Summary

• Noah Centineo replaced Jake T. Austin as Jesus on The Fosters, leading to mixed reactions from fans and a lack of authenticity.
• Jake T. Austin left the show because he wanted a more substantial role, paving the way for Centineo to take over the character.
• Fans were disappointed with the explanation of Jesus' different appearance, feeling it was a lazy attempt to address the casting change.

Although Noah Centineo first made a name for himself with the 2018 release of Netflix's To All The Boys I've Loved Before, his acting career began long before that. One of his earlier roles was on The Fosters, recasting Jake T. Austin as Jesus Adams Foster.

Noah Centineo joined The Fosters cast following Jake T. Austin's departure from the show at the end of its second season. But by the time the next season came around, it was blatantly obvious that Jesus' character had been recast. This brings up a bevy of questions, including why Jake T. Austin left The Fosters, and how the casting change was addressed in the series.

Updated on April 19, 2024 by Katie Doll: The Fosters was one of Freeform's biggest shows while it was airing. People fell in love with the dynamic family, including every actor who played them. While Noah Centineo deserves no hate for taking up the role that Jake T. Austin ultimately left, there's no denying viewers felt an unspoken difference in the show after the Season 2 cliffhanger that changed Jesus Adams Foster forever. This article has been updated to expand more on Jesus' biography and the fans' reactions to Centineo taking over the role in Season 3.

Who Was Jesus On The Fosters?

• Jesus was one of Stef and Lena Adams Foster's adoptive children.
• He was the twin brother of Mariana, who he was overprotective of.
• Jesus' struggle with his emotions and impulses was a central conflict for himself on The Fosters.

Jesus was introduced as one of Stef and Lena Adams Foster's adoptive children when Callie and Jude joined the family in The Fosters' pilot episode. He and his twin sister Mariana were the biological children of Ana Gutierrez and Gabriel Duncroft. Due to her addiction to drugs and relationship with another man, Ana abandoned her children when they were around five years old. The twins were placed under Stef and Lena's care as their five children when they were six years old and were adopted by the couple when they were 11.

Jesus had ADHD, which he was able to manage when he joined the wrestling team. Although he could be easygoing and kind, he could also be quite aggressive at times. His unresolved anger issues caused him to get into fights, which wrestling helped with. He could also be quite impulsive at times, as shown when he got a tattoo of his ex-girlfriend's name across his ribs. His impulse control was made even worse after he accidentally shot himself with a nail gun, leading to a brain injury that made it harder for him to regulate his emotions.

How The Fosters' Jesus Actor Was Replaced

• Jake T. Austin departed The Fosters after the Season 2 finale.
• Noah Centineo replaced Jesus in Season 3, Episode 10, "Lucky."
• The in-story reason for Jesus' different appearance was because of cosmetic surgery after the accident.

In the Season 2 finale cliffhanger, Jesus, Mariana, Ana, and the baby were involved in a bad car accident. Fans were left wondering if any of them would survive the accident. When Austin revealed on Twitter that he was leaving the show, fans immediately assumed his character died in the crash. However, the crash was instead used as a way to bring in Noah Centineo. At the beginning of Season 3 of The Fosters, Jesus and everyone else are revealed to have survived, and Jesus is currently at boarding school.

In Season 3, Episode 10, "Lucky," Centineo makes his first appearance as Jesus when he returns from boarding school. The long break between episodes was likely to help people adjust to the new actor. Jesus' new appearance was attributed to the surgery he underwent because of his injuries.

Why Did Jake T. Austin Leave The Fosters?

• Jake T. Austin left the show because he wanted a bigger part as Jesus.
• Noah Centineo would go on to play Jesus for the remainder of the show and its spinoff Good Trouble.

When Jake T. Austin announced he was leaving The Fosters on Twitter, he didn't provide an explanation. That led many to believe he disliked being on the show and didn't want to do "teen roles" any longer. However, he contested that claim on Twitter, saying he left because he wanted a more substantial part. Apparently, his role as Jesus was going to be greatly reduced in Season 3, leading him to depart The Fosters. Following his 2015 exit, Austin voiced Jaime Reyes/Blue Beetle in a trio of DC animated projects, co-starred in The Emoji Movie, and appeared on Dancing With the Stars.

Enter Noah Centineo. At the time, the actor was best known for his role as Dallas on Disney Channel's Austin & Ally. He portrayed Jesus on The Fosters from Season 3 until the series wrapped in 2018 with Season 5. Afterward, Centineo landed roles in the To All the Boys I Loved Before film series, Sierra Burgess Is a Loser, and Charlie's Angels, among other projects. He even reprised his role as Jesus in an episode of The Fosters spinoff, Good Trouble. More recently, Centineo played DC superhero Atom Smasher opposite Dwayne Johnson in Black Adam and starred in Netflix's spy-adventure series The Recruit.

Fans Were Disappointed At Jesus Being Recast

• The lazy attempt at explaining Jesus' different appearance didn't blow over well with fans.
• The Fosters was never the same after Jake T. Austin left because it lacked authenticity.
• Not addressing Jesus being a different person would've garnered better responses from viewers.

Needless to say, people didn't respond well to Centineo taking over as Jesus. It wasn't that Centineo didn't do a good job; he was impressive at taking on the responsibility of continuing someone else's work just as they did. But TV fans have always proven they don't like change. People were already used to Austin as Jesus, and nothing could change that. It would be like if Grey's Anatomy decided to change George O'Malley's actor after the third season. It wouldn't have worked because T.R. Knight brought that role to life, just as Austin did for Jesus.

There was also an issue with Centineo and Austin not bearing any resemblance. Centineo is taller and has a deeper voice, which no cosmetic surgery for car accident injuries would've changed. The "surgery changed his appearance" excuse felt like a lazy cop-out. Honestly, The Fosters would've been better off not addressing his changed appearance at all. Characters get recast all the time, like War Machine in the Iron Man trilogy. The movies didn't make an explicit reference to the change, and everyone got over it pretty quickly. If The Fosters had done the same for Jesus, then maybe there wouldn't have been as much backlash.

The Fosters is available to stream on Hulu.