Melora Hardin is going back in time to revisit her lost role.
The actress, 58, recounted being fired from the 1985 sci-fi movie “Back to the Future” — just weeks after shooting scenes.
“’Back to the Future’ was a huge disappointment. I was 17, you know. I burst into tears,” Hardin told Entertainment Weekly on Monday. “It was very sad. There were quite a few of those that I remember, you know, things that never really got made. But that I remember being very tough.”
Originally, the “Tower of Terror” star was cast as Jennifer Parker opposite Eric Stoltz as Marty McFly.
But the actor, 64, was replaced by Michael J. Fox, which caused production to recast Marty’s love interest.
Hardin, however, has no hard feelings, stating that it was crucial to have “failed more than you’ve succeeded” in the industry.
“I think people don’t realize that when they look at it from the outside — you have to really be somebody who’s comfortable with failure, and with putting yourself on the line all the time,” she continued. “That failure doesn’t mean anything about you. You just have to fail better, and keep failing better … to be able to really weather this career choice.”
Claudia Wells was cast as Jennifer for the first film before Elisabeth Shue took over for the sequels in 1989 and 1990.
In October, Hardin revealed that height ended up being the deciding factor for her firing.
“It was apparently the two female executives at the time that thought that it was emasculating for their lead male character to be in scenes with a woman that was taller than him,” she alleged to Entertainment Weekly at the time.
For Hardin, it all worked out for the best.
“If I had done it, I’m sure it would have all gone in a different way. I wouldn’t have done ‘The Office,’” she mused.
Fox, 64, meanwhile, revealed in his 2025 memoir, “Future Boy: Back to the Future and My Journey Through the Space-Time Continuum,” that he was always the first pick to play Marty but NBC wanted him to focus on his sitcom “Family Ties.”
“Unfortunately, the dailies were disappointing,” Fox penned of Stoltz’s performance. “Eric was an immensely talented actor, but the creative team felt that he just wasn’t the right fit for Marty McFly.”
The “Teen Wolf” actor also recounted meeting up with Stoltz to tell him about his book ahead of time.
The two “immediately fell into an easy dialogue about our careers, families and yes, our own trips through the space-time continuum.”
Fox and Stoltz have even “maintained a friendly correspondence.”
“What transpired on ‘Back to the Future’ had not made us enemies or fated rivals; we were just two dedicated actors who had poured equal amounts of energy into the same role,” Fox wrote in his memoir. “The rest had nothing to do with us.”
In 2007, the “Mask” star addressed his firing.
“I rarely look back, if at all, but in retrospect, I think just getting through that difficult period helped me realize how freeing it really was,” Stoltz detailed. “I went back to acting school, I moved to Europe, I did some plays in New York and I actually invested in myself in a way that was much healthier for me. I would’ve been unable to walk down the street! It’s a whole different life. I was lucky in that way.”
These days, Bob Gale, who co-wrote and produced all three “Back to the Future” projects alongside co-creator Robert Zemeckis, isn’t looking to bring back the time travel franchise with a fourth film.
After being asked about the possibility of a “Back to the Future 4,” Gale, 74, teased to Yahoo Entertainment in February: “People always say, ‘When are you going to do “Back to the Future 4?”‘ And we say, ‘F – – k you.’”
The creator explained that the trilogy has already inspired many spin-offs, including a Broadway musical and a stage production on Royal Caribbean Cruises.
“Back to the Future: the Musical” opened on Broadway in August 2023 after it debuted in London’s West End. The play won the Laurence Olivier Award for best new musical in 2022.
According to producers, the show wrapped its Broadway run last January with 500 performances and $80 million worth of ticket sales.
