Promotion to Opening Titles

aka: Promoted To Opening Credits

Michael Paré celebrates his promotion to the opening titles, and the spelling correction that came with it.

This is when a Recurring Character finally achieves a high enough level of screen time and plot relevance to get added to the show's Title Sequence. Generally this is the most preferred method for someone new to be added to the main cast; when a character is created wholesale and put straight into the titles, it tends to be contrived to some degree, usually a replacement character or a response to a drop in ratings, while a Promotion to Opening Titles mostly happens because the fans and/or the creators of the show really like the character. Breakout Characters do this a lot.

Often marks the beginning of the show's decline if the writers are only doing this because they're out of ideas or it's poorly executed.

Has the interesting side effect of giving a newly-promoted character a certain amount of Plot Immunity. If you see a new character in the opening credits, chances are high that they aren't going to be killed off any time soon (unless that was the whole reason for the "promotion"). Writers may also have always intended for the character to be a Sixth Ranger or do a Heel–Face Turn but not put them into the opening until they actually join to avoid spoilers in the opening.

Compare Ascended Extra, Fake Guest Star, and Recast as a Regular.

---

Examples:

Anime

• Yun (Kaori Nazuka) on Simoun.
• Whenever a Pretty Cure series adds a Sixth Ranger, the opening will be updated to include them.
  • Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GO!GO! also did this with Bunbee and Mika—her face isn't visible, but there's a camera on the table next to her which has no purpose in the scene unless it's there to identify her.
• The JPN Pokémon openings regularly change to effect new captures/releases, and much speculation is made on upcoming captures based on empty space in the titles.
  • After catching her Eevee, the next remix of Pokémon Journeys: The Series's OP had Chloe as part of the main trio when in the first two versions she was Out of Focus.
• Hanyuu in Higurashi: When They Cry, promoted directly from The Voice to one of the heroes. Ironically, Keiichi too. Despite the fact he was arguably the most important character in season one, he didn't appear in the opening to that season.
• Sgt. Frog has done this to numerous characters, the first being The Ghost who was added into the first season credits about halfway through. The trope has also been played in reverse as characters have also been removed from the opening credits.
• When the YuYu Hakusho opening changed at some point in the Chapter Black Saga (it only does in the Three Kings Saga of the English version), it included characters like Kaito, Yana and Kido, as well as arc antagonists Sensui and Itsuki, and the third opening included Yomi, Mukuro and six former opponents from the Dark Tournament. The lineup at the end of the second opening expanded to include Kaito, Yana and Kido, added Shizuru (who was in the first opening, but not at the lineup at the end). In an inversion, Atsuko, who lacked the few scenes she had in the late manga in the anime adaptation, was removed in the second version of the lineup at the end.
• One Piece:
  • One Piece often mentions characters long before they appear or play a truly significant role, and leaves them out of the openings until they do. Blackbeard first appears in the sixth opening, despite having appeared in the series and being mentioned several times before that. Dragon, despite appearing in Loguetown and being mentioned on some occasions after that, became important enough to get in the opening after momentarily appearing in the Post-Enies Lobby arc and being revealed as Luffy's father. He also appeared briefly in the second opening, which began running during the Loguetown arc.
  • In the 4Kids dub, the "One Piece Rap" has different lyrics that include Usopp, Sanji, and Chopper when they joined the crew. It's unknown if they ever did record a version that added Robin since she joined near the end of that dub's lifetime.
• Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's features a particularly ironic example. During the series, the Devices all received a direct promotion to opening titles. If one watches carefully, one can see Chrono Harlaown's Intelligent Device is among them. Its name is never revealed outside of supplementary materials^note It's "S2U", a Lyrical Toy Box Mythology Gag, and it is replaced partway through the season by a Device called Durandal.
• In Fang of the Sun Dougram, by the time George and Hackle finally get their places in the opening credits (with George replacing Festa), they're already permanent and indispensable team members.
• Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann:
  • After Kamina's death, Nia replaces him in the second title sequence. They each get their own place in the third.
  • Ironically, in the same episode, Thymilph is added along with the rest of the Quirky Miniboss Squad, despite dying in the previous episode.
• In Digimon Adventure, the dub's intro and outro footage were recut about halfway through the season in order to account for Kari, Gatomon, and the higher-level partner Digimon.
• In Puella Magi Madoka Magica there's an interesting case of this. All five of the girls show up at various points in the OP, but the final shot only shows Madoka, Mami, and Sayaka. After episode ten, they are joined by Homura and Kyouko.
• After Yamada is introduced in the seventh episode of Wagnaria!!, she is quickly added to the end credits of the episode, and then also included in the opening of the following episode.
• Though Gintama usually averts this, changing theme songs twice a season, the fourth season's second opening eventually replaces the shot of Jiraiya with a shot of the Ketsuno clan.
• In the Tales of Symphonia OVA, Yuan gets into the opening sequence starting with the Tethe'alla arc. He actually brags about this in one of the post-episode bonuses.
• Ootani from Komori-san Can't Decline! is added to the opening/ending in episode seven, following his formal introduction the previous episode.
• Inverted in Space Patrol Luluco. Luluco is entirely removed from the opening for episode 11 due to her Death by Despair in the previous episode. Ironically, she's the only character barring Inferno Cop to get any major screen time.
• Sixth Ranger Karin from Yuki Yuna is a Hero gets added to both the intro and outro in episode five.
• From episode 9 of K-On! onwards, Azusa Nakano appears alongside the rest of the band in the opening credits.
• The second opening of Mobile Fighter G Gundam adds Schwartz Bruder, Ulube Ishikawa, Dr. Mikamura, Chibodee Crockett's Four-Girl Ensemble, Nastasha, and Wong. Averted by Allenby Beardsley since she makes her debut long after the opening theme changes.
• In Anpanman's fourth opening, Horrorman appears. He hadn't appeared in the previous openings despite being a main villain alongside Baikinman and Dokinchan.

Asian Animation

• BoBoiBoy: Fang appears in the second season as The Rival to BoBoiBoy and slowly warms up to him and his friends. The third season's Theme Tune Roll Call adds him to the list of heroes by replacing the "and our hero" lyric before BoBoiBoy's name with Fang.
• In Happy Heroes, minor character Zelia makes an appearance in the Season 2 intro when she was totally absent from the previous season's intro. Weirdly enough, this is despite the fact that she has no major roles in Season 2.
• In Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf, Jonie is added to the opening starting with the Great War in the Bizarre World Story Arc.

Films — Live-Action

• Deadpool: After dozens of cameos in comic book movies and TV shows, Stan Lee is for the first time listed in the opening credits as "A Gratuitous Cameo".
• In Galaxy Quest, the Show Within a Show's original cast is accompanied on their for-real adventures by a Plucky Comic Relief called Guy, who fears he's a Red Shirt because he has no last name. (It helps that he even played a one-shot character on the show, of the sort that always gets vaped.) He has one, but it's not mentioned until the end of the movie, where the credits to the revived Show Within a Show read: "And introducing Guy Fleegman as Security Chief 'Roc' Ingersol". The Thermian female who falls in love with Fred also appears in these credits: "Jane Doe as Laliari."
  • Which raises the question of how a Thermian handles giving a false "actor" name. (Pretty well, based on the comics.)
  • It's even funnier in the Spanish translation. Her name is given as "Fulana de Tal", which basically translates as "So-and-so Whatsis."
• The Harry Potter films don't have "opening" titles, as they save all the credits until the end. However, Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley) appeared in every film since the first, albeit with just a Mandatory Line in two of them, but only got to be listed in the main titles after she got a bigger role in the sixth movie.
• The Karate Kid films: Martin Kove is not credited in the opening credits of the first film despite being the Big Bad, but is given And Starring citation in the next two films despite Kreese's roles there being minimal (the second especially).
• Spider-Man Trilogy: Elizabeth Banks (Betty Brant) and Ted Raimi (Ted Hoffman) were part of the film series since the very beginning, but their names aren't included in the opening billboards until Spider-Man 3.
• Star Wars: Downplayed since the films don't have opening credits, but James Earl Jones wasn't credited as the voice of Darth Vader until Return of the Jedi. This was because Jones originally considered his work to just be a special effects edit and didn't want to be credited.

Live-Action TV

• 24 has done this for numerous recurring characters with each successive season. It happened with Xander Berkeley (George Mason), Penny Johnson Jerald (Sherry Palmer), and Carlos Bernard (Tony Almeida) for season 2; Reiko Aylesworth (Michelle Dessler) for season 3; Lana Parrilla (Sarah Gavin) and Roger Cross (Curtis Manning) midway through season 4; Mary Lynn Rajskub (Chloe O'Brian), Carlos Bernard (Tony Almeida, again), Gregory Itzin (Charles Logan), James Morrison (Bill Buchanan), and Louis Lombardi (Edgar Stiles) for season 5; D.B. Woodside (Wayne Palmer), Jayne Atkinson (Karen Hayes), Carlo Rota (Morris O'Brian), and Eric Balfour (Milo Pressman) for season 6; and Bob Gunton (Ethan Kannin) for season 7.
  • Of note, just about any recurring actor or actress who appeared through an entire season give or take an episode (Bernard and Jerald in season 1, Aylesworth in season 2, Rajskub and Woodside in season 3, and Lombardi in season 4), they would generally get promoted to the show's main cast in the following one. Notably, unlike the others Mary Lynn Rajskub and D.B. Woodside actually both appeared in a second season while still part of the recurring cast before finally getting a promotion to the opening titles. In an interesting aversion, Zachary Quinto (Adam Kaufman) also appeared in nearly the entire third season (he only missed one episode), but notably never appeared again in the show after that.
  • After both getting demoted to guest stars in Seasons 5 and 6 respectively, for sequel mini-series 24: Live Another Day (aka Season 9) both Kim Raver (Audrey Raines) and William Devane (James Heller) were promoted back to regular cast members.
• The 4400:
  • Conchita Campbell (Maia) in Season Two, having appeared in every episode of Season One.
  • Karina Lombard (Alana) in Season Three, having been a recurring cast member in Season Two.
  • Billy Campbell (Jordan Collier) in Season Four, having been a recurring cast member in the first three seasons.
• All Saints:
  • Paramedic Ben Markham (Brian Vriends) was recurring for two years and around a hundred episodes before replacing his wife Stephanie in the opening credits.
  • Nurses Nelson Curtis (Paul Tassone) and Paula Morgan (Jenni Baird) were introduced late in Season 4 but weren't promoted until early Season 6.
  • Dr. Charlotte Beaumont (Tammy Macintosh) was recurring for about a year before being promoted in season 6.
• Andi Mack had Trent Garrett (who plays Bowie) added to the title sequence in its final season, showing up between Asher Angel and Lilan Bowden's credits.
• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. promoted Adrianne Palicki (Bobbi Morse) midway through season 2 after massively positive fan reaction to her character. Season 3 promoted Luke Mitchell (Lincoln Campbell) and Henry Simmons (Mack), who were both introduced in season 2. Season 5 promoted Natalia Cordova-Buckley (Elena "Yo-Yo" Rodriguez), who was introduced in season 3. Season 6 promoted Jeff Ward (Deke Shaw), who was introduced in season 5.
• Alias promoted several recurring characters to the opening credits over the years, specifically recurring villain Sark (David Anders) at the start of season 2, wise-cracking CIA agent Eric Weiss (Greg Grunberg) at the start of season 3 and Sydney's long-lost sister Nadia Santos (Mia Maestro) at the start of season 4 and Shed operative Kelly Peyton (Amy Acker) midway through season 5. While Maestro was introduced late in season 3 specifically to serve as a regular character the following season, the others were promoted due to fan popularity. Grunberg is particularly notable as, despite featuring in more than half the episodes in season 1, he wasn't even credited as a guest star until the start of season 2.
• Arrowverse
  • Arrow promoted three of its recurring cast members to regulars for its second season: Emily Bett Rickards (Felicity Smoak), Manu Bennett (Slade Wilson) and Colton Haynes (Roy Harper). Season three has John Barrowman (Malcolm) promoted to regular status after being recurring in the first two seasons. Season five upgrades Echo Kellum (Curtis Holt) to a regular cast member after he had a recurring role in season four. In Season 6, Rick Gonzalez (Rene Ramirez) and Juliana Harkavy (Dinah Drake) are promoted to the cast after spending Season 5 as recurring cast members, while Katie Cassidy gets brought back to the main cast as an alternate Earth Laurel Lance after being demoted to a guest star in the previous season. Season 7 brings Colton Haynes back to the main cast after he left late into season 3, additionally promoting Kirk Acevedo (Ricardo Diaz) to series regular status. Season 8 promotes Ben Lewis (William Clayton), Katherine McNamara (Mia Smoak) and Joseph David-Jones (Connor Hawke).
  • The Flash: For the fifth season, Danielle Nicolet (Cecile Horton) and Hartley Sawyer (Ralph Dibny) were both added to the show's regular cast after previously making recurring appearances in the show. Jessica Parker Kennedy (Nora West-Allen) who was introduced in a guest appearance for the season finale, is also now included in the show's regular cast.
  • Supergirl: Katie McGrath (Lena Luthor) is a recurring cast member in Season 3 before becoming a main cast member starting the third season. Jesse Rath (Querl Dox) becomes a main cast member in Season 4 after being introduced as a Recurring Character in Season 3. Andrea Brooks (Eve Tessmacher) finally becomes a main cast member in Season 5 after spending her time as a Recurring Character since Season 2. Azie Tesfai is a recurring cast member in Season 4 before being part of the main cast in her following season.
  • Legends of Tomorrow: Matt Ryan, having played John Constantine in previous episodes of both Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow, is promoted to a series regular for the latter show's fourth season.
  • LaMonica Garrett, who's been playing the Monitor since Elseworlds, is added as a regular to all four shows the following year during the lead up to Crisis on Infinite Earths.
• In Auction Kings, The Auctioneers in season 5.
• Babylon 5:
  • Jeff Conaway, as Zack Allan, got promoted to opening titles in the third season after first appearing the previous year.
  • Another slightly different example is Patricia Tallman as Lyta Alexander: she was in the opening titles of the Pilot Movie, then left the show before returning for one episode of the second season and several episodes of the third season as a guest star, and was then re-promoted to opening titles from season four onwards.
• Ron Glass, Jack Soo, Steve Landesberg, and Ron Carey in Barney Miller.
• The Battlestar Galactica (2003) opening title credits remained the same for all four seasons, but its list of secondary stars (an intermediate step above guest stars) saw two promotions: Nicki Clyne as Cally Henderson Tyrol in season 2 and Michael Trucco as Samuel Anders in season 4.
• This happened on Baywatch all the time, especially in later seasons. Probably the most notable was Michael Newman, a non-professional actor who was actually the show's surfing consultant. He played a fictional version of himself.
• Saverio Guerra on Becker.
• Starting in season 6, Amy and Bernadette are included in the title sequence of The Big Bang Theory, eating with the main characters in the scene just before the main title.
• Big Time Rush: Tanya Chisholm (Kelly) in season 2.
• Blossom is a partial version. While the core cast never really changed, the opening titles of the third and fourth seasons had the rest of the characters appearing onscreen with Blossom, instead of just having Blossom dancing by herself.
  • Played straight with the addition of Jenna von Oy to the cast. When the show debuted, von Oy had also (in addition to her role as Six LeMure) been cast in the short-lived CBS sitcom Lenny (both shows sharing the same creator and production team). When the latter was canceled, Blossom was already into its first season; thus no promotion until season 2 (the show's first full year; as it debuted as a midseason replacement).
• Blue Bloods billed Sami Gayle (Nicki Reagan) and Amy Carlson (Linda Reagan) as "Also Starring" characters for the first four seasons, then promoted them to the main titles for season 5 onwards.
• Boy Meets World: Danielle Fishel (Topanga) in season 2, Lindsay Ridgeway (Morgan #2) in season 4, and Trina McGee-Davis (Angela) in season 6.
  • In the second season of Girl Meets World, Farkle (Corey Fogelmanis) is added to the opening sequence. In season 1, he's credited as "Also starring", though he's credited as a guest star in some episodes.
• Breaking Bad: The show promoted Bob Odenkirk, Giancarlo Esposito and Jonathan Banks to 'main cast' status in season 4. In season 5B, Jesse Plemons and Laura Fraser get this treatment.
  • Esposito's promotion to 'main cast' was mostly symbolic, seeing how Gus Fring had actually been promoted to the main cast in season 3, having appeared in 11 of the 13 episodes of that season. What changed was that in season 4, Esposito was billed for all 13 episodes, including ones where Gus didn't show up, compared to season 3 where he wasn't billed for the two episodes where he was absent.
• Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Hitchcock and Scully finally got added to the opening credits in Season 6, Episode 5, when Gina left.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Angel:
  • In Buffy, David Boreanaz, James Marsters, Emma Caulfield and Seth Green were all made main cast members in either their second or third seasons on the show. And, because it appears that Mutant Enemy has a rule that if you're going to do something, make it angsty, Amber Benson was also promoted in her third season — for one episode, then she was killed off (in a deliberate subversion of this trope).
  • Inversion averted: Joss Whedon wanted Eric Balfour (who played Jesse) to be in the opening credits of the premiere, despite being killed off. Or rather, because he was going to be killed off; having him be the only member of the circle of friends to not get opening credits billing made it a foregone conclusion that he wasn't going to last long. They didn't have the money to do two versions of opening credits.
  • This was a common theme in Angel, where a new character would be introduced in the last few episodes of a season and then get bumped up to regular status the following year. It happens with Gunn (promoted at the start of Season 2), Fred (Season 3), and Connor (Season 4).
  • For a more gradual case, Andy Hallett took two and a half seasons to get promoted in Angel (it finally happening partway into Season 4), and Mercedes McNab was promoted for the final six episodes only and she rarely ventured out of Lesser Star territory. (Though it was intentional, as well as lampshaded).
  • Parodied in the episode "Superstar" where Danny Strong (Jonathan) is prominently featured as the main attraction, though he's still credited as a guest star. It turned out that he summoned a demon who altered reality to make him the most successful and popular man on earth. While the spell was active, he was a better slayer than Buffy, smarter than Willow, more knowledgeable on demons than Giles and had a strong career as both a rock star and an underwear model. He was even credited for inventing the internet.
  • Alyson Hannigan gets a promotion along the credits themselves. When Anthony Stewart Head left the main cast, Alyson moved from third in the credits to the much more exciting final credit with the super neat "And/As" combo due to her rising fame.
  • The Buffyverse also had three midseason "bogus" promotions, where the actor was intended as a regular from the start. Marc Blucas (as Riley on Buffy) and Alexis Denisof (as Wesley on Angel) were promoted on the same night, though Denisof had been a legit guest star on Buffy. Michelle Trachtenberg (as Dawn on Buffy) was credited as a guest star in her first episode in order to hide her character's identity.
  • Angel also saw the interesting case of a character being promoted, rather than an actor. When Fred died, her soul consumed and her body overtaken by Illyria, Amy Acker's credits scenes as Fred were (mostly) replaced with Illyria scenes. This change happened at the same time as the Mercedes McNab example above, so was presumably considered a good opportunity to sort out both cases.
• Season 6 of Burn Notice sees Coby Bell (Jesse) finally moved into the opening. Though Gabriel Anwar has been in the credits since episode one, it bears noting that her character's relationship with Michael gets promoted as well: the narration now refers to her as "a trigger happy girlfriend" instead of "a trigger happy ex-girlfriend." It took more than a full season for Sam to be promoted from "friend who's informing on you" to "friend who used to inform on you" after he stopped informing on him. This show is very conservative with its opening title.
• Bunked had its theme changed in Season 3, ditching Jorge, Xander and Tiffany and replacing them with Finn, Destiny and Matteo. It changes again in Season 4, replacing the Rosses with Noah, Gwen and Ava.
• Rufus Hound got this in Celebrity Juice after two series of being a regular panellist.
• Charmed:
  • Brian Krause (Leo Wyatt) was promoted in season 2 having been a recurring character in season 1, and Drew Fuller (Chris Halliwell) was promoted for season 6 having been a guest star in the final two episodes of season 5. As with all other regulars on the show, they are still only in the opening credits for episodes they actually appear in.
  • Holly Marie Combs receives a promotion from Season 4 onwards. When the lead actress Shannen Doherty left the show, Alyssa Milano (who had originally been billed with the 'And') is bumped up to first billing - with Combs gaining the 'And' in front of her name. The show is unique in that the sisters are billed first (complete with the actress who gets the 'And') and then the supporting cast get billed.
• Cheers/Frasier:
  • Kelsey Grammer was originally hired to play Fraiser Crane for seven episodes of Cheers. Not only did he stay on and get promoted to the opening titles, his character was given a hugely successful spinoff. Bebe Neuwirth originally only had a three-minute guest spot in the middle of season four; she wound up getting added to the opening titles, winning two supporting actress Emmys for the show and making frequent appearances on Frasier over the ensuing decade.
  • John Ratzenberger (Cliff Clavin) was added to the credits beginning in the second season.
  • Speaking of Frasier, Dan Butler got his name into the Opening Credits in seasons four through six, but, ironically, he appeared in fewer episodes, and after that his character for a long while vanished.
• Buy More employees during season two of Chuck.
  • And the guy who runs the Buy More.
  • And, finally, General Beckman, after having been in every single episode for a long time. She's stuffed in alongside Those Two Guys from the Buy More, where she really doesn't fit.
• Mary McDonnell as Captain Sharon Raydor in the final season (7) of The Closer. She now leads the Spin-Off show Major Crimes, with most of the cast from The Closer.
• Cobra Kai: Jacob Bertrand (Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz), Gianni DeCenzo (Demitri Alexopolous) and Martin Kove (John Kreese) in Season 2; Peyton List (Tory Nichols) and Vanessa Rubio (Carmen Diaz) in Season 4.
• Jim Rash (Dean Pelton) has been promoted as of Season 3 of Community.
• On The Cosby Show, Sondra, Cliff and Clair's eldest, only showed up in a few episodes of the first season, but she was promoted to a regular character in the second season, although she was not often seen. Other characters followed in subsequent seasons.
• Covert Affairs: Peter Gallagher, Sendhil Ramamurthy, and Anne Dudek all appeared as main characters throughout season 1, but were only added to the opening credits in season 2, forcing a revision and expansion of the animations.
• Criminal Minds:
  • Kirsten Vangsness (Garcia) was promoted at the beginning of Season 2, having previously been bumped up to "Also Starring" in the back nine of Season 1. This likely to fill the void of departing cast member Lola Glaudini, who left in the sixth episode of the season. A better example would be Rachel Nichols in Season 6, who was a guest star for two episodes before being promoted to fill the void left by A.J. Cook (who left in Episode 2), and the soon-to-depart Paget Brewster (who left in Episode 18).
  • Cook and Brewster were restored to the cast in Season 7, the former having made a few post-leave guest appearances. Brewster left at the end of the same season, though made numerous guest appearances before returning and being upped to series regular in season 12.
  • Aisha Tyler (portraying Tara Lewis) was a recurring actor in season 11 (though she appears in all but a handful of episodes), before being upgraded to series regular at the start of the following season.
• Eric Szmanda, Robert David Hall, Louise Lombard, and now Wallace Langham on CSI. Wheee!
  • Also Lauren Lee Smith as of episode 3 of season 9. Impressive, considering she'd only just arrived the previous episode.
  • Most recently, we have Liz Vassey and David Berman, who were added to the opening credits in Season 10. (Lombard and Smith have since left the show, and Vassey's contract was not renewed for Season 11.)
• On CSI: NY, Robert Joy and A.J. Buckley were both promoted to regulars in season 5. Both had joined the cast in season 2.
• Dawson's Creek promoted Meredith Monroe and Kerr Smith (as Andie and Jack McPhee) in season 3, having previously listed them as "Special Guest Stars" for most of season 2. In season 6, Busy Philipps (Audrey) was promoted, having recurred in season 5.
• This was usually how everyone except the original main cast made it to the title credits in Degrassi: The Next Generation, being introduced as minor characters in a previous season. Later seasons made higher use of New Transfer Student and Remember the New Guy?.
  • Pat Mastroianni (Joey Jeremiah) was promoted in season 2 after guesting on season 1 (and being a main character in the original Degrassi show). Similarly, Amanda Stepto (Christine "Spike" Nelson) and Stacie Mistysyn (Caitlin Ryan) both became regulars again in season 3.
  • Andrea Lewis (Hazel Aden), Adamo Ruggiero (Marco del Rossi) and Stacey Farber (Ellie Nash) were also promoted in season 3.
  • Melissa DiMarco (Daphne Hatzilakos), Deanna Casaluce (Alex Nunez) and Mike Lobel (Jay Hogart) were promoted in season 5.
  • Shenae Grimes (Darcy Edwards) was promoted in season 6.
  • Marc Donato (Derek Haig), Dalmar Abuzeid (Danny Van Zandt), Nina Dobrev (Mia Jones), and Mazin Elsadig (Damian Hayes) were promoted in season 7. Notably all but Mazin were recurring prior to this—he was a one-episode guest star who became a regular after Lakehurst merged with Degrassi.
  • Season 8 came after most of the original cast had either graduated or been phased out, and necessitated a lot of promotions. Samantha Munro (Anya MacPherson), Scott Paterson (Johnny Dimarco), Raymond Ablack (Sav Bhandari), Natty Zavitz (Bruce the Moose), and Jajube Mandiela (Chantay Black) all joined the main titles (Jajube notably after four seasons of being a recurring character). Aislinn Paul (Clare Edwards) was also promoted as she entered as a freshman.
  • Spencer van Wyck (Wesley Betenkamp) was a guest star in a season 9 episode before being promoted in season 10. Daniel Kelly (Owen Milligan) and Shannon Kook-Chun (Zane Park) are promoted partway through after recurring for the first half of the season.
  • Shanice Benton (Marisol Lewis) was promoted in season 11 after recurring in season 10.
  • Spencer MacPherson (Hunter Hollingsworth), Nikki Gould (Grace Cardinal), and Richard Walters (Tiny Bell) were promoted in season 14 after recurring in the previous season, though this time it's not as evident since the title sequence was done away with the previous season.
• Dexter:
  • In season 2, Masuka is credited after being in pretty much every episode of season 1.
  • Jamie Batista (who was a recurring character in season 6 and 7) and Tom Matthews (recurring since season 1) were both promoted to series regulars in season 8, the last season of the show.
• Doctor Who had no cast listing in the opening credits during its initial run; the actors playing the Doctor and their companions were first listed in the 1996 TV Movie, and the 2005 revival series kept it.
  • David Tennant, Matt Smith, John Hurt, Peter Capaldi and Jodie Whittaker all appeared at the end of an episode before they got billed in the opening credits. The same also happened to Catherine Tate (Donna Noble) in "Doomsday", where she was credited as "The Bride".
  • John Barrowman (Jack Harkness) was added to the opening credits when he returned for the last three episodes of Series 3.
  • "The Stolen Earth"/"Journey's End" at the end of Series 4 was the first time Elisabeth Sladen's (Sarah Jane Smith) name appears in the opening credits. These two episodes also credited many recurring cast members after the opening credits, instead of in the end credits; this is the only time the show has done this. Recurring characters credited are: Penelope Wilton (Harriet Jones) and Adjoa Andoh (Francine Jones for "The Stolen Earth" and Noel Clarke (Mickey Smith), Camille Coduri (Jackie Tyler) and Adjoa Andoh (Francine Jones) for "Journey's End".
  • Bernard Cribbins (Wilfred Mott) and John Simm (The Master) got promoted for "The End of Time".
  • Arthur Darvill (Rory Williams), after being a supporting character for Series 5, was promoted for "A Christmas Carol".
  • Jenna Coleman was added to the credits in "The Snowmen" after having appeared in "Asylum of the Daleks".
  • After eight years as a recurring on-off character, Alex Kingston finally got her name in the title sequence for "The Husbands of River Song".
  • Following an unremarkable guest appearance in "The Husbands of River Song", Matt Lucas returned in the very next episode as the companion with his name in the titles. The titles featured a noticeable gap between the names of Peter Capaldi and Matt Lucas, only to be filled by Pearl Mackie when she joined the cast in series 10.
• Rex Lee (Lloyd) got promoted to opening-credit status on Entourage.
• ER's revolving door of doctors generally allowed one or two promotions per season, especially in the later seasons. Promotions included Gloria Reuben, Laura Innes, Maria Bello, Paul McCrane, Maura Tierney, Sharif Atkins, Mekhi Pfifer, John Stamos and David Lyons. A few that were notably not promoted included Laura Ceron and Deezer D, who appeared in more episodes than anyone except Noah Wyle and Laura Innes, as well as Abraham Benrubi, Yvette Freeman, Ellen Crawford, John Aylward, Leland Orser, etc.
• The final season of Everybody Loves Raymond included Monica Horan (Amy) in the opening credits. After marrying Robert, she appeared in almost every episode.
• Family Matters: Several instances:
  • The first instance came when Jaleel White (as Steve Urkel) was added at the beginning of Season 2. Urkel already had began figuring heavily into the plots late in the first season, and given his instant popularity, it naturally made sense to promote him.
  • Shawn Harrison as resident idiot Waldo Faldo, starting with Season 4. This was another case of rewarding the popularity of a breakout character — the bully's sidekick to dumb-but-loveable best friend — by adding him to the opening credits.
  • Michelle Thomas as Myra Monkhaus, starting with the sixth season. Myra also had gained enough popularity to earn Thomas her spot.
  • Although the opening theme was discarded by Season 8, Orlando Brown (as 3J) was added in the listing of names during the opening scene.
• Voice actors Jonathan Hardy and Lani Tupu in Farscape were never credited in the main title. In season three, however, recurring character Crais, also played by Tupu, was promoted to lead status.
  • In more standard examples, Gigi Edgley (Chiana) was added to the opening credits a couple of episodes after her introduction, and Wayne Pygram (Scorpius) and Paul Goddard (Stark) were also promoted in the third season. Controversially, the female regulars added in seasons three and four, Tammy MacIntosh (Jool), Melissa Jaffer (Noranti), and Raelee Hill (Sikozu), never got added to the opening credits despite appearing in more episodes of their respective seasons than Paul Goddard did in the third.
• Full House:
  • Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen — arguably, the best known actresses from the show — were not given their own billing in the opening credits during the original first-run ABC series; they were not permanently added until Season 2. (Their credits were added in syndicated episodes, however.)
  • Lori Loughlin (as Rebecca Donaldson, Jesse's soon-to-be bride) is added for Season 3, after being a recurring character turned regular during the second season. Notably, in Season 3, she only appeared in the intro in episodes that she appears in, but from Season 4 onward she was credited in every episode.
  • Andrea Barber (as annoying best friend Kimberly "Kimmy" Gibbler) is added in Season 5; she had been a recurring character way back in the first season, as this was a way to give Barber more screen time.
  • Dylan and Blake Tuomy-Wilhoit, who played twins Alex and Nicky Katsopolis, were added in Season 7, after being featured more and more during Season 6.
• Game of Thrones: From season 2 and onwards, every actor added to the credits has previously been a recurring guest star in at least one season, with the exception of Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth), Stephen Dillane (Stannis Baratheon), Carice Van Houten (Melisandre), and Natalie Dormer (Margaery Tyrell). John Bradley (Samwell Tarly), James Cosmo (Jeor Mormont), Jerome Flynn (Bronn), Conleth Hill (Varys), Sibel Kekilli (Shae), and Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister) were promoted for season 2. Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister) was sort of promoted. Peter Dinklage has always been in the opening ("... and Peter Dinklage"), but as of Season 2, he's billed first, as opposed to Sean Bean, who was demoted to head on a spike at the end of the first season. Oona Chaplin (Talisa Stark), Rose Leslie (Ygritte), and Joe Dempsie (Gendry) are promoted in season 3. Kristofer Hivju (Tormund Giantsbane), Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth), Iwan Rheon (Ramsay Snow), and Hannah Murray (Gilly) are promoted in Season 4. Michiel Huisman (Daario Naharis), Nathalie Emmanuel (Missandei), Dean-Charles Chapman (Tommen Baratheon), Indira Varma (Ellaria Sand), Tom Wlaschiha (Jaqen H'ghar), and Michael McElhatton (Roose Bolton) are promoted in Season 5. Jonathan Pryce (High Sparrow) is promoted in Season 6. Jacob Anderson (Grey Worm) is promoted in Season 8.
• Edward Platt as the Chief was added to the opening credits for the last episode of the first season of Get Smart.
• For the first season of Gilligan's Island, the theme song referred to Russell Johnson (the Professor) and Dawn Wells (Mary Ann) as "and the rest." Star Bob Denver personally demanded that those cast members be given full credits in the succeeding seasons.
  • The way he did it though was nothing short of brilliance. As the star getting top billing, his name was required to be in the song. His initial request for them to be included was rejected. So he simply demanded his credit be at the end of the tune, forcing them to put the other two in before his. The network relented and added them, rather than be forced to completely change the song.
  • And Denver never told Johnson and Wells that he was the one who got their credits included. They both found out what Denver had done for them years later from somebody else.
• Gilmore Girls had plenty of these changes.
  • Liza Weil auditioned to become Rory Gilmore, but when she didn't get the role she was offered the Alpha Bitch role of Paris Geller instead as part of a short run to establish that Rory wasn't going to coast through Chilton. In lesser hands it probably would have been one note and out after the end of the original three-episode run. After season one however it was pretty obvious that Paris was going to remain a perpetual thorn in Rory's side forevermore, and Weil stayed a regular for the rest of the series.
  • Likewise Sean Gunn, who played Kirk, the man of many jobs who got on the regular cast roll after season two.
  • And a rotating regular position in the cast was open to whoever was the winner of the Rory Love Triangle that year, either Jared Padalecki, Milo Ventimiglia or Matt Czuchry.
    • And if any of the five above didn't appear in an episode, they didn't appear in the credits for that week.
• GLOW adds Britt Baron (Justine), Kate Nash (Rhonda), Gayle Rankin (Sheila), Kia Stevens (Tammé) and Jackie Tohn (Melanie) to the opening titles at the start of Season 2, and Chris Lowell (Bash) in Season 3.
• The Good Night Show: With the setting change to the You and Me Tree in 2011, said locale was added to the show's opening sequence, which was used until 2015.
• The Good Wife did this with Alan Cumming's Eli Gold, Zach Grenier's David Lee, and Matthew Goode's Finn Polmar. The last of these was likely always intended, as he was introduced in the same episode that killed off Will Gardner, and took his place as the main love interest.
• Originally, The Greatest American Hero credited only the three leads, William Katt, Robert Culp, and Connie Sellecca. Starting in season 2, the recurring roles among Ralph's students, played by Michael Paré, Faye Grant, and (briefly) Don Cervantes, were added to the opening titles, thanks in part to Paré's scene-stealing in the first season helping call attention to the junior cast.
  • Paré's promotion came with a bit of gravy: the accent that had been missing from his season 1 credits was finally added onto the "e" in his last name. (IMDb dutifully lists his season 1 credits with the note "as Michael Pare".)
• While it doesn't have opening titles as such, Greek added Tiffany Dupont (who played Frannie) to the "Starring" credits midway through Chapter 2. Given that the show is being cancelled at the end of the 4th season, she will likely hold the somewhat unusual honor of being the only character to be promoted to regular status and the only regular character to be written out during the entirity of the show's run.
• In season two of Grey's Anatomy, Kate Walsh was originally listed as a special guest star but was later added to the opening titles as it became clear that her character would be staying in Seattle. (Which, of course, she didn't...but she got her own spin-off...)
  • All of the later additions were promoted for at least two episodes as a guest star.
• Rico From Hannah Montana, Staring in the 2nd Season.
  • In the same way, Tinka from Shake it Up got it too in the same season as Rico's, though Kenton Duty gets removed from the third.
• Happy!: Christopher Fitzgerald, who played Depraved Kids' Show Host Sonny Shine, became a regular castmember in the second season after recurring in the first.
• Happy Days: The original opening credits (for the early 1974 episodes) billed four actors: Ron Howard, Marion Ross, Anson Williams and Tom Bosley. Henry Winkler (as the Fonz) was not in the original opening credits for the earliest episodes. The following changes occurred during subsequent seasons:
  • Winkler and Don Most (as Ralph) were added in Season 2, both after Ross and Williams, who were billed second and third, respectively.
  • Starting with Season 3, Erin Moran (as Richie's younger sister, Joanie) is added to the credits, increasing the number of billed characters to seven.
  • Scott Baio — who becomes a recurring, then semi-regular, then full-time cast member in the fifth season — is not added to the opening credits until Season 7, even though he is seen in the opening credit montage.
  • Lynda Goodfriend, who had played Richie's girlfriend, Lori Beth, as early as the fifth season, is not given an opening credit until Season 8!
  • Season 10 saw the additions of Cathy Silvers (as Jenny Piccolo) and Ted McGinley (as Roger Phillips); both had appeared on the show as early as Season 8 and had appeared in the final group shot (along with Winkler, Moran, Baio and Williams) at the end of the opening theme. Billy Warlock and Crystal Bernard are never given their own billing, even though both were semi-regulars.
• The second season of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys promoted Michael Hurst from guest star to co-star.
• Heroes: Season 1 recurrers James Kyson Lee and Zachary Quinto were promoted for the second season. Season 3 promoted Cristine Rose, who had been recurring since the pilot. Additionally some have been promoted in the middle of their first season: Jack Coleman was promoted a few episodes into season one, David Anders was promoted around the time his character was revealed as Adam Monroe, and as of "Once Upon A time In Texas" this has occurred with Robert Knepper (though this was hyped up before the season even premiered).
• In Series 1-5 of Hi-de-Hi!, four actors were billed in the opening credits, namely Simon Cadell, Paul Shane, Ruth Madoc, and Jeffrey Holland in that order; following Cadell's departure, the other three were moved up a spot and the fourth spot was given to Su Pollard, who played Breakout Character Peggy Ollerenshaw.
• The Hogan Family: Although Edie McClurg is given her own credit when she begins appearing in the second season, she does not get her own credit clip – stock footage of her greeting the Hogans with tea and other refreshments – until Season 3.
• Homeland promoted several actors to the opening titles for it's second season, though some of them actually featured in less episodes than they did as guest stars in the first.
• Homicide: Life on the Street: Max Perlich (in the fifth season) and Toni Lewis (in the seventh) were added after playing Fake Guest Star recurring characters for a while, as was Željko Ivanek, albeit only for the reunion movie. Jon Seda and Peter Gerety were promoted in the sixth season after, respectively, one and two guest appearances.
• In House, the intro for season 7 was finally updated to take out Jennifer Morrison and add Peter Jacobson and Olivia Wilde who have been part of the main cast since season 4, even as the latter was absent for most of the episodes of this season and almost entire season 8.
• iCarly: Noah Munck (Gibby) in season 4.
• I Love Lucy didn't display any credits for Vivian Vance or William Frawley in the original intros, until after the Retool into The The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour. The syndicated intros for I Love Lucy added their names after the show's title. Most of TV Land's updated versions of the original openings also did this.^note One opening actually showed Vance and Frawley Billed Above the Title.
• Interview with the Vampire (2022): After being credited as a guest star for the first six episodes, Assad Zaman is listed as a main cast member in the Season 1 finale, his name appearing in between Bailey Bass and Eric Bogosian.
• Iron Chef: Italian Masahiko Kobe was eventually put into the opening title sequence.
• A lot of this is clear on JAG— Patrick Labyorteaux (Bud Roberts) and John M. Jackson (Admiral Chegwidden) were merely guest and recurring characters in the first season respectively before jumping to the main cast in the second year. The final season also saw this with Scott Lawrence (Sturgis Turner) and Zoe McLellan (Jennifer Coates). Catherine Bell, however, appeared as one character in the first season, then joined the main cast as another character in the second.
• Christopher Marquette and Becky Wahlstrom on Joan of Arcadia, both of whom were originally intended as one-episode characters.
• Walton Goggins (Boyd Crowder) spent the first season as a recurring character before getting promoted to regular for the second season. Jere Burns (Wynn Duffy) was promoted to the opening for the final two seasons.
• Knots Landing:
  • Julie Harris (Lilimae) in Season Four.
  • Claudia Lonow (Diana) in Season Five.
  • Lisa Hartman (Cathy) in Season Six.
  • Nicollette Sheridan (Paige) and Teri Austin (Jill) in Season Ten.
  • Tonya Crowe (Olivia) and Creator/Pat etersen (Michael) in Season Eleven.
  • Larry Riley (Frank) and Michelle Phillips (Anne) in Season Twelve.
  • Stacy Galina (Kate) and Kathleen Noone (Claudia) in Season Thirteen.
• Law & Order
  • Near the end of her first run on Law & Order, Carolyn McCormick as Dr. Elizabeth Olivet managed to get mention in the opening credits; however, a photo of her in character was not created, as is L&O tradition.
  • Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: B.D. Wong (George Huang) in Season 4, Tamara Tunie (Melinda Warner) in Season 7, Adam Beach (Chester Lake) in Season 9, Raúl Esparza (Rafael Barba) in Season 15. Michelle Hurd (Monique Jeffries), Stephanie March (Alexandra Cabot), Ice-T (Fin Tutuola), and Philip Winchester (Peter Stone) were all added in the same season they were introduced (Seasons 1 and 19 for Hurd and Winchester respectively, Season 2 for both March and Ice-T).
  • Chris Noth (Mike Logan) guest starred on an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent Season 4 before becoming a main cast member the following season.
• Little House on the Prairie: When the series began in 1974, only the actors that played the Ingalls family members – Michael Landon, Karen Grassle, Melissa Sue Anderson, Melissa Gilbert, and twins Sidney and Robin Greenbush – were shown on camera (Charles and Caroline in the wagon, and the girls running down the hillside). Most of the supporting characters were listed under "The Town." However, there were several changes through the years:
  • Starting in Season 3, Alison Arngrim (as Nellie Olesen) and Jonathan Gilbert (as Willie Olesen) are moved to "The Town" listing whenever their characters appear. Previously, they were listed only in the closing credits.
  • When the series became Little House: A New Beginning in 1982, Dean Butler, Katherine MacGregor, Richard Bull and Victor French were moved from "The Town" (whenever they appeared) to the opening credits, and were billed that way – along with series lead Melissa Gilbert – throughout the season.
• Lost:
  • Michael Emerson was contracted for just a few episodes in the second season as "Henry Gale" (Ben). He was so loved/loved to be hated that he became a cast member in the third season, where he served as the Big Bad.
  • Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond) was a guest star before becoming a regular.
  • Little known fact: Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje was a guest star for a couple of episodes before quietly being promoted to regular.
  • Somewhat confusing variation: five of the main characters were billed incorrectly as guest stars in the publicity for the season, despite being credited as main cast:
    • In season 3, this hit Kiele Sanchez (Nikki) & Rodrigo Santoro (Paulo). While they were planned to be main characters with a fairly involved arc, they turned out to be widely hated and not important in the least, and were quickly killed off. The decision to do that was made before their introduction even aired, thus causing the mix-up.
    • In season 4, Ken Leung (Miles), Jeremy Davies (Daniel), and Rebecca Mader (Charlotte) were not in the promo pictures and were said to be guest stars in press releases. The reason for this is that they were meant to be guest stars, but as they were filming their first episode the producers liked all three and signed them up...sadly, too late to change the press releases or promo pics. By season 5 all three were in the promo pics, but Charlotte was still a guest star in publicity due to her character dying just five episodes in.
  • Nestor Carbonell (Richard) appeared in several season 3, 4 and 5 episodes and got a semi-centric episode in season 5 before becoming a main cast member for season 6 (complete with a completely centric episode).
  • Jeff Fahey actually turned down the same regular contract offered to the other actors playing members of the science team (Jeremy Davies, Rebecca Mader, and Ken Leung) but has later became a regular for season 6.
  • Zuleikha Robinson (Ilana Verdansky) was also promoted for season 6 although her character didn't last through all of it.
  • After guest starring on the series for years, Sam Anderson, L. Scott Caldwell, François Chau, Fionnula Flanagan, John Terry, and Sonya Walger finally got their names in the main cast credits...for the final episode. Said episode also added back all of the former regulars appearing, making it so the episode credits an amazing twenty-eight people as starring.
• A strange—and probably planned—one occurs in Mad Men, wherein Kiernan Shipka, the 10-year-old child actress who plays Sally Draper, was promoted to opening titles in Season 4. From interviews and the general course of the show so far, we'll be getting a lot of Character Focus on Sally in episodes that include the Draper family arc (which isn't all of them now that Don and Betty are divorced).
• Jon Cypher finally got promoted to the opening credits about midway through season 2 of Major Dad.
• Jamie Farr (Klinger) and William Christopher (Father Mulcahy) on M*A*S*H. Notably, they were the only two main cast members aside from Alan Alda and Loretta Swit to have been involved in every season of the show, but Jamie Farr was not added to the opening titles until Season 4 (after McLean Stevenson and Wayne Rogers had left) and William Christopher took until Season 5 to be added.
• Midnight Caller: Deacon Bridges, a reporter played by Mykelti Williamson, only appeared in a few season 1 episodes, but by the second season he was in the opening credits.
• Alexi (played by Juan Hadipoespito) from Mimpi Metropolitan starts out as a recurring character. Alexi's prominence noticeably increase after he rents a room in the main characters' dorm in episode 28 and then Juan Hadipoespito's name starts to appear in the credits 10 episodes later.
• In the final season of Misfits, Matt Stokoe as Alex is added to opening titles. While Rudy, Finn, Jess and Abby also were later additions, they were added in the same episode they were introduced. Alex spent an entire season as a recurring character before being promoted.
• Richard Genelle as Ernie, who had been a recurring character since Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers season 1, and Gregg Bullock as Lt Stone, who first appeared in season 3, both got added to the titles for the fourth season, Power Rangers Zeo. And in season 2, Steve Cardenas as Rocky, Johnny Yong Bosch as Adam, and Karan Ashley as Aisha, were added to the titles only after becoming rangers, even though they debuted 7 episodes earlier.
  • Power Rangers as a whole tends to add Sixth Rangers to the opening titles after they join the team, though how recurring they were before getting promoted varies. For example, Nate of Power Rangers Beast Morphers is in every episode of the series, but doesn't get a credit until he becomes the Gold Ranger.
• Martin Landau (Rollin Hand) in season 2 of Mission: Impossible, after being a "special guest star" in nearly every episode of season 1.
• Moonlighting: Curtis Armstrong first appeared in the third season as Herbert Viola. He was added to the main cast during the fourth season as Herbert became more prominent while Cybill Shephered was on maternity leave.
• Mystery Science Theater 3000 added whatever Suspiciously Similar Substitutes had appeared recently.
• The three members of the Mythbusters build team (the "Junior Mythbusters") are now mentioned in the title sequence alongside Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman. This has the effect of making the slightly pointless introductory titles even longer.
  • For an couple of episodes a while back, the build team members were promoted to full Mythbusters in the credits. Also, strangely, the intern is not in the credits, despite the first one being of equal prominence to the build team.
  • Originally the end credits listed only Adam and Jamie as hosts; the others were just credited as just the "build team". But eventually the build team were bumped up to hosts as well.
• NCIS: Sean Murray (Tim McGee) in Season 2, Cote de Pablo (Ziva David) and Lauren Holly (Director Jenny Shepard) in Season 3, Rocky Carroll (Leon Vance) in Season 6, and Brian Dietzen (Jimmy Palmer) in Season 10 (after being a recurring cast member on the show for eight years before that).
• In Night Court, Markie Post guest starred as Public Defender Christine Sullivan in an early season 2 episode, then returned in the third season onward as a series regular. Florence Halop and Marsha Warfield respectively guest-starred in the 3rd and 4th season premieres before being promoted to regular status in the following episode.
• NUMB3RS:
  • Dylan Bruno (Colby Granger) in season 3 after being recurring in season 2.
• NYPD Blue:
  • Sharon Lawrence (Sylvia Costas), Gordon Clapp (Greg Medavoy), and Gail O'Grady (Donna Abandando) in Season 2 after being recurring in Season 1. Lawrence would be promoted again in Season 6 after her brief demotion in the previous season.
  • Kim Delaney (Diane Russell) and Justine Miceli (Adrienne Lesniak) in Season 3 after being recurring in Season 2.
  • Creator/Andrea Thompson (Jill Kirkendall) in Season 5 after being recurring in Season 4.
  • Bill Brochtrup (John Irvin) in Season 6 after being recurring in Seasons 2, 3, and 5.
  • John FO Donohue (Eddie Gibson) in Season 11 after being recurring in Seasons 7-10.
• The O.C.
  • Autumn Reeser first appeared at the beginning of the third season as a minor villain. She soon turned into the Plucky Comic Relief and a friend of the main characters. When the fourth season started she was not only promoted, but ended up as the Love Interest of the protagonist.
  • This wasn't the first time the show had done this - Rachel Bilson (Summer Roberts), Melinda Clarke (Julie Cooper) were promoted to the opening credits halfway through season 1, while Alan Dale (Caleb Nicholls) was promoted at the start of season 2. Nor was Reeser the only recurring star promoted at the start of the 4th season; Willa Holland (Kaitlin Cooper) was added to the opening credits at the same time.
• The US version of The Office has two variants: characters who are promoted to the opening title sequence (Ed Helms in mid-Season 6 and James Spader in Season 8), and characters who are promoted to the main cast listed after the credits ^note Leslie David Baker, Brian Baumgartner, Kate Flannery, Angela Kinsey, Oscar Nunez, Phyllis Smith, Melora Hardin and David Denman in mid-Season 2, Mindy Kaling and Paul Lieberstein in Season 3 and Ed Helms in late Season 3, Creed Bratton and Craig Robinson in Season 4, Ellie Kemper in Season 6, Zach Woods in Season 7 and Amy Ryan in early Season 7, Catherine Tate in mid-Season 8, Clark Duke and Jake Lacy in Season 9. Whew..
  • Recently changed, updating images of cast and including other cast members, though many appear only in group shots.
• Once Upon a Time:
  • In season two, Meghan Ory (Ruby/Red) and Emilie de Ravin (Belle) were both promoted to series regulars. Eion Bailey (August) and Raphael Sbarge (Archie/Jiminy Cricket) were Demoted to Extra.
  • Colin O'Donoghue (Hook/Killian Jones) also gets promoted halfway through season two, after his few appearances early on that season earned him Ensemble Dark Horse and Draco in Leather Pants status among the fans.
  • Michael Raymond-James, who plays Neal (aka adult Baelfire), was promoted to series regular for season 3, while Meghan was Demoted to Extra as she got cast as the lead female character in Intelligence.
  • Michael Socha from the spin-off was introduced in Season 4 and listed as part of the main cast.
  • And for Season 5, Socha was dropped from the main titles and Sean Maguire (Robin Hood) and Rebecca Mader (Zelena) were promoted.
• One Tree Hill: Barbara Alyn Woods was promoted to regular in season two, Lee Norris in season three, Danneel Ackles and Antwon Tanner in season four, Lisa Goldstein in season six, Austin Nichols in seven, and Stephen Colletti, Jackson Brundage, Shantel VanSanten, Robert Buckley, and Jana Kramer in season eight.
• Orange Is the New Black has had a massive cast from the very start, and they get promoted by the boatload at the start of each new season. Season 2 added Danielle Brooks (Taystee), Uzo Adoba (Suzanne/"Crazy Eyes"), Natasha Lyonne (Nicky) and Taryn Manning (Pennsatucky) to the opening credits. Season 3 added Selenis Levya (Gloria), Adrienne C. Moore (Black Cindy), Dascha Polanco (Daya), Nick Sandow (Caputo), Yael Stone (Morello) and Samira Wiley (Poussey), as well as re-adding Laura Prepon (who dropped from regular to guest star in season 2) and promoting her to the "And" spot. Season 4 added Jackie Cruz (Flaca), Elizabeth Rodriguez (Aleida), and Lea DiLaria (Big Boo). Season 5 added Jessica Pimentel (Maria). Season 6 added Laura Gomez (Blanca), Matt Peters (Luschek) and Dale Soules (Frieda). Season 7 added Alysia Reiner (Fig).
• Orphan Black:
  • Evelyne Brochu (Delphine Cormier) was upgraded from recurring character in Season 1 to opening title lister in Seasons 2 and 3.
  • Both Kristian Bruun (Donnie Hendrix) and Ari Millen (the Project Castor clones) were upgraded from recurring characters in the first two seasons (only second on Millen's case) to opening title listers starting Season 3.
  • Josh Vokey (Scott Smith) was upgraded from recurring character in the first three seasons to opening title lister starting Seasons 4.
• Parks and Recreation promoted Retta (Donna) and Jim O'Heir (Jerry/Larry) to opening credits halfway through season 6, after the departure of Rashida Jones (Ann) and Rob Lowe (Chris).
• Party of Five:
  • Scott Grimes (Will) was part of the opening credits for the first two seasons, then listed as a guest star for the next three and inserted back into the credits for Season 6.
  • Michael Gorjian (Justin) was promoted to opening credits midway through Season 1 and then dropped after Season 2.
  • Jeremy London is a marginal case, as his character was played by James Marsden in his only Season 1 episode. Griffin was billed as a regular from Season 2 onwards, though disappeared from the credits whenever he was Put on a Bus.
  • Alexondra Lee (Callie) gets promoted midway through Season 3.
  • Jennifer Aspen (Daphne) was a guest star in Season 4 but billed as a regular for the last two seasons.
• Penny Dreadful adds Helen McCrory (Edith Poole) and Simon Russell Beale (Ferdinand Lyle) in season two. Patti Lupone is added in season three, but playing a different character to her season two role.
• Person of Interest: Kevin Chapman was always a series regular, but his character, Detective Fusco, is finally included in the opening titles during the last few episodes of season one.
  • Root was promoted to the opening credits partway through the third season when she resumed an active role as a Hero of Another Story.
• Jason Kravits on The Practice.
• Pretty Little Liars: Sasha Pieterse was always a regular and Alison a main character, but at the start of the series Ali was missing – and by the end of the first episode, dead – so wasn't included with the other four main characters in the end of the original title sequence. When the sequence was redone halfway through the sixth season, Ali was back among the living, so this time she was included; she even got to be the first to deliver the "shh!" when it changed from always Aria to a Couch Gag.
• Radio Enfer: Joël Marin (Vincent) was added to the opening credits starting with the second season. Isabelle Drainville (Dominique) was also included for those of the third, fifth, and sixth seasons. Micheline Bernard (Jocelyne) and Vincent Magnat (Germain) were included since the fourth season, while Pierre Claveau (Giroux) got this treatment for the last two seasons. Finally, both Bruno Blanchet (Galgouri) and Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge (Jean-David) were added for the last season.
• Stephen J. Cannell is the recurring Big Bad of Renegade from the pilot episode, appearing in over a third of the episodes, but only gets into the opening titles in the fifth and final season.
• Royal Pains: As of the fourth episode of season four, both Brooke D'Orsay (Paige) and Campbell Scott (Boris) have been upgraded to the opening credits, replacing Jill Flint (Jill Casey), who was Put on a Bus in the previous episode.
• Neil Flynn on Scrubs, but only in the extended title sequence that was used for a few episodes of the second series until it was discarded after fans complained.
  • In season 1 he was an guest star, and from season 2 on he was promoted to one of the stars -though you wouldn't know it, since he's not in the opening sequence.
  • From season 2 on he was, however, listed among the main characters in the credits that appear at the bottom of the screen throughout the beginning of act 1 of every episode, instead of being listed among the guest stars in the end credits like he was during season 1.
• The cast members deemed important enough to rate the 7th Heaven opening credits change too often and too randomly to attach an adequate adverb to.
• The Thundermans: Following the birth of the family's new daughter Chloe in the Season 2 finale, the title sequence changes as of the Season 3 premiere, adding her to the family photo and group shot at the end.
• Before getting their own show, The Simpsons were promoted to the opening titles of The Tracey Ullman Show in the third season. They were promtly demoted when their show premiered and their segments were dropped.
• In Smallville:
  • Lionel Luthor (John Glover) was a recurring character in season 1 but then was promoted to the opening in season 2-season 7.
  • Similarly Lois Lane (Erica Durance) was only ever listed as Special Guest Star when she first appeared in season 4 but got promoted the following season; oddly enough she appeared in the same number of episodes as a guest character as she did as a main, 13 episodes, due to restrictions made by DC.
  • Again with Green Arrow (Justin Hartley), a recurring guest character in season 6 and 7 that became a main title character in season 8.
  • Also Jimmy, who was a guest star throughout Season 6 and then promoted.
• Smash: Kinda-example with Leslie Odom Jr. (Sam Strickland). Having been a recurring character in season 1, he's a regular for season 2, but is one of three regulars who don't get an individual title spot; instead, they appear in brief flashes at the end of the credit and get an "Also Starring" credit before each episode's guest stars.
• Sons of Anarchy: Ryan Hurst (Opie), William Lucking (Piney), and Theo Rossi (Juice) were this in Season 2, and Dayton Callie (Unser) was this in Season 3. Season 7 added David LaBrava (Happy) Niko Nikotera (Ratboy) and Drea de Matteo (Wendy). In the case of Happy and Wendy, they had been characters since the first season, only to finally be promoted.
• Spartacus:
  • Viva Bianca (Illithiya) got the fastest promotion as she was immediately included by episode 3 of Blood & Sand.
  • Dan Feuerriegel (Agron) and Craig Parker (Glaber) in Vengeance. Naevia is an odd example, as Cynthia Addai-Robinson (her second actress) is the one who received this treatment, not Lesley-Ann Brandt (her original).
  • Pana Hema-Taylor (Nasir), Ditch Davey (Nemetes) and Ellen Hollman (Saxa) in War of the Damned.
• Stargate-verse:
  • In Stargate SG-1, there was a fan movement to get Dr. Frasier in the opening. (She got a bridge dropped on her instead, an offscreen death in an episode that was basically filler, though her memorial was one of the most touching scenes in the show's ten-year-plus-movies run.)
  • Dr. Carson Beckett from Stargate Atlantis fared better, though, making it into the opening partway into season two.
  • ...And then got killed by an explosive tumor he was transporting. Not so lucky.
    • However, he returns, though not to the opening.
  • Season five promotes recurring characters Keller and Woolsey.
  • Stargate Universe gives us Ming-Na, who was promoted just in time for the midseason cliffhanger (the first part of which featured her character heavily).
• Star Trek:
  • DeForest Kelley as Bones on Star Trek: The Original Series, promoted to the opening credits at the beginning of the second season. The second season also added Gene Roddenberry's "created by" credit to the opening titles.
  • This instance was the only promotion to opening titles within one series in Star Trek history until the second season of Star Trek: Discovery promoted Wilson Cruz as Hugh Culber. (Colm Meaney, a Recurrer on TNG, left that show for a regular role on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.) All other additions to the opening titles were of characters introduced out of the blue. Andrew Robinson, who played Garak on DS9, was offered the chance to be added to the show's opening titles, but declined.
  • The rest of the Original Series main cast, James Doohan, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, and Walter Koenig, were billed in the opening credits of the movies.
  • Word of God says that if Star Trek: Enterprise had gotten renewed for a fifth season, Jeffrey Combs as Shran would have gotten promoted to the opening titles.
• St. Elsewhere did this for Norman Lloyd, Eric Laneuville, Ellen Bry, Kim Miyori, Stephen Furst, Bonnie Bartlett, Cindy Pickett, Sagan Lewis, France Nuyen and Jennifer Savidge. Bartlett had been a minor guest star in the first season, had her role expanded in the second and third, and finally was added to the opening in the fourth. Lewis and Savidge had been there since the first season (admittedly as pretty minor characters until somewhere around the third or fourth seasons), but weren't promoted until the final season. All the others were promoted one season after the one that introduced them. Lloyd, Laneuville, Bry and Miyori were treated like regulars during the first season, but were credited as guest stars.
• Stranger Things: Season 2 promoted Joe Keery (Steve Harrington) and Noah Schnapp (Will Byers), Season 3 promoted Priah Ferguson (Erica Sinclair) and Season 4 promoted Brett Gelman (Murray Bauman).
• Succession added Arian Moayed (Stewy Hosseini), J. Smith Cameron (Gerri Kellman) and Dagmara Domińczyk (Karolina) —all playing Waystar-Royco bosses and all recurring characters in the previous season — to the main titles in Season Two.
• Supernatural:
  • The series introduced Castiel in Season 4 and he was such a popular character that, for the first time since the show started, a recurring character got promoted to regular status. Misha Collins (who plays Castiel) was originally contracted to appear in only 6 episodes in Season 4 before being killed off. He officially became a regular in Season 5. This is even more astonishing when you consider the fact that the accumulated screentime he got in Season 4 amounted to a total of less than 3 full episodes. After being demoted to recurring for seasons 7 and 8, he was promoted back to regular for seasons 9 and 10.
  • After spending five seasons as a recurring character, Mark Sheppard (who plays Crowley) was promoted to a regular for the 10th season, for a total of four regular characters.
  • Halfway through Season 12, Mark Pellegrino (Lucifer) was promoted to the main cast.
  • For the final three seasons, Alexander Calvert (Jack Kline) is promoted to regular.
• It took time for Super Sentai to do this with the position of Sixth Ranger itself. Tsukumaro Oogami (GaoSilver) is, funnily enough, the sixth official Sixth Ranger (as recognised in Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger) but the first to join the opening titles.
• While the show Tales of the Gold Monkey only lasted one season, a change in tone of the scripts mid season triggered a new opening sequence for the second half. Fan favorite Jack the one eyed dog gets his place in the titles.
• Taxi added Christopher Lloyd (Jim Ignatowski) to the opening credits in the tenth episode of season 2, while Carol Kane (Simka) was added at the beginning of the fifth and final season.
• Teen Wolf: Season 4 promoted recurring actresses Arden Cho (Kira Yukimura) and Shelley Hennig (Malia Tate) to main cast after Crystal Reed chose to leave the show for personal reasons. Season 5 promoted Dylan Sprayberry (Liam).
• During the course of Third Watch's run, Amy Carlson, Chris Bauer, Tia Texada, Nia Long, Bonnie Dennison and Cara Buono were promoted to the opening titles.
• Richard Kline on Three's Company. Jenilee Harrison was also promoted for season 6 after being Suzanne Somers' "temporary" replacement during her infamous salary dispute during season 5. Ironically, though, Harrison was seen less frequently in season 6 than season 5, and she was dropped from the show at the end of season 6.
• Tinsel: Ireti Doyle is finally included in the main cast in the last quarter of Season 4, which takes the wind out of any fan speculation that her character, Sheila, will be living the show any time soon.
• Titans: Alan Ritchson (Hank Hall), Minka Kelly (Dawn Granger), Conor Leslie (Donna Troy) and Curran Walters (Jason Todd) are all promoted to the main cast in Season 2 after spending the first season as recurring characters.
• Torchwood: Kai Owen (Rhys) was promoted to the opening credits for Torchwood: Children of Earth
• True Blood:
  • Terry Bellefleur gets this in season 2, after his recurring role in the first season. Same case with Jessica Hamby, who was introduced in a few episodes of season 1 and became a main character in the second as well. And the same applied to Pam and Eric too.
  • Nan Flanagan was a recurring character who had very few appearances until season 4, in which she is made a regular as well.
  • Steve Newlin was a secondary antagonist for the second season, and later at the end of season 4. He's credited as a main character season 5 onwards. His wife (later ex-wife, later enemy) Sarah got promoted to series regular in season 6.
• Greg Proops (Mr. Madigan), Ron Butler (Oscar) and Rob Arnell (Jimmy) on True Jackson, VP.
• The Vampire Diaries:
  • Klaus is a recurring character in the second season, but starting with season 3 Joseph Morgan is found in the credits along with the other regulars, lasting until the end of season 4 (since his character got his very own spin-off).
  • A rare example with Nina Dobrev: While she has been part of the main cast since the pilot, portraying the show's protagonist Elena Gilbert, she also portrayed the recurring character Katherine, Elena's doppleganger/vampire ancestor. As of season 5, Katherine is upgraded to main character as well, so Nina is credited twice.
• Maris and Cranberry in Unfabulous, starting with its second season.
• Velvet: Despite being a main character from early season 1, Asier Gómez Etxeandía (playing in house designer Raul de la Riva) didn't get promoted to opening titles until season 3.
• Veronica Mars:
  • Ryan Hansen (who played Dick Casablancas) started as a non-speaking extra in the second episode and was bumped up to the opening credits by the Season 2 premiere, as was Kyle Gallner (who played his brother Cassidy Casablancas, aka Beaver) who appeared in the last three episodes of season 1. Note that the latter may not count, as the character of Beaver was introduced specifically to be the Big Bad of season 2, and thus was always intended for regular status.
  • Mac (Tina Majorino), a recurring character since season 1, got a spot in the opening titles for season 3.
  • In the third season, much was made of recurring character Sheriff Lamb's ascension to the the status of regular character and a place in the opening titles. Then he was promptly Killed Off for Real.
• All of The Vicar of Dibley's regular cast from "Merry Christmas" onwards, except Dawn French and Gary Waldhorn. They were named in the opening credits from the start.
• In the third season of Violetta, Federico (Ruggero Pasquarelli) is added to the opening sequence. He's a recurring character in the first two seasons.
• Walker, Texas Ranger:
  • Downplayed with Jim Wlcek and Marco Sanchez as, respectively, Trent Malloy and Dallas detective Carlos Sandoval. Although they would become series regulars in Seasons 6 and 7, their names do not appear in the opening credits, but are shown in the "also starring" when the title card is shown. Also, they would move on to their own series, the short-lived Sons Of Thunder.
  • Judson Mills and Nia Peeples (Francis Gage and Sydney Cooke) in Season 8, although they make their first official appearance in the second episode of the season.
• The Walking Dead (2010):
  • Norman Reedus (Daryl Dixon) in Season 2.
  • Lauren Cohan (Maggie Greene-Rhee) and Michael Rooker (Merle Dixon) in Season 3.
  • Melissa McBride (Carol Peletier) and Scott Wilson (Hershel Greene) in Season 4.
  • Emily Kinney (Beth Greene), Chad L. Coleman (Tyreese) and Michael Cudlitz (Abraham Ford) in Season 5.
  • Lennie James (Morgan) and Sonequa Martin-Green (Sasha) in Season 6.
  • Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Negan), Christian Serratos (Rosita Espinosa), Alanna Masterson (Tara Chambler) and Josh McDermitt (Eugene Porter) in Season 7.
  • Seth Gilliam (Gabriel) and Ross Marquand (Aaron) in Season 8.
  • Katelyn Nacon (Enid), Tom Payne (Jesus) and Khary Payton (Ezekiel) in Season 9.
  • Ryan Hurst (Beta) in Season 10.
  • Callan McAuliffe (Alden), Cooper Andrews (Jerry), Eleanor Matsuura (Yumiko), Lauren Ridloff (Connie), Cailey Fleming (Judith), Nadia Hilker (Magna), Cassady McClincy (Lydia), Angel Theory (Kelly), Paola Lázaro (Princess), Michael James Shaw (Mercer), Josh Hamilton (Lance) and Laila Robins (Pamela) in Season 11.
• The West Wing
  • Janel Moloney and Stockard Channing, both appearing as regular guest stars in the first season, joined the main cast in the second and third season respectively.
  • Joshua Malina as Will Bailey, first appeared as a guest character in a few episodes in Season 4 before a speedy Promotion To Opening Titles.
  • Also happened to Jimmy Smits and Alan Alda as Presidential candidates Matt Santos and Arnold Vinick later in the show, in Season 6. Smits appeared in the opening credits in his first episode; Alda was a Special Guest Star in his first, and in the credits from his second onward.
  • Mary McCormack as Kate Harper and Kristin Chenoweth as Annabeth Schott were promoted between seasons, being added to the credits at the start of season 5 and season 6, respectively.
  • Averted with Mary-Louise Parker as Amy Gardner, who Sorkin was interested in promoting to main cast but ultimately had too many other commitments. Didn't stop her from being nominated for a Best Supporting Emmy for the show, though.
• The Wire did this every season:
  • Season Two moved Clarke Peters to the opening credits after being being billed in the closing credits for the first.
  • Season Three promotes Jim True-Frost, Seth Gilliam, Domenick Lombardozzi and JD Williams, who also were pretty much regulars already, and promotes Corey Parker Robinson after a season-long absence, as well as legitimate guest star Robert Wisdom. Then there was Michael K. Williams, who memorably guest-starred during the first and second seasons, and who is now credited as a regular from this point on with the expansion of Omar's role.
  • Season Four adds Chad L. Coleman, Jamie Hector and Glynn Turman, who had first appeared during the third season, having quite a bit of screen time. Oddly enough, Julito McCullum, Maestro Harrell, Tristan Wilds and Jermaine Crawford, the true leads of this season, were billed as guest stars for its entire run.
  • Season Five finally adds Wilds and Crawford (who oddly enough get less screen time this year), as well as Gbenge Akkinagbe, Neil Huff, Michael Kostroff and Isaiah Whitlock, Jr. In a strange version of this, Reg E. Cathey, who had joined the cast last season, gets moved from the "secondary cast" (those billed two or three at a time after the main cast) to the main list, making him second-billed. This is the only time in the series history that this happened.
• Yin Yang Man appeared in the opening credits of the second season of WMAC Masters replacing the injured Panther.
  • Some episodes also featured Lady Lightning, Chameleon, and even the jobber Princess but only when the girls were fighting in an episode. Great Wolf, Star Warrior and Ying Yang Man where removed from the opening in those episodes
• Wynonna Earp: Ensemble Dark Horse Katherine Barrell is promoted to regular status in season two.
• After having the exact same opening titles for 8 seasons (aside from adding Robert Patrick in season 8), The X-Files updated them for the 9th season, since the original titles looked outdated due to cast changes, cast aging, and new developments in the Myth Arc. This was when Assistant Director Walter Skinner, who was introduced back in the latter half of the 1st season, finally got clips and an actor credit in the opening titles, but only in episodes where he actually appear. Annabeth Gish as Monica Reyes was also added after a few appearances as a recurring character the previous season.
• Young Sheldon: The first two seasons only featured Sheldon backing away nervously from a cow. Season three has the rest of his family standing with him.

Professional Wrestling

• Due to the ever changing nature of pro wrestling, you could see people who are featured in one week's opening of shows like WWE Raw and WWE SmackDown not be featured in the next. Usually the changes are not as frequent as that, but because of things like contracts expiring and fallouts, they can happen suddenly. However, being on the intro to these shows for an extended period of time is a major feather in the cap of some wrestlers.
• After the (story line) firing of John Cena in 2010, the intro to Raw was replaced by The Miz (who was the WWE Champion at that time). Even though The Miz was in the intro before this, he was promoted to a coveted spot in the intro: as the final wrestler being shown. It was John Cena that was the last shown during the entire run of the "Burn It To The Ground" intro, which made it a huge leap for The Miz.
• The WWE Signature vanity card can count for an intro, as well, and the "Power is Back" version was only changed three times, each time because those that were replaced either went to TNA or had done something to piss Vince McMahon off. Because of this, a few were promoted to the Signature as having lines. Ted DiBiase replaced Hulk Hogan when the latter went to TNA, John Cena was added to the end, and Michael Cole replaced Jim Ross. After the additions of Cole and Cena, the audio wasn't changed again for the rest of this Signature's duration.

Puppet Shows

• On Bear in the Big Blue House, Doc Hogg, Jeremiah Tortoise, Lois, Otto, Etta, Jack the Dog and Ray are all added the new opening sequence, "Welcome to Woodland Valley," for the fourth season. Luna also gets a vocal line in the opening song, whereas previously she appeared in the opening but did not sing.

Video Games

• As progress is made in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, the Greil Mercenaries and the Black Knight will appear in the intro.
  • For the series as a whole, if left to sit at the title, various games in the series will detail classes. Additional classes are shown after extra playthroughs.
• After being unlocked, hidden characters in the original Super Smash Bros. 64 and its sequels appear in the opening.
  • Specifically, the four unlockable characters are originally silhouettes in the first Smash game, and in Brawl, unlocked characters are added to the line of characters standing over a cliff near the end of the opening (though Marth and Ness make appearances in The Subspace Emissary movie clips, and the Green Hill Zone stage makes an appearance in the opening).
  • Sonic and Snake both have to be unlocked but are shown in the opening, though in gameplay shots.
  • Melee only has one opening that doesn't change. Ganondorf, Pichu, and Jigglypuff are the only ones to show up (Ganondorf pokes his arm in during the The Legend of Zelda segment to help form the Triforce, while Pichu and Jigglypuff leap in front of the other Pokémon during the Pokémon segment).
• In Marvel vs. Capcom 2, hidden characters are in the form of silhouettes when the game is in Attract Mode until you unlock them, similar to the original Super Smash Bros.

Web Video

• Star Trek Continues, a Fan Sequel to Star Trek: The Original Series, does this to the character of Montgomery "Scotty" Scott (though played by a different actor — Chris Doohan, James Doohan's son!), rectifying a longstanding fan criticism of James Doohan's low billing relative to his character's prominence. He even gets the And Starring designation!
• Campaign 2 of Critical Role does this on occasion in the animated opening, where the Dungeon Master's book will update to include prominent NPCs from the most recent arcs.
  • The original animated intro from episode 44 included The Gentleman, Calliana, Shakäste, Nila, Keg, Kiri, Pumat Sol, Marion Lavorre, Orly, and Avantika
  • Episode 65 added Dairon, Yeza and Luc Brenatto, the Bright Queen, Essek, and Tuss Waccoh
  • As of episode 112, the book contains Trent Ikithon, The Traveler, Reani, Twiggy, Spurt, Vilya, and Mollymauk. A more direct reference to the final character can be found in this particular update as well. While Mollymauk has, in a sense, always been in the opening credits, the changes made to his scene (as well as his inclusion in the Dungeon Master's book) are a clear reference to his mysterious resurrection and the role he will play in the coming arc.

Western Animation

• On The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius, Libby was eventually added to the title lineup at the end of the opening credits starting with Season 3.
• Amphibia adds both Sasha and Marcy to the opening starting with season 2.^note They are present in the first season's opening titles, but only in a photograph.
• In Season 5 of Archer, Lucky Yates (Dr. Krieger) was finally added to the opening credits.
  • Before that, Amber Nash (Pam) was added in season 2.
• Ben 10: Starting with Season 3 original alien Ghostfreak (who was really sentient and escaped the Omnitrix to become Season 3's Big Bad) is replaced with Cannonbolt, an alien Ben obtained in the Season 2.
• The second half of the third season of Big City Greens has the previously recurring characters Nancy and Remy promoted to the main cast, coinciding with their move to the country.
• The second season of Big Hero 6: The Series adds Fred's robot sidekick Mini-Max, who was introduced in Episode 15 of Season 1, to a few shots in the opening. On the villains' side, every season changes the images inside the hexagons Hiro looks at in the opening to include villains who will appear in that season, and remove ones who are Put on a Bus.
• Blaze and the Monster Machines: Starting in late Season 3, new Monster Machine Watts was added to the title sequence, racing alongside Blaze with Gabby driving her.
• Blue's Clues: Magenta and Periwinkle were added to the opening sequence starting with Season 4.
• In Bob's Burgers, Larry Murphy (Teddy) is now listed with the rest of the main cast starting in Season 3. His voice actor has since been invited to tours, as well as convention panels.
• William Dunbar got this treatment in Code Lyoko's fourth season credits... right after his instant Sixth Ranger-Heel Turn.
• For the second season of DuckTales (1987), a few different episode clips were used than the ones from season 2 to prominently feature its two new major characters, Bubba Duck and Fenton Crackshell/Gizmoduck.
• DuckTales (2017): The second season opening adds in Gizmoduck and Magica DeSpell to the intro, while the third season opening adds Della Duck.
• Inverted for the Season 3 intro to Elena of Avalor, where Esteban is removed from the "With her family by her side" scene and the group shot at the end, reflecting that he is no longer considered a part of Elena's family and that he is now a wanted fugitive. Also counts as a Spoiler Opening, since this is used starting with the episode that explains why he's missing from the intro.
• For Season 9 of The Fairly Oddparents, Poof was added to the show's intro.
• Family Guy:
  • Starting with Season 9, a good chunk of the supporting cast (Quagmire, Tricia, Joe, Bonnie, Mort, Angela, Mayor West, Jillian, Carter, Babs, Tom, and Joyce) appear in the center staircase as background dancers.
  • In the Season 12 episode "He's Bla-ack!", after Cleveland returns from The Cleveland Show, Cleveland interrupts the opening and informs Mort that he is to take his spot in the intro, as he was still in Stoolbend when the opening was redone.
  • Season 15 replaced Jillian with Cleveland's new wife, Donna Tubbs, when the writing staff realized that Jillian had been Out of Focus after Season 9.
  • In Season 17, upon the passing of Angela following the death of of her voice actress Carrie Fisher, Angela was replaced by Consuela.
  • In Season 18, with the passing of Adam West, his character Mayor West was killed off and replaced by Seamus.
• The Flintstones: The "Meet the Flintstones" opening introduced in Season 3 initially had just Fred, Wilma, and Dino go to the drive-in. Starting in Season 4, new daughter Pebbles accompanied them, and in Season 5, after Bamm-Bamm was introduced, the Flintstones stop to pick up the Rubbles.
• Futurama: The first season gave starring credit only to leads Billy West, Katey Sagal, and John DiMaggio. Weirdly, only two cast members were promoted in Season 2: Tress MacNeille joined the core three in main cast while Maurice LaMarche attained "also starring" credit, despite those two being bit players, leaving series regulars Phil LaMarr and Lauren Tom with Fake Guest Star status for the rest of the series' original run. The movies and subsequent seasons saw LaMarche, LaMarr, Tom, and David Herman promoted to starring.
• At the start of every episode of Gravity Falls, the end of the title sequence has photos showcasing minor and supporting characters thrown onto a table. For the final episodes of the show, one of these pictures is replaced with that of the Author (now known to be Stanford Pines) holding Journal 3.
• Jackie Chan Adventures:
  • In Season 2, Hak Foo replaces Tohru as the character who gets punched by Jackie in the opening credits. In Season 3, he's absent from the opening again. He's seen with the Enforcers at Season 4's opening.
  • Daolon Wong is featured at Season 3's opening titles to show his status as that season's main antagonist.
  • Drago and his minions at Season 5.
• Many recurring characters on Jimmy Two-Shoes began appearing in the second season opening, including Molotov, Saffi (though she does have a blink-and-you'll-miss-it apperance in the first), Jez, and a few Recurring Extras.
• The Justice League Unlimited opening credits consists of random quick shots from different episodes with HD images of the founding members flashing in between, but Hawkgirl isn't included among them for most of the first season due to her having resigned from the team at the end of Justice League. She's finally included in "Wake The Dead", which is the episode where she officially returns to the League.
• The first season of Kaeloo had just the main four in the opening theme. In subsequent seasons new characters are added to the show, so all the recurring characters are added to the opening in the season they first appear. Pretty, Eugly, and Olaf first appear in season 2 and start featuring in the theme song from then on. Season 5 introduces Rules and Stumpy's sisters, who are added to the intro while Eugly is removed due to being Put on a Bus.
• Starting in Season 4 of Miraculous Ladybug, Luka, Kagami, Marc, and Zoé were added to the show's intro (though in the latter's case, this was before she was introduced).
• Similarly, Toby Huss got promoted to "Starring" on King of the Hill once Kahn became a regular character. However, Lauren Tom, who voiced both Connie and Minh, never made it.
• On Mixels, each new season is concurrent with a new wave of the LEGO sets, so a small scene of the new three tribes is placed into the theme, lengthening it a tiny bit. Series 4, and then Series 5 and 6 combined, changed it to where the introduced tribes of those series are the only characters in the theme. This would continue for the final year of the franchise.
• My Little Pony:
  • My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
    • A number of background and side characters got added to the intro starting with the third episode of season 2, though most of them are blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearances. Many of them are on the train Hasbro demanded be shown in every episode, which was added at the same time.
    • Starting in season 4, they added more characters. The additions are far more noticeable, and mostly of the (in some cases, rather delayed) Continuity Nod variety. The Mane Six are joined by a small crowd of side characters, Celestia is now accompanied by her sister Luna, and Discord can be seen inside Fluttershy's cottage.
    • A variation in the My Little Pony: Equestria Girls spin-off series. Starting with the post-Rainbow Rocks shorts, Sunset Shimmer's silhouette is added next to Twilight in the Mane Six's ponies-to-humans Eye Catch shown at the end of each short, after she completes her Heel–Face Turn and more or less takes over The Protagonist slot for the subsequent movies. And while Sunset's voice actress Rebecca Shoichet's name did appear in the opening titles for the first two films following those of the main cast, later entries shifted her to second billing behind Tara Strong.
    • Starlight Glimmer is added to the group shot starting with season 6 after she pulls her own Heel–Face Turn and becomes Twilight's new pupil.
    • Starting in Season 8, Episode 3, a newly revised intro adds in a whole new slew of characters, many who have appeared on the show since the early seasons but were not added to the intro until now.
  • My Little Pony: Make Your Mark: Starting in Chapter 5, Misty Brightdawn appears at the end of the intro after her Heel–Face Turn in "Missing the Mark", the last episode of the previous Chapter.
• When the opening was updated for the third season of PAW Patrol, both Cap'n Turbot and Everest were added.
• The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder: As a revival of the original series, the opening theme more or less follows the same format, ending with a family photo, which now adds Bobby Proud to the main family. In the original series, Bobby was only part of the opening's Couch Gag once or twice.
• Rusty Rivets had its theme updated in Season 2 by adding in the new robot friends ElephantBot, TigerBot and Botarilla.
• In the third and fourth episodes of the second season of Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, Hot Dog Water was added to the theme song to replace the absent Daphne.
• She-Ra and the Princesses of Power: Inverted in the Fourth Season's intro where Entrapta is removed from the group shot, accounting for her Face–Heel Turn and that she got sent to Beast Island in the previous season.
• Although The Simpsons has no cast list in its title sequence, Hank Azaria was eventually moved from the "also starring" part of the closing credits to the main cast in the second season.
• The Spectacular Spider-Man had an interesting variant: for the first nine episodes, the opening title had Peter, Gwen, Harry and J. Jonah Jameson; after that, Harry was Put on a Bus, and in the next episode Mary Jane, who has just transferred to Midtown High, takes his place, and stays there for the rest of season one. After that each episode in season two includes Peter, plus a rotating list of recurring characters chosen for their importance in that particular episode.
• Steven Universe:
  • The second opening, introduced in season 2 episode "Sworn to the Sword" and used until the end of season 5, adds Lion to the picnic at the end and Jamie the mailman in a background shot. It also makes Connie Maheswaran more prominent, and has Steven's dad Greg sing a lyric of the theme song.
  • The opening for Steven Universe: Future adds Lapis, Peridot, and Bismuth to the Crystal Gems, and the Diamonds, Off-Colours, formerly corrupted gems, and Spinel appear in the group shot at the beginning.
• Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters adds Dr. C and Blindstrike to the intro after the former becomes the Flex Fighters' new mentor, replacing Kane and Rook.
• The title sequence for Sunny Day changes near the end of Season 1 to reflect the addition of the Pet Parlor and adding Lacey, KC, Violet and Rosie to the intro.
• Tangled: The Series:
  • Inverted by Cassandra, who got promoted to the closing titles as of Rapunzel and the Great Tree, with her voice actress being credited alongside Zachary Levi and Mandy Moore (VAs of Eugene and Rapunzel) before everyone else, signifying that she's finally considered a main character. Well, it was about time! (Yes, this continues ever for the episodes where she's a villain.)
  • On the flip side, Season 2's opening includes a few shots of Adira, and Season 3's version has clips of Varian.
• Blaster in The Transformers was promoted to an appearance in the opening for season three despite being a recurring character throughout season 2 and playing a prominent role in the first half of the movie.
• The Japanese intro to Transformers: Animated switches the Starscream clones' scene with a scene of Blackout (who only appears once in the show), Soundwave, and Swindle, even though none of the three gain more importance in the show when this change happens.
• The Season 3 intro to Transformers: Prime adds Shockwave and Predaking to the final scene.
• Wakfu: Adamaï is added to the opening in the second season (although he did very briefly appear in the first season's opening), though strangely he's seen in his humanoid form which he never takes after the first season. Conversely, Sadlygrove is taken out because he died at the end of the previous season. After Sadlygrove turns only to be Only Mostly Dead early into season two, he is added back in, (unless you're watching on Netflix, where he remains left out of the opening until the OVAs).

---