Stranger Things: Tales from ‘85 showrunner reveals why original cast aren't reprising their roles | While our heroes look very familiar, they're going to sound a little different.

It would be too off-putting hearing their deep, dark voices.

If this is the one I'm thinking of, Steve's a new actor. Some dude from Broadway. (Which is total blasphemy in my book because the Steve we got only exists thanks to Joe Keery.)

It's like being told you're overqualified in a job interview. Yeah, I know, and I still f****** applied. Just admit you want a cheaper wage slave.

It's a lot of pictures and words in that link when they could have just said "Money"

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It’s definitely a money issue. They’re probably paying the VO actors peanuts. The old cast were getting millions

Not only that, but switching from live action to voice acting could be a factor. Then there's the idea that there's plenty of IPs out there where this happens for any number of reasons, including scheduling, union changes, deaths, retirements, controversies, whatever. Sometimes a role starts off as a one-off with a high-profile actor then either cost or availability requires them to recast to someone more permanent, which is a whole different discussion. Contracts also typically dictate raises between seasons, with a sharp jump for season 4 - which absolutely can crush your budget if it doesn't remain popular - and those higher salaries means those actors can demand higher starting pay on a new project. I mean, look at the new Last Airbender movie. Full recast even though it's unnecessary (they're all available and willing to return). Ben 10 has gone through some interesting casting changes. Totally Spies has rotated out the entire cast (this unfortunately was for costs, but dubbing keeps switching locations too which means different unions). Dora the Explorer does it because they cast children and rotate them out when they age out of the roles. Captain Planet is fascinating, because a lot of big players agreed to the roles for the environmental message but as time went on they couldn't maintain that momentum. Peanuts has used 27 actors for just Charlie Brown (given this started in 1965, it was inevitable). Even the Rugrats revival recast like half the roles, despite the fact that some of those actors came back anyways for other roles! But franchises expected to run for a long time have to be ready to do this, regardless, because we are not immortal. Only one Scooby-Doo actor from 1969 is still alive. And the whole point of The Doctor reincarnating was to skirt this to a degree. If Netflix expects this to be around for longer than 20 years, this seems inevitable - but I will note that it's gonna be jarring if it's a full recast and no one sounds remotely close to the old cast.

In a couple of years when no one is hiring them for anything else they’ll down be on their hands and knees begging Netflix to put them in a spin off.

1000% It's just cost. "They sound older now and we want want authentic kid voices" is an easy excuse, but it's cost.

bit of column A (they sound older now) and MOSTLY column B (we dont want to pay their ridiculous asking prices for voice roles we would rather outsource to cheaper talent that we can pay bottom dollar for)

Just once I wish they'd say something like "we recast them because the cost of acquiring the original cast would have been so large that this show wouldn't be getting made in the first place. It was either hire VAs, or not have a show, and we really think this show is something that people would enjoy, so we chose to make it."

Good question. My guess would be probably, given how happy SAG/AFTRA was with their last contract, but I’m sure it’s way way less than if they’d actually been in the new show.

And voice actors need work too! Their positions are being eliminated, not just because of AI, but because studios are hiring famous people for roles that traditionally would have gone to VAs. Also they aren't part of the acting union like on screen actors.