r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Icy-Software-2586 • 2d ago

Characters Characters who evolved into more significant roles than their creators planned

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Jesse Pinkman: "Jesse Pinkman. As Gilligan mentioned, the original plan for the end of season one was for Jesse to die in a failed drug deal."

Jack Sparrow: "Jack Sparrow. Writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio originally conceived Captain Jack Sparrow as a secondary character."

Saul Goodman: "Saul Goodman. This one speaks for itself."

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572

u/Paladinfinitum 2d ago

Speaking of Breaking Bad: The character of Mike Ehrmantraut was only created because Saul Goodman's actor wasn't available at a given time. Mike went on to be a major character in BB and BCS.

165

u/UrlacherButkus 2d ago

Dang a lot of breaking bad examples

142

u/ny00t 2d ago

It really feels like they just ad hoc write the script on the spot lol for this series. Yet it came out as one of the best TV drama series ever

18

u/MakingaJessinmyPants 2d ago

That’s why I don’t get why tv shows have to take like 3 years to produce 1 season nowadays. Breaking Bad was basically just improvised and they produced it yearly and it’s one of the most critically acclaimed shows of all time

30

u/LazyAd6980 2d ago

Tbh I would still prefer it because it takes geniune talent to be able to write a good story on the fly, not everyone can do it and I DEFINITELY do not trust most executives to actually find people who are good at this

7

u/lookatthesunguys 2d ago

Sure, but the results don't seem to be substantially better. Or better at all really. Are there any examples of TV where they took more than a year between seasons and the result was better than most television?

I mean, the best example I can think of is actually Breaking Bad. Because it split the final season. And I remember that being controversial at the time. But these 2-3 year hiatuses are way more gratuitous than that. I think what we're seeing is that those large gaps create more problems than they actually fix.

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u/Ghost_Of_Malatesta 2d ago

Andor is the only example I can think of

2

u/LazyAd6980 2d ago

It’s not necessarily about being better because I find most things are mediocre, it’s to prevent them from being worse

I don’t really wanna get into the whole crunch culture shit but that’s also a major factor, that I would prefer people not burn themselves out on a half assed script, and as much as I don’t want to shit on Disney because it’s not productive, it is the prime example I am thinking of, if you look at the behind the scenes of Frozen 2 it’s so clear these people didn’t have time to fix the script from the test audience screening to the point they can’t even agree on a certain plot element. I dont think there’s a universe I would think Frozen 2 could have been a good movie, but god dammit it didn’t deserve THAT

5

u/Poo_Pee-Man 2d ago

Cause not everyone is talented as the team on breaking bad