17 Supporting Characters Who Outshone the Main Heroes of the Series and Became Fan Favorites

Many TV series focus on the story of one or several main characters. But it’s really hard to make the story interesting without bright and memorable supporting characters. And some of them turn out to be so charismatic that they can even outshine the main characters and get a TV show of their own.

Erica Sinclair — Stranger Things

Lucas’ little sister would have had much less screen time were it not for Priah Ferguson, who played Erica, and got so loved by the audience that the series makers decided to develop her character.

“That is the fun thing about the show — you discover stuff as you’re filming. We were able to integrate more of her in, but not as much you want because the story was already going. ’We got to use more Erica’ — that was one of the first things we said in the writers’ room,” the Duffer Brothers recalled.

Sheldon Cooper — The Big Bang Theory

By the time Johnny Galecki, who played Leonard, started filming The Big Bang Theory, he had already had an extensive acting career: he had appeared to play in multiple TV shows in the 1990s as well as a few Hollywood movies. But it was a different story for Jim Parsons, whose filmography included only a couple of prominent roles.

Nevertheless, his character Sheldon Cooper turned out to be so charismatic that he even overshadowed Leonard and got his own spin-off prequel, Young Sheldon.

Black Noir — The Boys

This silent character, who is a parody of Batman, hasn’t had a lot of screen time yet to compete with the main characters. But he’s definitely become one of the funniest characters of the series and audiences love his story.

Negan — The Walking Dead

It was quite predictable that the audience would fall for Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s charisma. The first appearance of Negan in the series struck a chord with viewers, and he became a cultural phenomenon and fan-favorite villain over time whose adventures on screen raised no less interest than those of the protagonists.

Castiel — Supernatural

Originally, this character was supposed to appear only in 6 episodes and die in the fourth season episode Heaven and Hell. However, Castiel, who is played by Misha Collins, was so loved by the audience that he was promoted to the main cast in seasons 5 and 6.

Santana Lopez — Glee

Santana barely said a couple of phrases in the first season, appearing mostly in music scenes. In the second season, however, Naya Rivera’s character got more screen time, gradually becoming one of the main figures of the show. And in the final season, she became almost as important as Rachel Berry, who was initially positioned as the central character.

Despite Santana’s razor-sharp tongue and bad temper, the audience was grateful to the series creators for creating an LGBTQ+ character who had to deal with problems many people have to deal with in real life.

Saul Goodman — Breaking Bad

The criminal lawyer, who was loved by the audience, appeared in the second season of the series for the first time to help the main characters cover up their crimes. Later, he would continue to appear in the series from time to time, and eventually become one of the most important characters.

However, the series spin-off Better Call Saul was not as successful as Breaking Bad.

Grogu/Baby Yoda — The Mandalorian

As soon as Grogu appeared in the first episode of Season One, he immediately attracted a lot of attention and became a cultural icon, a hero of multiple memes and the face of advertising campaigns. This silent character even outshone the main hero. And even though the series is called The Mandalorian, we bet many of you would want to rename it to Baby Yoda.

Frank Castle — Daredevil

Originally, this character, who was introduced as the dark reflection of Daredevil, was intended to only be a supporting character. But at some point, the showrunners decided that he deserved a storyline of his own, which led to the creation of the series The Punisher. The series received positive reviews from audiences.

Olenna Tyrell — Game of Thrones

There are many characters in this series who got more screen time than Olenna. However, none of them was as striking as her. Diana Rigg’s character became one of the most memorable out of the large cast thanks to her wit, cunning, and ability to disarm anyone with her words alone.

Steve Harrington — Stranger Things

As the story unfolded, the audience could watch Steve’s transformation from a good-looking bully to one of the central figures of the series. This happened thanks to the logical development of the character, who went on to have a touching redemption story arc.

The Janitor — Scrubs

Neil Flynn, who played the Janitor, often improvised his lines rather than following the script, making his comments even more unpredictable and funny. This was probably one of the reasons why the Janitor was so popular and actually became the mascot of the series.

Adam Sackler — Girls

Although Girls is a great series by itself, this project revealed the talent of Adam Driver to the world. Now he is a two-time Oscar nominee. In the last seasons, his character’s importance and screen time increased. He was funny, energetic, and sometimes clumsy, and these qualities of his, perhaps, helped him win the audience’s hearts.

Denise — Master Of None

The series was originally conceived by Aziz Ansari as a story about Dev, the character he played. But after 2 seasons, he decided to bow out of the lead position and pass it on to Dev’s best friend, Denise. This idea worked out well because this supporting character was loved by the audience, and this helped her become a new star of the series.

Captain Hook — Once Upon a Time

Nowadays, it’s hard to imagine this series without Captain Hook. But according to Colin O’Donoghue, who played this role, he wasn’t supposed to stay in the series for long. “I came in on episode 4 of the second season and I just thought I was going to be a guest star for a couple of episodes and here I am still! It’s probably the eyeliner to be honest. I think that’s the winning formula that’s kept me on the show,” the actor revealed.

Poussey Washington — Orange Is The New Black

In the first season, it was made clear that the central figure of the series was Piper. The series was actually based on the memoirs of her real-life counterpart. But over time, this character was overshadowed by other characters who were originally intended to only have supporting roles. One of them was Poussey Washington.

She quickly became a fan favorite. And even though her death angered a lot of fans, it also highlighted some of the major topics and problems that the series was tackling in its portrayal of life in prison.

Stiles Stilinski — Teen Wolf

In the first season, Stiles was introduced as the main character’s funny friend who added humor to the scenes and hardly affected any major storylines. But the situation started to change in Season 3 when the popularity of Dylan O’Brien’s character began to grow.

Stiles became more important to the plot and received his own storyline. As a result, a just-funny guy transformed into a multi-dimensional character going through some trauma of his own. Moreover, he even became an antagonist for a short period of time in the second half of Season 3.

Does this list include your favorite characters? Are there any other series where supporting characters outshone the main ones?