‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’: Santino Fontana Has Texted His Replacement Skylar Astin About Playing Greg

Showrunner Aline Brosh McKenna recently revealed the “Pitch Perfect” star is taking over the role for the final season

Santino Fontana Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
The CW

Skylar Astin has been getting some tips ahead of his debut as a “reimagined” Greg Serrano ahead of the upcoming final season of “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.”

Santino Fontana, who played Greg in Seasons 1 and 2, says that he and Astin are friends and have been texting about the role.

“I love Skylar! He’s a buddy of mine,” the actor said recently to Vulture. “We’ve been texting, we’ve got a whole back-and-forth going. We’re brothers from the same mother. That’s what I’m calling it. Brothers from the same mother.”

The recasting was announced at this summer’s Television Critics Association press tour by showrunner Aline Brosh McKenna and creator and star Rachel Bloom.

“Rachel and I had always been exploring bringing back that character and sort of trying to figure out a way to do it that suited our show,” McKenna said. “So now bringing the character of Greg back, he is part of our storytelling. It’s a plot point in the story that the character is reimagined and so he’s going to be played by a different actor, which is Skylar.”

Bloom added that the switcheroo will “be a great statement on how our perception of people changes.”

“Greg is sort of a barometer for how much Rebecca has changed, because she will have not seen him in 2 years. Skylar is lovely, and we’re so excited,” she added. “It’s not a Becky on ‘Roseanne’ situation, where suddenly it’s a different person… Rebecca’s going to call it out and be like, ‘This person’s different, what the f—?’”

The decision to recast the character came due to Fontana’s schedule starring in “Tootsie” on Broadway, but Bloom said the opportunity to revive an “almost mythic figure” from the show for its final season was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

“Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” returns to The CW for its fourth and final season on Oct. 12 at 9 p.m.

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