The Most Useless Characters in Film and TV, According to Fans

A popular online debate explores how bad side characters can hurt even good stories.

Damjan

Published in Film & TV
27 Jan 2026

The Most Useless Characters in Film and TV, According to Fans

A strong story rarely stands on the shoulders of a single character alone. Even the most memorable hero needs a cast around them to feel believable and to give their journey weight.

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Supporting characters add contrast, tension, humor, and emotion. When they are written well, they help the lead character stand out and make the world feel alive. When they are not, they can drag everything down.

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Bad supporting characters usually fail for a few clear reasons. In movies or TV shows, poor acting is often the fastest way to break immersion. Even a decent role can feel pointless if it is delivered without conviction. But acting is not always the issue.

Sometimes a character starts with a clear purpose, only for the writers or directors to abandon that idea halfway through. The result is someone who lingers in scenes without affecting the plot. Another common problem is laziness in writing.

Clichéd personalities, predictable dialogue, or roles that exist only to fill screen time tend to feel hollow. In animated shows, useless characters can be even more noticeable. They often interrupt the flow of the story, distract from key moments, and leave viewers confused rather than entertained.

Curious which characters people consider the biggest offenders? A popular Reddit thread tackled exactly that question, with users sharing their picks for the most pointless characters across movies, series, cartoons, and anime. Take a look, see if you agree.

"Bella in Twilight. Followed closely by every other character in Twilight."

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"The lifeguard in SpongeBob. He saves fish. From drowning."

"Jar Jar Binks was extremely useless in everything he was in."

The Joker in Suicide Squad.

"The Joker in Suicide Squad. Take all scenes with him out and the movie still makes sense, still crap though." espilono replied: "Alternate title for Suicide Squad: Edgelords Consolidated."

Lori Grimes

"Lori Grimes. Absolute last person I would want to be stuck in a zombie apocalypse with she was nothing but an inconvenience in every way." MooMoo4228 comments: "She ties with Andrea." brittwithouttheney replied: "Andrea was awesome in the comics. The show did her zero justice."

Scooby-Doo

"That one kid character from every kids’ animated series where the main cast are adults and not kids themselves. You know the one. He/she tags along with the main team and only serves to be kidnapped/get into trouble every episode so that the heroes will have someone to save. Often times the main characters won’t LET them come along with them because they KNOW this kid is absolutely useless. But it doesn’t matter because they find their way into trouble anyways while shouting sassy one-liners all the way. The first one to come to my mind was Steven Universe. But he’s a cool twist on this trope because the whole gist of the series is that we watch him grow OUT of it. He’s the only character I can think of who went from tagalong kid/load to the strongest character in the cast." Acastamphy replied: "Scrappy - Doo." Scooby-Doo

"Chloe from Fairly Odd Parents." hunterdawn3421 asked: "Who's Chloe?" ilikeicing454 answered: "Exactly."

"Caillou. Freakin hate that kid."

Every cop in a superhero movie.

"Every single cop in every superhero movie. I get that the hero is supposed to come in and save the day from the bad guys but they make cops seem absolutely useless in every way imaginable. The hero has to do absolutely everything. It seems like cops can't even handle common crooks in superhero movies." biznatch11 replied: "Jim Gordon in The Dark Knight wasn't useless." Every cop in a superhero movie.

"Riley from Buffy the Vampire Slayer... he's supposed to be likable and sweet and instead he's the most boring character of all time and also fills me with hatred for absolutely no reason."

DeAngelo from The Office 100%

"DeAngelo from The Office 100%. I don't even remember if DeAngelo was his first name or last name, that's how useless he was. I don't even know if I'm spelling the damn name right but I don't care 'cause he was just- I don't know what he was."

"Barbara from Stranger Things." Grumm-SkullCaver replied: "Yeah... she deserved better, she was the token grief character for the main character to develop."

The Phoenix from the live-action Mulan

"The Phoenix from the live-action Mulan." Snoo79382 replied: "I was hoping someone would say that that useless thing that keeps following her replaced the one character that should've been in the movie. Plus the movie gave her Force powers and didn't work to be a trained fighter."

"The mum from Jurassic Park 3. She's constantly screaming and shouting and drawing attention to herself on an island with killer dinosaurs."

Quicksilver in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

"Quicksilver in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Such a wasted character, he's only there to die." EmseMCE comments: "I'm pretty sure they had a sharing arrangement. Fox got Quicksilver for the X-men movies and Avengers killed him off. And though it's not stated it's her, X-men killed off a "Scarlet Witch" character so Avengers could have her. Though Quicksilver did have a little sister so..." Quicksilver in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

"I remember seeing a tweet about Rise of Skywalker saying something along the lines of 'Rose is the Asian kid who's stuck at home studying while everyone else is out saving the galaxy.'"

Captain Phasama.

"Captain Phasama. I was really hoping she’d be a badass villain but was just wasted. I’ll always love Star Wars, but that entire franchise just wastes the potential for awesome characters."

The Night King

"The Night King. Apparently, he and the entire WW army didn’t mean jack s*it to the plot." user replied: "I wish he won it all. Would’ve still been better than what we got and then he wouldn’t be so useless."

"Virtually every character from the first sixty seconds of a Doctor Who episode. 'What was that noise?? Oh nooo, I died.'" Kirilli replied: "Same with Supernatural lol, still love both shows though."

Mark Brendonowitz from Parks and Rec.

"Mark Brendonowitz (if that's even how you spell his name) from Parks and Rec. It felt like he was supposed to be the token "normal" guy to contrast with everyone else's craziness, kind of like Jim and Pam from The Office. But while those two actually had their own personalities and character development and often got involved with the surrounding wackiness, Mark was just kind of there and never really seemed to be too involved with the overall plot. He even left the show pretty unceremoniously. Seems like even the writers saw the character as useless, given he only lasted 2 seasons. It's even played for laughs later on when Ann is carrying boxes with each of her ex-boyfriends' names and Mark isn't even mentioned." Mark Brendonowitz from Parks and Rec.

"Mineta from My Hero Academia. He's just a little creepy perv. Nobody would worry what happened to him if they never saw him again."

"Mumen Rider. Seriously dude, this freaking guy. I love him for being so unuseful." Yusuf_Fulat15 replied: "The dude goes around trying to stop evil riding a bike."

Most of the humans in any Transformers franchises.

"Most of the humans in any Transformers franchises." Snoo79382 comments: "In the 2nd Transformers movie, Skids & Mudflap were nothing but annoying racial stereotypes that didn't contribute at all during the film." Package-Worth replied: "In the 2nd film they send a cyborg girl to kill Sam and are nearly successful, why bother transforming into cars and trucks if you can do that?" Most of the humans in any Transformers franchises.

"The chicken from Moana." SpiffyPaige143 replied: "Pua is more useless. Just there to be cute. The trailers and promotional art made it seem like Pua would be in most of the movie. Nope. Maybe 5 minutes total." "The chicken from Moana." SpiffyPaige143 replied: "Pua is more useless. Just there to be cute. The trailers and promotional art made it seem like Pua would be in most of the movie. Nope. Maybe 5 minutes total."

Rose Granger-Weasley from Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

"Rose Granger-Weasley from Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Don't get me wrong, there was a LOT wrong with that book, but Rose is up on the list. Her character is basically just there to serve as Scorpius's love interest so it's clear to everyone he's not actually gay for Albus even though they act super gay. And people who are like 'No that's just friendship' go read the actual books. Harry and Ron are a great example of a super platonic friendship. Scorpius and Albus just scream gay. And Rose was there because they wanted to pull a no homo I guess. Absolutely useless. I wish they actually made her a real character." Rose Granger-Weasley from Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

"Dr. Nick. His appearance on the screen makes me feel like I'm responsible for a toddler that I can't interact with."

"Iris West from The Flash. Nothing against Candice Patton but her character is so annoying. It's like the writers wanted us to hate her from the very beggining. And don't get me started on Ralph..."

Randy in That '70s Show.

"Randy in That '70s Show." elmoteca replied: "An idea they considered was recasting Eric and saying he came back from Africa a changed man. Why didn't we get that? It might have been a disaster, but it would've been more interesting."

Willie Scott, from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

"Willie Scott, from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Has absolutely no plot-based reason to be there, and does nothing." Trumpsucksputindick replied: "She actually does do something. She saves Indy and Short Round from that trap room where the ceiling was going to crush them and she had to put her hand in some bugs to pull the lever to reverse the trap." Willie Scott, from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

"Vision... He did nothing but make things more difficult and get stabbed." RemydePoer replied: "Hey now, don't forget he also crippled Rhodey."

Tuxedo Mask.

"Tuxedo Mask. 'Hey, I threw a rose and said some stuff, now get to work girls.' He's Charlie except even Charlie paid the angels." Katana314 replied: "I just started watching the series out of curiosity and it’s hilarious how true this is in every damn episode."

"Admiral Ackbar. Completely useless, unless you need someone to tell you there's a trap."

"Preston Garvey still infuriates me." "Hey violence prone guy I just met, you're now the leader of the organization I dedicated my life to!"

"The three Jedi 'masters' who went with Mace Windu to arrest Palpatine. I don’t care how great Kit Fisto was in other mediums. In the movie, he did jack fcking sit and died just like the other two doing absolutely nothing."

"Booster from Jingle All The Way. NOBODY likes Booster."

"Ashley from Resident Evil 4." Emu173 replied: "Leon! Help! Leon! Help! Leon! Help!"

Nala from The Lion King.

"Nala from the lion king. She’s purely there as a love interest. Mufasa himself had to astral project to Simba in order for him to be convinced to save pride rock." daughtrofademonlover replied: "I might have agreed with this in the past, but I’ve rewatched several times lately and now I appreciate Nala. Three characters appear to Simba to convince him to return home: Nala, Rafiki, and Mufasa. They all appeal to him in different ways, and obviously, Mufasa has the biggest impact. However, there is an important element to Nala. Early in the movie, after the cubs sneak off to the elephant graveyard, Mufasa stresses that the worst thing Simba did was put Nala in danger. Since the whole movie is about Simba taking responsibility and fulfilling his role as a leader, it makes sense that this sentiment is repeated when he learns that adult Nala is suffering as a consequence of his actions." Nala from The Lion King.

Harry Strickland, commander of the Golden Company.

"Harry Strickland, commander of the Golden Company. After hearing about this great army, all he does is sit on a horse and end up getting his army incinerated by a dragon and him dying while running for his life." lordkenyon replied: "Literally the entire Golden Company in the show. In the books, they are a badass mercenary army famed for never breaking their contracts. They are founded by Westrosi exiles from the losing side of the Blackfyre Rebellions, but over the years have picked up all sorts of people, like a group of Summer Islands archers and a bunch of war elephants. They hang the gilded skulls of their dead leaders from their banners so that when they can finally return to Westeros their dead will come home with them. Then they cropped up in the show. No skulls. No exile. No freaking elephants. Just stood around to serve as s*itty barbecue." Harry Strickland, commander of the Golden Company.

"Fabian from Pulp Fiction. Damnit, woman, Butch told you how important that watch was. Stop obsessing over what you're gonna eat for breakfast and focus."

Brian in Family Guy.

"Brian in Family Guy. Now, in earlier seasons, the dog was actually a useful character, he was the voice of reason in the Griffin house, and he had a lot of wits. But starting around season 8 or 9 he gradually started to become a liberal douchebag that takes advantage of women and doesn’t actually do anything useful. I actually wish they wrote him out of the series in “Life of Brian”. Some of the best episodes earlier in the series were the Brian and Stewie ones. There hasn’t been a good one of those in 10 years; the last one was probably the bank vault one. At least the show is self-aware enough to have Quagmire point out his flaws, especially when he went on that huge rant at the steakhouse." Brian in Family Guy.

"Marcy Long from Fallout 4"

That girl, Trudi, in Pulp Fiction.

"That girl Trudi in Pulp Fiction - she did absolutely nothing except sit on a couch holding a skull bong the entire time Vincent, Lance, and Jodie were running around trying to save Mia Wallace from dying of a heroin overdose. Even after Mia was revived from the adrenaline shot to the heart, she barely moved and never said a word." That girl, Trudi, in Pulp Fiction.

Big The Cat from Sonic The Hedgehog.

"For me, it’s Big The Cat from Sonic The Hedgehog. He literally contributes nothing to any story he is in. Sure his frog has ties to Chaos in Sonic Adventure 1, but that’s just a coincidence and Big does nothing to help Sonic or the others. In his first appearance, his gameplay is just fishing! fishing in a Sonic game! A game where you run fast!" Big The Cat from Sonic The Hedgehog.

"Shippo from Inuyasha. He hides during all the fights, and the most damage his abilities do is put soot on their faces. His only purpose is being cute."

Olaf in Frozen.

"Olaf in Frozen. He's so beloved and I just don't get it. He does nothing of note, the characters ignore him 90% of the time he says anything, and if you cut him out of the movie, you wouldn't even notice. He's like a walking Family Guy cutaway." Geminii27 comments: "He's not there for the plot, he's there to be funny for small kids so they'll want to watch it over and over and over." Olaf in Frozen.

"Delphine from Skyrim." ChinChins3rdHenchman replied: "Nazeem: am I a joke to you? Oh wait, he is."

"Aqua from Konosuba." _Zekken replied: "Well that's a literal answer to the question. To be fair she has... Her moments. As few and far between as they are. And even if half of them are fixing her own damn f*ckups."

Sasuke Uchiha.

"Sasuke Uchiha failed at virtually everything he set out to do with his life. First, he vowed to kill his brother and ran out of power in the middle of the fight. Itachi used Susano'o to drain the rest of his own lifeforce and died. Even before that, he stopped Orochimaru from taking over Sasuke's Body. Next, he learned the truth about his brother and vowed to kill everyone in Konoha. He killed Danzo, just barely. Then he vowed to become Hokage. Naruto beat the living heck out of him." Sasuke Uchiha.

Gwen & Kevin from Ben 10.

"This is a rare answer but I would also like to add Gwen & Kevin from Ben 10: Omniverse. I know not a lot of people are familiar with the 4th show in the franchise and a lot of the franchise which is pretty much underrated, but after being badass characters in the first 2 shows, they became side characters. I really wished they had kept being useful sidekicks as the show go on because they were such badasses and greatly written ones. I did like Omniverse a lot, but the biggest problem I had was Ben's sidekicks Gwen & Kevin being reduced to lesser side characters. There were a couple of episodes though that at least revolved around them. Also, let's not forget that the unnecessary reboot we shouldn't think of." Gwen & Kevin from Ben 10.

"Pretty much everyone in the last season of Game of Thrones. All of those characters deserved better."

Annie from the Magic Treehouse books

"Annie from the Magic Treehouse books. She always screwed things up for Jack and made the situation worse." FlorenceCattleya replied: "My kid is 8 and we’ve read probably the first 6 books in the series. He’s not really interested in reading more because Annie is such a pain. It got to the point where he was actively rooting for Jack not to save her so she could suffer some consequences for her actions." Annie from the Magic Treehouse books

Supporting characters can make a story feel alive or completely take you out of it. When they have no clear purpose, feel overused, or simply exist in the background, viewers notice right away.

Even small roles matter because they help shape the overall experience. That’s why people enjoy pointing out the characters that never really earned their place on screen.

"Bella in Twilight. Followed closely by every other character in Twilight."

"The lifeguard in SpongeBob. He saves fish. From drowning."

"Jar Jar Binks was extremely useless in everything he was in."

The Joker in Suicide Squad.

Lori Grimes

Scooby-Doo

"Chloe from Fairly Odd Parents." hunterdawn3421 asked: "Who's Chloe?" ilikeicing454 answered: "Exactly."

"Caillou. Freakin hate that kid."

Every cop in a superhero movie.

"Riley from Buffy the Vampire Slayer... he's supposed to be likable and sweet and instead he's the most boring character of all time and also fills me with hatred for absolutely no reason."

DeAngelo from The Office 100%

"Barbara from Stranger Things." Grumm-SkullCaver replied: "Yeah... she deserved better, she was the token grief character for the main character to develop."

The Phoenix from the live-action Mulan

"The mum from Jurassic Park 3. She's constantly screaming and shouting and drawing attention to herself on an island with killer dinosaurs."

Quicksilver in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

"I remember seeing a tweet about Rise of Skywalker saying something along the lines of 'Rose is the Asian kid who's stuck at home studying while everyone else is out saving the galaxy.'"

Captain Phasama.

The Night King

"Virtually every character from the first sixty seconds of a Doctor Who episode. 'What was that noise?? Oh nooo, I died.'" Kirilli replied: "Same with Supernatural lol, still love both shows though."

Mark Brendonowitz from Parks and Rec.

"Mineta from My Hero Academia. He's just a little creepy perv. Nobody would worry what happened to him if they never saw him again."

"Mumen Rider. Seriously dude, this freaking guy. I love him for being so unuseful." Yusuf_Fulat15 replied: "The dude goes around trying to stop evil riding a bike."

Most of the humans in any Transformers franchises.

Rose Granger-Weasley from Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

"Dr. Nick. His appearance on the screen makes me feel like I'm responsible for a toddler that I can't interact with."

"Iris West from The Flash. Nothing against Candice Patton but her character is so annoying. It's like the writers wanted us to hate her from the very beggining. And don't get me started on Ralph..."

Randy in That '70s Show.

Willie Scott, from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

"Vision... He did nothing but make things more difficult and get stabbed." RemydePoer replied: "Hey now, don't forget he also crippled Rhodey."

Tuxedo Mask.

"Admiral Ackbar. Completely useless, unless you need someone to tell you there's a trap."

"Preston Garvey still infuriates me." "Hey violence prone guy I just met, you're now the leader of the organization I dedicated my life to!"

"The three Jedi 'masters' who went with Mace Windu to arrest Palpatine. I don’t care how great Kit Fisto was in other mediums. In the movie, he did jack f*cking s*it and died just like the other two doing absolutely nothing."

"Booster from Jingle All The Way. NOBODY likes Booster."

"Ashley from Resident Evil 4." Emu173 replied: "Leon! Help! Leon! Help! Leon! Help!"

Nala from The Lion King.

Harry Strickland, commander of the Golden Company.

"Fabian from Pulp Fiction. Damnit, woman, Butch told you how important that watch was. Stop obsessing over what you're gonna eat for breakfast and focus."

Brian in Family Guy.

"Marcy Long from Fallout 4"

That girl, Trudi, in Pulp Fiction.

Big The Cat from Sonic The Hedgehog.

"Shippo from Inuyasha. He hides during all the fights, and the most damage his abilities do is put soot on their faces. His only purpose is being cute."

Olaf in Frozen.

"Delphine from Skyrim." ChinChins3rdHenchman replied: "Nazeem: am I a joke to you? Oh wait, he is."

"Aqua from Konosuba." _Zekken replied: "Well that's a literal answer to the question. To be fair she has... Her moments. As few and far between as they are. And even if half of them are fixing her own damn f*ckups."

Sasuke Uchiha.

Gwen & Kevin from Ben 10.

"Pretty much everyone in the last season of Game of Thrones. All of those characters deserved better."

Annie from the Magic Treehouse books

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"The three Jedi 'masters' who went with Mace Windu to arrest Palpatine. I don’t care how great Kit Fisto was in other mediums. In the movie, he did jack fcking sit and died just like the other two doing absolutely nothing."