20 Great Characters Who Were Totally Wasted

It can be hard to balance an ensemble cast. When you’re dealing with actors’ egos, audience demands and the mechanics of storytelling, somebody is bound to fall by the wayside. That person will probably put a screen-time minimum in their contract when negotiations for the sequel commence, and the cycle begins anew.

It’s too bad, too, because the character who ends up on the chopping block is sometimes one of the most interesting. Sure, they may not be protagonist material, but they deserved so much better than what they got. For example, “Rupert Grint deserves more praise for how well he balanced comedy and drama” as Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter series, according to Redditor phantom_avenger. “Especially in the earlier films, his facial expressions always kill me.”

They then asked r/AskReddit, “What fictional character had potential but was wasted?” and nothing but missed opportunities followed.