Movies/franchises with their own pages:
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- Alien introduced The Space Jockey, which was an ominous creature that appeared to be the pilot of the Derelict. It had been killed and fossilized before the events of the first film, and it was at the centre of much speculation among the fandom, as well as many non-canon stories in the EU, for over 30 years before its identity was revealed in Prometheus.
- Back to the Future Part II: Biff Tannen's 1955 gang plays a bigger part than in the first film. In the alternate 1985, it's shown that they're still working with Biff when he's become insanely wealthy, and when Marty is back in 1955, they chase him into the gym where Marty's other self in the first film is playing, and they go backstage to fight "him", so Marty has to stop them in a way that won't impede upon the first film's chain of events.
- In Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, is only passingly mentioned as a gag in the previous movie ("come grasp mighty penis of our leader"), but in this movie he is the primary instigator for the plot, and the mastermind behind COVID-19.
- In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Arthur Slugworth doesn't even appear in person, he is only mentioned, along with a couple of Wonka's other competitors. In the movie Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, however, he not only appears in person, he is secretly Arthur Wilkinson, a loyal employee of Wonka, used to provide a Secret Test of Character to the contest winners, which only Charlie passes.
- In The Chronicles of Narnia book The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, a fox appears for approximately one page whose main hobbies include hosting dinner parties and Innocently Bystanding. In the movie version, he gets to show off his pedigree a bit more, and is upgraded to the Sacrificial Lion, though he got better. He was also used as a device to make Edmund a bit kinder than the book version before his Heel–Face Turn.
- Cinderella (2015):
- In the animated film, Ella's birth parents were both dead. In this film, they appear onscreen and play more important parts in the introduction.
- The Fairy Godmother only appears once in the original film. Here she narrates the film, and appears throughout it disguised as an old woman.
- Even the prince qualifies, as he barely had any screen time in the animated film.
- In The Crow, there's that one little girl whom Eric helps that has a name similar to his dead fiancee's, yeah that one... Well, she gets a name change (Sarah), a big role in the film (the bestest buddy of Shelly and Eric), and her mom's involvement with Funboy is upped. From there, she becomes the love interest in the sequel and once again is in the series.
- Dazed and Confused's David Wooderson. Originally a more minor character, Richard Linklater was so impressed with Matthew McConaughey's performance, he ended up writing much more dialogue for him.
- In the film Downton Abbey, according to the Director's Commentary, Albert the Hall Boy originally featured as a reoccurring extra in series 5 & 6 of Downton Abbey. The film version marks his first role with lines. Director Michael Engler said that "it felt in a funny way similar to the story; which is the Hall Boy who becomes the Footman - it's like the extra who becomes an actor".
- In the original Dracula novel the Brides only make two appearances and are unimportant side characters. Many of the film adaptions, like Bram Stoker's Dracula orVan Helsing greatly expands their roles, making them Dracula's right hand women and powerful combatants.
- In Dune: Part Two, Princess Irulan's role is increased from the source material, where plenty of her books are quoted but she herself doesn't appear in person until the last chapter; in the film, she works out that Paul may still be alive and brings her concerns to her father the Emperor.
- Friday the 13th: In the first film, Jason Voorhees was little more than a backstory-exclusive character. Starting from the second, he became the machete-wielding slasher we all know and love.
- Playing with this trope, Guy Fleegman in Galaxy Quest was just playing another Red Shirt who got killed in the original series. But after going on a real space adventure with the crew, he gets his own starring role in the new Galaxy Quest series.
- Roadblock isn't exactly one of the leading members of the G.I. Joe team, but plays a big role G.I. Joe: Retaliation.
- Likewise Jinx had a brief cameo in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, but becomes one of the main Joe characters in G.I. Joe: Retaliation.
- The Chief Elder of the Community from The Giver is a minor character, but is bumped up to be the Big Bad (as the representation of the totalitarian authority) in 2014's The Giver. To a lesser extent, Asher and Fiona (who just...stop appearing in the narration after a certain point in the book) have far more to do in the film adaptation than they do in the book.
- The Greatest Gift, the short story that inspired It's a Wonderful Life, says nothing about Mr. Potter other than the fact he owned a photography studio. The movie turns him into a Corrupt Corporate Executive who owns nearly all of the town and seizes a couple opportunities to ruin the protagonist's life..
- Deborah Myers in Rob Zombie's Halloween is a very literal example, since the character actually was an extra in the original John Carpenter film, appearing in only one scene toward the beginning standing beside her son after he kills his sister, and had no dialogue. In Rob Zombie's reimagening, she was played by the director's wife, was written to be a stripper, and was the secondary character in the whole first act of the film before she kills herself. She also appears in Zombie's sequel in various dream sequences with a white horse, which many viewers took as Zombie's excuse to once again cast his wife in the film.
- It happened with other characters too. Judith Myers was hardly an extra in the original film, but she did only appear in one (important) scene before she's killed by her little brother. This happens a bit later in Zombie's film, where she had several scenes. Her boyfriend is also given an expanded appearance, and is even killed. Paul, Annie's boyfriend, is also given a large appearance in the adaptation. In the original film, he only "appeared" as a voice on the phone (voiced by John Carpenter himself). Laurie's parents were also given expanded, more important roles, with her dad appearing in only one scene in the original film, and her mom not appearing at all (though she did turn up in a flashback in the first sequel).
- Tommy Doyle in Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, where he was the main character (and played by a then-unknown Paul Rudd in his first role). In the original film, he had some screen-time as the kid Laurie was babysitting, but hardly the main character.
- Nurse Marion Chambers was a fairly minor unimportant character in the original film, but had a decent supporting role in the first sequel. She turned up again 17 years later in Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later, where she's killed in the opening scene.
- In the third movie in the Halloweentown series, Halloweentown High, Ethan (a warlock) was a minor character who was mainly a rival to Marnie but who wasn't important to the story. In Return to Halloweentown, he is a love interest to Marnie. This may be because Lucas Grabeel, who played Ethan, had just been in High School Musical and Disney was trying to promote him.
- Halo: Nightfall: Randall Aiken, a.k.a. Randall-037, existed long before Nightfall was even thought of, having already been mentioned a few times in the Halo novels as being one of the few Spartan-IIs who were genuinely MIAnote , and having had a minor on-screen role in the short story Pariah.
- Scabior in the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows films. He appears very briefly in the books when he and other snatchers capture the trio and take them to Malfoy Manor. After that, he disappears from the plot, though there is speculation that he is killed by Voldemort after the trio escapes with Dean, Luna, Griphook and Olivander. He appears much more in the films peppered about to the point where he even appears in bits of Part 2 that he didn't appear in during that part of the book.
- In The Hangover trilogy, Leslie Chow goes from a minor role in the first, to a bigger supporting role in the second, and the main antagonist in the third.
- Pinhead of the Hellraiser series was a minor component in the original novel The Hellbound Heart. Come the film adaption, the more prominent Cenobites from the novel either couldn't see (Butterball) see or speak (Chatterer) or had their motion limited by their complicated makeup (Female Cenobite). So, Pinhead took the lead, and quickly became the face of the franchise.
- In The Hobbit, several characters go through varying levels of this. Azog, The Pale Orc, who had been briefly mentioned (and had never appeared) in the books became the main villain of (at least) the first movie. Radagast, the Brown Wizard, was also promoted from a bare mention to a major, plot-important character, though to a lesser degree than Azog.
- In How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (both the original book and cartoon), Cindy Lou Who is just a character who exists to show that the Grinch is a liar, with only one line. In the movie version, she practically becomes the co-star, playing a more vital role in the plot than any character other than the Grinch himself.
- The Hunger Games: Seneca Crane, Caesar Flickerman, and Claudius Templesmith have a lot more to do, with the movie showing scenes that Katniss is not present for. President Snow also has much more to do than he did in the novel but as the Big Bad of the series, this was necessary.
- Effie's role in Mockingjay was a bit part, but with Mockingjay Part 1, her role expanded due to the popularity of Elizabeth Banks' performance.
- Q receives this treatment in a couple of the James Bond movies. While usually he's just there to give Bond his new devices and then takes off, in Octopussy he actually helps Bond when he raids the villain's hideout at the end and travels to Isthmus City to help Bond out in Licence to Kill after 007 goes rogue to get revenge on Sanchez, even ignoring Bond's request that for his own good he should return to London.
- Also, M in every other Bond film just gave Bond orders and info on the mission. In Skyfall, she was given a backstory and protecting her was the driving force.
- The Jason Bourne Series: Nicolette Parsons in Identity started out as a bit of an inexperienced analyst who had subtle ties to Bourne and was on the sidelines for the whole movie. Supremacy had Nicky be the one to attest to the fact that Bourne had amnesia and she allowed for herself to be sent out in the field to meet with him and learned his side of the story as to the deaths of their agents earlier (albeit while being held at gunpoint). Ultimatum had Nicky become the possible new love interest, had Bourne run into her again and team up with her to learn about Blackbriar and expose the conspiracy. In the first movie, Julia Stiles received 10th billing for her role, in the second one, she received 4th billing for her role and in the third one, she was billed only 2nd to Matt Damon.
- Subverted with Jason Bourne as she not only goes from 2nd billing to 5th billing in this one (lower than the last two had her), but it readily becomes apparent that she is primarily Back for the Dead.
- The Bishop in Les Misérables (2012), as compared to his role in the musical note . In the musical, he is given one song at the beginning and is never seen again (the book has a scene where Valjean, as Monsieur Le Mayor, receives a letter saying that he has passed away). The film has him appear at the end, as Valjean is dying, replacing Eponine's role in the scene. Eponine is still visible on the barricade in heaven, indicating that she still has her somewhat-happy ending.
- The Lord of the Rings:
- In the novels, Arwen appears only briefly in the main narrative with the majority of her and Aragorn's story relegated to a chapter in the appendix. In Peter Jackson's version, she is featured prominently in all three films and replaces several minor characters, like Glorfindel who aids Aragorn and the Hobbits as they flee the Ringwraiths. Not only does Arwen replace Glorfindel, she's given the additional task of personally carrying Frodo upon her horse, and her Moment of Awesome — "If you want him, come and claim him!" — is a unique addition to the film. In the novel, Glorfindel places Frodo on his horse and then stays behind with Aragorn and the Hobbits to do what he can to slow the Ringwraiths' pursuit, at which point the narrative focus shifts to Frodo.
- Bret McKenzie's bit part as an elf at the Council of Elrond in the first film was expanded into a speaking role in the third film purely because of an Internet meme that had sprung up about the character from fans.
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- The Maze Runner Series:
- Although a character in the books and is frequently referenced by other characters, as well as e-mails she sends to WICKED which readers are shown as epilogues to each book, Chancellor Ava Paige never appears in person or has any interaction with the Gladers during the original trilogy note . In the films she actually does physically appear on screen, played by Patricia Clarkson, appearing at the end of The Maze Runner (2014) in a video directly addressed to the Gladers where she is killed off, later revealed to have been faked, and in Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials she is present during the climax when WCKD attacks The Right Arm and the surviving Gladers.
- Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials:
- Assistant Director Janson a.k.a. "The Rat Man" only appeared in one chapter near the start of The Scorch Trials and didn't appear again until the next book — The Death Cure, in which he became the Big Bad. Here he’s promoted to main antagonist status and spends most of the film pursuing the protagonists.
- The Scorch Trials briefly featured a Crank nicknamed "Blondie", who appeared briefly to kidnap Thomas and Brenda forcing them to drink hallucinogenic-spiked drinks and party with him and two other Cranks. The film turns the character into Marcus, who the Gladers have been searching for in order to find the Right Arms' base of operation, which he would know the location of as a former member of said organization. His aforementioned actions from the book are changed from the delusional actions of someone going insane from the Flare virus, to a deliberate ploy to drug, capture and sell Immunes to WCKD.
- Both the Worm Guys and Frank the Pug in Men in Black were one-off jokes in the first movie, but had expanded roles in the second movie and the series.
- Captain Billy Cutshaw in The Ninth Configuration. The film is a Stealth Sequel to The Exorcist, and Cutshaw was the astronaut who was confronted by possessed Regan MacNeil and told that he would "die up there." Configuration opens with Cutshaw suffering a nervous breakdown moments before a space flight, resulting in him being committed to a military-run insane asylum.
- The other sequels to The Exorcist also give supporting characters bigger roles. Minor character Sharon serves as a Suspiciously Similar Substitute for Chris in the second film, while the third film centers around Lt. Kinderman and gives Father Dyer a bigger role.
- Ocean's Eleven: Denny the whale (uber-producer Jerry Weintraub) has a tiny cameo in the first film, causes the second film by unwittingly bragging about the heist to two European master thieves, and makes amends in the last film when he convinces the other big spenders to leave Bank's casino. Also, the mansion seen in the last movie is one of Jerry's Big Fancy Houses.
- Angela who get left behind in Paper Towns during the road trip, gets to go in the film giving her a bit more focus.
- Koba has only one important scene for his appearance throughout Rise of the Planet of the Apes, but is elevated to the role of main antagonist in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.
- Poltergeist (2015): Griffin, the counterpart of Robbie from the original film series, is essentially the reboot's main protagonist and hero. He has the most focus of the Bowens, and is actually the one who saves Maddie from the other dimension, as opposed to the original's Diane (the counterpart of the reboot's Amy).
- Ulla in the original film The Producers is nothing but a walking sex joke, barely speaking any English and only showing up to dance occasionally. In the musical, she's made into a fully developed character who speaks English more or less fluently, and becomes Leo's love interest.
- In the original Rocky, Little Marie appears in one scene where Rocky walks the 12-year-old home. Three decades later, Marie shows up in the sixth film Rocky Balboa as the lead female character and love interest (after Adrian's death).
- The Meganulon (Giant dragonfly-like monsters) from Rodan were only minor characters in the film. Later, they would become the major villains in Godzilla vs. Megaguirus.
- Rosaline: Rosaline is barely a presence in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, only acting as the catalyst for how the titular lovers meet in the first place. Here, she's the main character. Lampshaded when she wonders if people will remember her role in the story centuries from now.
- Martin Clunes plays a supporting character in Saving Grace, Dr. Martin Bamford. The character was expanded into two prequel tv films explaining his background. Sometime after that, the character was given a retool, and became the main character on the series Doc Martin.
- In The School for Good and Evil, Tedros kills a gargoyle before Agatha could restore him to human form. In the film, the gargoyle (reimagined as a Stymph) is first introduced as a clumsy prince named Gregor, whom Agatha befriends before his Forced Transformation.
- In the original Sleeping Beauty, King Stefan was just a Bumbling Dad of a king who had only a couple scene. In Maleficent, he's a guileful, skilled warrior who was the titular character's childhood friend, and whose actions are what started the plot of the movie in the first place.
- Likewise, Diaval (changed from Diablo) was just Maleficent's raven familiar in the original. Here, he's her shapeshifting confidant, friend, dragon, and spy rolled into one. He also helps raise Aurora *and is the one who becomes a dragon at the climax.
- Aurora herself is this. Despite Sleeping Beauty being about her, she lost screentime to the fairies and Maleficent in the first half of the film, and was comatose and mostly absent in the second half. In this film, she's much more active, seeking out the truth of her curse herself, riding off to her father's castle, and has an important role in the final battle.
- Snow White and the Three Stooges gave Prince Charming an actual major role. Unfortunately it was at the expense of the title characters.
- Sandy Cheeks and Squidward Tentacles, who were both Demoted to Extra in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (the former especially), are now getting top billing in The Sponge Bob Movie Sponge Out Of Water.
- Dizzy Flores from Starship Troopers combines this with Gender Flip. In the novel Dizzy is a man, and all you're told about him is that he died. In the movie adaptation he's a she, and she's one of the major characters as well as a love interest for the main character. This was continued in the animated Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles.
- Khan Noonien Singh was a run-of-the-mill Villain of the Week on Star Trek: The Original Series. In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, he's the Big Bad and has the distinct honor of killing Mr. Spock.
- So many characters in Star Wars that it would be impossible to list them all. For example, watch the cantina scene from the original film; every last patron has at least a name and a bit of backstory. Some actually get their own story in the anthology book Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina; several who hadn't been named ended up on the Star Wars Databank, where fans were allowed to come up with their own backstories and names, then vote on which ones were the best. After that, though, they tend to never come up again - the Star Wars Expanded Universe is infamous for this and a few characters do recur, but honestly, most characters in the EU were either named and had a line or two or are original creations who were never on screen. Even fan favorites like Boba Fett and Wedge Antilles, moving on to their own novels and appearing again and again, were minor non-mains who still had lines and plot significance.
- Remember that nameless red droid with a bad motivator from Episode 4? This trope was mocked in the non-canon comic Skippy the Jedi Droid, where he was a Force-Sensitive droid who used to work for Jabba. He self-destructed on purpose because he could see the future and knew that R2 needed to go with Luke, or even Skippy's Parody Sue skills couldn't stop the predictable from happening.
- How about, say, the silver protocol droid Threepio meets in Cloud City just before he gets blasted? E-3PO
. - A good example of the difference ascension makes: This is a normal Imperial Guard◊. And here's Kir Kanos◊, who wasn't in the films but has a comics plotline of his own, in what could be a case of the job producing an Ascended Extra.
- Every character that ever appeared in the films has at least a name. Watch A New Hope. Red 6 (the fat guy in Luke's wing when they attacked the Death Star)? Jek Porkins. The Stormtrooper who found 3P0's ankle ring? Davin Felth. Remember the Endor strike team?
- Several characters from Death Star. The guy manning the Death Star's main weapon, who appears once and says "Stand by"? There's a whole story about him.
- Wulff Yularen, originally an unnamed background officer on the Death Star in A New Hope was given one in the collectible card game and then generally forgotten. Come 2008 and he's probably the largest Republic non-Jedi, non-clone military figure in Star Wars: The Clone Wars for the first two seasons.
- Want to know about the extras in Jabba's palace in Return of the Jedi? There's Tales from Jabba's Palace. Want to know about the bounty hunters in The Empire Strikes Back? Read Tales of the Bounty Hunters (though Boba Fett's story took a fair amount of retconning to make the story match up with Attack of the Clones).
- In Top Gun, Penny Benjamin is mentioned once in a throwaway line as an admiral's daughter that Maverick had a fling with. In Top Gun: Maverick, not only does she appear, but she plays a major role as Maverick's longtime on-and-off girlfriend whom he rekindles his relationship with.
- TRON: Alan's co-worker had one line and was credited as "popcorn guy" because that sole line was asking to eat some of Alan's popcorn. However, since he was played by the same fellow (Dan Shor) as Ensemble Dark Horse Ram, which implied he was Ram's User, he was given a substantial role in the TRON: Legacy Flynn Lives! Alternate Reality Game and publicity materials as Roy Kleinburg, an idealistic and stubborn man who refused to waver in his support of his former bosses, even after the new Encom management fired him.
- Michael Jai White, who played a small part as an unnamed soldier in the first Universal Soldier, later played the Big Bad in Universal Soldier: The Return.
- V Irus 1980: General Garland only appears in one scene of the book, which lasts about two pages, but he's a regular presence for the first half of the movie.
- Warcraft (2016) has Durotan be the main character on the orcs' side and makes him instrumental to stopping Gul'dan from bringing the rest of the Horde to Azeroth, while in the game, his biggest claim to fame is fathering famous Horde Warchief Thrall.
- In "The Whisperer in Darkness" by H. P. Lovecraft, George Akeley, Henry Akeley's son, is a very minor character who is only mentioned a couple of times in his father's letters, is never seen in person, and clearly survives the events of the story, as Wilmarth explicitly keeps in contact with him afterward. In the movie based on it, he is a key liason between Henry and Professor Wilmarth early on. Unlike the story, he is strongly implied to be caught and killed offscreen by the Mi-Go when he tries to deliver the Black Stone to Wilmarth.
- In The Wizard of Oz, the Wicked Witch of the East didn't really even rate as an extra, as she's only seen as a pair of feet sticking out from under Dorothy's house. In Oz the Great and Powerful, she's the one who initiates all the trouble: murdering the previous king, sending winged baboons against innocent villages, and maliciously tricking her own sister into hating Oscar and becoming the Wicked Witch of the West.
- Wonka: Wonka's chief rivals, Ficklegruber, Prodnose, and Slugworth, who were The Ghost in the book, serve as the main antagonists to Willy, working together as part of a Chocolate Cartel to control the police and church.
