Many beloved soap characters get recast overtime, and Home and Away has seen its fair share in its premiere in 1988 - Daily Star takes a look at some of the actors who left and got replaced...
Often in soap operas and beloved programmes, characters leave and get recast, and Home and Away is no exception.
Summer Bay has had many characters arrive and depart, but sometimes the characters remain and it's the actors and actresses who leave.
Departing for many reasons, sometimes it's the actor's choice to leave their role or sometimes soap bosses decide to give the character a revamp.
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Whether they're moving onto new projects or growing up in the soap and in need of a different person to play the role, recasting happens often.
Flynn Saunders
From 2001 until 2002 Flynn was portrayed by Martin Dingle Wall, but then Joel McIlroy took over until he was killed off in 2006.
The Summer Bay character was killed off in 2006 after losing a heart-breaking cancer battle.
The original Flynn actor opened up about his alcohol battle in 2016 when he sat down for an interview with the Daily Telegraph after moving from Australia to America.
"As minor a role as it [alcoholism] was in my life, it was massively destructive and completely unwelcome," he explained.
"The first real gift of LA for me was working through these demons, this stuff that was being fuelled very poorly by an emotionally negative relationship with having a drink, so I went to my first AA meeting and the penny landed instantly.
"If you are going to be Los Angeles based and working in the game of Hollywood, I think 90% of your work is actually keeping a healthy psychology."
Hayley Smith
Hayley has had two different actresses take on the role
Hayley was portrayed and made famous by Bec Hewitt (nee Cartwright) who was at the helm of the role from 1998 to 2005.
She quit the show after seven years in 2005 when she fell pregnant following on from getting hitched to tennis icon Lleyton Hewitt.
In a statement released by Bec at the time she said that it was going to be "hard" to leave all of her friends and co-stars.
But instead of soap bosses killing off the character or writing her out of the programme for good, they ended up recasting a new actress to take on the role.
Ella Scott Lynch took on the role of Bec and had big shoes to fill, but was supported by Bec who sent her best wishes.
Duncan Stewart
Duncan has had two actors at the helm of the role
Duncan, the son of Alf (Ray Meagher) and Ailsa (Judy Nunn) was played by a number of different child stars throughout the character's time in Summer Bay.
Lewis Devaney played the role of Duncan from 1990 until 1998, and then Brendan McKensy took over from 1998 until the character’s exit in 2001.
Ten years later though, Duncan returned to the beloved Aussie soap and was played by Benedict Wall.
Benedict is said to have auditioned for the show on multiple occasions before landing the role of Duncan.
VJ Patterson is a character that has been a part of Summer Bay since his birth.
A beloved character since 2000, VJ is the son of Leah (Ada Nicodemou) and Vinnie (Ryan Kwanten).
The youngster was originally portrayed by Felix Dean as a pre-teen and at this stage didn't have a huge role.
But then VJ disappeared off screen before returning as a completely different looking boy.
The character returned and looked much older in 2014, now portrayed by a very ripped Matt Little.
It is thought that the actor was switched due to the character growing up, and at the time VJ's on-screen mum said: "VJ does leave the screens for a while and then he comes back definitely grown up!
"He's quite a big boy now, as physically they wanted him to grow up a bit and look a little bit older."
The original actor, Felix Dean, is now 25 years of age.
In October 2021, reported that the former Home and Away star had been arrested for allegedly attacking a store worker.
He was charged with a number of offences and had previously been arrested the month before and charged with intent to rob and common assault
The former Summer Bay actor was also charged with property damage relating to an alleged incident in January 2021.
He was refused bail and was sentenced to 19 months imprisonment with a non parole period of 11 months, but was eligible to be released on June 10, 2022 due to the sentence being backdated to July 11, 2021 and time already served.
Roo Stewart
Roo went from a blonde bombshell to a brunette babe after being recast
Roo has been a long-standing character in the beloved Aussie soap, and like many Summer Bay faces has been recast.
In the 1980s when the soap opera began, Roo was blonde and pretty wild – but is now a brunette babe.
Involved in many scandals as a youngster, Justine Clarke was the actress who brought Roo to life and set the foundations for this long-standing and much-loved character.
In 2020 the original Roo actress spoke to The Australian Women’s Weekly where she said: "She was a bully. People started calling me 'bitch' in the street and giving me the finger.”
For more than 10 years Georgie Parker has been at the helm of the role, but this wasn't her first on-screen stint.
Her first role took place from 1998 until 2005, Georgie played Sister Teresa Sullivan, a nurse and former nun, in the Australian medical drama series All Saints.
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