Child actors have delivered some of the most surprising and impressive performances in
Hollywood history, but just because you were great doesn’t mean you’ll be in the
next Terminator movie. Did you notice the absence of these actors from their sequels?
In 1991, filmmaker James Cameron unleashed Terminator 2:
Judgment Day, the action-packed follow-up to his comparatively low-budget '80s sci-fi thriller.
At the heart of the blockbuster sequel is the father-son relationship between a young John
Connor and Arnold Schwarzenegger's robotic killing machine from the future.
"And if you wanna shine 'em on, it's 'hasta la vista, baby.'"
"Hasta la vista, baby."
Connor, played by a young Edward Furlong in his first film role,
is destined to lead a revolution against Skynet in the future — so
it only made sense that Furlong would return to reprise the role in subsequent sequels.
12 years later, however, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines was released with actor Nick Stahl
stepping up as humanity's savior. Despite being the appropriate age for the role,
Furlong was replaced when production began. During a public appearance in 2019,
the actor, who struggled with substance abuse for many years, told an audience:
"I was part of the project and had a very nice deal but then I guess to celebrate
I went out and overdosed on coke and kind of destroyed that whole thing."
T2 would not be the last time audiences saw Furlong as Connor, however.
The release of Terminator: Dark Fate in 2019
had him briefly return as the character through the power of de-aging technology.
The saga of Rocky Balboa began in 1976 with the release of Rocky, which was written by its star,
Sylvester Stallone. The story of a nobody getting his chance to take on the biggest
name in boxing was such a colossal success that the series is still going strong today.
Ina Fried and Rocky Krakoff appeared as Rocky Jr. in Rocky III and Rocky IV,
respectively, but it's Sage Stallone's portrayal of Rocky's son in the fifth
film that is most worthy of note, since he was the actual son of Sylvester Stallone.
16 years after the film's release, the Italian Stallion returned in Rocky Balboa. Although he was
the right age to return as Robert, Sage Stallone declined to participate in the 2006 film. Instead,
Milo Ventimigila became the fourth actor to play Rocky's son. As it turned out, Sage declined the
role to focus on his career behind the scenes; in 2006, the same year Rocky Balboa was released,
Sage directed the award-winning short film Vic. Sadly, the younger Stallone passed away in 2012.
Following the release of the ill-received Halloween III:
Season of the Witch, the Halloween series was rejuvenated with Halloween 4:
The Return of Michael Myers. This time, the story focused on Jamie Lloyd,
who lives with a foster family after the death of her mother, Laurie Strode.
Lloyd, portrayed by child actor Danielle Harris,
returned the following year for Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers. When the sixth film,
The Curse of Michael Myers, was released in 1995, Lloyd was played by actress J. C. Brandy instead.
Harris had planned on playing Jamie again, but the producers originally decided not to
hire her because she was just 17 years old at the time. In a later interview,
Harris explained that the producers wanted someone who was 18, freeing the production
team to work more hours on set. Consequently, if she wanted the role, she would have had to become
emancipated. Surprisingly, Harris actually agreed to go through this process — only to discover that
the movie was turning into something she didn't agree with. One particular meeting with producers
about the new script raised doubts about the project in her mind. Harris explained:
"I remember leaving, thinking, 'Oh, these people don't know Halloween.'
So I'm pregnant with my uncle's baby? Like, I just didn't understand what had shifted."
She was also told that her character wasn't important enough to pay her the salary she felt
she deserved, especially after going through so many hurdles to take the role in the first place.
In the end, she stepped away from the project altogether.
Leonardo DiCaprio has been very famous for a very long time. In 1997, he became a superstar
following the release of Titanic, and he has worked steadily over the years, even winning an
Oscar for his performance in 2015's The Revenant. But one of his very first credits was a horror
movie: 1991's Critters 3, the third installment of the cult horror series from New Line Cinema.
DiCaprio played the stepson of the greedy landlord of a seedy apartment building in
which the protagonists of the film reside. And less than a year after the release of Critters 3,
Critters 4 was released — but this time, without DiCaprio.
DiCaprio's lack of involvement in the movie doesn't appear to have anything to do with
a desire to recast. The story simply didn't allow for the inclusion of the
character from Critters 3, as the narrative jumped ahead to the year 2045. Then again,
DiCaprio probably wasn't too devastated about this, considering he received his
first Academy Award nomination, for What's Eating Gilbert Grape, just two years later.
Not only were the Home Alone movies gigantic hits at the box office, but the first film,
released in 1990, also launched its 10-year-old lead into megastardom. The
little troublemaker with a heart of gold and a penchant for violence made Macaulay
Culkin so famous that he started popping up pretty much everywhere.
"Oh, Mac."
"Here, have a Sprite."
The staggering success of both Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York spurred
production on a third movie, and, in 1997, Home Alone 3 was released. Only this time,
the spunky blonde kid defending his home from criminals was not played by Culkin,
but by Alex D. Linz. Culkin's absence can be explained by his semi-retirement from
acting in 1994. The mid-'90s were a particularly difficult time in Culkin's personal life, and he
likely wanted to step away from the limelight for a little while. He does still feature in movies
and TV shows every now and again, but these days he's much more selective about the parts he plays.
Barret Oliver was our original gateway to the magical world of Fantasia in the cult
classic movie The Neverending Story. It was his sympathetic portrayal of the lonely, bullied
bookworm Bastian Bux that taught generations of dreamers to always keep your imagination alive.
When the sequel The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter was released in 1990, however,
there were a number of casting changes, including that of the protagonist.
'90s star Jonathan Brandis was cast as Bastian for the follow-up. As with Macaulay Culkin, it
appears as though Oliver did not return because he left acting behind in 1989. Since then, the former
child actor has devoted his life to photography, specializing in 19th-century camera processes.
Few young actors in the 1980s were as charismatic and loveable as Corey Feldman — and his popularity
was reflected in the sheer number of roles he took throughout that decade. In the mid-80s,
Feldman was cast as the monster-obsessed youth Tommy Jarvis in Friday the 13th:
The Final Chapter, the fourth film in the slasher series. Tommy's peculiar love of masks serves him
well during the final confrontation with the monolithic killer Jason Voorhees, as he uses
his talent for makeup to transform himself into Jason as a child, confusing the killer
long enough to take him down. The film's final scene, however, hints at more to come for Tommy.
Although the character would face off with Jason twice more, Feldman would only play him in a
brief cameo in Friday the 13th: A New Beginning. During an interview in 2011, he talked about his
experiences working on the fourth film, explaining how his commitment to The Goonies prevented him
from starring in A New Beginning. By the time Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives was released,
the character of Tommy Jarvis had aged up, making it difficult to bring Feldman back for the role.
Aliens, the sequel to Ridley Scott's classic 1979 space horror, jumped forward even further into the
future, dropping Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley character into a strange and lonely new world.
Even worse, the aliens that killed her crew have now infested a human colony on the moon from the
original film, forcing Ripley to join a team of space marines to investigate what happened.
It's here that she meets Newt, a human survivor living in hiding from the xenomorphs.
"We better get back cause it'll be dark soon. They mostly come at night. Mostly."
Newt was played by 10-year-old newcomer Carrie Henn. She had never acted before,
and it appeared as though she had a bright future in acting ahead of her. However,
the young actress decided to leave show-business shortly after finishing the film,
deciding instead to focus on just being a kid. In 2019, she told AVPGalaxy about
why she made her decision. Her father had been stationed in England, where Aliens was filmed,
but was later transferred to California. Now that she lived in the States again,
she briefly considered going back to acting, but decided against it. She explained:
"I wanted to be a normal child, and I'd lived in England since I was about two. [...] So it
was quite a culture shock coming back to the States and especially coming back to California."
Being in a well-known film and speaking with an accent made adjusting difficult,
but she persevered and went on to accomplish her lifelong goal
of becoming a teacher — something she continues to do to this day.
Movie audiences met the werewolf heartthrob Jacob Black in 2008's mega-smash hit Twilight.
For many film-goers, this was their introduction to actor Taylor Lautner,
who would go on to star in subsequent Twilight films, as well as 2011's Abduction.
Before becoming a leading man, however, Lautner had been the co-lead of a wild superhero film
for kids called The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D. Although this 2005 film wasn't
exactly a huge success, it did get a spinoff in the 2020 Netflix film We Can Be Heroes.
The Netflix follow-up features a brief appearance from Sharkboy and Lavagirl,
but only Lavagirl's original actor, Taylor Dooley, returned to her role.
Sharkboy was instead played by stuntman Jeff Dashnaw, who has long been a frequent collaborator
with writer-director Robert Rodriguez. When speaking to Yahoo! Entertainment,
Rodriguez said there was no reason to bring Lautner back as Sharkboy. He explained
"I wouldn't see Sharkboy's face because I wanted him to be more like Batman.
There wasn't enough to bring Taylor Lautner on, he's such a big star now.
And for him to not have any dialogue and have his face covered, fans would be in an uproar."
Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Stephen King's novel The Shining was released in 1980,
and although it is now remembered as a classic of the horror genre,
it didn't set the world on fire right away. One of the film's major critics was Stephen King himself,
who disagreed with Kubrick's interpretation of his novel. The film has only grown in
esteem over the decades, however, and is now widely considered a masterpiece.
King released a sequel novel, Doctor Sleep, in 2013, and in 2019, the sequel was adapted into
film by director Mike Flanagan, who envisioned it both as an adaptation of King's novel and
as a direct sequel to the Kubrick film. While 5-year-old Danny Lloyd played Danny Torrence
in 1980, he only returned for a brief cameo as an unrelated character at a baseball game
in Doctor Sleep. Instead, Ewan McGregor was selected to play the adult Danny in the sequel.
The reason for this was very simple: Danny Lloyd gave up acting years ago.
Talking to The Guardian, Lloyd discussed his life as a biology professor in Kentucky,
and his decision to leave acting. After years of auditioning,
Lloyd decided to call it quits in the industry. He explained:
"I wouldn't say it was upsetting, but as I got a little bit older, it kind of got boring."
Lloyd is now a father of four — and holds no regrets about his decision.
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