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas'', Max's girlfriend Mona is a semi-Jonas Quinn of Roxanne from ''[[A Goofy Movie]]''; she's actually voiced by the same VA, Kellie Martin. The plot at hand is that he's bringing his girlfriend from college home for Christmas to meet his dad. Roxanne obviously met Goofy before, so they came up with a new, suspiciously similar girlfriend character. (And, to be realistic, how many of you were still with your high school crush/sweetheart in college?)
* In the ''[[Gargoyles]]'' episode "Bushido," Goliath meets a clan of gargoyles living in Japan. They're led by a tall, deep-voiced gargoyle named Kai, and as it turns out later, they're actually being manipulated by a shifty Japanese businessman named Taro who's set himself up as the Gargoyles' benefactor. Sounds familiar... (hell, Taro even turns out to have a kick-ass robot suit just like Xanatos, though his is built to look like samurai armor).
* In ''[[Total Drama Island|Total Drama Revenge of the Island]]'', some of the new contestants are such to the original contestants.
** Brick is one to DJ, as both are strong, but sensitive guys.
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