There are quite a few movie franchises that have been running for quite a few years and have watched the main characters grow and age across the series. Fans watched them develop from childhood into heroes or villains across multiple movies, which further endeared these ongoing characters to fans.
While some of the original child actors that first appeared in these roles would later return for the respective adult appearances, there were also a few who were recast or even played by multiple older actors over the years.
10 Halloween Kills Brought Back The Original Movie's Stars
The Halloween franchise's modern continuation moved away from the numerous sequels to refocus on the original stars, like Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Stride as an adult. 2021's Halloween Kills continued the trend and brought back the original children Laurie was babysitting as they dealt with the town's trauma over the event.
While Tommy Doyle's role was recast and played by Anthony Michael Hall, Kyle Richards returned as Lindsey Wallace after first appearing in the original Halloween 43 years earlier. Masked killer Michael Myers also appeared as a child and adult, though that aging progressed largely through the first film.
9 Characters From The Karate Kid Star In The Cobra Kai Series
1984's The Karate Kid starred Ralph Macchio as teenager Danny LaRusso, who begins learning karate from his apartment's handyman, Mr. Miyagi, in order to enter a karate tournament and settle a score with his rival. William Zabka played rival Johnny Lawrence, who trained with the Cobra Kai dojo and bullied Danny in the original movie series.
Both actors returned to the roles in the Cobra Kai series, which explored where the characters had ended up thirty years after the movies' events. Lawrence takes the lead as he opens up a new dojo, which then leads to renewed competition with LaRusso and the Miyagi-Do dojo he works with.
8 John Connor From The Terminator Franchise Aged In The Apocalypse
James Cameron's Terminator 2: Judgment Day introduced Edward Furlong as young John Connor, a fated hero of the human resistance in a war against the machines. The time travel element to the franchise has led to the exploration of a few different versions of John Connor's adult selves.
T2 featured its own version of John in the future and Terminator III: Rise of the Machines recast Furlong's version with Nick Stahl. Christian Bale starred as the character in the future as he rose to become the human resistance's leader, while Jason Clarke starred as a new take on the adult John Connor that reimagined him as a villainous spy for the machines in Terminator: Genysis.
7 A Nightmare On Elm Street's First Teen Star Returned As An Adult
Heather Langenkamp starred as teenager Nancy Thompson in 1984's A Nightmare on Elm Street as she fought against slasher icon Freddy Krueger. The horror soon launched a hit long-running franchise that featured a few new groups of youthful Kreuger victims.
Langenkamp returned to the role in 1987's A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors as a therapist working with a group of children that had fallen prey to Freddy Kreuger. Langenkamp later returned as a version of herself in the meta-horror Wes Craven's New Nightmare that followed Kreguer's attacks on the "real world."
6 Star Wars Explored The Generational Skywalker Family's Tale
The Star Wars franchise features three trilogies that explore "The Skywalker Saga," which follows the adventures of different generations of the titular family. While fans were introduced to Darth Vader in the Original Trilogy that launched in 1977's A New Hope, the youthful Anakin Skywalker later appeared in 1999's The Phantom Menace to explore his dark progression over the years.
Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia were also young characters who grew not just during the Original Trilogy, but also over the years until the release of the Sequel Trilogy that took place decades later. Luke and Leia continued to help free the galaxy until their deaths, while also setting up a future generation to continue their legacy.
5 Harry Potter Featured A Time Jump That Artificially Aged The Cast
The successful live-action adaptation of the incredibly popular Harry Potter book series introduced the main characters of Harry, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger and followed each year of their schooling at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson starred as the heroes in the Golden Trio. They were slightly aged up for the franchise's epilogue in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part Two as they appeared with their own children 19 years later. They sent them on their own magical path to Hogwarts.
4 Rocky's Son Appeared A Few Times In The Franchise As He Aged
Sylvester Stallone starred in the long-running Rocky franchise that debuted in 1976, though his son, Rocky Jr., would only have a few brief appearances in Rocky II and III before a larger role in Rocky IV, as played by Rocky Krakoff. However, it was Sage Stallone's portrayal of Rocky Jr. in 1990's Rocky V that really explored the young character's role in the franchise.
When the franchise returned years later in 2006 with Rocky Balboa, Milo Ventimiglia portrayed the adult version of Rocky Jr., who now went by the name of Robert and tried to avoid the shadow cast by his famous father. Ventimiglia returned to the role in Creed II to give the character a final send-off in the franchise as he became a father himself.
3 Independence Day Featured Two Generations Of War With Alien Invaders
1996's Independence Day introduced a cast of military and civilian characters as they attempted to survive a deadly alien forces invasion, which introduced young characters like Patricia Whitmore and Dylan Hiller, who were played by Mae Whitman and Ross Bagley, respectively.
While the original child stars didn't reprise their roles alongside other series regulars in 2016's Independence Day: Resurgence, Maika Monroe and Jessie Usher took over the now-adult roles of Patricia and Dylan as they continued the fight against alien invaders using the advanced technology that was created after experimenting with the alien tech from the first movie.
2 Both Jason Voorhees & Tommy Jarvis Aged Up In Friday the 13th
The Friday the 13th franchise is best known for the masked killer Jason Voorhees, though he wasn't actually the threat in the first movie. He only appeared as a small child who had drowned in the lake while his mother took her vengeance on unsuspecting camp counselors. Jason then returned as an adult in Friday the 13th Part Two before continuing his killing spree over the franchise.
Corey Feldman first portrayed the character of Tommy Jarvis in 1984's Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter as one of the few who managed to defeat Jason. The character would return as an adult still fighting against Jason, played by John Shepherd in Friday the 13th: A New Beginning and Thom Mathews in Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives.
1 The Child's Play Franchise's Original Star Has Returned For Later Sequels
Alex Vincent played the role of Andy Barclay in 1988's Child's Play, where he first faced the killer doll known as Chucky before fighting him again in Child's Play 2. Justin Whalen would play a slightly older version of the character in Child's Play 3 before the series moved on to follow Chucky with later sequels.
However, Alex Vincent would briefly return to the character of Andy Barclay in 2013's Curse of Chucky before co-starring in 2017's Cult of Chucky. While the film series was rebooted, Alex Vincent would again return to the role of Andy Barclay for the Chucky TV series that continued the storyline of the original movies, as Vincent and his adopted sister continued to hunt down the killer dolls.