10 TV Shows That Tricked Us About Who The Main Character Was

There are other possible possibilities with TV characters who end up being different from expected, such as the gag where the show jokingly introduces one character before directing focus to a less conventionally appealing one (which might also involve the first character’s death). Misleading ad campaigns for movies and TV shows might also (intentionally) confuse the audience about who the main character is supposed to be. Hopefully, the decoy protagonist is a satisfying twist, rather than annoying shock bait.

The trope known as the “decoy protagonist” describes when a piece of media, such as a TV show, introduces a character and tricks the audience into believing they are the story’s main character. This may be the case with TV shows that killed main characters early, completely undermining what the audience thought their long-term role would be. The most common scenario with the decoy protagonist is that after a character’s introduction, they are killed off moments later.

Summary

• TV shows can deceive audiences with a decoy protagonist who is seemingly introduced as the main character.
• Misleading ad campaigns may intentionally confuse viewers about who the main character really is.
• Decoy protagonists like Thodin in
  Lexx
  and Master Indara in
  The Acolyte
  can surprise viewers but may not always be satisfying.

10 Thodin (Barry Bostwick)

Lexx (1996-2002)

Lexx is seemingly another space adventure series taking after Star Trek and Star Wars, although the latter did not yet have any live-action TV shows at the time. The strange dark comedy and parody show has gained a cult following since it first premiered and subverted some of the genre’s biggest tropes. The series starts with a glimpse of the origin story of the assassin Kai, before shifting its attention to the exploits of rebel leader Thodin thousands of years later.

After escaping execution, Thodin frees some others and leads them in an attempt to steal the Lexx, a powerful spaceship and superweapon. This is a clear setup for a series about a gang of fugitives on the run with this weapon at their disposal — but not with Thodin leading them. In the escape, Thodin is killed by an undead Kai. Kai then ends up becoming a member of the main group and one of the series’ leading characters, alongside the other escapees.

9 Master Indara (Carrie-Anne Moss)

The Acolyte (2024)

Carrie-Anne Moss was heavily advertised as the biggest veteran star joining the cast of The Acolyte, alongside major rising stars Amandla Stenberg and Dafne Keen. The posters for The Acolyte typically feature Stenberg’s Mae framed by Moss’ Master Indara and Lee Jung-jae’s Master Sol, possibly with some other characters in a less focused position. Even the first few minutes seem to confirm Indara’s role as a major mentor figure — until she is killed off within those same few minutes.

This isn’t the most satisfying surprise, as Moss would have been great as a Jedi Master who was given more attention.

As it turns out, Indara’s primary purpose in the narrative is to be the inciting incident, setting up the plot of Mae being framed for murder and leading to her growing interest in the Dark Side of the Force. Indara appears in two more episodes in flashbacks but isn’t really a main character. This isn’t the most satisfying surprise, as Moss would have been great as a Jedi Master who was given more attention.

8 Suzie Costello (Indira Varma)

Torchwood (2006-2011)

The Doctor Who spinoff about the Torchwood Insitute and their investigations of supernatural phenomena was seemingly set up to include Indira Varma’s Suzie Costello as one of the main team members. In the first episode, Captain Jack Harkness’ team finds themselves at odds with police officer Gwen Cooper, who witnesses some of their activities. However, the mystery of this episode reveals that Suzie has gone rogue and is working towards her own goals within Torchwood.

Suzie is revealed to have killed multiple people to practice using a resurrection gauntlet in the hopes of eventually being able to resurrect people permanently. Upon being discovered and failing to kill Jack, Suzie takes her own life. The team resurrects Suzie in a later episode to get information on a new case, but she is killed again shortly thereafter, and decidedly not a core team member as she initially appears to be.

7 Sarah Miller (Nico Parker)

The Last Of Us (2023-Present)

Anyone going into The Last of Us with a basic knowledge of the plot would have known that Joel’s daughter Sarah’s death is the preamble to him taking another girl under his protection. The trailer makes it eminently clear that the girl Joel is traveling with is not Sarah, showcasing Bella Ramsey as the series’ other lead. However, without this context and only hints in the trailer that Joel loses his daughter, the first episode of The Last of Us is misleading by following Sarah’s perspective as civilization collapses.

Because the TV show adaptation of The Last of Us makes Sarah’s death worse, it leans into the narrative tropes that present her as the main character. Sarah’s entire day is shown rather than starting in media res, which can be interpreted as the introduction to her character before she is launched into a long-term Walking Dead-style survival story. However, as most people know, this is a misdirection; Sarah is killed in the first episode, which segues to Joel’s parallel relationship with Ellie.

6 Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev)

The Vampire Diaries (2009-2017)

Most of the early posters for The Vampire Diaries featured Elena with the Salvatore brothers, advertising the trio as the show’s main characters and the love triangle as its core premise. As a kind of narrator in the early episodes and the center of the love triangle, Elena is the primary main character, paralleling other vampire romance properties. However, the Vampire Diaries creators did not know Nina Dobrev was going to leave the show before its conclusion, forcing them to demote her from main character status.

While the final two years might not be the best seasons of The Vampire Diaries, the showrunners did a great job of recontextualizing the series to convince the audience that Stefan and Damon had been the true main characters all along. Enough attention had been given to the brothers’ relationship over the years and the love triangle had been gradually phased out, allowing them to organically take over the story. The Vampire Diaries’ ending is also in service of this outlook on the series, despite Elena’s return in the finale.

5 Rider (Jessie Mueller)

Centaurworld (2021)

Centaurworld opens with an idealized medievalist hero setting out on another mission with only her noble steed for company. Some other tropes come into play: a mysterious artifact to deliver, a home village that is decimated. The narrator of this opening sequence, providing context for the mission, is implied to be the Rider. However, as Rider only sings or shouts out loud in this scene, it’s difficult to tell that the narration isn’t actually her voice.

It turns out that the series’ main character is actually Horse. After Rider and Horse are separated, the latter is confirmed to have been the narrator in this first scene before being launched into Centaurworld. The first episode also seems like it wants to imply that Rider is killed when the main pair is separated, which is the standard iteration of the decoy protagonist trope. However, Centaurworld also subverts this as Rider comes back later.

4 Holly Gribbs (Chandra West)

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000-2015)

The pilot of the original CSI show revolves around Holly Gribbs, making it seem like she will be the main character. Holly is a rookie on the CSI team; in her only episode, Jim Brass, who does go on to become a major character for the show, isn’t happy with having an inexperienced investigator like Holly around. However, this would be the typical beginning of an underdog story about a rookie who proves themself to their strict superiors.

First, Holly manages to embarrass herself by fleeing the room during an autopsy and accidentally locking herself in a cadaver storage freezer. However, Holly’s arc never follows the trajectory people would expect when she is shot by another character trying to cover up a crime scene. Chandra West only appears in two episodes of CSI, but Holly’s shocking death effectively set the stage for the rest of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

3 Terry Crowley (Reed Diamond)

The Shield (2002-2008)

The Shield is also a law enforcement show that kicks things off by introducing an officer who will seemingly be a main character and then killing him. However, The Shield differs from other examples because it is pitched as being about corrupt police officers, and Detective Terry Crowley’s death turned out to be a strong opener to this story. As Terry is a newer member of Vic’s Strike Team, he is also set up to be the rookie underdog of a classic narrative about becoming a more seasoned officer.

Terry was asked to monitor the Strike Team by Captain Aceveda, which led to his death and forced him out of the show early. After discovering that Terry had been working with Aceveda to expose his crimes, Vic shoots and kills Terry during a raid. However, this is only the beginning of several seasons of Vic’s corrupt and violent deals, which make up the premise of the show.

2 Ned Stark (Sean Bean)

Game Of Thrones (2011-2019)

With so many perspectives, Ned Stark is the closest thing Game of Thrones has to a main character in season 1. The overall trajectory of Game of Thrones is that the characters who would appear to be the most important to the long-term story are killed off in the early seasons, letting others ascend to being the ultimate protagonists. However, Ned still works well as the centerpiece for all that takes place in Westeros and Essos during season 1, showing a kind of concern for what is happening everywhere.

Upon Ned’s death, the narrative is fractured as several other characters move into more important roles.

This leads to one of the most famous TV character deaths ever, where anyone who didn’t read the book was left shocked by Ned’s abrupt and brutal execution. Upon Ned’s death, the narrative is fractured as several other characters move into more important roles. At this point, Robb, Daenerys, Jon, and Catelyn might be considered the main characters, but the distribution will again shift when more die at the Red Wedding.

1 Scott Pilgrim (Michel Cera)

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (2023)

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off leans into the expectation that the show will more or less follow the events of the movie, with the time to be a more faithful adaptation of the graphic novels. With most of the movie’s cast returning, numerous other fantasy series getting the same treatment, and the first episode showing an identical lead-up to Scott’s battle with the first Evil Ex, this seemed like a safe assumption. Then Scott Pilgrim disappears; truthfully, Ramona Flowers is more this series’ protagonist.

The rest of the series gets wonderfully meta and further develops many of the characters, showcasing some amazingly wacky antics with the Evil Exes. Meanwhile, the central plot follows Ramona trying to solve the mystery of Scott’s disappearance, while reflecting upon her own shortcomings. Scott Pilgrim Takes Off pulls off a better decoy protagonist than most TV shows because it is very much aware of the graphic novels and movie’s status in the cultural zeitgeist.