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Henry Winkler as Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli in Happy Days, one of the best-known breakout characters in television.

A breakout character is a fictional character in different episodes, books or other media (TV, comics, literature, games etc) that evolves from a minor role to a major role, sometimes becoming the main character of the show. In television programs, movies and other episodic media, a character that becomes the most popular, talked about, and imitated is a breakout character.^[1] Most often a breakout character in a series captures audience's imagination and popularizes it, sometimes inadvertently. Breakout characters are known to come from intended single appearances.

In some instances, particularly television, when characters have broken out from minor roles to become the center of the action, viewers have felt they received too much focus and were detrimental to the show,^[2] sometimes leading it to jump the shark.

• Arthur "The Fonz" Fonzarelli (played by Henry Winkler) in the American sitcom Happy Days^[1][3]. The character of Fonzie started out as a fringe character but quickly evolved into the focal point of the series. His character became best friend to the main character, Richie Cunningham, displacing the character originally intended for that relationship. Winkler's billing in the credits rose all the way to second (he refused to go before Ron Howard, the star) and then first after Howard left the show to pursue directing. At one point, network executives even hoped to call the show Fonzie's Happy Days. ^[4]
• Barney Fife (played by Don Knotts) in The Andy Griffith Show.^[5]
• Goldberg became a promising talent in World Championship Wrestling and went on to become the organization's most popular wrestler, and (along with the New World Order) contributed to WCW's long string of victories against the World Wrestling Federation in pro wrestling's infamous Monday Night Wars.^[6]
• Flippy (voiced by Aubrey Ankrum and Kenn Navarro) in "Happy Tree Friends". According to writer Warren Graff Flippy almost didn't make the cut because he was the only character who purposely killed other characters but they decided he was really funny^[7]. Despite his few appearances on the show Flippy has become the most popular character on the show among fans^[8] and is the one with most Fan art done for. According to the creators they didn't expect Flippy to be the show's breakout character.
• Gabriel "Sylar" Gray (played by Zachary Quinto) in "Heroes". Gray was originally supposed to be a minor villain for the first season, until increased popularity made writer Tim Kring decide to move Zachary Quinto to the main cast for Season 2.^[9]
• J. J. Evans (played by Jimmie Walker) in Good Times.^[10] With his catch phrase "Dy-no-mite!", J.J. came to dominate the series as audiences couldn't get enough of him. This led to friction with stars Esther Rolle and John Amos, who played his parents, not so much because they resented being upstaged but because they felt he was becoming too stereotypical and not a good role model for African American youth^[11][12]. Ultimately, they forced a showdown with the producers which led to some changes in J.J.'s character, Amos's character being killed off and later Rolle's temporary departure from the show (she returned at the beginning of the show's final season), after which J.J. became even more the focus of the show.
• J.R. Ewing (played by Larry Hagman) in Dallas. Originally intended simply as a nemesis for Pam and Bobby Ewing, his villainy made him so popular that by the end of the show's third season the story arc around his attempted murder put the show high atop the ratings.^[13]
• The Mooninites, Ignignokt and Err of Aqua Teen Hunger Force are two of the most notable characters on the show and have become almost iconic with Adult Swim, appearing on most promotional art for the network. They are the most recurring antagonists of the show's quasi-villain of the week format and were even shown as the leaders of most of the villains in the episode "The Last One." Their popularity spawned a pilot for their own spinoff Spacecataz featuring their rivalry with the Plutonians. The Mooninites reached mainstream popularity when their images where used for guerrilla marketing advertisements for the movie Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters that were mistaken for bombs in what is referred to as the 2007 Boston Mooninite Scare.^[14]
• Pinky and The Brain, the rodent duo from the hit animated show Animaniacs. While not overshadowing the titular characters, the duo's consistent failed attempts to take over the world proved popular with the fans.^[15] They would prove popular enough to get their own spinoff.
• Spike (played by James Marsters) evolved from villain to comic relief to hero in the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, he becomes the lover of the show's titular character, Buffy Summers, and comes to parallel Angel in terms of motivation. He became one of the show's primary focuses in its final season, and then moved to its spin-off Angel. He appeared on the Angel season 5 DVD covers alongside its titular character.^[16]
• Steve Urkel (played by Jaleel White) in Family Matters. Originally just a one-time guest character, he was so popular he eventually became a regular and practically synonymous with the series.^[17][18]
• Stewie Griffin, (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) in Family Guy. Creator Seth MacFarlane reports being very surprised that Stewie turned out to be the show's breakout character, and that when this turned out to be the case he had to work out stories to do with the character.^[19]
• Todd Manning (originally Roger Howarth, currently Trevor St. John) on One Life to Live. The character, known for initiating the gang rape of Marty Saybrooke, was originally supposed to be short-lived, but once Howarth was cited as having drawn in notable positive viewer reaction, the character was slated to become a main focus.^[20][21] The character's popularity continued even after St. John assumed the role in 2003.^[22]
• Will Robinson, Dr. (Zachary) Smith, The Robot (Billy Mumy, Jonathan Harris, Dick Tufeld/Bob May) in Lost In Space. The show, as its early episodes suggest, was originally supposed to be a serious action/adventure series showcasing Guy Williams. Fan response completely changed the nature of the show and the set of focal characters.^[23]
• Mork from Ork, played by Robin Williams. In just one episode of Happy Days, the unique character combined with the comic portrayal and improvisations of Robin Williams, Mork gained enough fan support to lead to his own series, Mork & Mindy. ^[24]

• Inspector Jacques Clouseau (played by Peter Sellers) in The Pink Panther series of films. In the first film, David Niven's suave jewel thief was the main character. But audiences and critics so loved the bumbling Clouseau that later films in the series were written around him instead.^[25]

• Snoopy in Peanuts became, in the strip's later years, the focus of the strip, displacing Charlie Brown, as his character began to do more and more fantastic things, got his own sidekick, Woodstock, and proved to be a huge seller in the strip's merchandising. In the 1970s he, like Spock in Star Trek, was practically synonymous with the strip.^[26][27]
• Dick Grayson/Robin/Nightwing was introduced as the first kid sidekick superhero in comic book history in 1940. After forty-four years as Robin, his popularity in the Teen Titans series and his increasing popularity in the Batman monthly books caused him to extend beyond his sidekick role and become solo hero Nightwing. Many have called him the "heart and soul" of the DC universe.^[28]
• Mary Jane Watson was introduced in The Amazing Spider-Man as a flighty rival of Gwen Stacy for the affections of Peter Parker. However, Mary Jane's energetic and confident personality drew considerably more reader interest than expected and she evolved into one of the central supporting characters of Spider-Man. ^[29]
• Wolverine began as an enemy of the Incredible Hulk. He shortly after joined the X-Men but editors decided that he and Thunderbird were too similar in abilities and temperament and almost killed off Wolverine instead of Thunderbird. Even after, he was a minor character, but he grew in popularity to become one of Marvel Comics' most popular and marketable characters.^[30]

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