Juliette Lewis and Johnny Galecki took over from Dana Hill and Jason Lively as Audrey and Rusty respectively in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. This third installment of the National Lampoon vacation series has become a holiday classic, thanks to its humor and nostalgic elements.
Lewis and Galecki joined the franchise really young, after which they starred in more Hollywood hits individually. The former was in Cape Fear, Natural Born Killers, and the Yellowjackets series which premiered in 2021. Galecki starred in Roseanne and Big Bang Theory, which are both leading sitcoms of the decade.
Why did Juliette Lewis & Johnny Galecki not play Audrey and Rusty after ‘Christmas Vacation?’
Lewis and Galecki did not reprise their Christmas Vacation roles as Audrey and Rusty in the fourth National Lampoon movie, Vegas Vacation, due to age. The girls were already in their twenties, as Vegas Vacation came a decade after they played the duo.
Audrey and Rusty were meant to be teenage girls in Vegas Vacation, so Lewis and Galecki maintaining their part would have been ridiculous as they were and looked older. It is likely that they also already outgrew their desire to be recurring Christmas Vacation stars, as the series’ acclaim seemed to wane with more releases.
Who played Audrey and Rusty after Juliette Lewis and Johnny Galecki?
Audrey and Rusty were recast with Marisol Nichols and Ethan Embry from 24, and even though Marisol was just a few months younger than Lewis, her appearance helped her make the cut as Audrey.
As if it made the role-switching any better, Clark Griswold says his daughters are growing up so fast that he can hardly recognize them anymore. While Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo aged into their roles as Clark and Ellen, the constant recasting of their TV kids became overboard it birthed jokes.
