I'm pretty sure this isn't new to anyone here, considering were a spin off from a Trek board That said, if Spock and Kirk can be recast not once but twice, no one else is sacred. I imagine they won't do so for Odo out of respect, but I hate how Trek in general has seemed adverse to recasts. I love Ezri Dax even more than Jadzia but Berman's beef aside, we really did not have time to develop a whole new character in the last season.
Of all the characters to recast, Odo really does make the most sense. The form that was played by Auberjonois was clearly the result of young Odo attempting to emulate Dr. Mora, an older Odo that's been hanging around inside the Great Link for years could easily have moved on from that esthetic. You just need an actor that can harrumph effectively.
I mean, if they want to get really stupid, they could have it be Odo Junior, and that Kira got him pregnant. I mean, if they've changed shapeshifters this much, why not have them be like Orkans too?
I'm now remembering the fact that the team who read fan scripts put out a statement not to submit plots about Odo getting pregnant and I'm assuming this is because they must have been getting a metric ass ton of these stories. I doubt any of them were worse than the story ENT wound up doing.