Most Hollywood parts are recast because of contract disputes, schedule conflicts, or tragedies, and it's not rare for showrunners to seamlessly replace one actor with another and hope either nobody notices or nobody cares. But when Hurwitz replaced Torresani with Mae Whitman after the solitary Season 1 appearance, it was entirely intentional and meant to be noticed.
In an interview with PeopleTV for the "Couch Surfing" talk show, Whitman said that the original plan was to have Ann played by multiple different actresses throughout the show's run to emphasize how boring and forgettable the character was. "And then they stuck with me, which I feel like is a real insult. They were like, 'No, no, you're making the whole "not memorable" thing work, we'll just go with that.'" As the running gag that never was, constant recastings of Ann certainly would've added yet another uniquely goofy element to "Arrested Development," but Whitman's wide-eyed performance would have been sorely missed had she not remained on the show.
After "Arrested Development," both Torresani and Whitman have continued on to successful careers since. Torresani has appeared in shows like "Bones," "American Horror Story," "Two and a Half Men," and "The Big Bang Theory" (via IMDb). Whitman has been even busier since her breakout in "Arrested Development," with a starring role in "Good Girls" to go along with more than 50 other credits (via IMDb). We'll never know how the intended rotation of actors would have worked out, but Whitman's endearing and hilarious performance certainly helped make the show such a big hit.
