There are some spoilers ahead!Science fictionhas, for a long time, been one of the most popular and influentialtelevisiongenres. Some of the longest-running and most entertainingTV showsin history aresci-fi— and, quite fittingly, these shows have some of the most engaging characters that the medium has ever seen. An abundance of great characters, however, typically comes with a few not-so-great ones.
It’s one thing to have a character that’s simply underwritten, but it’ssomething entirely different — and much more disappointing — to have a wasted character. These are the ones that showed tons of potential, but for one reason or another (whether poor writing, lazy characterization, or an untimely death), didn’t live up to expectations.
10Lexa (Alycia Debnam-Carey)
‘The 100’ (2014–2020)
The post-apocalyptic teen dramaThe 100is based onKass Morgan’s YA novel series of the same name. Throughout the course of its 7-season run, the show earned a cult following that remains loyal to this day. These fans arewilling to overlook the show’s often-clichéd writing in favor of its atmospheric toneand fun characters.
Lexa (Alycia Debnam-Carey), a character created for the show, was a fierce warrior and the commander of the Grounder clans. Throughout her run, she was also one of the most acclaimed female and LGBTQ+ characters in sci-fi television — until she was killed off in season three. Her death was seen as an example of the infamous “bury your gays” trope, where queer characters in media are killed off “for the sake of the plot” remarkably more often than straight characters. Whatever the case, Lexa being written out of the series so unceremoniously was one ofThe 100’s biggest missteps.
9General Grievous (Matthew Wood)
‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ (2008–2020)
General Grievous (Matthew Wood) was created byGeorge LucasandGenndy Tartakovskyfor the latter’s iconic 2003 non-canon seriesStar Wars: Clone Wars. The character was later brought back for Lucas’Episode III — Revenge of the Sith, and then for the belovedClone Warsreboot,Star Wars: The Clone Wars. In each iteration, the general of the Droid Army kept becoming more and more often sidelined.
In the originalClone Wars, Grievous was an absolutely terrifying killing machine.Revenge of the Sithlet fans down badly enough, butThe Clone Warswas the final nail in the coffin. The show greatly expanded the backstories and personalities of multipleStar Warscharacters, but Grievous was one of the least benefited. Throughout the show,he remained an incompetent fool that only came along every once in a whileto do some semi-menacing shenanigans and then scurry away. Not exactlytop-tierStar Warsvillainstuff.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
‘Stranger Things’ (2016–2025)
As it has gone on,Stranger Thingshas only dug itself deeper and deeper into the foundations of contemporary sci-fi TV pop culture, being one of thebest original shows Netflix has produced.Reminiscent of classic movies from the ’70s and ’80s in all the best ways, it’s one of the most entertaining shows currently on television, with characters that have remained consistently interesting and fun throughout the entire thing.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t include the character that’s at the forefront of the most hated storyline of season 2 of the series: Kali Prasad (Linnea Berthelsen), a.k.a. Eight, who was experimented on as a child alongside Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown). Kali could have been an interesting character, but Eleven’s detours with her felt like such a momentum-killer that her presence was always more of a nuisance. Sadly, she has never been brought back to prove her standalone worth as a character.
Stranger Things
7Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell)
‘The Boys’ (2019–)
Based on the adult comic book series byGarth Ennis— and usually agreed to be leagues better than the source material —, Prime Video’sThe Boysis one of Amazon’s best sci-fi shows. This superhero satire, like any superhero show, lives or dies by its characters. Thankfully, they’re some of the most compelling, well-written, and well-performed in the genre… for the most part.
Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell), who’s a pivotal character in the comics, is a little less important in the show. That was made a hundred times worse whenthe writers squandered whatever potential he still had by killing him off in season three. Although many fans have theorized that he must still be alive, he can nevertheless be considered the show’s most wasted character, at least for now. If the latest season ofThe Boyswasthe weakest of the bunch, there’s a non-zero chance that it’s because of Noir’s departure.
6Sally Sparrow (Carey Mulligan)
‘Doctor Who’ (2005–2022)
First airing on the BBC in 1963,Doctor Whois the longest-running sci-fi show in television history. Accordingly,it’s also an essential pillar of contemporary sci-fi pop culture, particularly the 2005 revivalof the series. It had numerous of the greatest sci-fi episodes in TV history, including the masterpiece that is “Blink,” one ofthe highest-rated episodes ever on IMDb.
The main reason why “Blink” is such a good episode has a name: It’s Sally Sparrow, who was played byCarey Mulliganbefore she became an Oscar-nominated superstar with 2009’sAn Education. It’s partly how great Mulligan’s performance is and partly how phenomenally the character is written, but fans will forever lament the fact that Sally was a one-episode character and never became a recurring companion.
Doctor Who
5Wally West (Keiynan Lonsdale)
‘The Flash’ (2014–2023)
In DC Comics, Wally West is a phenomenal character. He’s the Flash every bit as much as Barry Allen is. In the CW’sThe Flash, however,Wally (Keiynan Lonsdale) barely qualifies as an afterthought. Constantly pushed aside in favor of storylines and character arcs that fans weren’t always particularly fond of, he was by far the most wasted character of the CW’s Arrowverse.
The writers never quite seemed to know what to do with Kid Flash, and you could always tell.
When Lonsdale decided to distance himself from the Arrowverse to pursue different career and life paths, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back. The writers never quite seemed to know what to do with Kid Flash, and you could always tell. They always kept him two steps behind all the show’s villains and other heroes, meaning he rarely got much to do. For fans of the character, it’s a real shame.
4Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis)
‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ (1987–1994)
TheStar Trekfranchise is one of the biggest and most influential in the history of sci-fi media — and at least as far as sci-fi television franchises go, it’s definitely the most important. Many series followed 1966’sThe Original Series, includingStar Trek: The Next Generation, one ofthe greatest sci-fi shows of the ’80s.
But while the show itself was phenomenal and has aged beautifully, that doesn’t mean all of its characters got what they deserved. Namely, Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) tends to be infamous amongStar Trekfans. Quite outrageously, the show tends to use her only as eye candy, an unnecessary exposition machine, or a damsel in distress; an embodiment ofevery cliché that has held female representation in sci-fi television backfor decades.
Star Trek: The Next Generation
3Commander Chakotay (Robert Beltran)
‘Star Trek: Voyager’ (1995–2001)
While Deanna Troi wasThe Next Generation’s most wasted character, she wasn’t the franchise’s most wasted character. That unfortunate title would fall unto Commander Chakotay (Robert Beltran) fromStar Trek: Voyager, one ofthe best sci-fi TV shows of the ’90s.Voyagerhad some pretty great characters (most prominently protagonist Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew)). Chakotay isn’t among them.
There was a lot of wasted potential inVoyageras a whole, but this character was one of the most ludicrous examples. He was the franchise’s first-ever Native American main character, but the cultural representation was always terribly written. As the show progressed and the writers seemed to realize that they had next to no idea who Chakotay was supposed to be or do, they sidelined him more and more. It’s a tragedy just how muchthey squandered a character that so often felt like he had tons more to offer.
Star Trek: Voyager
2Cottonmouth (Mahershala Ali)
‘Luke Cage’ (2016–2018)
Starting withDaredevil, Netflix’s little side of the MCU soon became an exciting corner to tell muchmore mature, violent, and dark stories than the movie franchise could ever get away with. This includedLuke Cage, a disappointing-but-not-bad adaptation of the iconic street-level hero. The show’s first season’s villain was initially Cottonmouth, brilliantly played by the masterfulMahershala Ali.
Luke Cageoverall can reasonably be called one ofthe most underrated sci-fi showsof recent years, but most of the criticisms that people tend to throw at it hold true — including the bafflingly terrible treatment of Cottonmouth as a character. He was unexpectedly thrown six feet under halfway through the season, giving way to Diamondback (Erik LaRay Harvey), a far worse-written and far less interesting antagonist. Surely the writers thought that Cottonmouth’s twist demise would be a satisfyingly shocking moment. Instead, it’s the biggest sin the show ever committed.
1Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison)
‘The Book of Boba Fett’ (2021)
After the success ofThe Mandalorian, it became clear to Disney that there was a huge market ready to consume whatever live-actionStar Warsshow they threw onto Disney+ next. Sadly, this includedThe Book of Boba Fett. With it, the badass character who once upon a time was one of the most beloved icons in the entire franchise became a bit of a joke.
The ways in whichBook of Boba Fettwastes its title character are too many to count. For one,he often feels like a guest star in his own series, particularly as the season progresses. Secondly, nothing about him was ever quite clear. His motivations, his morals, his personality, and his affiliations remained undercooked and underexplained throughout the entire show, to a point where it’ll now be tough for the character to be fixed if he ever visits the franchise again. It’s the most egregious example of a sci-fi TV character completely squandered.
