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    # 
  • Dr Vincent Strudwick from 3rd Rock from the Sun became Dick's Sitcom Arch-Nemesis in the later seasons.
  • 7 Vidas:
    • Gonzalo de Castro just played the waiter at the bar the main characters went to, but soon became a main character and stayed in the series until the last chapter.
    • Aída started as Sole's cleaning lady. Her character was so interesting she was soon made a regular and given a job at the local pub. She eventually got her own spin-off, Aída which survived the main series for over a decade (and, as of July 2013, is still going).
  • In the miniseries adaptation of 11/22/63, the character Bill Turcotte has a much larger role than he had in the book. In the book, he only appears during the part set in Derry. In the series, he becomes Jake’s ally in his quest to save Kennedy, and moves with him to Jody, posing as Jake’s little brother.
  • 24:
    • In the first season, Glenn Morshower played Agent Aaron Pierce, a member of David Palmer's security detail. He originally had very few lines, and mostly stood around in the background of shots while Palmer did campaign speeches. However, his importance grew in subsequent seasons - in the second, he has a plot arc where he betrays the President and subsequently apologizes. The production crew were planning to kill him off in season 5, until Morshower's performance in a late-season episode impressed them so much that they hastily changed the script to keep him alive. He would then go on to have further appearances (and even helps Jack during the siege on the White House in season 7), and is one of only 4 characters from the first season to have survived through the entire series.
    • The video game adaptation of the series (set between seasons two and three) functionally does this for Alexander Trepkos and Max, the two villains who only appear for a pair of scenes in the second-season, and functionally promote them to the status of the Big Bad.
    • Milo (a nerdy tech played by Eric Balfour) shows up for a few episodes in the first season as a nerdy tech analyst at CTU who generally delivers Expo Speak for the benefit of other characters. In the sixth season, he returns, with much more dialogue and a new role as CTU's Internet Control Manager for the majority of the season, even getting a prospective romance with other characters (like Chloe and Nadia) in the process. Then he gets unceremoniously shot in the head by terrorists that raid CTU late in the season.
    • The sixth season introduced a relatively minor character named Ethan Kanin who was the Secretary of Defense. He briefly shows up a couple times to talk about a few decisions regarding the current President and overall was pretty forgettable. Then Redemption and the last two seasons come in and he becomes the Chief of Staff under the new President often acting as her only real confidante during some of the harsher moments on the show.

    A 
  • All Creatures Great & Small (2020): Though she wasn't exactly an extra, Mrs Hall had a fairly minor presence in both the original books and the classic series. In this adaptation, Audrey Hall is far more fleshed out, with her own fully-developed characterization and backstory. She is also significantly younger than in the source material — she is implied to be closer to Siegfried's age, as she was serving in the Wrensnote  as a young woman at the same time that a newly-qualified Siegfried was serving as an Army vet on the battlefields of Belgium.
  • All My Children: Erica Kane could be consider a staple of this trope. When first introduced she was a recurring Antagonistic Foil, the spoiled diva daughter of the saintly maid Mona Kane, to young Ingénue Tara Martin, the classic soap heroine. However she quickly stuck a chord with audiences, and in the end Tara was Put on a Bus and Erica would become not only the show's central Hero or Anti-Hero depending on the writer, being the longest lasting character and the only one to be a part of the show for the entire 41 year run, but also the most Iconic and Famous Character in Daytime Television.
  • Doremy Vernon first appeared as the surly canteen manageress in the first three Christmas Episodes of Are You Being Served? By 1979, she had ascended to a semi-regular character on the show.

    B 
  • Babylon 5: Zack Allan. He first appears in a Season 2 episode with a group of security guards. A few episodes later we get his last name "Allan". Later in the season we get his first name, "Zack". In Season 3, he is in the main credits, and is eventually promoted to Security Chief in Season 4 when the original Security Chief quits. He's the only one of the "Old Guard" left on Babylon 5 when it is decommissioned in 2281. He's the last of the major characters to see Sheridan alive.
  • Barry: In the pilot episode, NoHo Hank is just a funny stooge of the Big Bad and gets shot at the end of the episode. He was originally intended to be dead, but after the show was picked up for a full season, the showrunners realized that they would be fools to discard such a hilarious character. He reappears in the second episode with Only a Flesh Wound and quickly becomes one of the central characters in the show.
  • Battlestar Galactica (2003) had several characters who initially appeared in one-off or recurring roles, only to gain greater prominence in later seasons:
    • Helo was intended to be a one-shot character from the miniseries, who was assumed to have died offscreen after giving up his space on Boomer's Raptor for Baltar. However, the producers not only brought him back, but his B-plot in the first season (traveling around Caprica with Sharon) becomes pivotal to the entire resolution of the series.
    • Louis Hoshi starts out as a rarely-seen communications officer on the Pegasus. He gets more and more appearances in later seasons, eventually taking up Dualla's job after her death. By the time the series finale rolls around, Hoshi is given the role of ''Admiral of the Fleet' by Adama after his team leaves to go on the rescue mission, solely because he is essentially the only other capable command officer left to run the ship.
    • Captain Kelly starts out as a minor character who mans one of the flight pods in the miniseries, then later shows up for two episodes in the second season to help the command staff after Bill Adama is shot. He later gets a major role as the bomber during the trial at the end of the third season, and even had a redemption arc/Heel–Face Turn in season four during the mutiny onboard Galactica.
    • Racetrack was intended to be a one-shot character who would appear in the final episode of the first season. However, Leah Cairns' performance impressed the producers so much that Racetrack essentially became the de facto Raptor pilot shuttling major characters around for most of the series, and she later became a Chekhov's Gunman by posthumously destroying the Cylon colony with nuclear missiles in the series finale.
    • Allan Nowart was a Marine on Galactica who only appeared sporadically as a background character, seen protecting the residents of Dogsville. Come the final season, he takes up a much larger role, acting in key capacities (protecting Romo Lampkin during his trial, being assigned to guard Kara Thrace after she comes Back from the Dead, aiding Adama and Tigh during The Mutiny). By the time the final episode runs around, he acts as a second-in-command for Lee's team during the assault on the Colony. Edward James Olmos even stated in an interview at the 2009 DragonCon convention that the character had much more prominence in the last few episodes.
  • Beat the Clock:
    • In the 1970s revival, announcer Gene Wood was the celebrity partner for a week, with Nick Holenreich taking Wood's usual role. After Jack Narz stepped down from hosting in 1972, Wood was promoted to the hosting position, and Holenreich became the permanent announcer.
    • Promptly inverted on the 1980 revival, which had Narz as announcer and Monty Hall as host.
  • The Big Bang Theory:
    • Stuart has been hanging around the group since Season 2, showing up a couple of times a year but never really significant. Season 6 practically upgrades him to main cast, at the least supported by Word of God that he will have an expanded role. While he didn't stay in the main cast listings for long, unlike Leslie Winkle he still shows up more often than before and usually with a significant role involved.
    • And he has been updated again in the last few seasons, even given a regular girlfriend.
    • Leslie Winkle start from this to Demoted to Extra. She showed up three times in the first season, and her character was liked enough that the production team announced her as becoming a regular early in the second season. After about four episodes in, they quickly realized that she worked largely because she was a staunch, stubborn Arch-Enemy to Sheldon with no real room for her own stories or even Character Development. They quietly put her character aside and she shows up more sporadically since.
  • An extreme example of this is Mrs Miggins from Blackadder. In the second series she was an unseen character mentioned two or three times as a throwaway joke. She became a regular character in the third series. Although it couldn't be the same character, seeing how the two series are set centuries apart. It depends whether you regard the successive Blackadders, Baldricks, etc. as essentially the same character - which they are really, just reincarnated as suspiciously similar descendants of their predecessors, forever linked down through history...
  • Christopher Ellison as Detective Inspector Frank Burnside in The Bill. He was originally conceived only as a one-off character in the first episode, mainly as an outside antagonist for the main regular characters, but his performance so impressed the show runners that he was invited back to appear in two episodes of Series Two the following year. When original series regular John Salthouse (DI Galloway) left the show following it's third season, Ellison was invited to take his place, and the rest is history. Burnside became one of the characters most associated with the show for his Kubrick Stare and Deadpan Snarker qualities.
  • Billy the Exterminator: Billy and Vexcon first appeared on Dirty Jobs and were enough of a hit that they ended up getting their own show.
  • On Boy Meets World, Angela first appears in season 5 episode 2 as a student in Feeney's class who has one line of dialogue, and then in season 5 episode 7 she has a much larger role as Shawn's girlfriend and from there she becomes a recurring character and then a main character.
  • The Boys (2019): Stan Edgar is mentioned being the CEO and eventually dies, all off-screen, but makes a personal appearance here.
  • Breaking Bad:
    • Saul Goodman was a popular enough character that a spinoff with him as the protagonist was greenlit after Breaking Bad concluded.
    • Mike Ehrmantraut was first introduced in the season 2 finale as a cleaner sent by Saul. He gets an increased role in season 3 as it's revealed that he also is Gus Fring's main enforcer. He's then a main cast member in season 4 and season 5A up until he is killed. And he's now the secondary lead of Better Call Saul.
    • Gus Fring was introduced late in season 2, as another distributor, then becomes a member of the main cast for seasons 3 and 4. Gus had originally been intended to just be a recurring character. However, Giancarlo Esposito believed Gus's mysteriousness compelling enough that he rejected offers for guest appearances and insisted on being a main cast member. This turned out to be for the best. Gus also returned for Better Call Saul as a main cast member beginning in season 3.
  • Bridgerton: Anthony Bridgerton only ever alludes to a previous relationship with an opera singer, Siena Rosso, in The Viscount who Loved Me. The show gives their relationship screentime throughout the first season.
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
    • Harmony was originally one of Cordelia's cronies who was in the second half of the pilot and got bitten by a vampire at the end of Season 3. She shows up again in Season 4 as Spike's vampire girlfriend. She later showed up in the Buffy spin-off, Angel, eventually promoted to main character. She was the only Buffyverse "extra" to be promoted to main cast status. note  She also holds the distinction of being the only character (and actor) to be part of the Buffyverse for its entire run, appearing in both the original unaired pilot and the last episode of Angel.note 
    • Danny Strong was credited as an unnamed extra on "Buffy" for quite some time (again, starting in the unaired pilot!) before even obtaining the name "Jonathan". He became a minor recurring character and one of the three main villains in season 6. And in Season 7 it got to the point that The First thought him important enough to be included in its evil plan.
    • Anya was originally intended as a one-shot villain for "The Wish." She returned for the Sequel Episode "Doppelgangland", and continued in a recurring role before being promoted to the opening cast in season 5.
    • Eliza Dushku's Faith originally started out with a planned minor role in the series, similar to Kendra's, but both the audiences and Joss Whedon became fans of Eliza and her character and she became a much more important to the story.
    • Amanda first appeared as a girl getting advice from Buffy while she worked as a school counselor, but later was revealed to be a potential Slayer.
    • Tara Maclay was originally supposed to be on the show for a couple of episodes, to help justify the growth of power in Willow by teaching her magic. But after Joss Whedon and others on the crew noticed the chemistry between her and Alyson Hannigan, she was Promoted to Love Interest, essentially becoming an extreme case of Fake Guest Star (appearing in more episodes and receiving more development than Riley or Oz, who were main characters) and helped define one of the most well-known same-sex relationships on Network Television.
    • Darla was initially just a random female vampire in the pilot but Julie Benz put enough into the character to keep her around and make her Angel's sire. Even then she died in the episode that that fact was revealed in...only to be resurrected by Wolfram & Hart at the end of the first season of Angel and becoming a major figure in that show's story.

    C 
  • Cheers:
    • Cliff Clavin started as an idea John Ratzenberger had when he failed his audition for what would become Norm. He suggested a Bar Know-It-All. He started as a recurring guest star in the first season before fully joining the cast in the opening credits in Season 2.
    • Frasier Crane went from being a Romantic False Lead who was intended to disappear after the third season, to being one of the main characters, to being the star of one of the most successful spin-offs in TV history.
    • Paul Krapence went from being just a random extr abarfly (whose name would often randomly change early on) to being a popular recurring secondary character who tended to appear in most of the later episodes.
    • A lot of the recurring extras get some character development.
  • The Chosen: Many background characters from the Bible get expanded in this series, including but not limited to:
    • Eden: In the Bible, Simon Peter's wife is never named, but in this series, she is a central part of Season 1 and 3.
    • Thaddeus and Little James: These disciples get mentioned by name no more than 5 times each in the Gospels. Here, they get fully fleshed out backstories, personalities, and unique interactions with Jesus.
    • Zebedee and Salome: Big James and John's parents. In the Bible, Zebedee only appears during James and John's calling, being left behind as his sons join Jesus, while Salome is mentioned as one of the women who witnessed the crucifixion. In the series, they have many interactions with their sons and other characters, and the house where Jesus heals a paralythic man is theirs. They also attend the Sermon on the Mount.
    • The paralyzed man healed by the pool of Bethesda is just a random paralyzed man in the Bible, but he is made into the brother of Simon the Zealot in the show, and his healing is instrumental in changing Simon's course and sending him to Jesus.
    • One of the robbers mentioned in Jesus' Parable of the Good Samaritan is upgraded into a fully fledged character in one episode, who reveals he is repentant of his past actions. Jesus is able to assure him that the man he and his cohorts attacked on the road survived and received help.
    • The Pharisees in general. While in The Bible they are regarded as religious authorities and adversarial toward Jesus, here personalities are developed among a few (Shmuel, Yussif, Yanni). Nicodemus is a bit of a downplaying of the trope, since he has a couple of important scenes within Scripture, but in Season 1, his development is a major arc.
  • Cobra Kai: Daniel's son Anthony was a minor character in the first season and largely only existed to be annoying to his family; in the second and third seasons he was barely present at all. However, he gets a lot more screen time in Season 4 as Daniel realizes he's neglected him badly (and that Anthony has started to become a bully, the thing Daniel hates the most in the world).
  • Mocha Joe from Curb Your Enthusiasm. He was a prominent character in the season 7 finale, but became the main antagonist of season 10.

    D 
  • Dad's Army:
    • Hodges and the Verger got more screentime from Series 3 onwards to give the platoon more enemies to increase the series' humour; the latter was a byproduct of the introduction of The Vicar.
    • Private Sponge. He tended to be an extra given some speaking lines whenever the characters needed to talk to someone outside the main cast, but he began to get more substantial roles in episodes following the death of James Beck, as his character (Walker) was written out, and his intended replacement (Cheeseman, who himself became a regular in Series 7 after a guest shot in Series 6) was unpopular behind the scenes, and the writers would often need someone to fill his place. It didn't ever get to Promoted to Opening Titles status, but he's nevertheless a lot more prominent from about Series 7 onwards.
    • The previously unnamed Private Desmond, when he joins the main characters on a mission in the episode "Sons of the Sea". This part was originally intended for Private Sponge but his actor was unavailable.
  • Richardson in Deadwood. The actor was hired as an extra and eventually placed as Farnum's cook. The writers gave him a few incidental lines and liked the results, so he was expanded to a fully-fledged supporting character.
  • Sukar was supposed to be a one off character in Defiance. However, the creators were so impressed by the contributions that Noah Danby made in defining the Irathient race that he was written into more of the stories, and eventually ascended to a Sacrificial Lamb.
  • Degrassi franchise:
  • A character, played by Martin Clunes appeared in a film Saving Grace and later two prequel miniseries. In making Doc Martin, the character was given a Retool with Doctor Jerk added to the character (who was originally just a Fish out of Water), and his last name was changed to Ellingham (an anagram of the last name of the show's writer Dominic Minghella).
  • Doctor Who:
    • Happens several times in the classic series:
      • Peter Purves is an interesting one. He joins the cast in "The Time Meddler" as Steven Taylor after appearing as a side character in the previous story. Weirder than that, Purves also portrayed an incidental character earlier in the story, making this a literal case of an ascending extra.
      • Jamie McCrimmon was supposed to be a one-off character for "The Highlanders", but the team liked him so much that they re-filmed the ending of the serial to keep him. He ended up becoming the longest running companion, appearing in all of the 2nd Doctor's stories apart from "The Power of the Daleks" and "The Three Doctors".
      • Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart from "The Web of Fear" was supposed to be a one-off character. Then they decided to bring him back for "The Invasion" and gave him a promotion, and he became one of the most important characters of the Third Doctor's era, and quite possibly the entire series. If you include multi-Doctor episodes like "The Five Doctors", he appears alongside every Doctor of the original series, and is mentioned by name by the 10th and 11th Doctors. And in the Expanded Universe he has met 8 and 10. Even when the actor, died his presence is still felt by his daughter Kate.
        Add the Twelfth Doctor to the list of Doctors he's met, as he was revealed to have been transformed into a Cyberman but kept/regained his human mind (without overloading due to What Have I Become?, too — every bit as much an accomplishment as keeping his humanity, when giving them their emotions back and watching them explode from it has been the go-to method of defeating Cybermen throughout the new series.) The actor's death means we won't see his face, but the Brig continues to watch over the Earth (and Kate.)
      • John Levene was kind of a literal Ascended Extra. He started off as a bit-part player appearing as Cybermen and Yeti, then director Douglas Camfield cast him in a minor role of a UNIT corporal called Benton in "The Invasion", a role that became slightly bigger when the actor playing the UNIT sergeant wasn't available for the last episode and Benton was given his role. One season later, Camfield cast Levene as a UNIT sergeant and made the character a promoted Benton, who was then given a small role in the later episodes of the previous story to set him up. Then Season 8 came round and Benton was suddenly in four of the five stories. He ultimately stuck around for another five seasons, with his time on the show encompassing three Doctors, and became one of the most popular supporting characters.
      • Nyssa appeared as a side character in "The Keeper of Traken", only to reappear in the next story as a companion who would remain for another two seasons.
      • Across media, there's Sergeant Osgood. A one-shot UNIT tech in "The Dæmons", there was no reason to do much with him, though as a rare named UNIT agent who isn't the Brig or Benton, he's been name-dropped in the interest of Worldbuilding in a novel or three, but always in a pretty minor role. Then comes the new series, with its popular UNIT scientist named Osgood, who according to Word of God is absolutely definitely maybe related. Next thing you know, no Titan Comics Third Doctor era issue is complete without him, and suddenly he uses an inhaler just like his later counterpart. (As for their relation, they've so far respected Steven Moffat's desire to not explicitly establish or define a connection. When 11/12's Osgood was asked if she had "an uncle who used to run around shooting at aliens," her answer was "something like that.")
    • Donna Noble, who appeared in Christmas Episode "The Runaway Bride" following series 2 and then later became the Doctor's companion for all of series 4.
    • The character of Wilfred Mott was initially a brief 2-minute cameo for Bernard Cribbins in "Voyage of the Damned". However, due to the death of the actor playing Donna's father, the character returned as her grandfather in the 2008 series. His role continued to be increased to the extent that he was promoted to main companion status for "The End of Time", and caused the Doctor's regeneration.
    • Rory Williams had a minor role as Amy's kind of boyfriend in "The Eleventh Hour". By "The Vampires of Venice" later that series, he became a full-ish companion, who was Promoted to Opening Titles from "A Christmas Carol".
    • Nardole, originally a supporting character in "The Husbands of River Song", returned in the next episode "The Return of Doctor Mysterio" as the Doctor's sole companion and is a full-time companion in the tenth series. According to Steven Moffat, it was never his original intention to bring the character back, but did so when Matt Lucas asked if he could return.
    • Toshiko of Torchwood was seen ever-so-briefly in series one of the new Doctor Who first. As an extra, she was a doctor. As a full time Torchwood character, she was explained to have been impersonating a doctor because the actual doctor (fellow Torchwood member Owen Harper) had been too hung over to work.
  • The 2000 miniseries of Dune expands the character of Princess Irulan. In the original book, the joke is that she's the author of all the chapter-starting quotes about Muad'Dib, yet only appears right at the end as the Emperor's daughter who Paul marries out of political convenience (and another character remarks that, with such a loveless marriage, she'll have plenty of time for writing...). Which is obviously undermined when the character appears early on in the miniseries, where she meets Paul early in the story and they even seem to have feelings for each other.

    E 
  • Tobias Gregson was an extremely minor character in the original Sherlock Holmes stories, but Captain Gregson is a major character in Elementary. He essentially fills the role usually held by Lestrade in the original stories and most adaptations, while the actual Lestrade has a smaller role (basically, he filled his customary role back in England, before Holmes came to the US.)

    F 
  • Family Matters:
    • Harriette Winslow, the elevator operator at the Chicago Chronicle, was originally a recurring character on Perfect Strangers (a comedy starring Mark-Linn Baker and Bronson Pinchot), usually to give one-liners or provide superficial support to the storyline at hand. Then, her husband, Carl (a police officer with the Chicago Police Department) began appearing a couple of times ... and soon enough, someone got the bright idea that Carl and Harriette and their family (the children were referred to a couple of times) might make an interesting program. Hence, Family Matters.
    • During the course of the series, several one-time minor characters were ascended to starring roles, virtually taking the emphasis completely off the Winslow family's dynamic in the process. However, much of this had to do with how well the actors playing these roles went over with the audience:
      • Waldo Faldo. Also introduced midway through the first season, in the episode "The Party" (aired February 2, 1990). One of the many guests at Eddie's house party (held without his parents' permission when they're not home) is a "Boy in Towel." The "Boy in Towel" was a background character who showered in the Winslows' shower and acted like an idiot. Just like Waldo did late that fall ... when he was given his name and semi-regular status. By Season 3, Shawn Harrison's portrayal of the character was so popular he earned his spot in the opening credits and began appearing in virtually every episode.
      • Myra Monkhouse. Like Urkel and Waldo before her, Myra was meant to be a one-time diversion for Urkel so that her cousin — who happened to be Laura's boyfriend, Ted Curran — could have her without interference from Urkel. Ted was dropped a couple of episodes later. Myra remained for almost the entire rest of the series (until Michelle Thomas fell ill with her ultimately fatal illness in early 1998) and was given full billing.
  • La Femme Nikita built up its core supporting cast from characters who in the original film were nameless extras with no character beyond their role within the organization that kidnaps and trains Nikita. The computer expert becomes Seymour Birkoff, the quartermaster becomes Walter, and the director becomes Operations.
  • Gunther in Friends. He was originally an extra appearing in the background of a few Central Perk scenes. The show's executives decided to give him a named role in Season 2 because he was the only extra who actually knew how to work the coffee machine. He became a bigger regular after Season 3, when his character was given a hopeless crush on Rachel as a Running Gag that would continue for the rest of the series.

    G 
  • The Games: Has Nicholas the Secretary to the Minister for the Games promoted from minor role to main cast member. Also Tim the secretary grows in prominence throughout the second series.
  • Get Smart: Larabee's only dialogue for the first couple of seasons was always something similar to "Right, Chief." Later on, his character was expanded into the only employee at CONTROL that's dumber than Max.
  • Glee seems to live off of this, especially in the second season.
    • We'll start with Brittany, though technically she ascended in the first season. Heather Morris was a back-up dancer for Beyonce's "Single Ladies" live performances and was initially hired to teach the choreography to the cast. They gave her the role, intended to be just a recurring background dancer, without even an acting audition. It turned out that she had great comic timing, and after a gradual increase in lines over season one, she was promoted to the regular cast by season two, and is also a major player in one of its subplots.
    • Similar to Brittany, Santana was little more than a background character in the first few episodes only getting a few lines here and there but eventually started getting more and more focus, probably due both to actress Naya Rivera's ability to sell the part of bitch real well and her chemistry with Heather Morris making them a great comedic duo.
    • Mike Chang went from a minor character in season one to getting more and more focus in season 2. His actor Harry Shum Jr. will be promoted to main cast member in season 3.
    • Dave Karofsky. He was a two dimensional, stereotypical, homophobic highschool bully but has now been promoted to having his own sub-storyline.
    • Lauren Zizes was a randomly-appearing homely looking girl who most fans and characters didn't bat an eye at. Suddenly, halfway through the second season, she became an 11th-Hour Ranger, Puck's new love interest, and an extreme Badass in one fell swoop.

    H 
  • Chiyoh/Chiyo is a much more important character in the Hannibal TV series than she was in the novels, where she was just a young girl working as a handmaiden, and only ever appeared in one book. This is largely a case of Real Life Writes the Plot; Bryan Fuller wanted to work with Tao Okamoto after seeing her in The Wolverine, and decided to cast her as Lady Murasaki, an important character from Hannibal's backstory. However, he became concerned that Tao was too young to be believable as Mads Mikkelsen's aunt, so he rewrote the role to be Chiyoh, who was essentially the only other Japanese female of any note in the franchise.
  • Max Bergman was originally just a one-episode test character on Hawaii Five-0. He proved likeable enough that he now shows up about Once an Episode, usually to autopsy a body but also to celebrate with the gang after a case. Being played by Masi Oka of Heroes fame probably helped.
  • Both Al and Heidi on Home Improvement. Al was originally a temporary character because the producers were waiting out for another actor to play Tim's assistant on Tool Time, but that didn't go through and they made Al a permanent character. Heidi's role on Tool Time was expanded from just introducing Tim and Al and helping bring out tools to having a part in the projects on the show, and she was given more screentime outside of Tool Time which included a few storylines about her personal life.
  • ‘’ Homicide: Life on the Street'':
    • Gharty started off as a one-shot character in Season 4. He was brought back for the Season 5 finale, and was added to the main cast the following season.
    • Brodie started off as a recurring character in the fourth season, before being added to the main cast the following season.
    • Luther Mahoney started off as a one-shot villain, but proved popular enough he was brought back as the Big Bad of Season 5.
  • Archie Kennedy, as well as Styles and Matthews, from the Horatio Hornblower mini-series. The latter two characters were mentioned in the first book briefly, but given no real importance, and in the series they're promoted to Those Two Guys and prominent lower-deck characters. Archie is somewhere between this and Composite Character, as he is mentioned by last name in the first book, but his personality is made up of fragments of other minor characters from the books. Still, he goes from being a midshipman who appears in one scene to being the title character's best friend — a definite step up.
  • House of Cards (US):
    • Lucas Goodwin is more of a supporting character in the first season, but plays a bigger role later on, especially when he tries to assassinate Frank Underwood in an attempt to avenge Zoe Barnes.
    • In season 1, Tom Hammerschmidt is just a secondary character in Zoe Barnes' storyline. He operates as her antagonist and a cynical lesson about where moral integrity gets you in today's climate. He falls off the show entirely for a long time, with only sporadic appearances after the fourth episode. Then in Season 4, Hammerschmidt returns in a major way after Lucas Goodwin dies during his attempt to assassinate Frank. With experience and determination, Hammerschmidt begins to tie together the truth behind Frank's rise to power and eventually establishes at least part of the Underwoods' amoral activities in the public eye. He's come closer than anyone to bringing Frank Underwood down, and Frank is very clearly terrified that Hammerschmidt's activities will see an end to the Underwood legacy.

    I 
  • Thanks to The Next Iron Chef, Michael Symon, initially a challenger on Iron Chef America , ascended to a position of Iron Chef. In season two, Jose Garces, who had defeated Iron Chef Bobby Flay, joined him.
  • In the original Iron Chef, Wakiya Yuji went from a two time challenger to teaming up with Chen in the 2000 Dish special, to, in the short lived reboot, Iron Chef Chinese.

    J 
  • JAG: Petty Officer Jason Tiner (played by Chuck Carrington), the Admiral's yeoman, went from an extra and became a minor character in his own right after a few seasons, and apart from the lead characters, appeared in the highest number of episodes.
  • Jeeves and Wooster: Sir Roderick Glossop's wife, Lady Delia Glossop, played by Jane Downs. In the original stories she is an extra, to the point where in Thank You, Jeeves she's said to have died two years ago, with little fuss made over the fact. In the series she never dies, and she's a much more active character who appears almost every time her husband does and has as many lines.
  • Jesse: In the second episode, Jesse gets a piece of candy stuck up her nose and meets a sarcastic male nurse named Kurt when she goes to the hospital to have it removed. One season later, she starts working as a nurse herself, and Kurt becomes her co-worker and a series regular.
  • In the late 80s, a man named Mike Reilly was an undefeated champion on Jeopardy!! The show's creator, Merv Griffin, must've seen immense potential in him, as Merv tapped him to host his game show adaptation of Monopoly in the summer of 1990. Reilly has not been on TV since.

    K 
  • Kamen Rider Femme was an extremely minor character in Kamen Rider Ryuki, as she only ever appeared in The Movie (not even showing up in the series proper), and was killed off rather unceremoniously. Kamen Rider Siren, her American counterpart from Kamen Rider Dragon Knight, was a pretty prominent character, and showed up in 16 episodes.
  • Big Ricky from Kirby Buckets was a relatively minor character in the first season, not much more prominent than Mandy, Pearly Todd, or Jean-Luc. In the last two seasons, he's one of the main recurring characters alongside Kirby and Dawn's parents, Wild Gil, and Principal Mitchell, and easily the most prominent kid on the show besides the main quintet.

    L 
  • LazyTown: Downplayed with Stephanie. She was always present in the original plays and usually played some part in the plot, but she was never the main focus. Here, she's the main character and the audience surrogate.
  • Let the Right One In: Håkan is the novel's tritagonist. In contrast, Mark is the series' protagonist and Demián Bichir is the top-billed actor.
  • Benjamin Linus from Lost was only supposed to appear in three episodes in season two, but the writers liked him so much that they rewrote him to become a major character in the series.

    M 
  • MacGyver: Pete Thornton appeared in a few season one episodes as Mac's friend and agency handler, one of several for a deliberately vague organization, before he become a regular cast member in season two as his boss at the Phoenix Foundation (his actor, Dana Elcar, had a small role in the pilot as an unrelated character).
  • Maxwell Klinger was initially meant to be a one-off character on M*A*S*H, a corporal who took to crossdressing in an attempt to get a Section 8 psychiatric discharge from the army. (Little-known fact: the original script for the episode in which he appeared had him as a highly effeminate gay man, but the writers decided it would be "more interesting" to have his crossdressing be an attempt at getting a Section 8.) The character was so well-received that they made him a regular, adding to his list of antics in his attempts to get discharged and filling out the character with additional traits and a backstory, and by the end of the show he was one of only four characters to appear in all eleven seasons.
  • Sir Leon from Merlin was originally just an extra who was chosen to speak on behalf of the Redshirt Army of Camelot knights. He proved so popular with both the cast and the audience that the writers brought him back after he was seemingly killed off, and upgraded him to Arthur's second-in-command.
  • Happens in-universe in Mimpi Metropolitan. Juna's role as Agatha Chelsea's brother Uta in an Ada Azab Dalam Cerita episode is meant to be played by an extra and for that episode only. Not too long after that, Juna convinces Akbar to make Uta a recurring character so that Juna can have a bigger role and Akbar doesn't have to depend on Alexi.
  • Gonzo first appeared in the Jim Henson and Ed Sullivan Christmas Special The Great Santa Claus Switch in a small role as a creature living in the villain's cigar box named Snarl. The puppet was repurposed for usage on The Muppet Show and the rest is history.
    • Rizzo the Rat was also a minor character originally, going on to fame and fortune as Gonzo's sidekick. And Ms. Piggy, as originally conceived, was meant to be a bit player.
    • Lew Zealand was originally intended to be a one-shot character. Following his first appearance, the Whatnot pattern he was made from was altered into a more permanent puppet.
    • Uncle Deadly was a memorable character who only appeared every once in awhile on The Muppet Show. After two decades of not being used anywhere, and having only made background appearances in the movies (in large crowd scenes), he was given a featured role in the 2011 film as one of the villains henchmen, and now has a recurring role on the 2015 series, being in charge of wardrobe.
    • There's also Chip, an egg-headed humanoid Muppet, having originally mainly appeared on The Jim Henson Hour before mostly being demoted to background roles during the 1990s and 2000s, finally having another major role in The Muppets as the studio's I.T. guy.
    • While Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem can hardly be classified as extras - with the exception of Lips who has long been a Living Prop detachable from the rest of the group, The Muppets Mayhem puts the focus on the band as they attempt to record their first album. As a result of this focus, Lips is finally given characterization, specifically as The Unintelligible.
  • Murdoch Mysteries: Miss Edna Garrison appears in the very first episode "Power" and is suspected of murder. Constable George Crabtree admits to Detective Murdoch that he is "sweet on the girl" and they bond over their love of animals, but the relationship goes nowhere. In season 8, she has a comeback and her role is expanded. She is now widowed Mrs Brooks with a stepkid and George begins to pursue her romantically.
  • Colin Fassnidge, a guest judge introduced in the fourth season of My Kitchen Rules was given the role of the main judge in Season 6, where he replaces Manu as the co-judge of the People's Choice Challenges.
  • Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Pearl Forrester was initially a very minor character who showed up occasionally for some jokes at her long-suffering son Clayton's expense. When Frank left the show before the abbreviated seventh season, Pearl moved into Deep 13 permanently, though she was still used mainly for mother jokes and wasn't really a villain. Then the show was resurrected sans Clayton and Pearl became main antagonist for the remaining three-year run.
  • MythBusters:
    • Kari Byron made her first on-camera appearance in a pilot episode, for the vacuum toilet myth. (She had her rear end scanned.) She reappeared, alongside fellow Build Team members Scottie Chapman and Tory Belleci, at the beginning of the second season.
    • In a similar vein, Grant Imahara helped out behind the scenes and was seen on screen a couple times before he replaced Scottie in the 3rd season.

    N 
  • Jimmy Palmer of NCIS started in the middle of the first season as a replacement for a largely identical character. In Season 6 he was promoted to "Also Starring" and in Season 10 he is promoted to a series regular.
  • The character of Celeste Dexter in Night and Day has a walk-on role as one of Sam Armstrong’s many conquests very early in the run, then returns nine months later (and not even pregnant!) as a prominent character, remaining in the show until the end of the series.

    O 
  • The Office (US): A lot of characters qualify as this. Basically everyone except Michael, Dwight, Jim, Pam, and Ryan. In the first season, much of the supporting cast were basically extras who didn't have any storylines or personality traits until season 2.
  • Once Upon a Time:
    • Belle, who only appeared in three episodes for the first season, was upgraded to a main character in the second season.
    • Killian Jones, or Captain Hook as he's better known, was originally supposed to be a minor recurring role appearing in the first few episodes of the show's second season, but the producers and crew loved Colin O'Donoghue's performance so much that he was promoted to a member of the main cast midway through it, before his first episode even aired on television. Come Season 3 and onward and Killian has become one of the show's central characters.
    • As an infant in seasons 5 and 6, Robin Hood, Jr. only served as a Living Prop and she was mainly just introduced into the show to further her mother's character arc. However, in season 7, she is reintroduced as an adult and becomes an important character in her own right.
  • One Piece (2023):
    • While Koby would go on to become a major character in the manga, in the context of the East Blue saga, he effectively vanishes from the story after the Romance Dawn arc. In this show, he's essentially turned into a deuteragonist, with his cover story receiving an Adaptation Expansion from a series of no dialogue, single panel scenes that would appear at the beginning of a few chapters to a full on sub-plot.
    • In the manga, the original Mr. 7 is only mentioned to have been fought by Zoro prior to the events of the story and never actually appears outside of a crude drawing of him Oda made in an SBS. In this show, he's actually seen and his fight with Zoro is shown in full.
    • In the manga, Bogard gets barely any dialogue and his only real characterizing trait is his status as Garp's second-in-command. In this show, he gets a lot more focus and receives a greater characterization.
  • Out of this World (1962): "Little Lost Robot": This play is adapted from "Little Lost Robot".
    • In the original, General Kallner is present merely as commander of Hyperbase 7. In this adaptation, his fondness for growing "oxygenated roses" ties him to Out of this World (1962)'s Horror Host and gives him an excuse to flirt with Dr Calvin.
    • In the original, Mr Black is a supporting character whose role is a low-ranking technician on the secret project that causes the problem by accident. In this adaptation, he is the chief engineer on the project, a pompous ass, and bigoted against robots.
    • In the original, Walensky appears once in the entire story. In this adaptation, he takes on the roles of every nameless character to make the Minimalist Cast function better.
  • Oz:
    • Adebisi only appears briefly in the pilot, and serves as a supporting character for most of Season 1. Following seasons promoted him to the main cast, and he eventually became the Big Bad of Season 4.
    • Robson only appears briefly in one second season episode and was intended as a one-shot character. Tom Fontana was impressed with his actor's performance, and Robson wound up becoming Schillinger's Dragon for the rest of the series.

    P 
  • Paranormal (2020): Maggie Mckillop is an occasional character in the book, who met up with Rifaat when he visited Scotland, or when she visited Egypt. In the show, she takes a job in Egypt in the first episode, and is present throughout.
  • Person of Interest:
  • The Polka Dot Door: Initially, Polkaroo only appeared on Imagination Day, but as the character became popular with fans, he started to appear outside of Imagination Day. After the show ended, TVO capitalized on Polkaroo's success by turning him into a Breakout Character.
  • Power Rangers:
    • The "Zyu2" monsters for the first and second seasons of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers are kind of this trope. The Zyuranger Super Sentai footage was exhausted by the season finale "Doomsday", so Saban contacted Toei to produce more action footage to keep the season/series going, and the Zyu2 episodes were shot with monsters and battle footage exclusively for the US series. Starting with Goo Fish and finishing with Turban Shell, each of them started as a Monster of the Week like any other. Since they were US-only monsters, Saban owned the costumes exclusively without having to rent them. As Saban had to fill out the 50-episode second season, bringing back hordes of old monsters became a fairly regular occurrence as the season wore on, and most (if not all) of those monsters would be from the Zyu2 crowd. The same goes for seasons two and three, as Zyu2 ran out and the Rangers didn't change suits to match the Dairanger and Kakuranger footage. Some even showed up for the grand season 6 finale at the end of Power Rangers in Space, and even the monster hell scenes from the final arc of Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue, (season eight.) Of course, these scenes contained many monsters from across franchise history, American-original and Japanese-original.
    • Season two had Zedd summon some past monsters to protect the Rock of Time... immediately followed by past monsters being involved in the wedding of Rita and Zedd. Some of them were the same ones. This meant we had the same one-shot monsters from ages past returning for four episodes in a row. Dramole in particular totals six appearances in which he actually does something (not crowd filler like in Countdown.) Undoubtedly a record for most Toku. Most, because though Super Sentai and Kamen Rider don't bring back monsters too often, the Ultra Series has some iconic recurring monsters-of-the-week as well.
  • The Price Is Right has always had the game show staples of Lovely Assistant (a rotating cast of models) and The Announcer. But early on, the models just showed off prizes, and the announcer just read copy. After a few years, both the models and announcer began interacting with host Bob Barker a lot more, usually conversing with him between segments, being shown on-camera more, and even participating in humorous skits during the Showcases at the end of the show. The interaction died down some in the 1990s and 2000s, but came back in the late 2000s after Drew Carey took over as host.
  • Becker in Primeval. Originally just a named redshirt. Now a main character with, apparently, his own love interest.

    Q 
  • In Quantum Leap, Signalman 2nd Class Herbert "Magic" Williams is one of Sam Beckett's leapees, and has no lines; the closest we come to "meeting" him is when Sam temporarily believes he is Magic after receiving electroshock in a mental asylum. In the 2022 sequel series, Magic is the head of Project Quantum Leap and a main character.

    R 
  • Reacher:
    • The coroner only has one or two scenes and no name or character arc in the book. In the show, his name is Jasper and he's a regular character with a distinctive personality.
    • Charlie Hubble only has a few scenes in the book, while in the show, she provides some of the exposition her husband originally did and has more scenes in protective custody.
    • Officer Stevenson is relieved form duty early in the book due to his relation to Hubble, but remains on the forced has lots of scenes throughout season 1.
  • Red Dwarf has various examples:
Kryten (David Ross) was a One-Shot Character who wouldn't have been included originally as Rob Grant wanted to avoid robotic characters. He returned in Series III as a main character (although now played by Robert Llewellyn).
  • Guy of Gisborne from the BBC's Robin Hood was never a minor character (and the actor had top billing, behind only Robin himself and Marian until she was killed off), but halfway through the first season the writers develop a serious man-crush on him and his relationship with Marian. By Season 3, the show may as well be called "Guy of Gisborne."

    S 
  • Bellamy Young was essentially bound to play a token First Lady who would be unseen and eventually pushed off to the side in the first season of Scandal, but Mellie Grant's rivalry with Olivia Pope and Young's strong interpretation of the role eventually bumped her up to regular status and kept her in the White House.
  • Scrubs: The Janitor became a Breakout Character. He was originally only supposed to appear in the pilot episode, but Neil Flynn impressed Bill Lawrence so much that he was kept as a supporting character. It was then intended for him to be a background character to torment J.D. (if the show ended before the first half of the second season, he was going to be a figment of J.D.'s imagination), but the creators quickly (and thankfully) realized how awesome he was and included him in the main cast.
  • Seinfeld:
    • Ruthie Cohen, played by extra Ruth Cohen, the cashier at Monk's Café. Appeared in 101 episodes of the series, more than twice as many as Newman! Ascended to actually speaking lines in two episodes, and was a central character for one. She also appeared as the cafeteria cashier on NCIS, referencing her Seinfeld role.
    • Harshly subverted with Babu Bhatt, who in his second appearance shows every sign of being promoted to a recurring character by working at Monk's and living in Jerry's building. Then he's deported. In the DVD special features, Brian George recounts his experience reading the script, and the sharp emotion switch upon realizing this would be it for him.
  • A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017): The Hook-Handed Man was one of Olaf's more notable Henchmen, ultimately being the one who stayed on for the longest but until book 11 he's never treated as anything other than a standard henchman. The series upgrades him to The Dragon and gives him a much larger role as Olaf's primary enforcer and right hand. He's even written in to the Miserable Mill as the Foreman taking the role that the Bald Man with the Long Nose played in the books. Olivia also experienced this fate. In the novels she was a minor character who is originally bad, but in the books she starts out as a librarian who does everything she can to help the children.
  • Sesame Street's Elmo was originally a nameless background character, but after Kevin Clash took over the role, he became a more regular character, and eventually received a recurring 15-20 minute sketch.
  • Ronnie Gardocki from The Shield. The character was initially treated as a glorified extra, and the only reason why actor David Rees Snell took the part was because creator Shawn Ryan needed someone to fill out the team. You could count the number of lines Ronnie had in the first season on one hand. Yet, as the seasons continue, Gardocki becomes more and more central to the power struggle between Vic and Shane, and becomes a fully-developed main character in his own right.
  • The British TV Show Skins has Effy, who was the little sister of her main character Tony for series 1 + 2, but appeared in only a few episodes and never spoke. When the new cast was picked for series 3+4, Effy was promoted to a full character and became the main protagonist. Effy remains the only character to be involved in more than three series of skins. (Pandora briefly appears in Series 2, before being promoted to full cast in 3.)
  • In The Sopranos, Adriana La Cerva, the girlfriend of Christopher Moltisanti, originally appeared in the series pilot as an unnamed hostess at Artie Bucco's restaurant with just a couple of lines. However, producers of the show were so impressed by what they saw of Drea de Matteo's acting skills, that she was quickly promoted as Christopher's love interest and a major character in the show.
  • Stargate:
    • Stargate SG-1:
      • Walter aka (Engaging Chevron Guy). Something odd as he never really gets a main character spot. He does get a big nod in the end of the 200th episode. However in the fandom, Walter (and his actor) have been used as stars in promos and skits. A promo for the aforementioned 200th episode has him going to ask his castmates, producers, writers and directors for his part on the special, only to realize none of them recognize him despite him having been on the show since the pilot.
        The character of Walter wasn't even Walter in the beginning, rather a "nameless" extra that rose in prominence largely thanks to Throw It In!. Even his name changed thanks to the cast. He wasn't originally named Walter, but picked up that name after Richard Dean Anderson called him that in a shot, and after being told by someone on the set that wasn't his name, RDA declared "it is now". His last name officially became Harriman after Don S. Davis's General Hammond referred to him as "airman"; thanks to how he said it, fans misheard it as Harriman and believed it to be his last name. The writers ran with it.
      • When Daniel was written out of the show, the character (Jonas Quinn) that enables the team to find out what really happened to Daniel was supposed to be a one-shot character. However, the producers decided to use him as Daniel's replacement for Series 6. This is an example of last-minute decisions back-firing. Due to the role the character originally had in Daniel's death, and the fact the fandom was angry at losing Daniel from the show, Jonas struggled to be accepted by the fandom. When Series 7 was commissioned, Daniel returned to the show and Jonas was written out. He was even absent from a later episode featuring his world.
      • Vala progressed from single-episode guest star in Season 8, to recurring guest in Season 9, to full-time cast member in Season 10.
    • Stargate Atlantis
      • Dr. Rodney McKay, played by David Hewlett, had a few SG-1 episodes where his role was little more than to be the arrogant scientist that makes Samantha Carter look brilliant. When Atlantis was commissioned, David Hewlett auditioned for the role of the scientific character and nailed it so completely, the producers decided to scrap the proposed character in favour of the already-existing McKay character.
      • Dr. Carson Beckett was originally only written into a few episodes throughout season 1, but he was such a big hit that the writers put him in several more. In later seasons, he's promoted to one of the main characters.
      • Major Lorne appeared in a single episode of SG-1. Starting from season 2 of Atlantis he became a major recurring character that is designed to act as back-up to the main cast.
  • Star Trek
    • Star Trek: The Next Generation
      • The pilot features an unnamed, curly-haired conn officer played by Colm Meaney. It's clear he wasn't intended to become a major character at the time - when everyone is taken to Q's courtroom, he was notably absent. (Well, the redshirt's absence wasn't notable then.) That character would reappear on a regular basis in subsequent episodes as a gold-shirted (the 24th-century equivalent of Red Shirt) transporter operator. That operator eventually got a name and rank, Chief Miles O'Brien, and ended up becoming a semi-regular character with a wife and family who interacted regularly with the main cast. When it came time to create a spinoff of TNG, O'Brien went even further to become a main character in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Miles O'Brien is the embodiment of a character working up from the Red Shirt Army to donning fullblown Plot Armor.
      • John DeLancie's "Q" character was also intended to be a one-off (in fact, the original script didn't call for him at all; he was added because the writers decided they wanted to make the pilot a double-length episode and needed a new piece of plot to do it). Q would become one of the most iconic non-regular characters on the show, leading him to appear in seven other episodes of The Next Generation, as well as one episode of Deep Space Nine, three of Voyager, and one in Star Trek: Lower Decks.
    • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine:
      • Max Grodénchik's character is credited in the pilot episode as "Ferengi Pit Boss," suggesting that he wasn't expected to be a recurring character. However, a few episodes later he's established as Quark's brother and Nog's father, becoming a major recurring character.
      • Damar ascends from the role of one of Dukat's nameless henchmen to the leader of Cardassia and an important recurring villain in the later seasons. However, Damar was always intended to play a major role in the Dominion War.
      • Garak was only intended to appear as a guest star in one episode ("Past Prologue"), but Andrew Robinson's performance impressed the producers so much that he was brought back for more and more episodes, to the point that he has a pivotal role in the final string of season 7 episodes.
      • Jeffrey Combs' Weyoun character was originally intended to be a one episode villain-of-the-week, who dies at the end of season 4's "To the Death". However, Combs' performance proved so popular at the producers, that they decided to bring Weyoun back as a recurring foe, with the explanation that Vortas are cloned, so when one dies, a new copy simply takes his place.
      • Admiral William Ross was supposed to be the typical Spear Carrier, but Barry Jenner's portrayal of an atypical sane Starfleet admiral made the producers bring him back. He managed to displace Sisko as the face of the Federation war effort by the end of the series.
      • In "Statistical Probabilities," the character is Sarina is almost a Living Prop who does little more than stare blankly throughout the episode. The episode "Chrysalis" was written as a Sequel Episode and focused on her getting cured of her catatonia. Since the episode would be carried by an actress who hadn't even spoken a line in her previous appearance, the showrunners made the actress re-audition for the role she'd already played just to make sure she was up to it.
    • Pretty much anyone in Star Trek: The Original Series who isn't Kirk, Spock or maybe McCoy qualifies. Even though the supporting characters of Scotty, Sulu, Chekov and Uhura are now considered essential, they were originally contracted on an episode-by-episode basis and considered interchangeable with other characters fulfilling the same function on ship. Scotty and Sulu in particular only appear in 17 of the 29 episodes produced for the first season and other characters were seen at helm or in charge of engineering when they were absent.
    • Many bit characters from the Star Trek shows have become major players in the tie-in novels, even starring in some of the book-only spinoff series. Star Trek: New Frontier made regulars out of one- or two-shot Next Generation characters Shelby, Selar, and Lefler. Starfleet Corps of Engineers features guest engineers like Sonya Gomez, Duffy, and Stevens. A major character in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Relaunch novels (Vedek Yevir) is based on an extra who appeared in one scene and was only seen from behind. Star Trek: Ex Machina, a sequel to Star Trek: The Motion Picture, bases most of its supporting crew characters on faces (and alien masks) in the crowd from a crew-assembly scene in that film. Meanwhile, Agents Lucsly and Dulmur of the Department of Temporal Investigations, who were minor joke characters with less than four minutes of screen time in one episode of Deep Space Nine, have been the focus of several works of short fiction, culminating in a series of novels about the DTI.
    • Star Trek: Voyager: Robert Duncan McNeill, who played both Tom Paris and Nick Locarno, has gone on record saying that he sees them as very different characters, almost each other's opposites, and that Locarno would not have been a good character to use as a regular. Specifically, he felt that Locarno was someone who seemed like a great guy but really wasn't, where Paris fell into the category of Jerk with a Heart of Gold. He does admit, however, that the creators probably did intend for Paris to be more similar to Locarno.
  • Supernatural:
    • The final episode of the first season introduced Bobby Singer, a hunter who'd worked with Sam and Dean in the past. He shows up at the very beginning to help them out against Meg and then disappears for the rest of the episode. Come season two, Bobby's back aiding the boys after their father's death and goes on to become a father figure to them who's pretty much the most important character on the show next to the boys.
    • When Castiel was introduced in Season 4, he was only meant to last a few episodes. But due to positive fan reaction, he remained as a recurring character in Season 4, was upgraded to a regular in Seasons 5 and 6, downgraded to recurring for Seasons 7 and 8, and has been announced as a regular for Season 9.
    • Crowley appeared in the fifth season, one that was originally intended to be the final one. He first appears briefly in the middle of it, then doesn't show up again until the tail end of it, both times providing some aid for the boys against the much worse antagonist Lucifer. Then the show continues going after that but there's one problem: now that your Big Bad for the entire series up to that point is out of the picture, who do have take his place? That's when Crowly returned front and center and went on to become the show's primary antagonist, even getting promoted to a regular for Season 10.

    T 
  • Taken: Seven characters (Tom and Becky Clarke, Eric and Sam Crawford, Charlie Keys, Lisa Clarke and Mary Crawford) go from kids with little-to-no personality to protagonists. In a more extreme example, Jesse Keys makes his first appearance as a one-year-old baby with No Name Given in "Beyond the Sky" and plays a major role from "Jacob and Jesse" to "Maintenance" before making a final, minor appearance in "Charlie and Lisa".
  • In The Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries novels, the character of Mary Ann originally named Callisto pretty much just showed up at a party, made a few comments and was never seen again. On True Blood, the show based on the books, she was the Big Bad of season two.
    • Similarly, Lafayette Reynolds has been a pretty prominent supporting character since the show began, but appeared only briefly in book one before being killed off at the beginning of book two.
    • Tara, Lafayette's cousin, wasn't even mentioned in the first novel, but she is Sookie's best friend through the whole series.
  • The Tomorrow People (1973):Jade Weston appeared in a few short scenes in "The Culex Experiment", then later became the tritagonist in "The Living Stones".

    U 
  • The Ultra Series has many kaiju who started out as Monsters of the Week, but ended up recurring regularly in later series due to their popularity. Without a doubt though, the biggest of these Breakout Villains is Gomora, the first monster to defeat Ultraman. He's also been a hero a few times (unlike the many other monsters who've reappeared frequently), fighting many villains and numerous other monsters alongside the Ultramen and defense teams as well.

    V 
  • The Vampire Diaries
    • Vicki, Elena's aunt Jenna, and arguably Caroline. She had a fairly large role in the books, but on the show she's an entirely different character.
    • Elijah as an extreme example. Julie Plec admits that Daniel Gillie's performance and the pull of Elijah's character inspired the writers to make the Originals un-killable to keep him around. And he was originally just a "foot soldier" before being made into Klaus's brother.

    W 
  • The Walking Dead (2010): Many characters fit this definition, as the series focuses on a ragtag group of survivors as they progress through the apocalypse and interact with other groups.
    • Perhaps the most notable example is Carol Peletier. In the first few episodes of Season 1, she is literally a background extra in the group with very few lines, as she is abused by her husband and is often quiet and weak. She scrounges up some courage (along with screen time and plot significance) when she hands Rick a grenade he had forgotten so that the group can escape the CDC. She was given a somewhat more prominent role in the next two seasons, buoyed by her character arc after losing her daughter and gaining much more weapon proficiency between the second and third season. By the time season four rolled around, she had become a fan-favorite character as she was given more screen time and evolved from a quiet victim to a motherly figure who became a cold-blooded killer when necessary.
    • Beth Greene was a member of Hershel's family who was Out of Focus for much of the season she was introduced, only being present in group shots or in a brief arc where she has a Heroic BSoD over the deaths of the family members in the barn (which causes her to attempt suicide). Even when the group gets to the prison in the third season, her main role is to act as a caretaker for Judith and sing the occassional song. When the prison falls in season four, she gets much more screentime and a storyarc alongside Daryl, eventually culminating in her own arc where she's kidnapped and has to escape with Noah from Grady Memorial Hospital. Unfortunately, she dies at its conclusion.
    • Jadis (a.k.a. Anne) only appears in three episodes of the seventh season, acting as a third party Rick and Michonne go to broker an arms deal with, only to be later betrayed by them after they switch sides to help Negan and the Saviors. Despite polarizing fan reaction, she came back for the eighth season along with the rest of the Scavengers — only to get her own character arc after the Scavengers are ruthlessly gunned down by Simon and the Saviors, leaving her as the Sole Survivor. Fan opinion pivoted drastically for the better as she pulled a Heel–Face Turn and decided to aid Rick and Alexandria, and by the time the ninth season rolled around, she was firmly in heroic territory — she ends up saving Rick from certain death after he destroys a bridge to take out a herd of walkers, and flies away with him to parts unknown.
    • Henry starts out as a minor character whose only defining characteristic was that he was more-prominent supporting character (in season 7) Benjamin's little brother. Season 8 gives him a subplot revolving around his vendetta against the Saviors, and Season 9 makes him a Fake Guest Star following the second Time Skip.
    • "Alexandria Resident #9", an unnamed female survivor who, as of Season 10, has become the longest-surviving background character in the show, with the most appearances of any extra and greater prominence in later seasons. Originally introduced as a guard at Alexandria, she shows up in more and more critical moments, including Abraham's rescue of Francine at the construction site, aiding Rick and the other Alexandrians as they fight off the horde in "No Way Out", aiding in the battle against the Saviors in "The First Day Of The Rest Of Your Life", accompanying Rick and the militia during several battles in Season 8, and eventually joining the militia fighting the Whisperers in Season 10. Not bad for a survivor with virtually no dialogue whatsoever.
  • Donna Moss (Janel Maloney) of The West Wing wasn't an extra, rather one of the staff assistants who appeared consistently but with a minor role. Her chemistry with her boss Josh quickly overshadowed his intended Foil relationship with main cast member Mandy, along with their UST. Come season two, Mandy went to Mandyville and Janel Maloney was in the opening titles, ending the series as the new First Lady's Chief of Staff.
  • Several initially-unimportant characters in The Wire gain greater prominence as the series goes on:
    • Probably the most notable example is Kenard, who is introduced in a very short scene from the third season where Bunk Moreland sees him and two other children arguing over who will pretend to be Omar. In the fourth season, he gets more dialogue and scenes with the neighbourhood children, and in season 5, he is the one who shoots and kills Omar in a convenience store.
    • Detective Colicchio was initially an unnamed background character in Major Colvin's unit before gaining an abrasive personality and more dialogue.
    • Jeff Price (a court reporter for the Baltimore Sun) appears in one season three sequence (a press conference) asking a question, then becomes a full-fledged supporting character in the fifth and final season.
    • A young woman is seen as an extra during one sequence in Hamsterdam from the third season, has a couple lines of dialogue during a scene with Old-Face Andre in season 4, then is shown at a recovering addicts' meeting Bubbles is attending in season 5.
  • The 1998 CITV adaptation of The Worst Witch would often take a character who made only one appearance or was mentioned in passing - and make them into a recurring character on the series.
    • Drucilla's only appearance in the books was in The Worst Witch All At Sea, where she's just mentioned as "a friend of Ethel's" and gets expanded to being Ethel's Beta Bitch in the show. After her popularity on-screen, Jill Murphy featured her more in subsequent books.
    • Miss Bat appears only in The Worst Witch Strikes Again when she throws Mildred out of chanting for laughing at Enid's singing. She's a series regular until Season 3, featuring as Adaptational Comic Relief.
    • Miss Drill likewise was only featured twice as the gym mistress. She too got upgraded to regular, now filling the role of a Cool Teacher the girls can rely on.
    • Griselda Blackwood briefly pops up in A Bad Spell For The Worst Witch, where Mildred ties her up so she can go to the Halloween celebrations in her place. She's a recurring older mentor student in the series, and gains a best friend in Fenella Feverfew - who was just a girl mentioned to have transferred to another academy. Ironically adapting both girls' book roles (Griselda being tied up and Fenella transferring) would have created an Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole or messed with the status quo too much, so they were given to other characters.
    • Ethel's timid little sister Sybil and her friend Clarice only appear at the start of A Bad Spell For The Worst Witch where Mildred scares them with a made-up story about the frog in the pond. They become recurring characters in the series, where Sybil develops Hero Worship for Mildred.
    • Mrs Tapioca only shows up to give Mildred a replacement cat in one book, but enjoys a lot more screen time in the series.
    • Even Agatha, Miss Cackle's Evil Twin appeared just once at the end of the first book - but becomes a recurring antagonist in the series. She too was featured in later books.

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  • The X-Files: The Smoking Man began as an extra in the pilot episode. However he was brought back for cameos through the first season followed by increasingly regular appearances in following seasons which developed him into the show's most infamous antagonist.

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