List of breakout characters

A breakout character is a fictional character in different episodes, books or other media (TV, comics, literature, games, etc.) that evolves from a minor role to a major role, sometimes becoming the main character of the show. In television programs, movies and other episodic media, a character that becomes the most popular, talked about, and imitated is a breakout character. Most often a breakout character in a series captures audience's imagination and popularizes it, sometimes inadvertently. Breakout characters are known to come from intended single appearances.

In some instances, particularly television, when characters have broken out from minor roles to become the center of the action, viewers have felt they received too much focus and were detrimental to the show, sometimes leading it to jump the shark.

Examples

Television

• Arthur "The Fonz" Fonzarelli (played by Henry Winkler) in the American sitcom Happy Days. The character of Fonzie started out as a fringe character but quickly evolved into the focal point of the series. His character became best friend to the main character, Richie Cunningham, displacing the character originally intended for that relationship. Winkler's billing in the credits rose all the way to second (he refused to go before Ron Howard, the star) and then first after Howard left the show to pursue directing. At one point, network executives even hoped to call the show Fonzie's Happy Days.
• Barney Fife (played by Don Knotts) in The Andy Griffith Show.
• Flippy (voiced by Aubrey Ankrum and Kenn Navarro) in Happy Tree Friends. According to writer Warren Graff, Flippy almost didn't make the cut because he was the only character who purposely killed other characters but they decided he was really funny. Despite his few appearances on the show Flippy has become the most popular character on the show among fans. According to the creators they didn't expect Flippy to be the show's breakout character.
• Elmo (Portrayed by Kevin Clash) in Sesame Street. First appearing as 'Baby Monster' in 1972, Elmo has became the show's leading character and has become one of the series most recognizable and controversial characters.
• Stimpy (Portrayed by Billy West) in The Ren & Stimpy Show.) Despite Ren being popular among adults, Stimpy was the most popular among children, who were the target audience. The popularity was even spoofed in an episode, appropriately titled Stimpy's Fan Club. It had Ren becoming the president of Stimpy's fan club, ultimately going insane and attempting to kill Stimpy.
• Alex P. Keaton (played by Michael J. Fox) in Family Ties.
• Gabriel "Sylar" Gray (played by Zachary Quinto) in Heroes. Gray was originally supposed to be a minor villain for the first season, until increased popularity made writer Tim Kring decide to move Quinto to the main cast for Season 2.
• J. J. Evans (played by Jimmie Walker) in Good Times. With his catch phrase "Dy-no-mite!", J.J. came to dominate the series. This led to friction with stars Esther Rolle and John Amos, who played his parents, not so much because they resented being upstaged but because they felt he was becoming too stereotypical and not a good role model for African American youth. Ultimately, they forced a showdown with the producers which led to some changes in J. J.'s character, Amos's character being killed off and later Rolle's temporary departure from the show (she returned at the beginning of the show's final season), after which J. J. became even more the focus of the show.
• The Janitor (played by Neil Flynn) on Scrubs started out as a cameo role in the show's pilot episode. He became so popular he continued to be in the rest of season one and was placed in the main cast from season two on.
• J. R. Ewing (played by Larry Hagman) on Dallas. Originally intended simply as a nemesis for Pam and Bobby Ewing, his villainy made him so popular that by the end of the show's third season the story arc around his attempted murder put the show high atop the ratings.
• Spike (played by James Marsters) evolved from villain to comic relief to hero in the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, he becomes the lover of the show's titular character, Buffy Summers, and comes to parallel Angel in terms of motivation. He became one of the show's primary focuses in its final season, and then moved to its spin-off Angel. He appeared on the Angel season 5 DVD covers alongside its titular character.
• Steve Urkel (played by Jaleel White) on Family Matters. Originally just a one-time only character, he was so popular he eventually became a regular and practically synonymous with the series.

• Todd Manning (originally Roger Howarth, currently Trevor St. John) on One Life to Live. The character, known for initiating the gang rape of Marty Saybrooke, was originally supposed to be short-lived, but once Howarth was cited as having drawn in notable positive viewer reaction, the character was slated to become a main focus. The character's popularity continued even after St. John assumed the role in 2003.
• Will Robinson, Dr. (Zachary) Smith, The Robot (Billy Mumy, Jonathan Harris, Dick Tufeld/Bob May) on Lost In Space. The show, as its early episodes suggest, was originally supposed to be a serious action/adventure series showcasing Guy Williams. Fan response completely changed the nature of the show and the set of focal characters.
• Logan Echolls (played by Jason Dohring) on Veronica Mars. Originally conceived as a recurring antagonist for the main character, the character gained a fan following and by the end of season one was a love interest of Veronica's.
• Monroe Ficus, (played by Jim J. Bullock) on Too Close for Comfort. Originally intended for one episode in the first season, his interaction with Ted Knight as Henry Rush became a core part of the series.
• Kryten, (originally David Ross, then Robert Llewellyn) appeared in the first episode of season two of Red Dwarf, but was brought back due to his popularity in season three, where he was played by Robert Llewellyn, until the show stopped.
• Spock (Leonard Nimoy) on Star Trek. Spock was the only character to be carried over from the original pilot to the second. Series creator Gene Roddenberry was pressured by NBC to drop the character from the second pilot, and later to keep the character in the background. The character quickly became popular and NBC soon reversed its stance and encouraged more focus on the character.
• Elim Garak (Andrew Robinson) on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Garak was originally intended to appear for only one episode, but quickly became an important recurring character in the series.
• Stewie Griffin, (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) on Family Guy. Creator Seth MacFarlane reports being very surprised that Stewie turned out to be the show's breakout character, and that when this turned out to be the case he had to work out stories to do with the character.
• Andy Sipowicz (played by Dennis Franz) on NYPD Blue. The series originally had a more traditional-looking leading man in David Caruso's John Kelly. His overweight, uncouth, alcoholic, yet complicated partner Andy, soon began getting better material and Caruso left early in the second season. Though his replacement, Jimmy Smits received top billing over Franz for his entire time on the show, Franz was more often the focus of stories. Franz would win several Emmys for the role.
• Josiah Bartlet (played by Martin Sheen) on The West Wing. Show creator Aaron Sorkin states on the DVD commentary that the show was originally intended to focus on Deputy Commmunications Director Sam Seaborn, played by Rob Lowe, but audience interest led to more focus on the president. Another possible example of a breakout character from the same show would be Donna Moss, Played by Janel Moloney. A recurring character in the first season, she was acknowledged as a regular cast member from Season two onward.
• Chuck Bass (played by Ed Westwick) on Gossip Girl. While he was originally conceived as a recurring character, Westwick's performance impressed so much the producers that they moved him to regular status. As the character started to gain a big amount of popularity, writers started to give him bigger storylines and by the end of the first season he had become the main love interest for Blair Waldorf, one of the protagonists of the series and another one of the shows breakout characters.
• Butters Stotch of South Park was a minor character, but after the public reaction of his multiple exploits with Eric Cartman impressed the writers, he was promoted with his own episode and has been a prominent recurring character ever since.
• Carol Hathaway of ER was originally planned to only appear in the pilot, which would have seen her demise, but success with the public led to her death being retconned into a coma and the character became one of the protagonists for the first six seasons of the show.
• Greg Sanders of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He was originally an occasionally-appearing lab-tech in the 1st and 2nd seasons, because part of the regular cast in season 3 and by season 5 was training to be a CSI level 1.
• Benjamin Linus of Lost, played by stage actor Michael Emerson. Emerson was originally intended to play a lower-level Other who would have a three episode arc and then escape. However, since both fans and producers loved his performance, show runners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse decided to keep Ben around for the rest of the season, and eventually make him the leader of The Others in season 3, in which he was added to the main cast. By season 4, Ben was one of the show's most central main characters. Desmond Hume, played by Henry Ian Cusick, was also a guest star in season 2 but was promoted to the main cast for the show's third season.
• Alexander Mahone of Prison Break, played by character actor William Fichtner. The character served as the main antagonist throughout season 2 but due to his popularity remained in seasons 3 and 4 crossing over to team up with the series protagonists.
• The Geico Caveman. The cavemen originally appeared on a slogan for Geico.com that the website was so easy a Caveman could do it but grew to wide popularity, resulting in their own short-lived sitcom.
• Leo Chingkwake, (played by Tommy Chong), from That '70s Show. Leo was originally written be a recurring character, but his easy-going attitude, constant state of being high and lack of work ethic got him promoted to the main cast. In the last season when Ashton Kutcher (Michael Kelso) left the show, Leo became the prominent idiot character.
• Summer Roberts, played by Rachel Bilson and Julie Cooper, played by Melinda Clarke from the hit televsion drama, The O.C.. Both were introduced as only recurring characters throughout season one. After gaining much publicity and popularity from fans, both actors were added to the main cast and opeing sequence of the show by the thirteenth episode.

Movies

• Inspector Jacques Clouseau (played by Peter Sellers) in The Pink Panther series of films. In the first film, David Niven's suave jewel thief was the main character. But audiences and critics so loved the bumbling Clouseau that later films in the series were written around him instead.
• Jason "Jay" Derris and Robert "Silent Bob" Blutarsky (played by Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith) from Clerks.. These two drug dealers, one of them remaining silent almost all the time, were created when Kevin Smith (who was also writer and director of Clerks.) decided to put his best friend Jason Mewes in his first movie, playing himself, albeit with a different name. While in Clerks., they didn't even appear on posters and ads, and played a minor role, they went on playing more major roles in Smith's next movies Mallrats and Dogma, finally culminating in having their own movie, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
• Slimer voiced originally by Ivan Reitman in Ghostbusters and later by Frank Welker and Billy West in the television series. From being the first ghost 'busted' in Ghostbusters (named "Onionhead Ghost"), Slimer proved popular enough to be included in the tie-in television series The Real Ghostbusters as a central character (voiced by Frank Welker), which lead to Slimer having a major role in the film's sequel Ghostbusters II. Following this the television series was renamed to Slimer & The Real Ghostbusters in honor of his growing popularity. He was also one of only three returning regulars to the later television series Extreme Ghostbusters, voiced by Billy West.
• Steve Stifler (Played by Seann William Scott) of the American Pie series quickly became the break out character in the American Pie movies, while initially was only supposed to have been a minor non-recurring character of the first movie. In addition, his relatives starred in the three American Pie spin-offs.

Comics

• Snoopy in Peanuts became, in the strip's later years, the focus of the strip, displacing Charlie Brown, as his character began to do more and more fantastic things, got his own sidekick, Woodstock, and proved to be a huge seller in the strip's merchandising. In the 1970s he was practically synonymous with the strip. Oddly, Charlie Brown himself was a breakout character, for the first year he was just one of the four kids in the character. In fact it wasn't even established who was Snoopy's owner.
• Dick Grayson/Robin/Nightwing was introduced as the first kid sidekick superhero in comic book history in 1940. After forty-four years as Robin, his popularity in the Teen Titans series and his increasing popularity in the Batman monthly books caused him to extend beyond his sidekick role and become solo hero Nightwing.
• Dogbert was simply a pet in the Dilbert comic strip who Dilbert could bounce stories off of. Eventually he became a main focus.
• Popeye was introduced as a minor character in the comic strip Thimble Theatre by E. C. Segar. Originally hired as a sailor by the more prominent character Castor Oyl, he proved extremely popular and soon became the main character (as well as the boyfriend of Castor's sister Olive). After Segar's death in 1938, the strip was continued under the title Popeye.
• Pirlouit (Peewit in the English version) was introduced as a one gag character in Peyo's comic strip Johan. The character proved to be so popular that Peyo was forced to make it a recurrent character and finally the co-star of the strip, changing the name from Johan to Johan et Pirlouit (or Johan and Peewit). In a later adventure Johan and Peewit met the Smurfs, which ultimately would become not only breakout characters in the strip, but a huge popular phenomenon that soon received its own comic strip, TV show, toy line and even music records while the original Johan and Peewit series were progressively forgotten). Peyo spend his last days completely devoted to the writing of The Smurfs despite he considered Johan to be the main character of his career.
• Obelix was a mere secondary in Asterix's first adventure, Asterix the Gaul, but became Asterix's sidekick in the second volume of the series, Asterix and the Golden Sickle. Since then, Obelix has raised to become a co-star on par with Asterix and has become the lead in some numbers such as Obelix and Co. and How Obelix Fell into the Magic Potion When he was a Little Boy.
• Mary Jane Watson was introduced in The Amazing Spider-Man as a flighty rival of Gwen Stacy for the affections of Peter Parker. However, Mary Jane's energetic and confident personality drew considerably more reader interest than expected and she evolved into one of the central supporting characters of Spider-Man.
• Wolverine began as an enemy of the Incredible Hulk. He shortly after joined the X-Men but editors decided that he and Thunderbird were too similar in abilities and temperament and almost killed off Wolverine instead of Thunderbird. Even after, he was a minor character, but he grew in popularity to become one of Marvel Comics' most popular and marketable characters.
• Opus the Penguin, of Bloom County, Outland, and the strip of the same name was originally intended to last for only a week upon his introduction in Bloom County, after which he would disappear only to be found dead some years later. After receiving a large amount of fan mail supporting the character, along with being personally pleased at how well the character seemed to mesh with the strip, Berkeley Breathed decided to keep him on as a permanent character, eventually supplanting the original cast as the focus of the strip and its subsequent sequels.
• Death (DC Comics) started out as a supporting character in Neil Gaiman's Sandman but with her perky smile and upbeat personality became more popular than the gloomy Sandman himself and gained a couple of mini-series devoted just to her.
• Ray (Achewood) first appeared as part of a trio of roughly identical cats three months after the comic began; their role was limited to competetive swearing. Both Ray and Roast Beef quickly developed beyond their initial roles; the comic's second sustained story arc revolves around the two characters starting up a business and is the basis of most of the strips for the rest of that month; indeed, several arcs have focused almost totally on Ray, with Roast Beef acting as comedic foil in most of his appearances.

Books

• Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter series. Neville serves as primarily a comic relief character in the first four books but by the 5th book, he became a more confident wizard as well as a major player in the final battle.

• Jacob Black in the Twilight series. Jacob was introduced as solely a plot device for the main character, Bella to figure out Edward Cullen is a vampire but he was so well liked by the author that he received a much bigger role in the second and subsequent books.

• Lula in the Stephanie Plum series of mystery novels by Janet Evanovich was one of two hookers in the original series. Brought back as an example of character who tries to better herself, she quickly becomes a comic foil for Stephanie and her part and exposure increases book by book to the point where Lula also becomes a bounty hunter herself on occasion.

• Captain Ahab from Moby Dick. Ahab appears in the novel as a supporting character with a dream of killing the white whale Moby Dick but gradually became more popular than the main character of Ishmael and almost synonymous with the book. He was the main character of several film adaptations of the book.

Manga/Anime

• Vegeta and Piccolo in the Dragon Ball franchise. Originally appearing as archenemies to the series protagonist, Goku, both character would go through several characteristic changes that lead to becoming from villains, to anti-heroes, to even becoming major protagonists in the series.

Video Games

• Scorpion and Sub-Zero of the Mortal Kombat series were originally just minor ninja characters, palette swaps of one another. While they took a secondary role to the major protagonist, Liu Kang, they eventually emerged as the most popular characters in the series, culminating in their position as primary characters after the death of Liu Kang in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance.

• Carmine of the Gears of War series, originally a minor character that was killed off in the game's first act, became so popular among players that for Gears of War 2, his brother Benjamin Carmine was introduced with a bigger role.

• The Weighted Companion Cube in Portal, though not a "character" in the usual sense, quickly became one of its most popular, despite the fact that it appears in only a single level of the game.