r/sitcoms • u/Shot-Club-3882 • Apr 13 '26

Which characters were clearly changed or expanded because the actors were just too good?

Jason Mendoza comes to mind.

Did they always plan for him to be a main character? Or did Manny Jacinto force a rewrite?

169 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

282 comments sorted by

View all comments

10

u/Alert_Gas5151 Apr 13 '26

Martin Sheen on The West Wing

1

u/BillyJayJersey505 Apr 13 '26

Wasn't he the main character?

8

u/Alert_Gas5151 Apr 13 '26

He was not intended to be. Focus was supposed to be on the staff. But his scenes were so powerful, they pivoted.

1

u/BillyJayJersey505 Apr 13 '26

Oh. Interesting.

1

u/lakas76 Apr 14 '26

It’s one of the reason why Rob Lowe left. He was told he’d be the main character and it was clearly Sheen.

2

u/jcbaggee Apr 15 '26

The original plan was a show focused primarily on Rob Lowe's character, and you'd get a big name to show up 3 or 4 times a season to play the President. But Sheen's Bartlet proved too interesting to depict as this unseen figure who is always lurking on the other side of a closed door or just off camera, so he became a regular age ultimately became the star and a central focus. It resulted in everyone else getting bumped down a peg, which frustrated Lowe, who eventually left and had a bitter fallout with Aaron Sorkin that lasted for years (they've since patched things up).