10 TV Characters Viewers Completely Changed Their Mind About

Who'd have thought they'd end up like that?

By Stephen Reynolds /

Television is an underrated and difficult medium. Each season allows time for a full story arc to develop and conclude in a calendar year (offering closure to the viewer), while a show's continuation over multiple seasons allows characters themselves a similar opportunity to grow. With proper character development, actions viewers would see as out of character in Season 2 may seem par for the course in Season 7. Consequently, show runners are saddled with a Herculean task - they must maintain enough of the character viewers initially fell in love with to satiate the audience, while pushing to develop them to prevent the character from feeling stagnant. It is a delicate balancing act to perform. For instance, over five seasons Breaking Bad transformed a mild-mannered family man and high school science teacher into a crystal-meth producing kingpin, responsible for killing dozens and ruining the lives of countless others. The show's ability to have this progression feel natural to viewers (or as natural as the previous sentence could feel) is one of the reasons it is considered by many to be the greatest show of all time. Conversely, each of Dexter's eight seasons offered diminishing returns, as the character's choices and motivations became muddled and confusing. So to honour the idea of change, here are 10 characters viewers changed their mind about. SPOILERS throughout for the uninitiated.