The science fiction genre is full of iconic sidekick characters, like Dr. Frankenstein’s lab assistant Fritz, Ripley’s surrogate daughter Newt from Aliens, and Han Solo’s Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca from the Star Wars saga. From George Costanza to Dick Grayson, there are plenty of iconic sidekicks that are adored by fans. Sidekicks are often even more lovable than the main characters, because they’re not burdened with the beats of a hero’s journey; they can just show up and steal every scene they’re in. Since science fiction stories rely heavily on tropes and literary devices like MacGuffins and midpoint twists, they often feature a sidekick for the hero.
After the eponymous police officer is turned into an authoritarian killing machine in RoboCop, his old partner Anne Lewis is the one who sets out to save him. When a reprogrammed T-800 is sent back in time to protect Sarah Connor in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, he takes her son John under his wing as a young ward. In Guardians of the Galaxy, Rocket can always count on his best friend Groot, a friendly talking tree. There are a ton of great sidekick characters in sci-fi cinema.
7 Officer Anne Lewis
RoboCop
After Alex Murphy is reborn as an unstoppable killing machine in RoboCop, his partner Anne Lewis is desperate to bring his humanity back. When she recognizes RoboCop as her old friend, she sets out to save him. Lewis is more faithful to Murphy than she is to the rest of the police force. When the OCP, the mega-corporation that created RoboCop, tries to kill him, Lewis swoops in to rescue him. RoboCop is broadly a satire of privatization and authoritarianism, but it also digs into the theme of personal identity through Lewis’ attempts to remind Murphy who he really is.
6 John Connor
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
In the first Terminator movie, there was just one Terminator and he was the villain. But in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, there are two Terminators: one good and one bad. The good one is a reprogrammed T-800 sent back in time to protect future Resistance leader John Connor and his mother Sarah from the evil T-1000 sent by Skynet to kill them. Throughout the movie, John and the T-800 develop a heartwarming boy-and-his-dog dynamic, as John teaches the Terminator new tricks and uses him to scare away bullies, but the cyborg also becomes a sort of father figure to John.
5 Judge Anderson
Dredd
In re-adapting the iconic 2000 A.D. antihero for the big screen, Dredd followed the same dynamic as the Dirty Harry threequel The Enforcer. Much like The Enforcer, Dredd pairs its rule-bending maverick lawman with a budding young rookie eager to crack her first big case. Judge Anderson joins Judge Dredd in a high-rise tower ruled by a tyrannical drug lord as a routine inspection turns into an explosive fight for survival when the tower is locked down. By the end of the movie, Judge Anderson has impressed Dredd so much that he turns a blind eye to her failures and gives her a passing grade.
4 Groot
Guardians Of The Galaxy
When Marvel Studios announced that they were making a movie about a superhero team featuring the pairing of a sadistic raccoon and a talking tree, it might have sounded like a terrible idea to casual audiences unfamiliar with the source material. But when Guardians of the Galaxy hit theaters, Rocket and Groot quickly became globally recognizable icons of pop culture. Their friendship is endlessly endearing; they’d sacrifice their lives to save each other – and in the movie’s most heartbreaking scene, Groot does just that. Groot made his way into the hearts of fans around the world with just three words: “We are Groot.”
3 Fritz
Frankenstein
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, one of the earliest science fiction stories ever told, revolves around the titular Dr. Frankenstein playing God by bringing the dead back to life with his nefarious experiments – but those experiments wouldn’t be possible without the help of his lab assistant, Igor (or Fritz, as he’s named in the iconic 1931 adaptation directed by James Whale). There are very few sci-fi sidekicks who are quite as loyal as Fritz. Even when Dr. Frankenstein has clearly lost his mind as his obsession with the dead continues to grow, Fritz is right by his side to provide whatever assistance he may need.
2 Newt
Aliens
Ellen Ripley is initially reluctant to go down to a human colony that’s been ravaged by xenomorphs in James Cameron’s perfect sequel Aliens, but her maternal instincts kick in when she learns that there may be survivors. When Ripley and the Marines get down to the planet’s surface, they find that all the colonists are dead – except for a little girl named Newt, who’s been surviving on her own. Ripley and Newt need each other desperately: Ripley has lost her own daughter and Newt has been orphaned by bloodthirsty monsters, so they forge a surrogate mother-daughter bond with one another. Newt gives a disillusioned Ripley something to fight for.
1 Chewbacca
Star Wars
Easily the most iconic sidekick in the history of science fiction is Chewbacca from the Star Wars saga. Chewie is the co-pilot of the Millennium Falcon who’s fiercely loyal to his captain, Han Solo. Ever since Han freed him from captivity, Chewie has been his best friend and closest confidant. Whenever Han is in danger, Chewie will put himself in danger to help him out. When Han was frozen in carbonite and hung on the wall of Jabba the Hutt’s palace, Chewie infiltrated the palace to free him. When Han was killed by his son Ben, a grief-stricken Chewie went on a shooting spree.
Chewie’s loyalty was inspired by the most loyal sidekicks in real life: a beloved pet dog. George Lucas created Chewbacca based on his own dog, Indiana (who was also the namesake for another iconic Lucas creation, Indiana Jones). Indiana was a big, furry Alaskan Malamute who would sit in Lucas’ passenger seat, much like Han’s Wookiee co-pilot, whenever he went for a drive. There are plenty of iconic sidekicks in the Star Wars universe – C-3PO and R2-D2 bicker like an old married couple and Grogu is the adorable surrogate son of the Mandalorian – but none of them hold a candle to Chewbacca.
