History Main / LoadsandLoadsOfCharacters

* ''TheBradyBunch'': The original show had 9 main characters. The Reunion Series ''The Bradys'' had all of those plus each of the six kids in the original had wives/husbands/ boy/girlfriends/ kids of their own added to the mix. No wonder it was an hour-long show!
* ''GenerationKill'':
** Represents nearly the whole of First Recon at the onset of the Iraq War.
** This is usually true for any miniseries that focuses on the military, such as ''ThePacific'' and ''Series/BandOfBrothers''. In ''ThePacific'' the focus is three different men from three different companies, all with their entirely different friends, families, commanding officers, etc. featured. The large cast was also one of the few criticisms ''Series/BandOfBrothers'' received when it was first aired, even though the 25 or so men that make up the main cast is a relatively small number compared to the amount of soldiers that are featured in the book and were a part of the company in real life.
* ''TheMightyBoosh'': This show is an interesting example. While they do tend to have a large supporting and recurring cast, these characters always seem to be played by the three or four main actors of the series. The small troupe/big cast approach fits the show's do-it-yourself vibe (the creators also tend to use friends and family in supporting roles), while in [[http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2007/oct/21/features.magazine97 an interview]] Noel Fielding paraphrased the BBC's reaction to the show's popularity thusly: "It's like the Beatles. It's amazing! You're getting less money!"
* ''{{Numb3rs}}'': Fits the bill. While the core duo of Don and Charlie appear in every episode, and characters like Colby, David, Alan, and Amita are almost always present, there's a revolving cast of other characters who are so known to the audience that their appearance is nothing special, but who still don't make it into every episode.
* ''TheState'':
** Spoofed by this sketch comedy show which presented a fictional TV program called "Just the 160,000 of Us." It was presented as a soap opera where the aforementioned number of people all somehow shared a house, and all of them had their own subplots.
** Similar in the German comedy ''Switch'', with the fictional soap "Alle und wir" ("everyone and us"), which seems to have hundreds, if not thousands of characters... although we only see six of them, and a seventh one (Robin) is mentioned.
* ''PowerRangers'': There are somewhere around '''106''' people who count as the eponymous Rangers alone, then add in at least 15 distinct sets of allies, supporting characters, and villains. If you count the 17 years of [[MonsterOfTheWeek weekly monsters]], you have a cast of thousands.
* ''SuperSentai'': Has 199 heroes (including the 6 [[Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger Gokaiger]] and [[OriginalGeneration AkaRed]]) as of the main 35th Anniversary movie this year, with 35 teams over the past 36 years (1975-2011), that's counting the Core 3/5 and the 6th/Others (such as [[SeijuuSentaiGingaman BullBlack]] / [[Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy Magna Defender]] from [[SeijuuSentaiGingaman Gingaman]] / [[Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy Lost Galaxy]]). Toss in the 35 lots of villains, allies and supporting characters you'll easily hit the thousands before having to add in the [[MonsterOfTheWeek weekly monsters]].
* ''KamenRider'':
** Check the 40-years of this show (1971-2011) and you'll typically find that the bigger the list of Riders in a year, the more non-Rider characters there's gonna be. [[KamenRiderKabuto Kabuto]] (11, including the 3 Movie-Only Riders) and [[KamenRiderRyuki Ryuki]] (13, 14 including the [[KamenRiderDecade Decade]]-only Rider Abyss) show this off well.
** And there's confirmation for a movie crossing over the two franchises, ''Film/KamenRiderXSuperSentaiSuperheroTaisen''. Which means a unity of nearly ''250 heroes''.
** And now it goes SerialEscalation - with a whopping ''486 confirmed costumed characters on screen'', not only is this the biggest collection of characters ever, Toei has even sent this to the GuinnessBookOfWorldRecords for the biggest number of suited stunt actors on screen.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
** Usually kept a good rotation of older characters [[KilledOffForReal being killed]] or otherwise [[PutOnABus taking a bus]], but the last season saw an influx of potential slayers and that number came to about 25 or so.
** As of the comic continuation Season Eight, there are around 500 Slayers in Buffy's expanded group.
* ''StargateVerse'': Has many, many more characters [[KudzuPlot than the writers can keep track of]]. They occasionally try to stem the tide with {{Bus Crash}}es and [[DroppedABridgeOnHim dropping bridges]].
* JimHenson and his cohorts:
** Did this on a regular basis. ''TheMuppetShow'', ''FraggleRock'', and ''Series/SesameStreet'' have all featured core casts of at least seven to ten main characters, another ten or fifteen secondaries, and dozens of recognizable recurrers.
** For obvious reasons. A live-action show will probably find it cheaper/easier to hire a new actor to play an extra or bit part rather than track down the guy who was in that one episode seven seasons ago, whereas a puppet show will almost always find it easier to pull that old puppet out of the closet. Helps that a lot of the voice actors were [[ManOfAThousandVoices men of a thousand voices]].
** The ending of ''TheMuppetsTakeManhattan'' and ''Film/AMuppetFamilyChristmas'' are good places to see everyone together. And the cast has only continued to grow.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': The principals alone number nearly 20. Factor in the remaining cast of secondary, tertiary, and ancillary characters, and the number balloons to some 50+.
* ''TwinPeaks'': Had about 20-25 major characters who were given character arcs, and about 40 minor recurring characters. This is pretty impressive considering that the series lasted only for 30 episodes, and that almost all of the major characters were introduced during the first season, which had only 8 episodes.
* ''Series/{{Lost}}'':
** Has had twenty-eight credited cast members in total, with about twelve to seventeen being a part of the cast at the same time, due to the AnyoneCanDie factor. That's not even counting the large stable of important secondary characters, nor the dozens of smaller recurrers.
** To give an example: season four starred ''sixteen'' people. There were ''twenty two'' important recurring characters, some of whom appeared in nearly every episode, ''and'' numerous recurring, named {{Red Shirt}}s and {{Mauve Shirt}}s like Keamy's team. That's not even counting the sheer number of important one-off characters who will probably come back later ''or'' the random friends and family members of the [[spoiler:Oceanic 6]] who came back in the finale ''or'' the dead characters who appeared in flashbacks or visions ''or'' the stranger ones like Jacob.
** ''Lost'' has reached the point that it's nearly impossible to jump in to the show having missed a few episodes. Even if you followed the story from the beginning, if you miss 3 or more episodes you'll come back to the show to find a brand new character referencing another character you've never heard of before. Even once you figure out this new character, eventually (probably during a season finale) another character you've never heard of will show up accompanied by dramatic reveal music as the main characters look at them in awe...it turns out that the new character was introduced in a dream sequence in the episode you missed and is crucial to the plot.
* ''{{Fringe}}'': Not only has quite a few characters, but [[AlternateUniverse several different versions of them at the same time]]. Characters currently take up 9 pages.

* ''Series/BabylonFive'': Had no less than 11 characters listed in the opening credits, counting all seasons together, with a fair amount of turnover from one season to the next. This is not counting the large number of semi-important characters that didn't make the opening roll.
* ''TheWire'': By the time this show reached its fourth season it had 29 regular cast members, eleven of which appeared in ''every episode''; they were split between the police, the gangs, the Baltimore City mayor's office and a local high school. The show also featured about 30 other characters with recurring roles. EVERY ONE of these characters was fleshed out, with their own unique arc. Nobody on the Wire is 2-Dimensional.
* Steven Bochco was famous for making TV shows that had a large ensemble cast, including ''LALaw'' and ''HillStreetBlues''. He also had a few clinkers including ''CopRock''.

* ''Series/GreysAnatomy'': The cast got so big that recurring characters like Nurses Tyler and Olivia and the Chief's secretary completely disappeared. They even killed off Mer's mom, George's dad and [[PutOnABus put several main characters on buses]] in order to cut down on the amount of people we have to keep track of...
* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'':
** Has a huge expanded cast of recurring characters, the most famous one being Janitor who was technically a guest star every episode of the first season. Among the major guest cast is Nurse Laverne, The Todd, Keith (who managed better than most of Elliot's long-time boyfriends), Doug, Ted, Lonnie and a few more that aren't quite as frequent like J.D.'s brother Dan.
** Then there are the "Third Tier" of characters, who [[AscendedExtra started the show as background extras or crew cameos]]. Listen to the commentaries on the Season 2 and 3 [=DVDs=], and one can hear jokes about the crew nicknames given to recurring extras, like Dr. Beardface, Snoop Dogg Intern/Resident/Attending and Colonel Doctor.
** The show also regularly ''expands'' its cast every year, with new interns.
* ''Series/{{JAG}}'': Had as many characters one would expect for a 10 year series.
* ''GilmoreGirls'': Had around twelve main characters plus many recurring ones, some of whom were very popular (Mrs Kim, Lucy, Olivia, Kirk, Taylor, Jackson, Zack...). They managed to get most of them together for the finale (though no Paris, Christopher or Logan - they'd all had their series wrap on the penultimate episode).
* ''BeverlyHills90210'': Many of whom returned for the finale.
* ''MadMen'': Not only has the large number of employees at Sterling-Cooper as regulars and semi-regulars but also has multiple episodes involving into Don's harem and home life, Betty's circle of friends, and the personal lives of Sal, Joan, Pete, Peggy, Roger, and Bert, and Harry.

* ''TwinPeaks'' had about 20-25 major characters who were given character arcs, and about 40 minor recurring characters. This is pretty impressive considering that the series lasted only for 30 episodes, and that almost all of the major characters were introduced during the first season, which had only 8 episodes.
* ''Series/{{Lost}}'' has had twenty-eight credited cast members in total, with about twelve to seventeen being a part of the cast at the same time, due to the AnyoneCanDie factor. That's not even counting the large stable of important secondary characters, nor the dozens of smaller recurrers.

* ''{{Fringe}}'' not only has quite a few characters, but [[AlternateUniverse several different versions of them at the same time]]. Characters currently take up 9 pages.
* ''Series/TwentyFour'' has a vast number of recurring characters. But then again, it needs to, [[AnyoneCanDie given how often new cast members are needed]].

* ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|Reimagined}}'' is notable not only for the size of its [[http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Category:Characters_%28RDM%29 cast]] (with knowledge of over 20 characters required for even basic comprehension) but for the sheer number of named recurring minor characters, many of whom have been with the show ever since the miniseries. This may be a function of the show's premise: as replacement officers are in perishingly short supply, the ''Galactica'' naturally has a very low staff turnover rate.

* ''TheBill'', as of its cancellation had 17 main characters. The police station is arguably number 18. [[http://www.thebill.com/personnelfiles/ See here for a list]].
* ''{{Carrusel}}'' had a classroom of 20 kids, their teacher, at least 4 other teachers, the principal, the groundskeeper, the kids' parents (most had both), siblings of various kids, and a lot of other friends and random people involved in random plotlines.
* By its third season, ''{{Deadwood}}'' had at least thirty "regular" characters, most of whom actually ''did'' appear in every episode.
* ''Series/{{ER}}'' accumulated quite a few over its 15-season run, with the main billed cast never going under 10 or so. Although they were pretty good about writing characters out and in properly, except for Ramano where they [[spoiler:[[DroppedABridgeOnHim Dropped A Helicopter On Him]]]].
* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' had accumulated so many main characters by the third season that the writers had to split the crew into two parties, both of which had a copy of the protagonist John Crichton.
* ''Series/{{Heroes}}''. Right off the bat. Much like ''Series/{{Lost}}'', ''Heroes'' also has a high character attrition rate.
* ''Series/{{Oz}}''. During any given season, there are about 15-20 recurring characters that are prisoners, and that's not even counting the prison staff.
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' had a cast of 7 regulars (admittedly, Cirroc Lofton AKA Jake Sisko didn't appear that much later on) all of whom were very well developed. However, the show had an enormous set of secondary and tertiary characters, many of whom were just as developed, if not MORE developed than the main cast. Gul Dukat and Garak in particular were very deep characters despite not being part of the main cast. Since the ''Deep Space Nine'' regulars were for the most part (if not all of them) more developed than the main cast of other Franchise/StarTrek series, it follows that ''even the Deep Space Nine guest stars'' were more developed than the main characters in the other series.
* ''Series/BabylonFive'' had no less than 11 characters listed in the opening credits, counting all seasons together, with a fair amount of turnover from one season to the next. This is not counting the large number of semi-important characters that didn't make the opening roll.
* By the time ''TheWire'' reached its fourth season it had 29 regular cast members, eleven of which appeared in ''every episode''; they were split between the police, the gangs, the Baltimore City mayor's office and a local high school. The show also featured about 30 other characters with recurring roles. EVERY ONE of these characters was fleshed out, with their own unique arc. Nobody on the Wire is 2-Dimensional.

* The large ensembles on ''StElsewhere'' and ''Hill Street Blues'' led Magazine/{{MAD}} to run a very crowded single-panel gag featuring both casts.
* The ''Series/GreysAnatomy'' cast got so big that recurring characters like Nurses Tyler and Olivia and the Chief's secretary completely disappeared. They even killed off Mer's mom, George's dad and [[PutOnABus put several main characters on buses]] in order to cut down on the amount of people we have to keep track of...
* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' has a huge expanded cast of recurring characters, the most famous one being Janitor who was technically a guest star every episode of the first season. Among the major guest cast is Nurse Laverne, The Todd, Keith (who managed better than most of Elliot's long-time boyfriends), Doug, Ted, Lonnie and a few more that aren't quite as frequent like J.D.'s brother Dan.

* ''Series/{{JAG}}'' had as many characters one would expect for a 10 year series.
* ''GilmoreGirls'' had around twelve main characters plus many recurring ones, some of whom were very popular (Mrs Kim, Lucy, Olivia, Kirk, Taylor, Jackson, Zack...). They managed to get most of them together for the finale (though no Paris, Christopher or Logan - they'd all had their series wrap on the penultimate episode).
* ''BeverlyHills90210'', many of whom returned for the finale.
* ''MadMen'' not only has the large number of employees at Sterling-Cooper as regulars and semi-regulars but also has multiple episodes involving into Don's harem and home life, Betty's circle of friends, and the personal lives of Sal, Joan, Pete, Peggy, Roger, and Bert, and Harry.
* ''UpstairsDownstairs'' has more than 20 recurring characters and great use of {{Cast Herd}}s.
* The original ''[[TheBradyBunch Brady Bunch]]'' had 9 main characters. The Reunion Series ''The Bradys'' had all of those plus each of the six kids in the original had wives/husbands/ boy/girlfriends/ kids of their own added to the mix. No wonder it was an hour-long show!
* ''GenerationKill'' represents nearly the whole of First Recon at the onset of the Iraq War.

* ''TheMightyBoosh'' is an interesting example. While they do tend to have a large supporting and recurring cast, these characters always seem to be played by the three or four main actors of the series. The small troupe/big cast approach fits the show's do-it-yourself vibe (the creators also tend to use friends and family in supporting roles), while in [[http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2007/oct/21/features.magazine97 an interview]] Noel Fielding paraphrased the BBC's reaction to the show's popularity thusly: "It's like the Beatles. It's amazing! You're getting less money!"
* ''{{Numb3rs}}'' fits the bill. While the core duo of Don and Charlie appear in every episode, and characters like Colby, David, Alan, and Amita are almost always present, there's a revolving cast of other characters who are so known to the audience that their appearance is nothing special, but who still don't make it into every episode.
* Spoofed by the sketch comedy show ''TheState'' which presented a fictional TV program called "Just the 160,000 of Us." It was presented as a soap opera where the aforementioned number of people all somehow shared a house, and all of them had their own subplots.

* ''PowerRangers''. There are somewhere around '''106''' people who count as the eponymous Rangers alone, then add in at least 15 distinct sets of allies, supporting characters, and villains. If you count the 17 years of [[MonsterOfTheWeek weekly monsters]], you have a cast of thousands.
** ''SuperSentai'' has 199 heroes (including the 6 [[Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger Gokaiger]] and [[OriginalGeneration AkaRed]]) as of the main 35th Anniversary movie this year, with 35 teams over the past 36 years (1975-2011), that's counting the Core 3/5 and the 6th/Others (such as [[SeijuuSentaiGingaman BullBlack]] / [[Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy Magna Defender]] from [[SeijuuSentaiGingaman Gingaman]] / [[Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy Lost Galaxy]]). Toss in the 35 lots of villains, allies and supporting characters you'll easily hit the thousands before having to add in the [[MonsterOfTheWeek weekly monsters]].
** Check the 40-years of ''KamenRider'' (1971-2011) and you'll typically find that the bigger the list of Riders in a year, the more non-Rider characters there's gonna be. [[KamenRiderKabuto Kabuto]] (11, including the 3 Movie-Only Riders) and [[KamenRiderRyuki Ryuki]] (13, 14 including the [[KamenRiderDecade Decade]]-only Rider Abyss) show this off well.

*** And now it goes SerialEscalation - with a whopping ''486 confirmed costumed characters on screen'', not only is this the biggest collection of characters ever, Toei has even sent this to the GuinnessBookOfWorldRecords for the biggest number of suited stunt actors on screen.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' usually kept a good rotation of older characters [[KilledOffForReal being killed]] or otherwise [[PutOnABus taking a bus]], but the last season saw an influx of potential slayers and that number came to about 25 or so.

* The ''StargateVerse'' has many, many more characters [[KudzuPlot than the writers can keep track of]]. They occasionally try to stem the tide with {{Bus Crash}}es and [[DroppedABridgeOnHim dropping bridges]].
* JimHenson and his cohorts did this on a regular basis. ''TheMuppetShow'', ''FraggleRock'', and ''Series/SesameStreet'' have all featured core casts of at least seven to ten main characters, another ten or fifteen secondaries, and dozens of recognizable recurrers.

* ''ThirdWatch''. There are seventeen main characters listed on their trope page, alone.
* Any RealityTV show where the producers think it's a good idea to introduce new competitors half-way.

* ''Series/{{Taken}}'' is a ten episode miniseries clocking in at about 820 minutes. It has at least 24 characters, most of whom [[AnyoneCanDie die]], are only main characters for one episode, or are PutOnABus.
* Although ''SavingGrace'' is primarily about its title character, the show features about a dozen main supporting characters, and another couple dozen recurring minor characters. All are well-written & well-acted.
* ''Series/TheSopranos'' gradually became this, with upwards of 20 actors listed in the opening credits (in the episodes in which they appeared) and at least as many significant recurring ones. Some, like Bobby and Agent Harris, started as minor roles and grew more significant over the course of multiple seasons. Even at the rate at which they were [[AnyoneCanDie weeded out]], jumping from the end of season 1 to the beginning of season 5 or 6 would have to be pretty bewildering.
* ''Series/HarpersIsland'' had a bad case of this, mainly because it's a murder mystery and they needed lots of people to die. Out of 29 characters who were murdered, we never really got to know a dozen or so of them.
* Surprisingly, ''TrailerParkBoys'' became this in later seasons. ThatOtherWiki [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Trailer_Park_Boys_characters lists]] twelve main characters and twenty-four recurring characters. In season 7, previously minor characters like Sam and Jake Collins and Sam Losco were developed in multi-episode {{StoryArc}}s.
* While ''Series/RobotWars'' generally only has a dozen robots per episode, counting the house robots, once you realise that there are about a hundred competitors, maintained by roboteer teams of at least three people, the total number of faces in a single series is incredible.
* ''TheLeagueOfGentlemen'' manages to pull this off with only ''three'' actors in major roles through extensive use of {{Cast Herd}}ing. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfPLj8xTMAE When describing how they had to limit themselves for]] ''[[TheMovie The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse]]'', Reece Shearsmith said "Steve [Pemberton] and Mark [Gatiss] play five each, I play seven." That's seventeen characters they felt were important enough to work into the feature film, and Wikipedia sets the estimate for number of recurring characters from the series at about a ''hundred.'' [[SerialEscalation And that's just the characters played by the core trio...]]
* The current incarnation of ''Series/{{Degrassi}}'' began with 13 title characters, 7 recurring, and 1 regularly mentioned unseen character [[note]]20 or 21 depending on if Heather Sinclair counts[[/note]]. Due to the focal point being a school, the cast naturally shifts around, some leave, some join, lots of [[PutOnABus bus rides]] and [[BrotherChuck mysterious disappearances]]. As of Season 10 only one title character from the original season is left in the opening credits, but the series now boasts 22 title characters, 14 recurring... and [[TheGhost one regularly mentioned unseen character]] [[note]]36 or 37 if you count Heather Poulette[[/note]]. For those keeping score at home- [[note]]The series has had 54 main characters, over 50 recurring without a bump up to main character, and two ghosts named Heather.[[/note]]
* ''GossipGirl'' is approaching this. You have the main cast (Serena, Blair, Dan, Nate, Chuck, Jenny, Vanessa), the parents (Lily and Rufus, mostly), Georgina, Eric, whoever Serena's "Boyfriend of the Month is", Gossip Girl herself (as omniscient narrator), Penelope and the Mean Girls (3 of them), Dorota, Olivia Burke (if they bring Hilary Duff back), Eva and Juliet Sharp ( both of whom will no doubt be a big part of the entire 4th season). That's '''21''', and that assumes they don't add anyone else from their colleges, which is unlikely. [[PrimeTimeSoap Soap Opera]], indeed.
* ''SonsOfAnarchy'' has at least a dozen members of the titular motorcycle club as main characters, but then you add in their families, law enforcement, rival gangs, other chapters, the entire Irish subplot, and miscellaneous politicians and citizens of Charming, and you have a huge cast, most of which can reappear at any time.
* ''Series/{{Skins}}'' has a new cast every 2 seasons. Considering there are 8 or 9 major characters per season, and then you add in all their family and other acquaintances...yeah, it's start to get confusing after a while.
* ProfessionalWrestling promotions, by their very nature, tend to have this. After all, ideally, you want the fans to care about every match, and when the shows run 3+ hours, that's a lot of matches.

* In its first series, ''DowntonAbbey'' had twenty major characters who appeared in ''every'' episode, with an additional five recurring characters appearing in two to four episodes. Series two is promised to add a least one new regular and three heavily recurring characters.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'' is fifty years old and has a ''ridiculous'' amount of characters. Thankfully, at one time you'll only need to know about maybe five or six max (the Doctor, his companion(s), and any family/friends/recurring characters), plus the one-shot characters for a single episode. But if we were to list every 'main' or major-supporting character the show had ever had, we'd be here all day.
* Aside from the five leads on ''DrQuinnMedicineWoman'', there were well over 20 recurring townsfolk and guest characters, each with a different backstory and ethos. Many of these characters had ADayInTheLimelight at least once, and most of them underwent CharacterDevelopment as the series went on.
* ''Series/AmericanHorrorStory'' has a huge amount of characters [[spoiler: and almost all of them are dead and trapped in the same house]].
** Since the series is an anthology, each season brings in a whole new cast.
* ''{{Smallville}}''. In addition to the main cast, you had other {{DC|Comics}} characters, {{Canon Foreigner}}s who have important roles, [[Characters/SmallvilleMeteorFreaks Freaks of the Week]], [[Characters/SmallvillePhantomZone Phantom Zone escapees]], and dozens of high school students and Daily Planet staff members. Since it lasted 10 years, that's a pretty big cast.

* ''Series/TrueBlood'' has an insane amount of cast members and characters. This became especially prevalent in the third season-onwards. There is Eric's posse, Bill's allies, the opposing vampires (Russell Edgington and the like), a bunch of werewolves, Sam and his shifter buddies, Bon Temps' general population, Sookie's close friends, Lafayette's witch circle.. It's getting hard to follow at the end of season 4.

* ''{{Shameless}}'' started off with quite a few characters - just the Gallagher family itself is large - plus their neighbours and some supporting characters. The Maguires then joined in season 2. Supporting characters would also get their chance in the limelight every so often...this troper has always been a fan of Lillian!

* ''{{Series/Supernatural}}'' has several dozen recurring characters (most of whom have at least one episode that heavily features them). However, pretty much all of them are [[KillEmAll dead]] or PutOnABus by now, bringing the number of characters in the main cast down to a more manageable number.
* ''Series/{{Community}}'' has quite a few. Aside from the 9 main characters (the study group, the Dean, Chang) there must be a dozen or more recurring named characters throughout the series. Leonard, Starburns, Professor Professorson, heck, every professor they've had in their "main" class that they all take together throughout the show, only to name a few.

JapaneseLanguage.[[labelnote:*]]And that's not hyperbole; the language has 96 kana in use today. There's 112 in that picture.[[/labelnote]]]]

Similarly, [[Franchise/FireEmblem some]] [[{{Suikoden}} video]] [[VideoGame/ChronoCross games]] involve [[GottaCatchThemAll collecting]] as many distinct, unique soldiers for your army as possible. Other video games, such as fighting games, start with just a few characters but keep adding characters to the roster as more sequels come out, until you eventually have enough characters to populate an entire {{Verse}}.

** According to the [[TheWikiRule Smallville wiki]], throughout the series there are 18 main characters, 170 recurring characters and 341 minor characters, with a total of a staggering '''529''' characters.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Gives new meaning to this trope. To say this series has a dizzying number of characters is a serious understatement. The principals alone number nearly 20. Factor in the remaining cast of secondary, tertiary, and ancillary characters, and the number balloons to some 50+.

* Being the ''other'' famous {{Mons}} series, ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' qualifies not only on sheer amount of recruitable demons, but also in the fact that those demons are oftenly involved with the plot. So it's kinda like Pokemon, if around half of the Pokemons were actually important characters.

* Even excluding one-shots and background cameos, the lack of a single main character/team (along with the {{Cryptic Background Reference}}s and {{Continuity Nod}}s) causes ''AstroCity'' to have several dozen characters with regular appearances scattered throughout the series' run. This is especially true in extended story arcs like "Tarnished Angel" and "The Dark Age", which often star characters who only get a brief appearance in other stories.

* Even excluding one-shots and background cameos, the lack of a single main character/team (along with the {{Cryptic Background Reference}}s and {{Continuity Nod}}s) causes ''AstroCity'' to have several dozen characters with regular appearances scattered throughout the series' run. This is especially true in extended story arcs like "Tarnished Angel" and "The Dark Age", which often star characters who only get a brief appearance in other stories.

* Good Lord, has the ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' series evolved into this trope. A series that started with [[MinimalistCast two characters]] has since grown to having around two ''dozen'' main characters (and that's not even counting the one-game wonders). This includes two distinct versions of Sonic, Tails, and Eggman. There became so many characters by around the time of ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' that future games in the series attempted to cut down on the number of characters, so that when ''VideoGame/SonicColors'' came around, the cast was trimmed back to just Sonic, Tails, and Eggman. It's amazing when you consider that this game was released in 2010; this feat of a three-character Sonic game hadn't been achieved since ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2'', which was released in ''1992''.

* ''Franchise/Buildingverse'' works have tend to have a massive cast, or to be precise a limited main cast[[note]]''Webcomic/GirlsNextDoor'': Sarah, Christine, Erik, Jareth; ''{{Webcomic/Roommates}}'': Erik, Jareth, Javert, James; ''{{Webcomic/Superintendent}}'': Javert, Valjean; etc.[[/note]] which inflates over 20 with all the regulars and to ridicculous levels with everybody (The character page for ''{{Webcomic/Roommates}}'' lists more than 100 characters).

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* James Clavell's ''{{Shogun}}'', which frequently switches character viewpoints without warning as we get to know everyone involved in the real life GambitPileup going on in Japan in 1600.

* The original run of ''Film/ThePinkPanther'' films consists of nine movies and ''many'' significant characters who make multiple appearances. The original protagonist, GentlemanThief Sir Charles Lytton, and his associates were overshadowed by BreakoutCharacter Inspector Clouseau, and Clouseau was given his own set of allies and enemies in the second film (''A Shot in the Dark''). While only three characters (Clouseau, Dreyfus, and Cato) make seven or more onscreen appearances, there are quite a few who turn up two to six times. This doesn't even get into the many important one-shot characters, which include the protagonists of films seven through nine.

* Most CirqueDuSoleil shows have at least fifty performers apiece; a few of the non-touring shows have upwards of ''70''. This can roughly be broken down into:

** ''TheSilmarillion'' is worse than ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', and rightly so in that regard, as it covers more time of the history of Middle-earth. In the first forty pages alone, you have Eru, the fourteen Valar[[note]]Manwë and Varda, Ulmo, Aulë and Yavanna, Námo (Mandos) and Vairë, Nienna, Oromë and Vána, Irmo (Lórien) and Estë, and Tulkas and Nessa[[/note]] and Morgoth. And then, in the main part of the book, you have around another thirty or so main characters fighting for the limelight, including Fëanor and his seven sons[[note]]Maedhros, Maglor, Celegorm, Caranthir, Curufin, Amrod and Amras[[/note]], Ungoliant, Thingol, Melian, Húrin, Túrin, Nienor, Fingolfin, Finarfin, Finwë, Galadriel, Sauron, Carcharoth, Beren and Luthien, Eärendil, Finrod, Morwen, Huor, Gothmog, Indis, Fingon, Turgon, Eöl and Aredhel, Idril and Tuor, Glaurung, Glorfindel, Elwing, Bëor, Haleth, Angrod, Aegnor, Orodreth, and Gil-galad. Half of these characters end up dying a couple chapters after they're introduced. E.g.: Fëanor didn't live long after he left Valinor, Glorfindel only shows up for a couple pages, Beren and Luthien are hardly mentioned after their tale is finished, etc. To be fair, ''TheSilmarillion'' wasn't exactly intended to be a novel, and the history of Numenor and retelling of the story of the One Ring are really separate stories (with their own characters) that just happen to be published in the same volume.
*** To make things worse, many of the characters are known by more than one name. For just a few examples, Finrod is also called Felagund, Túrin is also called Turambar, and Thingol is also called Elwe. On top of that, many of them also have special names for their horses, swords and in some cases even helmets.
** ''Literature/TheHobbit'' has much fewer characters than either of the two above examples, but 15 distinct main characters is still a little much for one rather short book; along with Bilbo and Gandalf, there are 13 Dwarves to remember (Dwalin, Balin, Fíli, Kíli, Dori, Nori, Ori, Óin, Glóin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, and Thorin) plus minor characters such as Gollum, Elrond, Beorn...

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', once it got into its "Soul Society" arc, suddenly introduced about 30 new characters, with a dozen or so more being added with each subsequent arc. Even [[spoiler:some of the ''weapons'' are characters]]. Apparently, WordOfGod is that creation of characters en masse is the author's method of dealing with writer's block. As of now, the total of characters that have appeared in ''Bleach'' is over 250. Seriously.
** One of the gag preview sequences lampshaded this, with [[TheHero Ichigo]] complaining that some characters would need to be killed off soon because there were too many. Becomes HarsherInHindsight, now that [[spoiler:Kira, Sasakibe and Yamamoto are dead]].

** What the ''DarkTower'' series does towards the end.

* Creator/JRRTolkien's ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''. Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Gandalf, Aragorn, Arwen, Elrond, Gimli, Legolas, Boromir, Faramir, Denethor, Gollum, Theoden, Eowyn, Eomer, Bilbo, Galadriel, Saruman, Grima, and Treebeard all have their pictures in the ending credits of [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings the film version]]. And then there's plenty of more minor ones, such as Gamling, Haldir, Celeborn, the Witch-king, Gothmog, and Isildur. Oh, and [[BigBad Sauron]].

*** To make things worse, many of the characters are known by more than one name. For just a few examples, Finrod is also called Felagund, Turin is also called Turambar, and Thingol is also called Elwe. On top of that, many of them also have special names for their horses, swords and in some cases even helmets.
** ''Literature/TheHobbit'' has much fewer characters than either of the two above examples, but 15 distinct main characters is still a little much for one rather short book; along with Bilbo and Gandalf, there are 13 Dwarves to remember (Dwalin, Balin, Kili, Fili, Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, and Thorin) plus minor characters such as Gollum, Elrond, Beorn...