By Tom Vaughan in Character — Sep 8, 2026

How to populate your story with supporting characters.

Every supporting character has a role in your story. It's your job to know what that job is.

The Story and Plot Weekly Email is published every Tuesday morning. Don't miss another one.

When we first start a new project, one of our main goals is to generate great scenes as we start to think about our narrative spine.

This is natural, as there is emotional safety in having this spine.

But the rush to get there can often mean we neglect other steps.

Now, I have a whole process to avoid doing this very thing that I share in Mastering Structure and Idea to Outline, yet I've been doing this so long that sometimes I just get cocky.

Or maybe I can be a little more forgiving with myself and say I get excited.

In either case, I end up with just the bare bones and not a whole lot of flesh, and it's because I haven't given enough attention in the early stages to the characters that populate this story.

As is often the case, when I get stuck, the way out is to go back to the very things that I teach.

We can mistakenly think world-building is solely the domain of sci-fi and fantasy.

It is not. It refers to the entire domain of our story, whether that's a far-away planet or the single-location home of an indie-comedy.

This phase can intimidate any writer. It's a blank slate, and infinite choices tend to freeze us up.

We get so caught up in plot and getting a character from one place to another, we forget those places are actually filled with people.

But who are these people? Which ones should show up on the screen? How many do we need?

This is exactly why defining your story as early as possible is crucial.

You need this criterion to know whether you're actually making a choice about supporting characters or just creating something as a contrivance or perhaps just randomly.

There are, of course, some stories that require fewer characters. Every story has its own integrity.

More often than not, however, a journey feels light and lacking in emotional weight when a story lacks characters that affect it.

The archetypes.

We know the simplest screenwriting instruction will give us some rote characters:

The antagonist.
The love interest.
The mentor.

Even the casual viewer would recognize these three.

But go deeper into story theory, and you will find more variations, many of which originated with Christopher Vogler, I believe.

The shapeshifter.
The ally.
The Trickster.

Admittedly, I'm not that familiar with how these are utilized. I know they have value, but I never found them helpful when it came to telling my own stories.

I always felt like it was more akin to checking a box than telling a story.

"Vogler says you need a trickster! Where's your trickster?"

It's just not how I write or envision a narrative.

Yet, most movies have these characters, right?

So why don't these terms help as much as they should?

Get away from checking the box.

A love interest isn't inherently interesting. A mentor who gives the hero the tools to kick ass, either literally or metaphorically, isn't something we specifically need to see.

Friends and allies? Great, but if they're just a plot device to help our hero "win," they fall flat.

This is why our early writing attempts at these characters so often failed miserably.

We thought they were necessary because we were told they were necessary.

We had terms, sure, and we would check the box, but we didn't know their actual role in the story.

Feature films do not have independent subplots.

This is a key difference between feature films and television. In a feature film, with the exception of true ensembles, every subplot should be there to benefit the story. Every piece is part of the whole, and nothing should feel separate.

When filmmakers forget this (as I have often), the audience often responds with, "What the hell was that part about?"

We don't want to just ask what a character's role is in the plot; we need to ask what their role is in the story.

The Most Important Aspect of a Supporting Character.

Our biggest question for any supporting character is their relationship to the hero's transformational journey.

How do the supporting character's POV, philosophy, and actions affect the hero's arrival at their final destination?

How do they help change the protagonist, challenge them, tempt them, or create an obstacle they must overcome that affects them?

The book Dramatica by Melanie Anne Phillips and Chris Huntley goes as far as breaking these characters down into seven primary roles in their relationship with the protagonist.

I have found this breakdown to be more often true than not. Unfortunately, like so many, the book is too academic to be of consistent use. That said, your own mileage may vary.

For me, the more complicated the approach, the more difficult it is to stay agile and focus on the one thing I want to do: tell the story.

So, for me, I'm looking for simpler ways to the story itself to guide me

The three outcomes.

Every story has at least three directions for the protagonist.

The actual eventual outcome.
The alternative, less emotionally satisfying outcome.
Back to the beginning.

Each character in your story will push, pull, and divert your protagonist in one of these directions.

Sometimes this is a very physical movement that is purely plot; sometimes it's character change.

Perhaps a character needs to be more in tune with their emotions for them to conclude this story the way we want them to.

In this case, you will often see a character who is pushing them to be more in tune with those emotions, and another character influencing them, either directly or indirectly, to worry less about such vulnerable things.

Almost every character will have a crisis of confidence. Who is the character that believes in them? Who is the character that doesn't? Who is encouraging them to believe that they are, in fact, a fraud and not worthy of their final destination?

Some Examples.

Yes, Han Solo was Joseph Campbell's so-called friend and ally to the protagonist, but he also represented the opposite side of Obi-Wan's philosophical argument. He helped the plot but also represented more. Luke and Han affected each other (Luke finding balance, and Han learning to be less selfish).

In THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, Darth Vader takes up a different role. Unlike in STAR WARS, he now represents an option for Luke. Luke can give in to his anger and hate, which will eventually lead him to the dark side, the path of Vader.

In RATATOUILLE, Remy's mentor Gusteau had nothing to do with actually teaching Remy anything; he was a figment of his imagination, after all. But he had everything to do with Remy believing in himself, which allowed him to remain steadfast in his belief, and change everyone around him.

In THE AVENGERS, Steve Rogers and Tony Stark need each other for the plot, but more importantly, Cap is crucial for Tony's story. He thinks little of Tony, and while they first conflict, Steve's influence affects the selfish billionaire Tony, who eventually performs an act of heroism we would have thought only Captain America was capable of.

In MOONLIGHT, there is a love interest, sure, but a love interest that is a prize at the end of a movie doesn't move an audience. In MOONLIGHT, the love interest is the agent of change that finally gives Chiron the courage to be truly intimate and, hopefully, one day, comfortable in his own skin.

You must know what story you're telling.

I have said many times before: you are either telling the story, or you are trying to find the story.

The sooner you can get to telling the story, the better, because it becomes your true north, and it will guide you in every decision you make.

What is your story? Who changes? How?

This allows you to move from the sinisterly limitless, "What can happen?" to the much more fun, exciting, and productive, "What needs to happen to get us there?"

Know the three directions above. Every moment, every character, every scene is affecting your protagonist one way or another on this journey.

But there is a special place for the characters in your story.

More than anything else, it is relationships that we care about, and it is relationships, both positive and negative, that bring about some of the most meaningful transformations.

The Story and Plot Weekly Email is published every Tuesday morning. Don't miss another one.

SUBSCRIBE FREE