miscast

American  

[mis-kast, -kahst] / mɪsˈkæst, -ˈkɑst /

verb (used with object)

miscast, miscasting

1. to assign an unsuitable role to (an actor).

   Tom was miscast as Romeo.

2. to allot (a role) to an unsuitable actor.

3. to select unsuitable actors for (a play, motion picture, or the like).

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miscast British  

/ ˌmɪsˈkɑːst /

verb

1. to cast badly

2. (often passive)

   1. to cast (a role or the roles) in (a play, film, etc) inappropriately

      Falstaff was certainly miscast

   2. to assign an inappropriate role to

      he was miscast as Othello

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Etymology

Origin of miscast

1925–30; mis- ¹ + cast (in sense “to select or assign actors”)

Example Sentences

He starred in a middling revival of the musical “Promises, Promises,” and won a Tony for playing Oscar Levant in “Good Night, Oscar”—despite being flagrantly miscast, in my view.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 13, 2026

The Dodgers lost, the last domino in a cascade triggered by a front office that miscast its humans as widgets in a search for even the tiniest of edges.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 26, 2025

By contrast, Jay Leno seems miscast as Ed Sullivan, strangely rendering the legendary showman into a gangster persona.

From Salon • Jan. 23, 2025

But any version of “The Talented Mr. Ripley” lives or dies with its central character, and Scott, though miscast agewise, has an uncanny way of making himself blank, of creating a man who isn’t there.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 4, 2024

It takes more than a dozen crewmen to lift the woefully miscast Liberty Bell to the railing.

From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman