I think the suggestion I've seen had more to do with it purely surviving more easily on the network vs. any creative element. I agree it sounds like weak tea material.
This whole angle reminds me of nothing less than the last two Indiana Jones sequels, if you'll pardon a tortured parallel. By the time Indy 4 came around in the 2000s, Denholm Elliott (who'd played Marcus Brody in the first and third films) was dead and Sean Connery was either not interested or well enough to return. John Rhys-Davies, for some reason, did not appear in that one. So what was their solution? Add not one but two new 'longtime friends of Indiana Jones': John Hurt and Ray Winstone! They stuck out like sore thumbs to me, obvious replacements.
Same thing happens in the unfortunate Indy 5 recently: Antonio Banderas turns up for a few scenes to do very little except pretend to be a buddy of Indy, and the relationship with Toby Jones' character feels equally like a replacement for Marcus Brody. Anyway, this is all a longwinded discussion of Indiana Jones when I could've simply said: I hate when shows or movies do this with replacement characters years later. The character should be more unique if it's taking the place of another.