KFC announces yet another Colonel Sanders

Is there such a thing as Colonel Sanders fatigue?

KFC evidently doesn't think so. The fast food chicken chain just announced the fourth actor to play its iconic mascot and founder in the past year.

Unlike previous Colonels, George Hamilton won't actually replace his predecessor, the comedian Jim Gaffigan. Instead, the Golden Globe-nominated actor will take the mantle of the so-called "Extra Crispy Colonel," a bronze-skinned, beach-bum cousin of the avuncular Southern gentleman whom KFC dreamt up specifically to sell its "extra crispy"-style chicken.

The sun-baked doppelgänger will make his debut in a series of four commercials from ad agency Wieden+Kennedy, one of which can be viewed below.

The Yum! brands-owned chain first revived the long-dormant caricature of the late Harland Sanders last year in the form of former Saturday Night Live cast member Darrell Hammond.

When the chain then abruptly replaced him months later with fellow SNL alum Norm MacDonald, it caught everyone by surprise, including, it seems, Hammond himself.

"I felt like a fool," Hammond told Opie Radio this week, claiming that he had expected a longer-term gig.

MacDonald's iteration of the Colonel didn't last much longer; KFC booted him and passed the white suit on to Gaffigan during this year's Super Bowl.

Kevin Hochman, KFC's chief marketing officer in the U.S., told Mashable that the revolving door of Colonels was part of the company's plan all along.

"We always thought that having one actor playing him wouldn't really do him justice," he said.

As for what's next for the famous poultry pusher, Hochman won't give much detail beyond a promise that the next phase will be more than a rote changing of the Colonels.

"We have to stay unexpected because we don't want to fall into a formula where people just go, 'Oh there's another Colonel,'" Hochman said. "We are always going to be unexpected."

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