15 Sci-fi Movie Characters Who Deserve Their Own Spin-Off
Doctor Fate, Dwayne Hicks, Frank the Pug – where are their standalone movies??
Science fiction is a genre that invites weird and wonderful characters from all corners. Far from the odd eccentric, it’s not unusual to find a film packed to the rafters with oddities and oddballs, each straining to get their share of screentime. Yep, sometimes, while the hero takes all the glory, there is an equally interesting – and often even greater – character waiting in the wings. These are the smaller and oft-overlooked roles that deserve to be expanded with their own feature.
But, alas, each story has its limits, and some of the best supporting, side, background, minor, and cameo characters have faded into the ether before they really got their chance to shine. Think of how soon Jason Momoa's Duncan Idaho was snatched from us, how little we saw of Evan Peters' Quicksilver, and how much we still don't know about Robert Pattinson's Tenet operative Neil.
So here we are, dragging them into the spotlight and holding forth on precisely which sci-fi movie characters warrant their own spin-off, whether this is because the film invites speculation around the character, a thrilling backstory or future is teased, or they are merely so badass we can't get enough. And let's just hope and pray someone in Hollywood takes notice.
15. Dibs - High Life (2018)
Queen of the contemporary French indie scene, Claire Denis has been making challenging, transgressive films built around captivating and profoundly flawed characters for nearly four decades. And while her career trajectory has never exactly been predictable, in 2018 she did the unthinkable by making an English-language, science fiction space movie starring Robert Pattinson and Mia Goth.
In typical Denis fashion, however, everything isn’t quite as it seems. Far from being the next Star Wars, Alien, or even Interstellar, High Life is a subversive and surreal journey into the outer reaches, focusing on a group of criminals serving death sentences – including Monte (Pattinson) and Boyse (Goth) – who are sent on a mission to a black hole while being subjected to strange, sexual, scientific experiments by the on-board doctor Dibs (Juliette Binoche).
Monte and Boyse are compelling in their way, but Dibs is a whole other level, being the true standout of High Life. She remains tantalisingly mysterious for the duration, from her introduction through to her suicide, and while Denis would never make such a thing, a prequel film about how Dibs came to be this disturbed, hyper-sexual scientist would be delicious.