Back To The Future: Why Jennifer Was Recast In The Sequel (2024)

Back to the Future is one of the most beloved and entertaining film franchises of the 1980s. Marty McFly's exploits with Doc Brown in their time-traveling DeLorean have been homaged and parodied through various forms of media for decades. However, the 1985 original experienced numerous speed bumps, most notably the recasting of Marty McFly, the main character. Although that challenge was met, it wasn't the last recast the franchise endured.

In the Back to the Future movies, specifically the 1989 sequel, the story is centered around the future of Marty and his girlfriend, Jennifer. According to Doc Brown, in their son's future, he is potentially going to be framed and sent to prison. Doc and Marty travel to the future to prevent that but inadvertently cause another dilemma that forces them back another 60 years. However, one of the big changes in the film occurs in the first few minutes. Claudia Wells, who played Jennifer in Back to the Future, was replaced by Elisabeth Shue, who remained in the role until the trilogy's conclusion.

Updated on June 6, 2024, by Arthur Goyaz: Back to the Future is a riveting sci-fi comedy that remains a landmark of 1980s cinema. However, the trilogy of movies faced a range of production issues. This article was updated to add more info about the actors who were recast in Back to the Future and reflect CBR's current formatting standards.

Who Was Jennifer In Back To The Future?

Throughout the trilogy, Jennifer Parker is Marty's love interest. She appears at the beginning and the end of the 1985 original but plays a larger role in the 1989 sequel. Back to the Future Part II's primary focus is on Jennifer and Marty, their future, and their children. Things don't turn out well for Jennifer after she meets her future self and faints. She remains unconscious for the rest of the movie as Marty and Doc attempt to change the dystopian present created by Biff Tannen. Jennifer isn't seen again until the end of Back to the Future Part III, one of the greatest Western movies for kids when Marty returns from the Old West and is reunited with Doc Brown. The franchise concludes with Jennifer and Marty free to create whatever future makes them happy.

The character suffers from gratuitous side-lining — forced to spend most of the trilogy either waiting for Marty to come back or straight-up unconscious — but her role is deceptively important. Jennifer believes in Marty from the beginning. She supports him far more readily than his f*ckless family and sees Marty's potential even when he can't. That takes a turn for codependency in Back to the Future Part II when her mother-in-law comments that she married Marty out of pity. Marty has to change that future for them both, not by altering the timeline, but by growing up and not responding to childish taunts by noted bassists. His dedication to Jennifer — and making a future for the two of them together — ultimately sees him through his adventures and gives him the wisdom to make better choices.

Jennifer's permanence is underscored in the first film after Marty returns from 1955. His rookie blunders with the timeline have been corrected to a point: he made sure his parents met and fell in love so that he and his siblings could come into existence. But the film's famous late-act twist sees them all changing for the better, as his father goes from a hapless doormat to a successful writer, and the rest of his family is happy and successful.

Similar changes have been made throughout his reality, as landmarks undergo subtle adjustments to their names and circ*mstances. Even Biff Tannen has gone from domineering bully to hapless yes-man. Only Jennifer is unchanged, seeing the best in Marty just like before. That makes her indispensable and quite memorable in her own way despite her limited screen time and status as "the loyal girlfriend." Without her, Marty's journey wouldn't have nearly the same meaning.

Why Elisabeth Shue Replaced Claudia Wells In Back To The Future II

In the original Back to the Future, Jennifer is portrayed by Claudia Wells, but the actress is replaced by Elisabeth Shue in the rest of the trilogy. The recast strikes unsuspecting viewers as a sudden break. Since the second film picks up seconds after the first one ends, the change of actresses draws particular attention from fans, especially with the three films aging so well and almost designed to be looked at together. Wells' departure was a life decision that had nothing to do with her memorable performance or off-camera politics.

Ironically, Wells herself was the second actor cast in the part. Melora Hardin was slated to play Jennifer against Eric Stoltz, the first Marty McFly cast. When Stolz departed, Hardin was deemed too tall to appear alongside the much shorter Michael J. Fox, and Wells was cast in the part in her place. (Hardin herself had a happy ending. She went on to a fruitful career in film and TV, perhaps most notably as Jan Levinson in the hit sitcom The Office.) While her role was brief, Wells still made a splash, and fans expected her to return for the second film.

However, at the start of Back to the Future Part II, the original's final scene was reshot, introducing actress Elisabeth Shue as the new Jennifer. The actress was already well known as Ali Mills from The Karate Kid several years earlier, as well as Chris Columbus's '80s classic Adventures in Babysitting and the Tom Cruise vehicle co*cktail. She quickly made Jennifer her own, playing a middle-aged version of the character and the high schooler with her whole life in front of her, concluding the trilogy with a little wisdom of her own. The role continued what became a long and successful career for Shue, topped by an Academy Award nomination for 1995's Leaving Las Vegas. Comic-book fans know her as scheming executive Madelyn Stillwell in the first season of The Boys, and other prominent roles include CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The Saint, Hollow Man, and Tuck Everlasting.

Wells decided to leave the role following her mother's cancer diagnosis. Knowing her responsibilities were at home, Wells placed her acting career on hold to help her family through a difficult time. Instead, she turned to business, opening a high-end men's clothing store in Studio City, California, in 1991. The Armani Wells store proved successful and has since become a local institution. Wells continues to manage it as of this writing. She returned to acting in 2011 and continued her onstage career with smaller roles in other films. She even appeared in the Back to the Future documentary, Back in Time, and returned as Jennifer in Back to the Future: The Game. While Wells was never in the film's sequels, fans didn't forget what she brought to her initial appearance, and her inclusion in later Back to the Future projects proved there is enough room in the DeLorean for two Jennifer Parkers.

Jennifer Wasn't the Only Character Recast in Back to the Future

Back to the Future's dynamic cast is one of the trilogy's most revered trademarks -- it's difficult to imagine anyone other than Christopher Lloyd capturing Doc Brown's quirkiness so well, let alone a different actor embodying adventurous youth as well as Michael J. Fox. However, a different Jennifer wasn't the only drastic change to Back to the Future's iconic cast. One of the most popular behind-the-scenes facts about the movies is how Marty McFly got very close to being played by Eric Stoltz, a prominent young star who first rose to prominence with the immediate success of Mask, a popular '80s drama. Although Fox was the producers' preferred choice, scheduling divergences caused an impasse between the parties.

Stoltz came as far as resorting to method acting on the set of Back to the Future, searching for a powerful dramatic appeal in Marty's character while director Robert Zemeckis was looking for something less intense and more nonchalant. Escalating creative differences led to Stoltz's recasting from Back to the Future. A deal with Fox was brought into effect instead, and the rest is history. Fox proved perfect for Marty's role, offering the perfect balance between easy-going joviality and mindfulness.

That wasn't the end of Back to the Future's recasts. Marty's father, George McFly, was caught in an on-set controversy when Crispin Glover decided not to return for Back to the Future: Part II. For one thing, Glover wasn't keen on the first movie's conclusion, believing that the McFly family's happy ending sent the wrong message to wider audiences. Furthermore, the actor didn't like the sequel's script either, demanding a higher salary than agreed, causing him to be recast by Jeffrey Weissman. Glover and Back to the Future's co-creator Bob Gale didn't part ways on good terms, and tension escalated when Glover's image was used without his permission in the sequel, leading to a lawsuit that the actor won.

Back to the Future

PG

Comedy

Sci-Fi

Where to Watch

*Availability in US

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Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown.

Release Date

July 3, 1985

Director

Robert Zemeckis

Cast

Michael J. Fox , Christopher Lloyd , Lea Thompson

Runtime

1 Hour 56 Minutes

Main Genre

Adventure

Writers

Robert Zemeckis , Bob Gale

Studio

Universal Pictures

Production Company

Universal Pictures, Amblin Entertainment, U-Drive Productions