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The 15 Most Useless Movie Characters

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Ignacio Weil

Entertainment - October 20th 2026, 18:30 GMT+2

Finn Rise of the Skywalker cropped processed by imagy — 15. Finn — Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

John Boyega has enough charisma to lead a *Star Wars* movie; Finn spends an alarming amount of this one trying to catch up with its lead. His unfinished confession to Rey becomes a running tease without an onscreen payoff, while his history as a stormtrooper offers possibilities the film barely explores. Leading the assault with Jannah gives him something consequential to do, but a last-act assignment cannot disguise how little personal story he gets. | © Lucasfilm

Dick Hallorann The Shining cropped processed by imagy — 14. Dick Hallorann — The Shining (1980)

All that travel, and he barely gets through the door. Dick Hallorann’s return to the Overlook builds the expectation that an experienced psychic might finally give Danny a fighting chance against the hotel. Instead, Jack’s axe abruptly cancels the rescue. It is a brutally effective reversal, although a miserable reward for the film’s most helpful adult. His snowcat ultimately enables Wendy and Danny’s escape, making Hallorann less a failed savior than a catastrophically unlucky getaway driver. | © Warner Bros. Pictures

Madolyn The Departed cropped processed by imagy — 13. Madolyn Madden — The Departed (2006)

Dating one undercover criminal while treating an undercover cop is quite the scheduling problem. Madolyn Madden connects *The Departed*’s opposing worlds through a romantic triangle that feels suspiciously convenient in a film otherwise obsessed with operational detail. Vera Farmiga makes her attentive and vulnerable, particularly when she hears the recording exposing Sullivan. Still, her own perspective keeps getting squeezed out by the question of what she means to whichever man is currently in the room. | © Warner Bros. Pictures

Cropped The Joker Suicide Squad 2016 — 12. The Joker — Suicide Squad (2016)

The tattoos announce danger. The screen time suggests a scheduling conflict. Jared Leto’s Joker prowls around the edges of *Suicide Squad*, pursuing Harley Quinn while an entirely different villain handles the actual apocalypse. His helicopter intervention briefly pulls her away from the team before the film deposits her back with them. As background for Harley, he has a purpose; as a major attraction, he feels like footage from another movie accidentally shuffled into this one. | © Warner Bros. Pictures

Rachel The Dark Knight cropped processed by imagy — 11. Rachel Dawes — Batman Begins / The Dark Knight (2005–2008)

Gotham’s justice system apparently runs on three honest employees, and Rachel Dawes is one of them. She pursues corruption, delivers the fear-toxin antidote to Gordon, and even drives off Scarecrow with a taser. Yet her professional life increasingly takes a back seat to Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent’s emotional development. The frustration is watching a woman with convictions become a romantic dilemma, then a devastating loss that gives the men their next big scenes. | © Warner Bros. Pictures

Fabienne Pulp Fiction cropped processed by imagy — 10. Fabienne — Pulp Fiction (1994)

Breakfast plans and a discussion of potbellies are hardly what Butch needs while fleeing a murderous crime boss. Fabienne inhabits a gentler, dreamier movie than the one unfolding around her, which gives their motel scenes an oddly dislocated rhythm. Then comes the forgotten watch. Her packing mistake sends Butch back into danger and propels an enormous chunk of *Pulp Fiction*’s plot. Terrible getaway assistance, certainly, but Quentin Tarantino gets excellent mileage out of her absent-mindedness. | © Miramax Films

Storm X Men movie cropped processed by imagy — 9. Storm — X-Men Trilogy (2000–2006)

Weather control should buy you more influence in a superhero ensemble. Halle Berry’s Storm can scatter pursuing aircraft with tornadoes and electrocute enemies, yet the original *X-Men* trilogy struggles to give her an inner life as substantial as her power set. Taking charge of Xavier’s school finally acknowledges her leadership, but the emotional spotlight keeps drifting elsewhere. She contributes plenty to the victories; apparently, earning a fully developed personality requires a separate mutation. | © 20th Century Fox

Jimmy Sanderson Any Given Sunday cropped processed by imagy — 8. Jimmy Sanderson — Any Given Sunday (1999)

On the football field, Jimmy Sanderson has a perfectly respectable job: catch Willie Beamen’s passes. Off it, *Any Given Sunday* struggles to find him an equally clear assignment. His growing importance to Beamen contributes to the team’s internal friction, but Bill Bellamy’s swagger does most of the character-building work. Surrounded by teammates with bruised egos, battered bodies, and competing ambitions, Jimmy remains frustratingly thin—a supporting player whose most developed relationship is with the quarterback’s throwing arm. | © Warner Bros. Pictures

Titus Telesco I Still Know What You Did Last Summer cropped processed by imagy — 7. Titus Telesco — I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)

Yes, that really is Jack Black beneath those dreadlocks. His uncredited turn as resort worker Titus Telesco interrupts *I Still Know What You Did Last Summer* with stoner comedy that seems imported from a much cheaper vacation movie. Between tending marijuana and making unwelcome advances, Titus supplies little reason to care whether he survives. A slasher needs expendable victims, but this one spends so much energy advertising his expendability that the murder feels like administrative housekeeping. | © Mandalay Entertainment

Willie Scott Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom cropped processed by imagy — 6. Willie Scott — Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

Willie Scott did not sign up for child slavery, ritual sacrifice, or dinner with quite that many legs. Her horror is often the sanest response anyone has in *Temple of Doom*, but the screenplay repeats the screaming-and-complaining routine until sympathy starts requiring effort. Kate Capshaw gets considerably fewer chances to be resourceful than to be distressed. Willie’s rescue of Indy and Short Round from the spike chamber proves she can contribute; more of that would have helped enormously. | © Lucasfilm

The Sheriff Halloween cropped processed by imagy — 5. Sheriff Leigh Brackett — Halloween (1978)

A psychiatrist arrives warning that an escaped killer has returned home, and Sheriff Brackett understandably wants something more concrete than a speech about evil. Unfortunately, he is living in *Halloween*, where the wild-eyed psychiatrist happens to be correct. Brackett searches with Loomis but never gets close enough to protect Michael Myers’ victims, including his own daughter. His presence offers the comforting suggestion that somebody has called the authorities, followed by the considerably less comforting results. | © Compass International Pictures

Olaf Frozen cropped processed by imagy — 4. Olaf — Frozen (2013)

Olaf’s summer number is a cheerful invitation to pause the family crisis for a snowman’s misunderstanding of basic thermodynamics. Depending on your tolerance for Josh Gad’s delivery, that interruption is either delightful or an excellent opportunity to check the popcorn. *Frozen* repeatedly uses his detachable anatomy for comic relief, but the fireplace scene gives him genuine substance: he risks melting to help Anna. The strongest complaint concerns the quantity of Olaf, rather than his complete lack of purpose. | © Walt Disney Animation Studios

Fabrizio Titanic cropped processed by imagy — 3. Fabrizio De Rossi — Titanic (1997)

Remember when Jack Dawson had a best friend? *Titanic* introduces Fabrizio as his exuberant traveling companion, then largely leaves him downstairs once Rose enters the picture. He resurfaces during the sinking and helps force a gate open, so he is hardly dead weight in an emergency. What he lacks is sustained attention: his hopes of reaching America give the disaster a personal dimension that the film establishes enthusiastically, then struggles to revisit before killing him. | © Paramount Pictures / 20th Century Fox

Alfrid The Hobbit cropped processed by imagy — 2. Alfrid Lickspittle — The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug / The Battle of the Five Armies (2013–2014)

Somewhere amid the dragon, displaced townspeople, and approaching armies, *The Hobbit* finds astonishing amounts of time for Alfrid Lickspittle. The Master’s deputy establishes his cowardice and greed quickly, then keeps returning to demonstrate them again, as though anyone might have missed the point. His extended-edition death accidentally saves Gandalf from a troll, but even that contribution arrives as an elaborate gag. Middle-earth has urgent business to resolve; Alfrid keeps making it wait for another joke about Alfrid. | © New Line Cinema / Warner Bros. Pictures

Jar Jar Binks Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace cropped processed by imagy — 1. Jar Jar Binks — Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999)

Diplomatic usefulness has rarely come with so much flailing. Jar Jar Binks helps bring Naboo’s humans and Gungans together, giving him an actual place in *The Phantom Menace*’s political story. The trouble is everything wrapped around that assignment: the pratfalls, the mugging, the battlefield accidents that keep demanding attention. His clumsiness even helps defeat battle droids, which technically makes him productive. Watching him can nevertheless feel like trying to follow a peace negotiation beside a malfunctioning party entertainer. | © Lucasfilm

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Cut a character from a movie, and you’d expect at least a little damage to the plot. With these 15, you might just get a shorter runtime. From sidekicks whose jokes never land to love interests with less personality than the furniture, these useless movie characters take up screen time without giving much back. Some are annoying, others perfectly likable—which makes you wonder why the writers bothered introducing them and then forgot to give them anything to do.

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Cut a character from a movie, and you’d expect at least a little damage to the plot. With these 15, you might just get a shorter runtime. From sidekicks whose jokes never land to love interests with less personality than the furniture, these useless movie characters take up screen time without giving much back. Some are annoying, others perfectly likable—which makes you wonder why the writers bothered introducing them and then forgot to give them anything to do.