Characters Who Were Introduced Early Into a Series & You Expected to be More Important Than They Ended Up Being
- Thread starter Maximum Spider
- Start date
Shanks will get his pay-off eventually. I do think it's hilarious that he keeps showing up in the character profiles of the manga volumes and the anime's openings, but that's definitely an intentional choice on Oda's part and knowing One Piece he'll get a flashback with some world-shattering reveals sooner or later.
Now, you wanna talk about underutilized One Piece characters?
Kizaru is introduced as one of the three admirals, making him one of the most powerful characters in the One Piece world. The other two, Aokiji and Akainu, play incredibly important roles and have a massive impact on the Luffy and the Straw Hats, but Kizaru is just kinda... there. We know he's powerful considering he takes out several of the supernovas on Sabaody and has some impressive moments in Marineford. He's also the only remaining member of the original admiral trio after Aokiji left and Akainu became fleet admiral, and yet he's only shown up for a couple very brief scenes since the timeskip, which was over a decade ago. On the whole he just hasn't done that much considering his status in the Marines, and I'm hoping he gets some more development in the future since I love his design and powers.
Last edited:
The Mindy Project lost the two characters on BOTH ends of this picture and replaced them with better peeps. But literally, the show got rid of two staffers, Mindy's best friend (she just spit out well-meaning platitudes and was super boring), and the head of the practice Mindy works at . o_O
.... You can maybe count Danny, Mindy's main match in the series who bailed on the show to go act in something IIRC (and then his split was written poorly into the show ). He then comes back almost last minute to wrap up the show really ineligantly
Definitely not big on a lot of Mindy's plots, but the one-liners remained incredible throughout.
I could deal with Snoke, I thought that was an alright surprise twist! But I thought Phasma was a shame; I'd have loved a sorta "Nemesis" style foe that isn't the final boss and doesn't go down.
I remember someone (at the old place, maybe?) saying, when the ST characters were first revealed, something like "i have a feeling Phasma is going to be the Boba Fett of this trilogy"
and... yeah.
Khal Drogo the thread .
I thought he was gonna rock up to westoros with his 1000 dothraki and lay waste to them with khaleesi by his side.... Imagine my reaction when this fella died from a little scratch.
I thought he was gonna rock up to westoros with his 1000 dothraki and lay waste to them with khaleesi by his side.... Imagine my reaction when this fella died from a little scratch.
was struggling to think of one, but this hit the nail. movie got less interesting on his exit too.
Aurra Sing had like 3 seconds of screen time in Episode I. They could have easily cast her as the bounty hunter in AotC.
I guess she was in comics and other series.
I guess she was in comics and other series.
Lt. Commander Shelby from Star Trek: TNG. She's one of the central characters of "The Best of Both Worlds", which is without a doubt one of the most famous two-parters in Trek history (if not western television as a whole). Shelby was introduced to take over Riker's seat as Picard's XO, and when Picard was assimilated into the Borg, she instead served as Riker's number one.
I'm pretty sure the reason she never returned was because Patrick Stewart renewed his contract, and thus made her character moot; If Riker wasn't going to take the captaincy, there was no reason for Shelby to stick around on the Enterprise-D.
Furio is pretty important I would say, he's a main cast member for three seasons and his pseudo-affair with Carmella is a huge plot point in season 4. But they did sort of leave his story hanging after he bails, Tony just has a line about how his best guys are hunting down Furio in Italy (lol) and that was it.Furio.
Dude shows up as the Italian Terminator but then very quickly is pushed more and more into the background until he has to just disappear off the planet.
Oh this is a good one, I was pretty late to the Madoka train and somehow managed to avoid spoilers (outside of the whole "magical girl deconstruction" thing), that twist hit me like a truck.This one was a big deal to me lol
Not "early," per se, but I remember watching the Wire and when Brother Mouzone showed up in season 2 I thought he was gonna stick around as a major player:
He came back for a few episodes in season 3 and that was it. It's too bad although I can see complaints that the character came off as kind of gimmicky and cartoonish compared to the rest of the show.
Yeah, he did stick out a bit on the show - although IIRC he was based on a trend of Nation of Islam folks from the paramilitary wing (presumably former, with the drug dealing?) working as muscle for the drugs trade in the 70s and 80s.
I've read speculation he was based on the suspected killer of Malcolm X but I don't think that's ever been confirmed. I liked the character and would have enjoyed seeing more of him, personally, but I guess not everyone felt the same way lol
Watchmen TV series
Don Johnson was one of the top billing stars of the show (I think literally second top billed after Regina King), featured heavily in the marketing cycle and he was certainly set up as one of the key players in the story. And then he's killed off in the pilot
A lesser one but in Leftovers Jill Garvey (Margaret Qualley) is one of the main characters in season one and as time goes by she is featured less and less, borderline being written out in S03
Don Johnson was one of the top billing stars of the show (I think literally second top billed after Regina King), featured heavily in the marketing cycle and he was certainly set up as one of the key players in the story. And then he's killed off in the pilot
A lesser one but in Leftovers Jill Garvey (Margaret Qualley) is one of the main characters in season one and as time goes by she is featured less and less, borderline being written out in S03
Last edited:
What happens to her, regardless of is she comes back or not, definitely isn't early in the series lol. It's a 100+ chapters in and likely only a little under the halfway point based off what Gege has said about how much is left. I think she did fine when I always assumed she was second fiddle to Fushigoro and Itadori. Again this is only if she doesn't come back and they already said something it's "unlikely she'll recover ", which means "she definitely will recover" in shonen lingo
Tsumugu Kinagase from Kill la Kill has a great introductory episode and then gets sidelined hard for the rest of the show.
Everything about this character was so bizarre, they introduced him as a seemingly major gamechanger who then jobbed for the rest of the show, carried a magic life fiber bullet that was set up multiple times and was never used, implied Aikuro would get sacked by Nudist Beach leadership for insubordination, only for it to be revealed Aikuro is the leader... KLK's script was just kind of a mess all around, reeked of first draft issues, which considering that it was Trigger's first major production wouldn't surprise me. It was a show I wanted to really like but constantly frustrated me as I watched.
Laurel on Arrow played by Katie Cassidy, she was obviously meant to be the female lead and main love interest and then in episode 3 Felicity Smoak shows up and was so cute and quirky and likable that the writers brought her back, continuously expanded her role and by season 2 she was a series regular, the female lead and main love interest while Katie Cassidy's part became smaller and more insignificant until she was killed off and a year later returned as an evil alternate universe version of her character. She was on the show for most of its run but was reduced to a supporting character the writers struggled to write for.
She learned about the Stargate program and then they never showed or mentioned her ever again, aside from a photograph in Jack's house in the season 8 finale :/
Actually it's almost a pattern in the series; they did the same thing with Daniel's former girlfriend (coincidentally also named Sarah) after she learned about the Stargate program...
Oof, yeah this one hit hard. There was a point where it was revealed she could see Ichigo in his Shinigami form and was heavily implied that she was going to go down the same route as Orihime and Chad in developing Spiritual Powers....and then she got stuck in the fucking joke Karakura-Raizer thing, which I'm not entirely sure even ended up being canon because I was bailing at that point.
Tatsuki from Bleach. She's Ichigo's oldest friend, Orihime's best friend, can sense ghosts, is a champion martial artist and contributes jack shit to the plot.
Also Chizuru! Best girl in the series damnit.
Oh, and Karin should've gotten to do more too!
Great example. She was clearly set to eventually become a full on Black Canary, but they just kinda toyed with that and then dropped it.
Last edited:
Didn't know this, was this originally planned as his exit Episode?
I think it is Sara coming back in season 2 that really sets it, like oh we want Black Canary but Laurel isn't suited. Let's bring back Sara. But you know, Laurel had no chemistry or on-screen presence until her Earth-2 character so whatever.
Lt. Commander Shelby from Star Trek: TNG. She's one of the central characters of "The Best of Both Worlds", which is without a doubt one of the most famous two-parters in Trek history (if not western television as a whole). Shelby was introduced to take over Riker's seat as Picard's XO, and when Picard was assimilated into the Borg, she instead served as Riker's number one.
I'm pretty sure the reason she never returned was because Patrick Stewart renewed his contract, and thus made her character moot; If Riker wasn't going to take the captaincy, there was no reason for Shelby to stick around on the Enterprise-D.
This one still hurts. Instead they had her be in charge of "rebuilding the Federation fleet", which was pretty much decimated by the Borg.
I think having Riker leave with Shelby and then have Data (!!) take over as XO for Picard, would be pretty cool. We then get a spin-off show with Riker and Shelby taking command of a new ship. With the reconstruction of the Federation Fleet as background, they have to fend off enemies that are trying to take advantage of the Federation's temporary weakness.
Jeffery Sinclair on Babylon 5.
I mean, he was the main character and he left the show. Obviously he was meant to have a bigger part.
Arguably the show was better for it. Besides O'Hare being very wooden on the show, it forced the replacement main character, Sheridan, to carry less of the chosen savior tropes that had been planned.
Sinclair being Valen was a pretty big twist, but having him be that and also be the protagonist of the main story probably would have felt like stretching things. By effectively splitting the role you still get the human/Minbari connection and history, but Sheridan is allowed his own arc that is more interesting. He's not a chosen one, just a guy in the right spot to make history as incredible events unfold.
The Wellick's on Mr. Robot. The show does them REAL dirty. Like the writers didn't know what to do with them after season 1.
Jimmy Darmody on Boardwalk Empire. The reasons for that actor essentially being fired are pretty well documented now, but imo his death left an empty void that they struggled to fill.
All this Lost talk reminds me of how Michael Keaton was originally going to be Jack and killed off in the first episode.
Jared Harris playing Anderson Dawes in The Expanse. He was absolutely magnetic. I'm grateful for what we got, but the character was unceremoniously shoved into obscurity, I guess because the show could no longer afford Harris?
And then it was mentioned he was killed offscreen, which I understand didn't happen in the books.
Jared Harris playing Anderson Dawes in The Expanse. He was absolutely magnetic. I'm grateful for what we got, but the character was unceremoniously shoved into obscurity, I guess because the show could no longer afford Harris?
And then it was mentioned he was killed offscreen, which I understand didn't happen in the books.
My understanding is that Harris had other commitments.
But yeah, always wanted him back.
OP
OP
Dinah and Roy not being the 2nd and 3rd most important characters in a Green Arrow TV show is so wild. Arrow's admiration for it's OCs was one of the shows biggest detriments.
Lt. Commander Shelby from Star Trek: TNG. She's one of the central characters of "The Best of Both Worlds", which is without a doubt one of the most famous two-parters in Trek history (if not western television as a whole). Shelby was introduced to take over Riker's seat as Picard's XO, and when Picard was assimilated into the Borg, she instead served as Riker's number one.
I'm pretty sure the reason she never returned was because Patrick Stewart renewed his contract, and thus made her character moot; If Riker wasn't going to take the captaincy, there was no reason for Shelby to stick around on the Enterprise-D.
They could have ditched Riker. Best of Both Worlds is where his character arc ends, and he should have take over his own ship afterwards.
I was sad they couldn't get him back for just a single scene. He didn't need to be in several episodes but just popping up in person for a scene or two would have been great given how major a secondary character he was.
Jeffery Sinclair on Babylon 5.
I mean, he was the main character and he left the show. Obviously he was meant to have a bigger part.
Arguably the show was better for it. Besides O'Hare being very wooden on the show, it forced the replacement main character, Sheridan, to carry less of the chosen savior tropes that had been planned.
I agree this did work out well since Sinclair had so much prophecy stuff around him it could have been annoying for a main character to have.
I want to say the reason he left was his medical issues made contined filming untenable and the show did all it could to accommodate him then and when he popped up again.
He left due to his addiction which lead to his real life death. It was really a tragic situation all around.
Bryan Cranston was metaphorically resurrected as Godzilla so not that!
How about Finn from Star Wars? Legit thought he'd be a Jedi.
How about Finn from Star Wars? Legit thought he'd be a Jedi.
