20 main characters who got sidelined in their sequels

Though the Disney film Disenchanted clearly wants to take advantage of the enduring popularity of its predecessor, it makes a number of fundamental missteps. One of these is pushing Giselle out of the spotlight and focusing more on her stepdaughter's struggles with self-acceptance. The film ultimately struggles to balance its various competing storylines, and Giselle is one of the casualties. It’s a timely reminder that sometimes it really is better to leave a film alone and not burden its legacy with a sequel that can never hope to recapture the magic of the original. 

The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride has the distinction of being one of the few Disney sequels that comes anywhere close to the magic of the original. This is particularly surprising, given the extent to which Simba, the main character of the first film, is essentially a secondary character. Much of the action focuses instead on his daughter Kiara, who falls in love with Kovu, the product of a rival pride of lions. While he may not be the center of the action, at the very least, Disney was able to get Matthew Broderick to return, which is one of the best things about the film. 

Disney’s Enchanted  more than lives up to its title. While much of the film is about Amy Adams’ Giselle and her misadventures in the real world, Patrick Dempsey’s Robert Philip is also an important main character. Disenchanted, the sequel, egregiously relegates his character to a pointless subplot that doesn’t do any justice to the individual the viewer met in the first film. Aside from anything else, it’s a misuse of Dempsey’s considerable acting talent and charisma, and one can’t help but wonder why, if they were going to give him so little to do, they decided to include him in the first place. 

Jamie Lee Curtis has built a formidable screen career, but arguably her most notable role is as Laurie Strode in the Halloween franchise. In fact, she is one of the best things about the newest trilogy of films, even as, in the case of Halloween Kills, she spends nearly the entire film essentially in a hospital bed. While this idea seems to work on paper —with Michael targeting those surrounding her — it’s still odd to see this character, who has already shown herself to be her own person with agency, essentially become nothing more than a prop. Curtis definitely deserved better. 

For the first couple of Toy Story movies, it was clear that Buzz and Woody were something of a package deal. Indeed, it’s hard to imagine the films becoming nearly as successful if not for the undeniable bond between the two characters. Starting with the third installment, he’s gradually sidelined in favor of Woody, who continues to enjoy a relationship with Andy. This is arguably the worst in Toy Story 4, which focuses almost exclusively on Woody and his encounter with the forgotten toys, which feels like a misstep, given that so much of the rest of the series has shown the powerful bond between Buzz and Woody.

There’s no question that The Matrix  is primarily concerned with Keanu Reeves’ Neo since he is the one prophesied to bring about the human revolution. However, the first film also gives a significant amount of attention to the character of Trinity, who is more than just an accessory to Neo’s journey. By the time the third film rolls around, however, she is weaker, which is a disservice to the type of character she was shown to be in the first two. The fact that she dies in the end is the clearest statement that she is ultimately expendable from the films’ point of view. 

Harrison Ford cemented his legacy when he appeared as Han Solo, and the irreverent smuggler has remained a fixture in the Star Wars universe ever since. The first film is very much an ensemble, with Leia, Luke, and Han all having distinct character arcs. This becomes less true in The Empire Strikes Back and even more so in Return of the Jedi. Both are far more concerned with Luke’s confrontation with Darth Vader than with Han Solo (or even Leia). It’s an unfortunate fate for one of the most iconic characters to have emerged from speculative fiction. 

Rose was one of the best characters in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. She not only helped diversify the series' cast, but her rebellious spirit and razor-sharp wits made her a perfect foil (and potential romantic partner) for Finn. Like so much of the sequel trilogy, however, she didn’t fare very well in Rise of Skywalker, with her role reduced to almost nothing. It’s easy to see how this was a response to the racist backlash the character faced among some segments of the fan base, making the decision to excise her meaningful story all the more perplexing. 

Dewey is, of course, one of the central characters of the Scream  franchise. He plays a key role in the events of the first film, in particular. After that, he becomes increasingly tangential to the narrative. In some ways, he just seems to exist to get stabbed by whoever happens to be wearing the Ghostface mask and wielding a knife. This isn’t David Arquette’s fault, as he gives his all to the role. It is, instead, the mark of a franchise that sometimes struggles with what to do with all of its characters. It’s not until Scream (2022) that he really gets a chance to shine as a character, just in time to die.

Whatever limitations Avatar might have had in terms of originality, it succeeded in creating compelling characters. It was particularly enjoyable to see the sparring between Jake and Neytiri, the latter of whom was a brilliant character in her own right, with personality and values that she was willing to give her life to protect. The Way of Water, however, works overtime to shunt her into the background, restricting her largely to the role of being a mother. Given how much of an agent she was in the first film, such a diminution becomes even more disappointing. 

The first entry in the A Quiet Place  series was remarkable for a whole host of reasons, not the least of which was Emily Blunt’s performance as a mother trying to protect her family in a world overrun by deadly creatures that hunt by sound. The sequel places a much greater emphasis on her daughter, so much so that Evelyn begins to recede into the background. Considering the extent to which Blunt delivered a knock-out performance in the first film, this seems like a poor choice. It would have been nice to see her take a more active role in fighting back against the creatures that killed her husband and nearly destroyed her family.

Casey Jones is one of the most beloved characters associated with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. His appearance in the first of the live-action films is one of the best things about it, and it’s frustrating that he was excised entirely from the sequel. When he does return, in the third installment of the franchise, he is essentially little more than a babysitter. This is quite a comedown for a major character in this particular series, and one would have hoped that the writers would have found something better for him to do or, failing that, have just excluded him altogether. 

It’s no secret that the MCU has some serious issues when it comes to its female characters. This carries over into Ant-Man  and the character of the Wasp. Evangeline Lilly gives her all to the role, but even she’s not enough to make the Wasp anything more than a substantive cameo in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, the third installment. It’s particularly jarring to see her pushed to the boundaries of the story, considering that her name is literally in the title. Clearly, the writers didn’t know how to give her something interesting and valuable to do.

Natalie Portman made quite an impression on fans of the MCU with her appearance as Jane Foster in the first Thor film. At first glance, it seemed that the film was setting her up to be a major player alongside Thor. In the sequel, she becomes little more than a glorified extra. It is, in many ways, a significant waste of Natalie Portman’s major talents. While she does get her turn in the sun in Thor: Love & Thunder, it would have been nice to see her get some more development in the first several sequels rather than being mere window-dressing.

In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,  Harry himself was obviously the main center of the action and conflict. However, the first film was very notably an ensemble piece, with Ron and Hermione playing equal parts in the drama. As the series went on, Ron became ever more incidental to the plot, becoming more of a source of comic relief than a fully developed character. Rupert Grint does the best he can with the material, but even he isn’t always able to save Ron from being little more than a sidekick. 

As with so many other franchises, X-Men is very much built on the interactions between and among its important characters. In the first film, one of the most important characters was Rogue, who had to grapple with what her powers meant. Like so many other main characters, she increasingly became an afterthought, and, to make matters worse, her story revolved mainly around a romance plot which was one of the least interesting aspects of X2. There were several more interesting and compelling routes that the series could have taken, making her sidelined even more frustrating. 

One of the things that has always made Star Trek work as a franchise has been its collective spirit. Though Kirk and Spock are the center of the story in the TV series and the recent set of films, they are still part of an ensemble. Karl Urban’s Bones was a key part of the story, but, as the actor and fans have noted, he started becoming less of a part of the story, particularly beginning in Star Trek Beyond. Given Urban's powerful and strong performance, this is a bit of a misstep on the series’ part and a missed opportunity to explore his character in more detail. 

In Fantastic Beasts and How to Find Them, Eddie Redmayne’s Newt Scamander is one of the major characters, and much of the plot revolves around his actions. The second film, however, sees him take on an increasing background role as the action switches to focus more on Gellert Grindelwald and his nefarious efforts to remake the world in his own image. By the third film, he’s become almost incidental to the action since the story's main thrust revolves around the escalating antagonism between Dumbledore and Grindelwald. It’s an unfortunate disservice to Redmayne’s performance and the importance of the character. 

Frozen is arguably one of the most successful Disney films ever made, and much of this can be ascribed to the central relationship of the film: the bond between Elsa and Anna. However, Kristoff is also a main character in the first film, but this is less the case in the sequel. Like so many other main characters, he finds himself increasingly sidelined, which is particularly striking given that his efforts to propose to Anna are a significant part of the plot. 

Few franchises have become as contentious as Star Wars, and much of this can be laid at the feet of the sequel trilogy. While Finn is a remarkable character in The Force Awakens, he becomes increasingly sidelined in The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker.  This is unfortunate because John Boyega is a tremendous talent, and his character is so fascinating. After all, his story is about how a former Stormtrooper decided to rebel against a lifetime of training to become one of the good guys. It would have been nice if this story received the payoff it deserved.