12 Actors Who Were Fired From Their TV or Movie Roles: Shannen Doherty, Charlie Sheen and More

Knocked Up initially paired Seth Rogen with Anne Hathaway before the latter was replaced by Katherine Heigl due to her misgivings about the hit film.

According to reports, Hathaway was fired at the last minute after refusing to film a scene that depicted a woman giving birth. Other news outlets said she was the one who decided to depart from the project.

"I turned down [Knocked Up] because it was going to show a v----- – not mine, but somebody else’s – and I didn’t believe that it was necessary to the story," the Les Misérables star, 42, said.

Charlie Sheen was infamously removed from the Two and a Half Men cast after he dropped a profanity-laced tirade against the show's co-creator Chuck Lorre. The 59-year-old award-winning actor played the role of Charlie Harper in the first eight seasons of the CBS sitcom before the character was killed off after the clash with the executive producer.

More than a decade after the 2011 feud, they reportedly reconciled and became friends again.

"I was nervous, but almost as soon as we started talking, I remembered, we were friends once," Lorre said of Sheen in his interview with Variety. "And that friendship just suddenly seemed to be there again. I don't want to be too mawkish about it, but it was healing. And he was also totally game to make fun of himself. When he came to the table read of that episode, I walked up, and we hugged. It was just great."

After Community cast members spoke about Chevy Chase's problematic behavior, the 81-year-old comedian was ultimately fired from the show for using a racial slur on set. According to his former costar Donald Glover, the Saturday Night Live alum repeatedly made racist jokes "between takes" while working on the series.

Speaking on Marc Maron's "WTF" podcast, Chase said Community was not funny enough for him, adding, "I felt a little bit constrained. Everybody had their bits, and I thought they were all good. It just wasn’t hard-hitting enough for me."

Chase also created a rift with showrunner Dan Harmon for leaving the set early before completing the recording of his scenes.

Before Mark Ruffalo took on the notable role of Bruce Banner, a.k.a The Hulk, Edward Norton got the role and led the standalone 2008 film. While he was part of the beginning of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Norton failed to reprise his role after he was fired from the franchise.

"We have made the decision to not bring Ed Norton back to portray the title role of Bruce Banner in the Avengers. Our decision is definitely not one based on monetary factors, but instead rooted in the need for an actor who embodies the creativity and collaborative spirit of our other talented cast members," Marvel Studios' big boss Kevin Feige said at the time.

He continued, "The Avengers demands players who thrive working as part of an ensemble, as evidenced by Robert [Downey Jr.], Chris H [Hemsworth], Chris [Evans], Sam [Samuel Jackson], Scarlett [Johansson], and all of our talented casts. We are looking to announce a name actor who fulfills these requirements, and is passionate about the iconic role in the coming weeks."

Norton's agent released a statement to counter Feige's claims, saying he was expecting to work in The Avengers and that the president's announcement was "unprofessional, disingenuous and clearly defamatory."

Grey's Anatomy had Isaiah Washington as one of the original cast members but fired him in 2007 after three seasons due to his use of a homophobic slur against his costar T.R. Knight.

During his appearance at the Golden Globe Awards in the same year, he denied using the slur but still mentioned the word while defending himself. After the gaffe, he released an apology statement but made his one final appearance during Season 10.

"I can neither defend nor explain my behavior," he wrote. "I can also no longer deny to myself that there are issues I obviously need to examine within my own soul, and I've asked for help."

Julianne Moore was fired from Can You Ever Forgive Me?, losing her role to Melissa McCarthy. Initial reports said the decision was due to her creative differences with director Nicole Holofcener.

Her costar Richard E. Grant disclosed that the 64-year-old May December star wanted to wear a fat suit and fake nose for her character, but the director did not approve of it.

Speaking with Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live, Moore clarified she did not leave the film.

"I was fired. Nicole fired me. So yeah, that’s the truth. I think she didn’t like what I was doing. I think that her idea of where the character was, was different than where my idea of where the character was, and so she fired me," she explained.

Kevin Spacey scored the role of Frank Underwood on House of Cards, but he was ultimately cut from the series over claims of sexual assault. After Anthony Rapp alleged he had an unwanted sexual encounter with Spacey, over 10 more accusers came forward with similar stories.

After his removal, a judge ruled in February that he should pay MRC II $1 million over the series' collapse. The amount was originally set at $30.9 million in 2022 in favor of MRC and the companies that produced the Netflix series.

In 2007, Paramount officially launched the Transformers franchise and immediately savored success in the first two films, which featured Megan Fox. However, despite being a huge hit financially, the creators left out the 38-year-old Holiday in the Sun actress from the third film, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, and in the subsequent installments.

The firing happened after she offered a controversial comment about director Michael Bay, whose attitude on set was reportedly comparable to that of Adolf Hitler.

"He wants to be like Hitler on his sets, and he is. So he's a nightmare to work for," said Fox.

From there, producer Steven Spielberg reportedly told Bay to fire her after the comment.

Roseanne Barr was fired from the revival of her hit show, Roseanne, after she posted a racist tweet about then-President Barack Obama's senior aide, Valerie Jarrett. She apologized after the incident, but the show's consulting producer Wanda Sykes confirmed Barr was not returning to the series.

ABC president Channing Dungey eventually delivered the news about the show's cancelation.

In 2010, Ryan Gosling revealed to The Hollywood Reporter why he was ousted from Peter Jackson's 2009 film The Lovely Bones.

"We had a different idea of how the character should look. I really believed he should be 210 pounds," the Barbie actor, who gained 60 pounds for the role, said.

Gosling added, "We didn’t talk very much during the preproduction process, which was the problem. It was a huge movie, and there’s so many things to deal with, and he couldn’t deal with the actors individually. I just showed up on set, and I had gotten it wrong. Then I was fat and unemployed."

Prior to her death, Shannen Doherty spoke candidly about her firing from Beverly Hills, 90210 after working on the hit Fox series from 1990 to 1994.

In January, she revealed on the "Let's Be Clear With Shannen Doherty" podcast how her unprofessional behavior on set contributed to the creators' decision to remove her from the cast and how her marital problems caused her demeanor on set.

"It wasn't anybody's responsibility but mine, but I sort of wish I would have been sat down and sort of looked at and said, 'Listen, the end result is going to be this, you are going to get fired and none of us are willing to put up with it anymore,'" Doherty added. "And I understand that you have an issue in your personal life, but that also can't bleed into work and you need to get your s--- together!"

Suzanne Somers did not leave Three's Company, rather, she was fired for requesting a pay raise like her costar John Ritter. The demand was not well-received, leading the show to remove her from the cast in 1980.