Yahoo Lifestyle 2024 in Review: The Stealthiest Castings and Coolest Cameos
Some of 2024’s biggest and brightest TV moments happened when we were least expecting them.
To celebrate the year’s wildest and stealthiest cameos and castings, TVLine’s 2024 in Review has rounded up more than 20 on-screen appearances that caught audiences off guard and/or teased us with a fun wink-wink.
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Movie stars frolicked all over the small screen this year, from Bradley Cooper’s post-Oscars Abbott Elementary pop-in to Tilda Swinton’s aquatic voice-acting gig on The Boys. But these just scratched the surface of TV’s most covert cameos of the year. Our list below also includes famous faces and other big moments from shows like Cobra Kai, Chicago P.D., Yellowstone, Shrinking, NCIS, Station 19, Agatha All Along and many more.
From a pair of superheroes who never appeared in the Marvel Animated Universe before, to not one, but two surprise SNL appearances, let’s revisit some of the year’s very best cameos and most secret castings — then, chime in with the ones you enjoyed most!
Gina Torres, 9-1-1
Since we’re never getting another true crossover between 9-1-1 and 9-1-1: Lone Star, we’ll happily settle for Gina Torres (aka Lone Star’s Tommy Vega) making an audio cameo during a flashback to Athena’s fiancé’s funeral on 9-1-1. “I called Gina and just said, ‘Hey, can you do a little voiceover for me?’” showrunner Tim Minear tells TVLine. “I needed a great voice, and she’s got the best voice.” — Andy Swift
Bradley Cooper, Abbott Elementary
Commercials for the ABC comedy’s post-Oscars episode were hyping a big cameo, but our money was on yet another Philly sports figure. So imagine our surprise when the Oscar nominee showed up at the school to poke fun at himself (no, he was not in Oppenheimer or The Holdovers or Spider-Man) and harken back to where we first fell in love with him (he was the face of Alias, as far as Melissa is concerned). — Vlada Gelman
Evan Peters, Agatha All Along
“I did find this guy on Reddit…” is seldom a sentence that ends well. But when William Kaplan took his beau Eddie to get Westview Hex intel from “Bohneriffic69,” we could hardly contain our glee at seeing Even Peters’ WandaVision character, Ralph, looking a bit shaggy and acting a lot batty! — Matt Webb Mitovich
Tilda Swinton, The Boys
When we first heard The Deep’s octopus lover speak up in the Season 4 premiere, we couldn’t believe our ears. Because when you think of a mollusk who’s getting it on with a supe, you think of… the classy, British Tilda Swinton? But it’s that kind of twisted casting that made the ridiculous reveal so delightful. — V.G.
Elias Koteas, Chicago P.D.
Voight (and viewers) got a big surprise when the sergeant had a vision of his late friend Alvin Olinsky (played by former series regular Koteas) during a near-death moment. It had been over five seasons since the detective was killed, so even just a hallucination of the beloved character was a very welcome and unexpected sight. — V.G.
Pat Morita, Cobra Kai
We never imagined in our wildest dreams that Morita would grace our screens again. (The actor died in 2005 at the age of 73.) But with a little AI magic and the approval of his estate, the Miyagi we all know and love appeared in Cobra Kai‘s final season as part of Daniel’s nightmare. Will Miyagi’s untold secrets continue to haunt Daniel-san in Part 3? We’ll have to wait until 2025 to find out. — Nick Caruso
Jerry Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm
Larry David’s comedy of manners went out with a bang, as Larry — like the foursome in Seinfeld — wound up in jail at the tail-end of Curb‘s series finale. Who else better than Jerry Seinfeld to help right one of TV history’s most outstanding wrongs, as he busted Larry out of prison after his court case was declared a mistrial. Not only was it a pure delight to see Seinfeld and David’s A+ bantering one last time, but the fictional L.D. said it himself: “This is how we should’ve ended the [Seinfeld] finale!” If only. — N.C.
Milly Alcock and Paddy Considine, House of the Dragon
We assumed we’d seen the last of Alcock and Considine on HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel, given the Season 1 time jump that aged up Alcock’s Rhaenyra and the tragic death of Considine’s King Viserys. Thus, we were pleasantly surprised when both actors popped up in Season 2, making memorable appearances in the trippy dreams and visions that Daemon experienced at Harrenhal. Even better, Alcock and Considine returned to set to film the new Season 2 scenes, rather than Dragon recutting Season 1 footage. — Rebecca Iannucci
D’Arcy Carden, A Man on the Inside
After four seasons portraying the Janet to his Michael on NBC’s The Good Place, Carden was enlisted for a very special cameo, appearing opposite Ted Danson as a fellow college professor in Mike Schur’s newest beloved comedy. (Bonus points for anyone who caught Kristen Bell’s faceless cameo in the same scene.) — Ryan Schwartz
Michael Weatherly, NCIS
Just prior to leaving for the late Dr. “Ducky” Mallard’s funeral, Jimmy was given a moment alone in the lab. Moments later, who came strolling in but Very Special Agent DiNozzo, played by series alum Michael Weatherly. “I figured Duck-man would want a little DiNozzo magic at his party,” Tony said to a delighted Jimmy — and he was 100% right. — M.W.M.
Ryan Hansen, Nobody Wants This
We’re always down for a Veronica Mars reunion in any form, and this one — in which Hansen appeared for one scene as Joanne’s (Kristen Bell) friend-with-benefits Kyle — was especially fun. Sadly, since Kyle and Joanne were chatting on the phone, Hansen and Bell didn’t actually share the screen, but their rapport was still evident from different sound stages. — R.I.
Jordan Gavaris, Orphan Black: Echoes
We didn’t get Tatiana Maslany back, but Orphan Black fans were gifted the next best thing: The return of Felix! As Kira Manning’s uncle (who, in the future, became a successful artist), Gavaris’ character visited his niece to help her deal with her runaway printout situation. Felix was just how we remembered him: sarcastic, witty and a problem solver Kira could trust. While we certainly had our issues with the series overall, checking back in with one of the Clone Club’s closest allies was an absolute treat. — N.C.
Scarlett Johansson, Saturday Night Live
After Alabama senator Katie Britt’s State of the Union response in March went viral (for all the wrong reasons), we knew SNL would tackle it — but we didn’t know Johansson would step in to play Britt, fashioning her as a demented housewife or, as she put it, “the craziest bitch in the Target parking lot.” Johansson’s performance, giggly one moment and “weirdly seductive” the next, easily earned a standing ovation from us. — Dave Nemetz
Rachel McAdams, Saturday Night Live
Fans weren’t sure what to think earlier this year when Paramount released a movie version of the Broadway musical adaptation of the 2004 movie Mean Girls. But at least it got a seal of approval from Rachel McAdams, who played Regina George in the original 2004 movie, when she appeared on Saturday Night Live to introduce Renee Rapp, who played Regina on Broadway and in the movie-musical. Grool doesn’t even begin to describe it. Complicated doesn’t either. — A.S.
Josh Hopkins and Cobie Smulders, Shrinking
Imagine if Cougar Town had paired Ellie and Dime Eyes. Or if How I Met Your Mother had entertained a romance between Marshall and Robin. Both of those hypotheticals (sort of) got to play out during Season 2 of the Apple TV+ comedy, as Christa Miller’s Liz reconnected with a former flame, and Jason Segel’s Jimmy met Sofi — and we’re holding out hope that Smulders comes back for Season 3. — R.S.
Okieriete Onaodowan, Station 19
Poor Dean may not have gotten the girl, but he did at least get the last word. As crush Vic envisioned her future in the Grey’s Anatomy spinoff’s finale, she pictured her ill-fated friend by her side, cheering the progress that she had made on his passion project, Crisis One. “I’m proud of you,” he told her. And just like that, the entire audience was turned into a puddle. — Charlie Mason
David Giuntoli, Superman & Lois
In addition to destroying us emotionally, the series finale of Superman & Lois also gave us a Grimm reunion we never expected: During a flash forward, David Giuntoli made a cameo appearance as a grown-up version of Jonathan Kent, meaning that he was playing the son of his real-life wife Bitsie Tulloch, aka Lois. “[Bitsie and David] are actually neighbors of mine,” co-showrunner Todd Helbing told TVLine. “We just asked him and he was totally down.” — A.S.
Ian McKellen, Ted
The Peacock prequel’s biggest change from the films was one you couldn’t see, only hear, as the Magneto to Sir Patrick Stewart’s Charles Xavier stepped in, and Sir Ian McKellen took over as narrator. As series creator Seth MacFarlane explained to TVLine, “[Patrick] had a lot going on and, timing wise, it just didn’t work out.” And while fellow EP Paul Corrigan “would like to believe that, over tea one afternoon,” Stewart convinced his ol’ pal McKellen to take his place, it was Family Guy scribe Gary Janetti, who’d worked with McKellen on an episode of the Fox cartoon, who made the call to Stewart’s longtime bestie and set it up. — R.S.
James Van Der Beek, Walker
The surprise appearance of Van Der Beek as the Walkers’ new neighbor — who was going to be revealed to be a cult leader! — in the final moments of the de facto series finale certainly presented an interesting turn of events for a potential new season. Alas, we’ll have to revel in the brief cameo from the Dawson’s Creek vet and leave the rest to our imaginations. — V.G.
Cailey Fleming and Anthony Azor, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live
Only one thing could possibly have been more satisfying to Walking Dead fans than seeing star-crossed lovers Rick and Michonne reunited, and that was seeing the couple reunited with their kids, Judith and RJ. Luckily, two years after the conclusion of the mothership, Fleming and Azor were able to reprise their roles and give the spinoff the happiest of endings. — C.M.
Alexander Skarsgard, What We Do in the Shadows
The former True Blood star went back into bloodsucking mode in the final season of FX’s vampire comedy, popping up at a celebration for head vampire Baron Afanas. His cameo carried on the show’s grand tradition of welcoming famous TV and movie vampires for guest appearances, and Skarsgard brought some of his winking humor to the role, too, wisely backing down when threatened with a pummeling by Laszlo’s fearsome monster. — D.N.
Cloak and Dagger, X-Men ’97
The finale of X-Men ’97’s superb first season included glimpses of numerous Marvel favorites, from Iron Man and Captain America to Doctor Strange and Black Panther. But we got especially excited to see Cloak and Dagger, neither of whom have appeared in the Marvel Animated Universe before. — A.S.
Bella Hadid, Yellowstone
Leave it to Yellowstone co-creator Taylor Sheridan to cast a supermodel as the girlfriend of his character, incorrigible horse trainer Travis. The covergirl made a surprise appearance in the Paramount Network drama’s penultimate episode as Sadie, who impressed Beth as “a moderately intelligent young woman” — at least until her relationship with Travis was disclosed. — C.M.
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