Jennifer Parker was recast three times in the Back to the Future franchise, although the third instance is less well-known. As the girlfriend of the protagonist Marty McFly, Jennifer is an important character in Back to the Future’s time-traveling story. In the first Back to the Future movie, Jennifer is played by Claudia Wells. Melora Hardin, now known for her roles as Jan Levinson in The Office and as Trudy in Monk, was temporarily recast as Jennifer before the role ultimately went back to Wells.

In the sequels that followed, Jennifer was recast, and played by Elisabeth Shue, who portrayed Ali Mills in the original The Karate Kid movie. Through the performances of Wells and Shue, Jennifer is featured in many of the Back to the Future trilogy’s most iconic scenes. Hardin, Wells, and Shue are not the only actors to be cast as Jennifer, though. Back to the Future 4 never happened, but a different kind of sequel does exist, and it features another actor playing Jennifer.

Back To The Future’s TV Series Recast Jennifer With Cathy Cavadini

The Animated Series Takes Place After Back To The Future Part III

Back to the Future: The Animated Series was a television show that aired on CBS for 2 seasons from 1991-1992. The story was set after Back to the Future Part III‘s ending and featured Doctor Emmett Brown as the main character. The story mostly focused on the adventures of Doc Brown and his family, including his wife, Clara Clayton Brown, and their children, Jules and Verne Brown, as they traveled throughout the past and the future.

Even though they were not main characters, Marty and Jennifer did appear from time to time in the series. Jennifer was voiced by Cathy Cavadini, who went on to voice Blossom in Cartoon Network’s The Powerpuff Girls. She has since done voice work in The Lion King, Happy Feet, Finding Dory, and Soul. The majority of Jennifer’s appearances and Cavadini’s work came in season 2, but this would mark the end of her time as Jennifer following CBS’ decision to cancel the show.

Only 3 Back To The Future Actors Reprised Their Roles In The Animated Series

Christopher Lloyd Only Played Doc Brown In The Show’s Live-Action Segments

Jennifer was not the only character recast for Back to the Future‘s animated show. Dan Kaufman voiced Marty instead of Michael J. Fox, and instead of Christopher Lloyd, Doc Brown was voiced by Dan Castellaneta. Lloyd only appeared as Doc Brown in the live-action segments at the beginning and end of each episode. Other than Lloyd, Mary Steenburgen and Thomas F. Wilson were the only actors to reprise their roles from the Back to the Future movies. James Tolkan voiced a Civil Defense Warden in the series, but did not reprise his role as Principal Strickland from the movies.

Steenburgen first played Clara in Back to the Future Part III and continued to voice Doc Brown’s wife in the show. Wilson played Biff Tannen, along with Biff’s grandson Griff in Back to the Future Part II and Biff’s ancestor Buford “Mad Dog” Tannen in the third movie. Additional members of the Tannen family were voiced by Wilson in the series, given the many time periods that the Brown family visited. However, Biff’s son, Biff Tannen Jr., was voiced by Benji Gregory.

Why Jennifer Was Recast So Many Times In Back To The Future

Scheduling Conflicts And Real-Life Tragedy Are The Main Reasons

The first recast of Jennifer was due to a scheduling conflict that Wells had with another project, which led to Hardin being brought in to play the part. When Marty was recast with Fox instead of Eric Stoltz, Hardin was no longer seen as a good fit opposite Marty, with Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis telling Hardin that she was “too tall for the new guy we cast” (via Wired). At this point, the show that created a scheduling conflict for Wells was no longer an issue since filming on it had wrapped, and she was rehired to play Jennifer.

Wells did not return for the sequels so she could take care of her mother, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Since Back to the Future Part II and Back to the Future Part III were filmed back-to-back, being unable to return for the second movie meant not returning for the third movie as well. As for the final Jennifer recast, Shue had other opportunities, and it would have been logistically challenging and too costly to retain all the cast members from the movie. Recasting Jennifer is part of the Back to the Future franchise’s enduring legacy.

Source: Wired