Deuteragonist / Western Animation

• Adventure Time: Finn the human and Jake the shape-shifting dog are the two protagonists of the show, while Princess Bubblegum serves as the deuteragonist, appearing nearly every episode, setting in motion many events in the series and sometimes becoming the protagonist for an episode. Ice King and Marceline are tritagonists.
• Æon Flux: Trevor Goodchild is this and the antagonist, oddly enough.
• The Amazing World of Gumball: Darwin is the deuteragonist to Gumball's protagonist.
• American Dad!: Stan is always the protagonist (save for a few episodes), with the role of deuteragonist constantly shifting among Stan's family or Roger Smith. The de facto deuteragonist would probably be Steve, since he is the closest to Stan in terms of relationship and the only character who has his own recurring group of loser friends, where he is the protagonist.
• Amphibia: Although the show is mainly about a Fish out of Water, with Anne journeying through the frog world, out of the frogs, Sprig is easily the one the gets the most focus. He’s considered Anne’s best friend and their friendship is one of the show’s main driving points. At the end of Sasha’s Theme Song Takeover, Sprig and Anne even argue about which one of them is the show’s main character.
• Avatar: The Last Airbender has two: Katara, who is the show's opening narrator, the one who starts the action by releasing Aang, and whose growth alongside Aang is given as much of a focus as his, and Zuko, whose story arc and Character Development have the most impact on the overall narrative next to Aang's. They are also great foils for one another, and their background and choices are constantly compared.
• Beavis and Butt-Head: Despite Beavis' name coming first in the duo, it would be more accurate to say he's actually the deuteragonist, rather than Butt-Head. Butt-Head is the leader of the duo, and is usually the one who comes up with their ideas, while Beavis just follows along.
• Ben 10 has Ben's cousin Gwen as Deuteragonist and their grandfather Max as Tritagonist. In Ben 10: Alien Force and Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, Gwen keeps her role as Deuteragonist, with Kevin Levin becoming the Tritagonist.
• Big City Greens: Cricket is the protagonist, but his older sister, Tilly, is the deuteragonist. Although Cricket may sometimes go on adventures without the rest of his family, it’s extremely rare for Tilly not to be in the episode with him.
• Bluey: Bluey's little sister Bingo gets second billing in the series, as while Bluey is the protagonist and title character, the two are near-constantly seen together.
• The Boondocks: Riley Freeman with his older brother Huey as Protagonist and their grandfather Robert as Tritagonist.
• BoJack Horseman: While each of the main characters receive A Day in the Limelight, Diane Nguyen has the biggest impact on the show's overall trajectory; fitting given her frequent role as The Confidant.
• Camp Lazlo: The titular protagonist's roommates and best friends, Raj and Clam, serve as Deuteragonist and Tritagonist respectively.
• Chowder: Mung Daal, the mentor of the titular character, is the Deuteragonist, with his employee, the rock monster Shnitzel, serving as Tritagonist.
• Clarence: Ryan "Sumo" Sumouski is this, with his best friend Clarence as The Protagonist and Only Sane Man Jeff as Tritagonist.
• Courage the Cowardly Dog: Muriel Bagge is the deuteragonist, with her husband Eustace as the tritagonist (and occasional antagonist).
• Dan Vs.: Chris wavers between this and minion on a regular basis. His wife, Elise, acts as the tritagonist just as often.
• Daria:
  • Daria's best friend Jane serves as the deuteragonist of the series. Her friendship with Daria is one of the focal points of the show, and she gets a number of episodes in the spotlight.
  • Daria's sister Quinn is the tritagonist. She is also another main character who gets plot points devoted to her.
• Dexter's Laboratory has Dee Dee, Dexter's big sister.
• The Dreamstone: Rufus and Amberley flip flop between being this or Hero Antagonists to the Urpneys depending on the episode.
• Ed, Edd n Eddy: As opposed to the order of their names in the title, Eddy is the protagonist, Edd is the deuteragonist, and Ed is the tritagonist. This is obvious on the show, but especially in the movie that is all about Eddy's story and Character Development, the relationship between Edd and Eddy, while Ed is just there to be the funny sidekick, like in most episodes.
• Family Guy: Brian Griffin, who is second only to Peter. Stewie Griffin comes third, being the Deuteragonist of most episodes focusing on Brian (and thus, the overall Tritagonist).
• The Flintstones has Barney Rubble, best friend and neighbor of Fred Flintstone. Fred's wife Wilma is the tritagonist, while Barney's wife and Wilma's best friend Betty is the tetragonist.
• Futurama:
  • While Fry is the clear protagonist of the show, the deuteragonist role tends to alternate between the two other members of the Power Trio. As the Breakout Character and Fry's best friend, Bender gets a fairly large number of episodes focused on his exploits and endeavors. On the other hand, Leela's themes of alienation as well as her search for family are a focus for at least half the series, along with her growing relationship with Fry.
  • Professor Farnsworth tends to be the most prominent character outside of the Power Trio, leaving him as the tritagonist. His day-to-day schemes as well as his relationship with the Big Bad Mom are the focus of a number of plotlines.
• Gargoyles: Goliath is clearly the protagonist (Word of God even describes him as the prism through which all of the other characters were viewed), with Elisa Maza as the deuteragonist and Brooklyn as the tritagonist (except during the Avalon World Tour arc, when Brooklyn is Out of Focus along with the other non-Goliath clan members and Angela takes over as tritagonist).
• Gravity Falls: The Pine twins are the stars of the show, but the main focus is more on the logical and curious Dipper while Mabel is the comedic and emotionally driven Deuteragonist. Grunkle Stan increasingly shows signs of being the Tritagonist of the narrative, now that we know just how involved he is with Gravity Falls' happenings.
• Hey Arnold!: Helga G. Pataki, to Arnold himself. As the seasons went on, Arnold became more of a Flat Character and started appearing less and less, while more attention was focused on Helga's family issues and complex personality, sort of making her the real protagonist. The canceled spin-off series would've been told from her perspective from the beginning. Arnold's best friend Gerald is the tritagonist.
• Although the show is called Harley Quinn (2019), Ivy has a lot of her own screen time and a personal arc independent of Harleys'. They are also a couple.
• Inspector Gadget: Depending on one's point of view, Gadget is either a Useless Protagonist with Penny filling this role, or Penny is the actual protagonist with her uncle in this role. In either case, Brain is the tritagonist.
• Invader Zim: Dib, of the opposing kind, is this to Zim himself.
• Jackie Chan Adventures: Jade Chan is the deuteragonist to her uncle Jackie's protagonist, with Uncle as the tritagonist and Tohru becoming the tetragonist following his Heel–Face Turn in the Season 1 finale.
• Kim Possible: Ron Stoppable is the most prominent character of the show besides the eponymous character herself.
• Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts: Wolf is the Deuteragonist, with Kipo being the protagonist and Benson being the tritagonist.
• The Legend of Korra: The sequel does this trope differently than Avatar. While Korra is the Protagonist of each season the role of deuteragonist, tritagonist and tetratagonist changes depending on season. Tenzin, however, is probably the second most important character overall. Fittingly one of the last scenes of dialogue in the series is of him and Korra talking and discussing her Character Development. The results for each season are:
  • Book 1: Mako and Tenzin each serve the roles of Deuteragonists of this book, the former being Korra's love interest and The Lancer while the latter serving as her Mentor. Lin Beifong and Asami Sato each serve as the Tritagonist of the season with Bolin serving as the comedic Tetratagonist.
  • Book 2: Tenzin once again serves the role of Deuteragonist for this season, since his journey of self acceptance serves as a Foil to Korra's own spiritual growth. Mako and Jinora each take turns as the Tritagonist, with Mako serving as the Hero of Another Story for the Rebublic City plot while Jinora serves as Korra's spiritual guide and mentor ultimately helping to defeat the Big Bad Duumvirate of the season. Finally Bolin and Raava serve as the Tetratagonists with the former's friendship with Varrick ultimately being what takes him down while the latter serves as Korra's true source of Avatar power and the battle between her and Vaatu ends up taking over as the main plot of the season (which we don't find out about until halfway through the season).
  • Book 3: Tenzin once again takes the reigns as the Deuteragonist and shares this position with Jinora. The former becomes The Big Good and Leader of the newly reborn Air Nation while the latter gets her own Romance Arc with Kai, helps take down the Big Bad of the season and becomes the youngest Airbending master in history. Zaheer serves as the villainous Tritagonist of the season, actively hunting down Korra and co, killing the Earth Queen and almost killing Korra. Finally we have Suyin Beiforg and Kai, the former who serves as a lot of the personal drama between her and Lin while the latter serves as Jinora's love interest and is instrumental in tracking down the Red Lotus.
  • Book 4: We have Kuvira who serves as a villainous Deuteragonist (since her motivations, goals and backstory ultimately moves the entire plot). Asami and Bolin both serve as the Tritagonists since the former has a high number of subplots this season (and ultimately becomes Korra's final love interest) while the latter initially works for Kuvira before realizing she is a dictator and helps to defeat her. Finally we have Mako and Prince Wu serving as Tetratagonist since the latter is the rightful Earth King and the former becomes his bodyguard.
• The Looney Tunes Show: This show surprisingly has Daffy as the protagonist who gets more focus than everyone, and Bugs as the deuteragonist, although it's usually the opposite in other Looney Tunes works (except in Looney Tunes: Back in Action). Porky is the tritagonist, as he gets spotlight episodes and interacts the most with the main duo. Bugs's love interest Lola is the tetratagonist.
• The Loud House:
  • Initially, the Loud sisters were the collective deuteragonists, while Lincoln himself was the protagonist and his best friend Clyde was the tritagonist, whilst the Loud parents were the tetragonists. However, as the series went on, Lori has gradually slipped into the role of deuteragonist, whilst Luna has become the tritagonist.
  • With Lori leaving the house for college in Season 5, the Loud sisters are, once again, the collective deuteragonists (minus Lori herself).
• Megas XLR: Kiva is the deuteragonist to Coop's protagonist, being the original user of the titular mecha before he got it redesigned to his liking. Jamie is the tritagonist while Goat is the tetragonist on the occasions he joins up with the trio on their adventures.
• Miraculous Ladybug: Adrien Agreste/Chat Noir, Marinette/Ladybug's partner and love interest, is this. While Ladybug is clearly the main protagonist, he is the other half of the eponymous Superhero duo, and has major subplots devoted to him.
• Mr. Bogus: Both Tommy Anybody and Brattus are this to the real star of the show.
• ¡Mucha Lucha!: Buena Girl is this for Rikochet with The Flea being the tritagonist.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
  • The Cutie Mark Crusaders are collectively the deuteragonist cast.
  • As far as the primary cast goes, Twilight Sparkle is the protagonist, while the remaining five are equally deuteragonistic (with Spike following closely behind as the tritagonist).
  • Starting with the 6th season, Starlight Glimmer has taken on the role of deuteragonist as a result of being Twilight's pupil. About 1/4 of the season has significant focus on her, especially in the season finale "To Where and Back Again".
• Over the Garden Wall: Greg, the younger out of the starring pair, while his brother Wirt gets more focus and Character Development. Beatrice may function as a tritagonist as well.
• The Owl House: Luz is the main character, but Eda Clawthorne is the show’s main witch character, who helps guide Luz through the demon realm and teaches her magic. King is the tritagonist.
• Phineas and Ferb (supposedly) focused on the titular boys but it seems that that Ferb is the deuteragonist to Phineas' main protagonist role due to the latter being omnipresent, have stronger speaking role and creating new ideas for each episode while the former is just..."supporting".^note This would roughly make Candice and Perry the two tritagonists.
• Pet Alien: Tommy is the protagonist, since many of the episodes revolve around his interactions with the aliens and the rest of DeSpray Bay. Dinko is the deuteragonist, as many episodes feature him learning about a new Earth concept and inadvertently causing trouble for Tommy, while Gumpers is the tritagonist since he often joins in on Dinko's escapades and appears more often than Swanky, Flip or Scruffy but less than Tommy or Dinko.
• Pinky and the Brain: Pinky is the deuteragonist to Brain's protagonist. All the show is about Brain making plans to Take Over the World, and Pinky following him as the Plucky Comic Relief.
• The Powerpuff Girls (1998): Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup or also as the trio of little superheroines, The Powerpuff Girls are the three protagonists of the show, while their father/creator The Professor Utonium serves as the deuteragonist, appearing nearly every episode, setting in motion many events in the series and sometimes becoming the protagonist for an episode.
• Primal (2019): Fang serves as the deuteragonist to Spear's protagonist. Mira, who was introduced in the Season 1 finale, would become the tritagonist after being rescued and joining Spear and Fang on their journey in the following season.
• Regular Show:
  • Both Mordecai and Rigby are equally as important as the other, with Mordecai having plotlines regarding his love life while Rigby gets far more Character Development plots due to being a more flawed character and is often the reason most episodes happen in the first place. In-universe though, Rigby is viewed as the deuteragonist to Mordecai, solely because the latter is the more adult of the two.
  • Benson is just slightly ahead of Muscle Man and Skips for the title of tritagonist, due to being their grumpy boss (and thus the "antagonist" of most episodes). In the last season, however, this role goes to Pops.
• Robotboy: Tommy Turnbull is the deuteragonist with Gus and Lola as the tritagonists.
• Rugrats: Tommy Pickles' best friend Chuckie Finster is the deuteragonist to Tommy's protagonist. Tommy's bossy cousin Angelica Pickles is the tritagonist. Phil and Lil DeVille, twin friends of Tommy and Chuckie, share the spot as the tetragonist.
• Samurai Jack: When the series was resurrected for one final season, it gained a deuteragonist in the form of Ashi. The chief member of the "Daughters of Aku" assassin cult sent to hunt down and kill Jack, the season's story focuses as much on her Character Development as it does on Jack's own plot. Eventually, she pulls a Heel–Face Turn and becomes Jack's sidekick.
• She-Ra and the Princesses of Power: Adora's best friend in the Horde, main recurring antagonist, and love interest Catra serves this role in the series. She serves as the main viewpoint character for the Horde and her journey up the ranks is used to parallel Adora's own journey. Her increasingly bitter rivalry with Adora also serves as a large source of dramatic tension. In the final season her redemption, learning to overcome her issues, and her love for Adora are just as important to the story as Adora's own personal journey as well as discovering her own buried feelings for Catra. Word of God has even confirmed that Adora's relationship with Catra is the most important one in the show and influences the whole plot.
• The Simpsons: The family has Homer as the Protagonist and main focus of most episodes with Bart Simpson taking second place, which makes him the series' proper Deuteragonist. Lisa Simpson, with her occasional angst, is the Tritagonist and Marge, being the closest to an Only Sane Man and thus more of a supporting character than the other family members, is the Tetragonist.
• On Sofia the First , outside of Sofia herself, Amber gets the strongest character development of any of the show's characters. The most notable case is that she's the only other character to appear in all of the movies, playing a major role in 4 out of 6 of them.
• South Park: An interesting case of Kyle Broflovski and Stan Marsh flip-flopping between this role in the series' narrative. The tritagonist (and antagonist) is Eric Cartman. Depending on the era, the tetragonist is either Kenny McCormick (usually in any episode focusing on the four boys as a group), Butters Stotch, Randy Marsh, Chef (in the first few seasons), Tweek Tweak (in Season 6) or Heidi Turner (in Seasons 20 and 21). Though, given the nature of South Park, it all widely varies per episode. For example, most episodes that focus on Randy will have either Stan or Sharon as the deuteragonist. This includes the entirety of Season 23, which has Randy as the protagonist, Stan and Sharon as the deuteragonists, Cartman keeping his tritagonist spot, but now shared with Kyle, and finally, Towlie as the tetragonist.
• SpongeBob SquarePants: Patrick Star or Squidward Tentacles are usually the deuteragonist to SpongeBob, the protagonist. The tritagonist depends on the episode (for example, any episode taking place in the Krusty Krab will likely have Mr. Krabs as either a deuteragonist or tritagonist, with Patrick possibly being absent entirely); SpongeBob is the core element, and the show is about how he relates to the other characters, so the role shifts between his aquatic friends.
• Star Trek: Lower Decks: Ensign Boimler is much more prominent than every other character save the protagonist, Ensign Mariner. He is given the opening monologue of the show's pilot episode (rudely interrupted by Mariner, but it's the thought that counts), and either shares each episode's A-plot with Mariner or gets a B-plot of his own. He even gets an episode named after one of these B-plots: "Much Ado About Boimler". The role of Tritagonist is shared between the two other main characters, Ensigns Tendi and Rutherford.
• Star vs. the Forces of Evil: This show's main focus is on Star and her home dimension Mewni as well as the adventures with the royal magic wand, but some parts focus on Marco Diaz just as much Star and his character development and how he and Star mature as people.
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The show is primarily about Anakin and his slow slipping towards The Dark Side. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka Tano are the deuteragonists, with both of them having roughly equal screentime, and entire arcs revolving around them. Finally there're Ventress and Fives as tritagonists, who have rather complex and rounded arcs built around their Character Development, despite being relatively minor characters.
• Steven Universe:
  • The other three Crystal Gems (Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl) collectively serve as the deuteragonists to Steven's protagonist. His interaction with them and his learning to control his powers forms much of the development of the series. Of the three Crystal Gems, Pearl has received a fair amount of focus due to her strong connection with Steven's mother.
    • Amethyst becomes by far the most prominent gem during Season 3, even getting to fuse with Steven.
  • Greg Universe is very close to this trope considering the flashback episodes are a character arc surrounding him and his relationship with Rose.
  • Connie Maheswaran becomes this to Steven starting in "Alone Together" and Season 2 onwards with the episodes in which she appears as she develops her sword-fighting skills and they discover fusion as Stevonnie.
  • Lars becomes this during the "Wanted"-arc, as he accompanies Steven to Homeworld. He goes through some incredibly significant Character Development as he faces his fears, dies, comes back to life, then finally revokes the Deuteragonist-title when he stays behind on Homeworld with the Off Colors.
• Storm Hawks: While Aerrow is The Hero destined to fight and defeat the Cyclonian Empire by virtue of his Heroic Lineage to the great Lightning Strike and being the leader of the Storm Hawks, Piper is just as important to that destiny thanks to her powers as a crystal mage and her more personal connection to Master Cyclonis. Sure enough, by the finale it's Aerrow and Piper working together who end up setting Cyclonia's ultimate defeat into motion and get the face-off with Cyclonis and the Dark Ace.
• Summer Memories: While Jason is the protagonist of the show, on account of the focus on his friendship with Ronnie and his journey of self-discovery over the course of the series, his antagonistic younger brother Tim gradually takes on the Deuteragonist role through a mixture of A Day in the Limelight stories centered on his perspective and heavy Character Development as he reevaluates his worldview and life priorities through different influences.
• Teen Titans: The show tended to focus on one character per seasonal arc as the protagonist, but a couple of them had Deuteragonists as well- notably, Beast Boy was the Deuteragonist to Terra's Protagonist in season 2, and Robin was the Deuteragonist to Raven's Protagonist in season 4.
• The Tick has Arthur, The Tick's roommate and sidekick.
• Total Drama has a different protagonist (and deuteragonist) with each season.
  • Total Drama Island has Owen as the deuteragonist to Gwen's protagonist; Duncan acts as the tritagonist.
  • Total Drama Action has Beth as the deuteragonist to Duncan's protagonist; Harold acts as the tritagonist.
  • Total Drama World Tour has Alejandro being both the deuteragonist and antagonist, to Heather's protagonist; Cody acts as the tritagonist.
  • Total Drama: Revenge of the Island has Zoey as the deuteragonist to Cameron's protagonist; Mike is the closest the season has to a tritagonist.
  • Total Drama All-Stars has Mike and Zoey share the protagonist/deuteragonist role, with Mike's evil Split Personality Mal as the antagonist; Gwen acts as the tritagonist.
  • Total Drama: Pahkitew Island has Shawn as the deuteragonist to Sky's protagonist; Jasmine is the closest the season has to a tritagonist.
• Sylvia and Wander in Wander over Yonder, with Lord Hater as the primary antagonist, until "Lord" Dominator appears in Season 2 and surpasses Hater.