10 TV Characters With The Most Wasted Potential

The making of any great TV show depends on a wide variety of things, but mostly it comes down to a well-deployed concept and some compelling characters to drive it forward.  Unfortunately, regardless of a show's overall quality, some characters are destined to be squandered from time-to-time, victims of behind-the-scenes mix-ups, contract disputes, or just plain bad writing that misses the greatness staring audiences right in the face. 

Such is the case with the following ten characters, who for one reason or another never lived up to their glowing potential, either abandoned, forgotten or outright killed before they could become what they were - in another life, at least - always meant to be. 

Making a show is hard work for writers and actors alike - no one knows what is going to happen, or what needs to - but even so these characters surely deserved a touch more than they got. 

With that in mind, from richly developed supporting players cruelly forgotten and betrayed, to fan favourites who simply vanished, never to be heard from again, here are ten of the most wasted TV characters you're ever likely to find. 

There will be major spoilers for each of the shows discussed in this article.

When you get an esteemed actress like beloved Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh on a show, you're well within your rights to assume she's going to play a big role and stick around for the foreseeable. Because who wouldn't want that!

That wasn't the case this time around, as Yeoh's turn in Star Trek: Discovery as Philippa Georgiou, captain of doomed USS starship Shenzhou, was a middling two-episode affair that ended with a noble death and nothing more. Yeoh returns as an alternate version of the character later on, which is fun but not the same. 

Despite giving a great performance (no surprises there) and serving as one of the finest additions to Discovery's opening two episodes, Yeoh was cut down before the series could really get moving, and Georgiou - mourning but hopeful, brave and pragmatic - was never allowed to become more than a glorified one-off. 

You can argue that Georgiou's death was a necessary evil to sell the stakes of the coming drama, and to make way for show lead Michael Burnham, but Discovery simply made the captain too compelling to disappear so quickly.