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What actor played a role so iconicly that it's unimaginable anyone else could replace them?

William Shatner as Denny Crane on Boston Legal.

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Kinda also depends on the role, doesn't it? Most of the stuff people are naming are unlikely to get remade or rebooted, I would think. Exceptions are the big franchises like Star Trek, that was mentioned early with Leonard Nimoy's Spock. Other roles so overshadow the individual actor that no matter how great the performance is, the actor will never define the role. All kinds of actors take their shot at Hamlet but no one performer will ever be THE iconic Dane. Meanwhile it wouldn't make sense for anyone other than Jerry Seinfeld to play Seinfeld, if that were to get rebooted.

So the question is only relevant to a certain middle ground, characters that are the kind that they would get new productions, but that aren't SO culturally iconic that the individual performer could still be essential to the role. Superheroes like Batman and Superman come to mind. Both have had lots of actors play them. But while Batman has had better and weaker versions and I have my favorites, I don't think any one version is THE Batman performance. Superman, on the other hand, I feel was defined for the screen by Christopher Reeve and it's hard to see anyone else surpassing that.
 

It's on the bucket list to find out. No bites so far, among the living.

Actually, I stoned corrected. There is one rosy nosy bouquet, at the very least. I'm sure there's more. Hard to tell, from this distance.​
 
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