History AscendedExtra / LiveActionTV

*** 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, and becomes a major recurring character. [[spoiler: He eventually becomes ''Grand Nagus of Ferenginar.'']]
*** Damar ascends from the role of one of Dukat's nameless henchmen to that of national hero for Cardassia in the final episode. The main difference between O'Brien and Damar is that (at least according to WordOfGod) Damar was always intended to play a major role in the Dominion War, while O'Brien was only a nameless extra in the TNG pilot (Meaney got the part as a sort of consolation prize; he was runner-up in another role).

*** Similarly, 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.

* ''Series/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents2017'': 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 TheDragon 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.

*** There is also the fact that Tom, despite being free and clear, eventually confessed to his own actions because he couldn't bear the guilt, whereas Locarno seems to have little guilt at all over either the accident or the lie and is only caught because someone ''else'' (Wesley Crusher) confesses.

* ''Series/CobraKai'': Daniel's son Anthony was a minor character in the first season and largely only existed to be annoying to his family; in the seocnd 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).

** The writers tried to create an illusion of AscendedExtra for [[TheScrappy Nikki and Paolo]] by pretending that they were "there the whole time, but weren't being focused on" when they were introduced in season three.

** The [[FanNickname "Zyu2"]] monsters for the first and second seasons of ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' are kind of this trope. The Zyuranger ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' footage was exhausted by the season finale "Doomsday", so Creator/{{Saban|Entertainment}} contacted Toei to produce more action footage to keep the season/series going, and the [=Zyu2=] episodes were shot with monsters and battle footage [[AdaptationExpansion exclusively for the US series]]. Starting with Goo Fish and finishing with Turban Shell, each of them started as a MonsterOfTheWeek 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 ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace'', and even the monster hell scenes from the final arc of ''Series/PowerRangersLightspeedRescue,'' (season ''eight.'') Of course, these scenes contained many monsters from across franchise history, American-original ''and'' Japanese-original.

** Painfully averted in ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' by Lt. [[FanNickname "Extra-Man"]] Ayala. Ayala appears in 120 episodes out of 167, in all seven seasons. He speaks in exactly four of those episodes, and is only credited twice, never with a name. The mere act of establishing a name for the actor took some detective work. He's achieved a certain amount of MemeticBadass status among the fandom for simply managing to survive all seven seasons.

** "[[FanNickname 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.

* In the miniseries adaption of ''Literature/ElevenTwentyTwoSixtyThree'', 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.

** Painfully averted in ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' by Lt. [[FanNickname "Extra-Man"]] Ayala. Ayala appears in 120 episodes out of 167, in all seven seasons. He speaks in exactly four of those episodes, and is only credited twice, never with a name. The mere act of establishing a name for the actor took some detective work. He's achieved a certain amount of MemeticBadass status among the fandom for simply managing to surviving all seven seasons.

*** Peter Purves is an interesting one. He joins the cast in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E9TheTimeMeddler "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.

* 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 ''{{Series/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.

* On ''{{Series/Degrassi}}: The Next Generation'', some minor/recurring characters have been upgraded to regular cast [[RevolvingDoorCasting as some of the characters get older and graduate.]] For example, Clare was originally introduced as a minor character, the middle-school aged sister of one of the main characters who appeared only a couple of times. She became a main character beginning with season 9-10.

** Creator/ElizaDushku's Faith originally started out with a planed 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.

** Sara Lance was originally just a backstory, PosthumousCharacter in the first season of ''Arrow'', only appearing in the flesh in the pilot with all others being archive footage. Come the second season's first episode and it's revealed that Sara is not only still alive, but being the first incarnation of the ComicBook/BlackCanary, the ComicBook/GreenArrow's traditional female partner in the comics (though she insists it's just "The Canary"). Sara later transfers to the ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' where she becomes by far the most prominent member, one of the only three to remain to this day. Also a case of ThePeteBest because the stark difference between Sara's importance pre- and post-''Arrow'' season 2 is also accompanied by a recast (Sara is portrayed by Jacquelien [=MacInnes=] Wood in the pilot and Creator/CaityLotz afterwards).
** ''Legends of Tomorrow'' in general stars many of the B-list superheroes and supervillains from its predecessors, but the one that stands out is Mick Rory. While Sara was retooled as a major character in ''Arrow'' season 2 before her {{Transplant}}, Mick was just one of the myriad [[MonsterOfTheWeek villains of the week]] that Team Flash encountered and only appeared twice in his debut show. Ultimately, he becomes one of the aforementioned three original members still on board the Waverider, outlasting both his partner, the EnsembleDarkhorse Leonard Snart, and the show's original male lead, Rip Hunter, both of whom departed from the show after the third season.

** ''Legends of Tomorrow'' in general stars many of the B-list superheroes and supervillains from its predecessors, but the one that stands out is Mick Rory. While Sara was retooled as a major character in ''Arrow'' season 2 before her {{Transplant}}, Mick was just one of the myriad [[MonsterOfTheWeek villains of the week]] that Team Flash encountered and only appeared twice in his debut show. Ultimately, he becomes one of the aforementioned three original members still on board the Waverider, outlasting both his partner Leonard Snart (an EnsembleDarkhorse who departed after the third season) and the show's original male lead, Rip Hunter.

* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': Felicity Smoak may well be the crowning example. She started as a one-scene character, never intended to return, but her portrayal by Emily Bett Rickards was well-received by both the creators and the audience and she was promoted to a recurring role in early-mid season 1. By season 2, she was a main character, and coming into season 3 was essentially the ''female lead'' of the show.

** The Zyu2 monsters for the first and second seasons of ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' are kind of this trope. The Zyuranger ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' footage was exhausted by "[[SeasonFinale Doomsday]]," so Creator/{{Saban|Entertainment}} contacted Toei to produce more action footage to keep the season/series going, and the [[FanNickname Zyu2]] episodes were shot with monsters and battle footage [[AdaptationExpansion exclusively for the US series]]. Starting with Goo Fish and finishing with Turban Shell, each of them started as a MonsterOfTheWeek 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 Zyu 2 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 ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace'', and even the monster hell scenes from the final arc of ''Series/PowerRangersLightspeedRescue,'' (season ''eight.'') Of course, these scenes contained many monsters from across franchise history, American-original ''and'' Japanese-original.

* The British TV Show ''Series/{{Skins}}'' has a great example in 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.)