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John Cusack & Joan Cusack were in the original Breakfast Club cast - and Molly Ringwald explains why John Hughes changed it all up
John Hughes’s original plans for The Breakfast Club cast were different, but things shifted when the studio asked him to film Sixteen Candles first
Chicago's C2E2 2025 was three days of comics, community, celebrities, and pizza (Pequod's, if you want to know). Read our full recap of the weekend, watch all of the Main Stage panel videos, see all the best cosplay photos, and more. And if you want to do it all again next year, we've got the dates for C2E2 2026, too.
Watching The Breakfast Club, it’s clear that director John Hughes struck gold. The chemistry between Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez, Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, and Ally Sheedy is magical, and it drives the entire film.
That’s why it’s so surprising to learn that Nelson and Sheedy weren’t the original choices for the characters.
Watch the 'Don't You Forget About Me: The Breakfast Club 40th Anniversary Reunion' panel from the C2E2 2025 Main Stage powered by CGC x JSA right now:
“Originally [Hughes] was going to do Breakfast Club before he did Sixteen Candles,” Molly Ringwald said to a crowd at the Don’t You Forget About Me: The Breakfast Club 40th Anniversary Reunion panel at C2E2 2025. “Then he wrote Sixteen Candles over July 4th weekend and turned it into the studio, and they said, ‘Oh, we want to do that one first.’ So, they put Breakfast Club on hold.”
If the studio had gone the other way, Hughes had an entirely different plan for The Breakfast Club.
“From my understanding John Cusack was going to play Bender, and Joan Cusack was going to play Allison. I don’t know who was going to play the other parts. And then after Sixteen Candles he gave me the script, and originally he had talked to me about playing Allison, but I wanted to play the other part, because I felt that was less like me,” Ringwald recalled.
Popverse members can watch Don’t You Forget About Me: The Breakfast Club 40th Anniversary Reunion from C2E2 2025's Main Stage powered by CGC x JSA for yourself as part of Popverse's all-encompassing coverage of C2E2 2025.
Did you miss a C2E2 Main Stage panel? Don't worry, we're filming it all thanks to our partners at CGC x JSA - our official authenticator & grading partner. Here is the C2E2 2025 panel list and release schedule.
About C2E2 2025
Comics, cosplay, gaming, authors, and anime abound in the only pop culture convention in the heart of Downtown Chicago! We've gathered your favorite celebrities, unique exhibitors, incredible comic creators, and larger-than-life literary authors into one place to celebrate the fandoms you love. From the halls of Artist Alley to the depths of the Show Floor, our goal is to provide a space of creativity and fun, but most importantly, one that cultivates a sense of belonging, safety, and inclusiveness.
Dates
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Location
Chicago's McCormick Place
United States
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