Characters who were better/more interesting than the lead?

[TheNameNerd]

I always wished that we could have learned more about Santiago in Interview with The Vampire(Book and film). He seemed so interesting from the few details we got and I'd rather have spent more time with him than Louis. I do like Louis but he can be a little tedious.

Which side characters did you prefer over the main characters?

Trigger, Boycie and Marlene.

Barney Stinson over Ted Moseby.

Just want to reaffirm

Smithy and Nessa over Gavin and Stacey
Margo and Jerry over Tom and Barbara
Sheriff of Nottingham over Robin Hood

Colonel Brandon in S and S
Sister Lisa in Dirty Dancing
Everyone but Jenny Lee in Call the Midwife

Spock
Avon
Garibaldi - B5

I think the problem with main characters is they're often a) a bit of a proxy for the writer, and many writers are quite shy/introverted which doesn't make for an exciting character (Jenny Lee was autobiographical but lots of main characters are similar) b) needing to "develop" through the series so have to start as a bit crap/bland.

I often get annoyed that the gay/lesbian character is the "best friend" and so rarely the lead. Eric in Sex Education classic example. Janis Ian in Mean Girls (whatever happens in the final scene, I'm sure she was meant to be a lesbian) another.

Yes to Garibaldi...I had a soft spot for Londo too!

I think the problem with main characters is they're often a) a bit of a proxy for the writer, and many writers are quite shy/introverted which doesn't make for an exciting character (Jenny Lee was autobiographical but lots of main characters are similar) b) needing to "develop" through the series so have to start as a bit crap/bland.

YY to this. Sometimes the main character is not the main character at all, but an observer/narrator, like Fanny in Love in a Cold Climate/The Pursuit of Love, or the second Mrs de Winter in Rebecca. They are necessarily a bit beige as characters, as they don’t do much, just tell the story. In other stories, especially fantasy/adventure, the hero is a kind of Everyman figure experiencing culturally resonant rites of passage; think Jon Snow or Harry Potter, whose quirks (or not) of character are less important than the trials visited upon them.

that's such a good point re: Fanny @DatasCat

My dad always says "pity the poor bastard who has to play the hero"

A couple of us mentioned Marian Halcombe in The Woman in White - what I love about that book is that there are two female main characters, and they sort of make up a "heroine" between them. Laura looks like one - beautiful and vulnerable and ethereal - and Marian acts like one: decisive, smart, brave.

Emily in The Devil Wears Prada

Barbara & Tom bored me
Barbara is one of the most irritating characters ever grr

@ShirleyHolmes Have you seen the remake of Dirty Dancing (2017). I actually preferred the female actress who played the lead (always found the original a little insipid), and they changed the story slightly which I quite like, ie, fleshing out the family’s story more. Although I know it got a lot of slating, if you take it on it’s own merit, and don’t compare it, it’s not that bad (although I think Patrick Swayze was possibly the stronger male lead).

It seems like some authors deliberately give their main character no personality so that the reader can "fill in the blanks" and project themselves onto the character.

That’s because she’s basically a male fantasy. Combination of Pomona and the Manic Pixie Dream Girl.

I don't know them @DatasCat but she was definitely Jerry's fantasy woman. He didn't appreciate his amazing and stylish wife.

Margot in The Good Life
Smell in This Is England

Oh, I’d read the hell out of that! Newland is thoroughly insipid.

I loved Avon

Everyone in The Good Wife who isn’t Alicia.

Every film Awkwafina has ever been in where she wasn't the lead.

Yes, totally!!

Definitely Rizzo in Grease. Stockard Channing looked like a young Liz Taylor.

Gina Linetti - Brooklyn 99

Mr Heckles
Jack and Judy Geller
Gunter from Friends

Mrs Wolowitz - Big Bang Theory

GINA????? Oh my god, we hate her, she's awful. Now Rosa...

Sebastian in Brideshead Revisited. When he disappears from the story, Charles is too boring to carry it

As soon as I saw this thread I thought anyone except Jenny Lee in Call the Midwife, but I see someone else has already said that!

I also agree about Smithy and Nessa but I think Ruth Jones and James Corden admitted that they found all of the other characters more interesting than Gavin and Stacey themselves.

Robin in Ghosts. I have so many questions.

Definitely Snape.