When it comes to what makes for good television and compelling cinematic storytelling, few elements are as central — or as rewarding — as character arcs. These are the large and small changes that characters go through as time elapses.
These arcs become the lifeblood of engagement in long-running TV series and franchises, helping keep audiences invested for years. With the appropriate mix of series development, storytelling evolution, and narrative pacing — even the most imperfect lead characters can become beloved icons, and ostensibly single-note villains can emerge as nuanced antiheroes.
But how do the creators manage to learn this art? What distinguishes a forgettable pilgrimage from a life-changing one? Let’s take a deep dive into the anatomy of character arcs in long-form narrative universes and how those character arcs relate to and reflect the evolution of the franchise we see on screen.
A character arc is the internal transformation a character goes through during the plot. It’s the emotional or psychological evolution that’s sparked by outside events and internal decisions. In a good arc, a character emerges from the end of a story as a fundamentally different person than who they were at the beginning.
From a long-running TV series and franchise perspective, these arcs are spread across seasons or installments, which demands slow burn, purposeful storytelling growth. All while pulling the audience along for the ride, writers have to chart long-term goals, obstacles, relationships, and evolution.
Arcs can be cram-proof in briefer tales—such as single movies. But for long-running TV series, a great character arc isn’t a bonus—it’s a requirement. Series development depends on the evolution or devolution of characters and whether that process feels genuine to an audience.
Imagine Walter White in Breaking Bad. His fall from high school chemistry teacher to drug kingpin throughout five seasons was not a sudden pivot — it was a meticulously planned character arc that was actually in service to the moral and thematic evolution of the franchise. The pacing was deliberate, giving time for realistic progression and for motivations to be explored on a deeper level.
Without real depth of characters, no matter how interesting the plotlines are, the whole thing becomes kind of flat. Audiences aren’t just going to recall what characters did; they will remember why they did it and how that transformed them.
Long-form storytelling lets you grow your story freely and allows characters to grow in step with changing plotlines, shifting relationships, and shifting settings. Writers are given space to dig into subtleties such as:
Take Jaime Lannister from Game of Thrones, for example. Initially described as arrogant and morally deficient, his character trajectory is one of redemption, love, honor, and, ultimately, tragedy. His evolution isn’t linear, which is often the mark of real-life complexity—a major weapon in developing long-term series.
This kind of growth is more than just change. It’s about making that change matter through conflict, self-reflection, and choices that have weight season in and season out. That’s the wonder of a storytelling growth over such a long runway.
One of the more difficult aspects of creating satisfying character arcs in that long-format storytelling is getting the narrative pacing right. Go too fast, and the change seems artificial or unbelievable. Move too slowly, and audiences stop subscribing or find the plot not moving.
Brilliant examples like Mad Men or The Sopranos display masterclass levels of narrative pacing — slowly peeling back layers, revealing motivations, and giving characters a chance to come to grips with their own shortcomings. Don Draper’s arc wasn’t about sudden epiphanies but about facing existential dread, personal failure, and identity in a quickly changing world.
Narrative pacing also enables occasional shifts. Seasons can serve as ‘acts’ within a grand narrative, each containing its own internal arc but pushing toward the greater journey. This trick ensures that character depth develops at a steady pace while still providing satisfying chapter endings.
Franchise evolution clearly affects character arcs in the cinematic and television worlds. These franchises are often decades in the making — both in terms of their plots and in real-world time — giving characters (or their successors) time to grow over generations.
Just take the case of the Star Wars saga. From the fall of Anakin Skywalker to Darth Vader and his eventual redemption arc, the fall and redemption of Anakin are one of cinema’s most famous character arcs in history. Decades later, his grandson, Kylo Ren, illustrates this arc's gig as the franchise's legacy diversifies and reinterprets themes of legacy, identity, and choice.
The Power Process The importance of the Power Process gives franchises such as Harry Potter, The MCU, and The Fast and the Furious as each series is developed across multiple films and/or shows, and how they weave experiences of intersecting character journeys into rich tapestries. As the franchise develops, old characters grow, fresh protagonists come into play, and past champions hand off the baton, providing novelty and continuity in the overarching narrative.
An energized primary arc is important, but long-running series can also take advantage of the character depth of supporting roles — something that isn’t as easily attainable in short-format storytelling. Even the supporting characters grow in shows like The Wire or Stranger Things.
Take Jesse Pinkman in Breaking Bad. First seen as comic relief, his emotional journey over the entire series becomes one of the most gut-wrenching and poignant. His character arc culminates in El Camino, a film that reveals all the distance he has traveled due to a precision of narrative pacing and layered storytelling.
Additional arcs like these add a great deal of storytelling growth to the material, fleshing out the world, making it feel lived-in, and offering alternative perspectives that enrich the central story.
Long arcs offer rich opportunities, but they have unique challenges, too:
Inconsistent Writing Teams: Characters respond to the same impetus with different definitions.
Fan Expectations: The audience grows emotionally invested, so if a character doesn’t follow the expected arc (even if it’s for a good creative reason), it could backfire.
Aging in Real-Time and Casting Changes: Long-running franchises may need to incorporate real-life events affecting the evolution of the franchise
Creative Fatigue: Maintaining an interest in arcs over several years takes sustained creativity and skillful narrative pacing.
If mishandled, arcs can feel abandoned (Lost), regressive (Game of Thrones, final season), or forced (The Rise of Skywalker). Avoiding those traps is one of the high-stakes arts of long-term series development.
Audience loyalty is one of the largest payoffs for well-developed character arcs. Viewers stay attached to characters they are invested in emotionally, increasing the likelihood of their staying through multiple seasons, even as the main plot changes gears or slows down.
The emotional payoff — that moment of climactic change or clarity that brings a character to a final decision — is one of storytelling’s most gratifying ways of showing growth. Picture Arya Stark facing her fears or Tony Stark’s ultimate sacrifice.
Instead of linear seasons, creators are now threading together interconnected spin-offs, prequels, and limited series that permit experimental formats.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe, for example, has transitioned from a movie franchise into a patchwork of overlapping stories across film and television. Characters such as Wanda Maximoff or Loki have enjoyed expanded character arcs with spin-offs like “WandaVision” and “Loki” — projects that can bear down on emotional trauma, identity, and morality in a way a two-hour film never could.
In this new era, narrative pacing can be more elastic, giving way to both intense character studies and action-heavy blockbusters — an exciting new departure for the possibilities of character depth in entertainment.
There is always a great character arc at the center of every unforgettable story. In speculative TV of the long-running series kind, these arcs provide the viewers with something special — the opportunity to watch as characters grow, fall, change, and ultimately become mirrors of our own messiness. From Walter White to Jon Snow, from Tony Stark to Bojack Horseman, these narratives are successful not because of plotting or spectacle but because of the significant growth of the narrative character.
The character arc is a complex art form that necessitates patience, purpose, and control of story flow. When done well, it is the emotional spine of any effective series or franchise development. It fosters resonance, loyalty, and legacy and elevates storytelling into an art.
Whether you’re a screenwriter, a critic, or just a dedicated fan, deciphering the intricacies of character depth in long-form storytelling can completely alter how you watch and appreciate the narratives that populate our cultural imagination.
This content was created by AI