Spoiler Casting (or "Chekov's Guest Star")
You didn't really think they'd cast THEM to play a minor part, did you?
Spoiler Warning - I have done my best to minimise spoilers, but due to the nature of this post, there are minor spoilers for The Legend of Vox Machina, Knives Out and Severance, among other things. If you haven't seen those shows/movies, I won't be offended if you decide to give this one a miss!
Hollywood seems to have any unhealthy obsession with casting big name actors in their films and TV shows. And I get it, I really do. It's a shame that we have to rely on big name talent to get people to watch a show, but I guess that's the way it is.
But sometimes, that casting can spoil the show in more ways than one. If you have an instantly recognisable (voice) actor playing a character, then it can break immersion and be a dead giveaway about an upcoming twist in the story. Your murder mystery is not a mystery if the cast consists entirely of relative unknowns and then one character played by an A-list celeb. Because why would you hire that person - and why would they take the job - unless the character has a big role in the story and the actor has some good scenes to sink their teeth into?
Apparently, it's a common enough phenomenon that there is a term for it: "Checkov's Guest Star", a reference to the infamous Chekov's Gun. But that's something that I only discovered recently, after doing some research after a particular show's twist was recently spoiled by their casting choices.
The Legend of Vox Machina
The most recent and most egregious example of this, for me, occurred in a recent season of the Critical Role TV series The Legend of Vox Machina.
I want to preface this by saying that I LOVE Vox Machina and the Mighty Nein. I'm relatively new to the world of D&D and Critical Role, and haven't had the time to watch most of the episodes on YouTube. However, I've been enjoying the animated series immensely, despite this frustrating moment in the latest series.
If you've seen it, you probably know exactly what I'm talking about. If you haven't seen it... well, I will try as best as I can to avoid spoilers. All I will say is that the first few episodes tease the rise of a new villain. Then, a few episodes in, a new, seemingly unconnected character, is introduced... with a very famous and easily recognised voice.
Before he had even finished his first sentence, I immediately knew exactly what was going to happen. And I was right. It could have been a red herring, but it wasn't.
I want to go into more detail, but I also don't want to spoil this otherwise excellent show. If you don't want spoilers for Vox Machina Season 4, skip over the following section.
Spoilers for Vox Machina Season 4
Season 4 introduces a new villain called The Whispered One. You hear a few mentions of them in those early episodes, as a dangerous cult leader who they're clearly setting up to be the main villain of the series. (And no, I didn't know what was going to happen because I don't have time to sit through two hundred four-hour long episodes of Critical Role's live-play streams, no matter how fun it might be!)
Then, a few episodes in, Pike and Grog visit Pike's father, who has fallen ill. While they are at his bedside, a stranger enters the room, offering to help. That stranger is a brand new character, a seemingly friendly local priest/healer, who just wants to help. And who just happens to be played by Andy Serkis. And as soon as I recognised Serkis' voice, I immediately thought: "Well, I guess we know who the Whispered One is then!"
This is probably more of a problem for me than it is for most people. You see, I have a superpower; I seem to be uncannily good at recognising people. Even if it's just a voice role, or even if they're buried under layers of makeup and prosthetics. It's a completely useless superpower, outside of annoying my wife and maybe winning the odd pub quiz. It's main function seems to be to spoil the twists in my favourite stories!
It should also be pointed that this is arguably not a spoiler for a lot of people. A lot of fans will have seen the Vox Machina campaign on YouTube, which ended in 2017, almost a decade before the animated series aired. So maybe they weren't trying to hard to keep the villain's identity a secret. But I still think they could have done a better job of keeping this reveal a secret for those of us who haven't seen the original campaign.
Other Examples
Even if the Vox Machina is not the perfect example of this phenomenon, it is just one of many examples of this happening for me in recent TV shows and movies.
It should be pointed out that this is not *always* the case. Occasionally you get random big names in minor roles. Ed Sheeran in Game of Thrones, for example. Or The Rock, Kelsey Grammer and Iggy Pop showing up in Star Trek (never thought I'd be talking about those three people in the same sentence!), presumably because they were big fans of the show. I also assumed that something more sinister was going on with Sigourney Weaver's character in The Mandalorian and Grogu. But that was just me expecting too much depth from what turned out to be a fun but incredibly shallow movie!
Anyway, there are some other recent examples that spring to mind:
- It could go back to the Phantom Menace, where Natalie Portman, who was already a star, was cast as 'a handmaiden to the Queen', but was actually the Queen in disguise.
- Marvel have done this a few times. The most obvious example probably being the role of Pierce, played by Robert Redford in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. When it became clear that HYDRA had infiltrated SHIELD, it also became pretty clear who the ringleader was going to be!
- I can't remember the character's name, but Colin Firth played what seemed to be a minor part in the Gary Oldman remake of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. So, when it became clear that there was a mole in the British Secret Service, one character immediately jumps to the top of the list of suspects!
- In Severance, the character of Burt is played by Christopher Walken. You immediately know that he's not only going to play a minor, recurring role in the plot, but probably has a hand in everything that's going on.
- There was an element of this in at least two of the Knives Out movies. You can take a good stab at who the killer is in those movies based on who has the most star power!
Then there's Bill Nighy in Detective Pikachu, David Thewlis in Wonder Woman, Jude Law in Captain Marvel... The list goes on!
Final Thoughts
I don't think there's a solution to this problem. And I think its probably more of a problem for me that it is for most people. I mainly just wanted to have a good rant about it!
What I would at least like to see is more people playing with these expectations. More red herrings, more misdirection, more subversion of expectations. But I guess that would be asking too much of Hollywood, not to mention the egos of certain big name actors, wouldn't it?