Sometimes, characters take on lives of their own. Take Aldous Snow for example. The outgoing and obscene rock god from Forgetting Sarah Marshall, memorably played by comic Russell Brand, who almost stole the show from stars Jason Segel and Kristen Bell. The character must have made an impression, because Brand returns as Snow this Friday in the new movie, Get Him to the Greek. Segel and Bell, meanwhile, are nowhere to be seen.
It’s not the first time that a secondary character has moved on to great success. In fact, it happens more often than you might think. Here are 10 of the most successful spin-off characters from books, movies, TV and beyond.
1. The Jeffersons – Where would TV history be without George and Wheezy? Spun off from All in the Family, where they appeared in 15 episodes, The Jeffersons went on to be one of TV’s all-time most popular sitcoms, and to break cultural ground in the process. Stars Sherman Helmsley and Isabel Sanford ruled over their deluxe apartment for 11 seasons and frequently appeared together on other TV shows for decades after the series ended.
2. Frasier Crane – Kelsey Grammer‘s famously uptight psychiatrist first appeared on Cheers, but when Cheers went away, Frasier the TV show stuck around. For another 11 seasons. Not too shabby, Dr. Crane.
3. Popeye – Wait, Popeye is a spin-off character? Well blow me down! The spinach-swilling sailor first appeared as a minor character in E.C. Segar‘s comic strip Thimble Theater on January 17, 1929 — 10 years after the strip premiered in newspapers. But Popeye had personality to spare and soon took over the strip, and by 1933 was starring in his own theatrical cartoons. He took over the Thimble Theater strip, too, and in the process pushed star Harold Hamgravy out of the way. Hamgravy’s girlfriend, Olive Oyl, stuck around. You might remember her.
4. Lou Grant – Ah, crusty Lou Grant. He may have hated spunk, but TV liked him. After seven years on the classic comedy The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Ed Asner continued the character for five more years on the eponymous drama, Lou Grant. This is one of the few instances where a character moved from one genre to another, and in the process Asner earned Emmy Awards as outstanding actor on both a sitcom and then a drama. Outstanding, indeed.
5. Huckleberry Finn – Ah, Huck. Mark Twain‘s famous character first appeared in 1876 in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but proved popular enough that he returned in his own book in 1885. And in countless movies and adaptations ever since.
6. The Great Gildersleeve – Nearly forgotten today, The Great Gildersleeve was one of broadcasting’s first successful spin-offs, and in this case, the character dates way back to old-time radio. Gildersleeve, portrayed by Harold Peary, first appeared on the classic comedy Fibber McGee and Molly before getting his own radio show in 1941. That show lasted for an amazing 16 years, and during that time appeared in movies, records, an early TV show and more. Unfortunately, Peary moved from NBC to CBS in 1950, but was not allowed to take the Gildersleeve character with him. Another actor took over the part, and the series slowly lost popularity. A shame.
7. Uncle Scrooge – When comic-book artist Carl Barks needed a foil for Donald Duck, he created the richest duck in the world, Uncle Scrooge. The curmudgeonly character proved so popular, he soon got his own series, starting in 1952. Barks never got credit for the stories while he was writing and drawing them, but Disney later allowed him to sell paintings of the character he made famous, paintings which have since sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars each. Uncle Scrooge himself would approve.
8. Captain Jack Harkness – Doctor Who may have started as a kids’ program in the 1960s, but the 21st Century’s reincarnation’s most striking character was a bisexual immortal time-traveling con-man, played with panache to spare by John Barrowman. Captain Jack proved too big for one TV show to contain him, so he quickly got his own spin-off, the excellent TV series Torchwood. Tragically, shrinking budgets may have killed off Torchwood, and Barrowman currently appears for about 30 seconds in each episode of Desperate Housewives.
9. Lestat – Anne Rice created the vampire Lestat as a supporting (yet essential) character in her 1976 novel, Interview with the Vampire. It was nearly a decade before her next vampire novel appeared, but by then, Lestat had overshadowed the character he had spawned, and he became the star of The Vampire Lestat and many other books in Rice’s series. Oh, and Tom Cruise played him on screen, so that’s nothing to shake a fang at.
10. Wolverine – He’s the best there is at what he does, and what he does is sell comics. From his first appearance as a minor villain in The Incredible Hulk, to his breakout role in the X-Men comics, Wolvie has gone on to star in hundreds of issues of his own comic books (currently three titles a month, plus guest appearances and mini-series and graphic novels and…) as well as his own movie, starring Hugh Jackman. Not bad for a 5’3″ Canadian. (He’s taller in the movies.)
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