10 Movie Character Backstories Revealed Years Later

There's a lot to be said for movies which don't over-explain every last detail and actually let the audience consider things for themselves.

But at the same time, when a film presents an intriguing character to the audience with their backstory left blank, it's only natural that viewers end up begging filmmakers for an explanation.

Though writers, directors, and actors will often refuse to elaborate on the precise nature of their characters, sometimes they'll mercifully offer up an explanation, be it years or even decades after the fact.

These 10 movie characters, each of them iconic and unforgettable in their own way, nevertheless kept audiences in the dark for a long time before their creators finally relented and threw some crumbs to desperate fans.

No matter if the explanations were well received or not, each was certainly fascinatingly creative, whether it showed up in a prequel story released years later, or was simply an off-hand comment made on social media.

While not all fans may consider these revelations strictly canon, they've all come from the Word of God - or close enough - so there's no reason not to believe them...

Michael Caine's rendition of Bruce Wayne's trusty servant Alfred Pennyworth made his debut in 2005's Batman Begins, but it wasn't until Caine was doing the press rounds for The Dark Knight Rises in 2012 that he revealed the character's unspoken backstory.

Caine confirmed that he came up with his own origin story for Alfred which was compelling enough to receive the blessing of director Christopher Nolan himself.

The backstory explains that Bruce's (Christian Bale) father Thomas Wayne (Linus Roache) visited the S.A.S. base in Herefordshire to see a friend, and in the mess hall he encountered a badly wounded Sergeant, who was none other than Alfred.

Rather than go back to fight, Alfred was appointed to oversee the Sergeant's mess, which involved serving food and drinks, in turn preparing Alfred for his eventual job working for Thomas at Wayne Manor.

It's a perfect example of a backstory that so perfectly fits the context of the character and the world they're established within. Though it doesn't have much of an impact on the overarching story at all, it's a neat sliver of background character building.