10 TV Characters With The Best Development Of All Time

Warning: This list contains spoilers for several TV shows.

Character development is essential to some of the best TV shows of all time. Long-running TV shows inherently have more time to elaborate upon the inner workings of a character in a way most movies don’t. The writers do not have to rush the character to the next point in their arc but give them an appropriate amount of time to reflect before they move forward. Real personal growth does not happen immediately; it is the result of months and years of small moments and different experiences piled on top of each other.

TV characters are changed by relationships beginning and ending, by starting new professional and personal endeavors, and by tragedy and triumphs. The best-written TV character arcs convince the audience that this change is natural and is not contrived solely for the purpose of the story. Additionally, while not all characters’ development is for the better, it can still be well-written and amazing to watch play out.

10

April Kepner

Grey’s Anatomy (2005-Present)

When April arrives as part of the Seattle Grace Mercy West merger in Grey’s Anatomy season 6, she is a little too peppy for the established cast’s taste. Like most of the doctors at this point, she is desperately clinging to her job, and like most of the Mercy West doctors, she is framed as a threat to the Seattle Grace doctors. Some people just found her character obnoxious. However, April and everyone else at the hospital are changed by the shooting at the end of season 6.

By the next season, April is officially a part of the main group because of this experience. Meredith allows April and Jackson to move into her house — despite not really having the space. April’s character is transformed again by another trauma when she and Jackson lose their first child at birth. After serving in the army for a time, April becomes more assertive. It is heartbreaking how often April’s character is shaped by tragedy, but she is nonetheless a layered character; Sarah Drew’s nuanced performance shows how every experience has contributed to who April is now.

9

Ahsoka Tano

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008-2020)

Even without considering her character debut in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie, Ahsoka Tano undergoes a lot of development during her time in the Clone Wars TV series. At the beginning of Clone Wars, Ahsoka is still a young teenager, eager to learn from Anakin and Obi-Wan and prove herself in battle. She has a natural skill with the Force and a lightsaber and is the only one who can match Anakin’s impulsivity. However, Anakin and Ahsoka bring out the worst and the best in each other, and Ahsoka becomes a powerful and wise Force-wielder under his instruction.

By the time she is framed for bombing the Jedi Temple, Ahsoka has greatly matured from the girl who was first assigned to be Anakin’s Padawan. This incident forces Ahsoka through her most complex development. Even after her name is cleared, she no longer feels safe or respected in the Jedi Order and strikes out on her own. Force-users who are not Sith or Jedi are rare and Ahsoka’s decision demonstrates her self-determination. However, the relationships she formed before are still paramount to her, and she returns to help Anakin and Rex in the final days of the Clone Wars.

8

Caroline Forbes

The Vampire Diaries (2009-2017)

Ignorant throughout The Vampire Diaries season 1 of the supernatural occurrences of her hometown, Caroline’s place in the show is Elena’s annoying friend in comparison to Bonnie. In season 2, Caroline is turned into a vampire and is soon helping with every fight that comes the main characters’ way. However, her character development doesn’t end there. For instance, when she is first turned into a vampire, Caroline is still something of a nuisance because the others must keep an eye on her while she learns to manage her cravings for blood.

Yet Caroline becomes the member of the main cast known for self-control and comes to embody the best aspects of vampirism. She enjoys the perks that come with it without the bad parts bothering her as much. She becomes more assertive within the main group and eventually steps up to be Alaric’s twins’ surrogate mother. However, Caroline’s character development is complemented by her traits that stay the same: She is still relentlessly organized, and the show even circles back around to her initial crush on Stefan when they finally get together.

7

Walt White

Breaking Bad (2008-2013)

Walt White doesn’t change for the better in Breaking Bad, but the writing surrounding his descent into violence is so expertly written that it can’t be called bad character development. Walt White is driven into the drug trade for noble reasons, wanting to make enough money to secure his family’s future before he dies. However, throughout Breaking Bad’s five seasons, the draw of the criminal lifestyle becomes more than security for Walt. He becomes more violent and manipulative as the series goes on and begins to revel in every misdeed and dangerous encounter.

Breaking Bad is ultimately about Walt’s journey to becoming the crime lord Heisenberg, which strains his relationship with his family, for whom he entered the drug trade to begin with. The series’ complex writing and Bryan Cranston’s stunning performance make Walt’s journey from an average and friendly high school chemistry teacher to a criminal mastermind incredibly satisfying, even if it is not all that hopeful. The ways Walt changes in Breaking Bad and his dynamics with characters such as Jesse are the backbone of the show.

6

Steven Harrington

Stranger Things (2016-2025)

In Stranger Things season 1, Steve appears to be a classic bully-jock character archetype, and destroying Jonathan’s camera supports this. However, Steve swiftly becomes much more endearing in season 2. Hearts break for him when Nancy accidentally admits she doesn’t love him (when he clearly loves her). After an impromptu team-up with Dustin, he and Steve essentially become best friends, leading into Steve’s season 3 arc.

By then, Steve is just as adorkable as the rest of the Stranger Things cast. He still spends a lot of time with Dustin and becomes close friends with his co-worker Robin. In the later seasons, Stranger Things comes back around to the Steve-Nancy-Jonathan love triangle that seemed like a foregone conclusion in season 1. However, Steve is now a completely different person than the stock character he was at the beginning of the series and a beloved member of the Stranger Things friend group.

5

Carol Peletier

The Walking Dead (2010-2022)

Carol’s first appearance in The Walking Dead is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, as she is mixed in with the other characters who form the Grimes family’s original group of survivors. The Walking Dead season 1 shows her to be a timid housewife abused by her husband, who does not typically fight walkers. However, the deaths of her husband in season 1 and her daughter in season 2 change Carol, and she slowly becomes one of the most ruthless characters in the show.

When the group appears again at the beginning of season 3, Carol has clearly spent some time learning to use weapons and treat some maladies. With more time and practice, her character reaches a point where the audience would be surprised to see her without a weapon. Carol also marries again and loses her adopted children. She carries these losses with her, always having a serious persona. Yet Carol’s evolution from one of the most easily frightened characters to one of the deadliest is endlessly fascinating to watch.

4

Rachel Green

Friends (1994-2004)

When Rachel arrives in the city and moves in with Monica, she is clueless and still clinging to her old, comfortable lifestyle, but is determined to make it on her own. For all her complaints about working at Central Perk, and constantly messing up customers’ orders, Rachel sticks with the job to pay the bills until she can find something else. Once she figures out that she wants to go into fashion, Rachel never lets up. Despite Ross complaining about her working too much, her putting everything into an entry-level job shows how much she wants to succeed.

As she spends more time as a working professional, accumulating promotions and navigating mishaps, Rachel matures even more. She learns to make better choices about what she wants in her personal life as well. She breaks up with Tag because she knows in her heart that they are not right for each other and has Emma despite people telling her she couldn’t be a single mom. Rachel has the most character development of the six main members of the Friends cast, having built her life from the ground up from the start of the series.

3

Sansa Stark

Game Of Thrones (2011-2019)

When Sansa is first introduced as the eldest Stark daughter, she is prim and entitled. She excels at all the “ladylike” activities that her sister hates and dreams of marrying the heir to the throne. After the deaths of several family members, Sansa hates to think how much time she spent wishing for these things and taking her parents and siblings for granted. However, she appears to eventually make peace with who she was as a child in Game of Thrones’ ending.

After years of abuse and fear, Sansa reaches a point where she is prepared for death rather than defeat, but crossing this line only makes her stronger. It also becomes clear when she starts leading the North with Jon how much she has learned over the years. Sansa spends time at the mercy of several of Game of Thrones’ worst characters — Cersei, Joffrey, Ramsay — and learns from each one of them. Sansa goes from being a bratty teenager to the Stark who is best at playing the “game of thrones.”

2

Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman

Better Call Saul (2015-2022)

Parallel to Walt’s arc in Breaking Bad, the storyline that follows Jimmy McGill a.k.a. Saul Goodman also shows its protagonist becoming less moral over time. Jimmy changes in many ways throughout Better Call Saul, but unlike Walt, he achieves some kind of redemption. Better Call Saul shows that Jimmy was once determined to leave behind a life of crime and make an honest living, but this does not go as planned.

Struggling as a public defender and locked out of his brother’s law firm, Jimmy eventually turns back to illegal activity by becoming a criminal defense lawyer with more involvement in the criminal underworld itself. This eventually leads to him taking up the alias of Saul Goodman after Jimmy McGill is suspended from practicing law. However, Jimmy/Saul changes again when he confesses to his role in building Walt White’s drug empire, concluding his nuanced character arc.

1

Zuko

Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005-2008)

Zuko’s character arc is a masterpiece, one of the most praised storylines of any TV show. Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender does not rush his character development but lets Zuko make every mistake and pass over every obvious way out until he can decide to join Aang’s side by himself. His is a perfect character arc because it so skillfully demonstrates his conflicting emotions, namely his loyalty to his father vs. to his uncle, and his eventually reaching the conclusion that what the Fire Nation is doing is wrong.

With Zuko’s decision to leave behind serving his father, his story beautifully comes full circle, since standing up to the Fire Nation’s tactics is what angered his father in the first place. Following his defection, Zuko’s development continues as he shows a genuine desire to make amends with the Gaang on a personal level. All this inner turmoil and friendships formed are why Zuko is undeniably the character with the best development ever seen on TV.