From Pilot to Finale: Structuring Character Growth Across a Series

You’ve heard it before, including from me, on how characters make or break a script. That is especially the case when you're discussing television writing because, after all, the audience is going to follow along with these characters for a long time.Every character has a theme. Flawed characters need to either change or face consequences because of their flaws. Those consequences might push them to change, or they might resist change and suffer even more. If a flaw doesn’t cause suffering, can it truly be called a flaw? Suffering and change are the only ways to reveal a character’s flaws.

On the other hand, characters without flaws don’t have to change if they do change because of the story’s events, which suggests they weren’t truly perfect to begin with, introducing a different kind of theme, like an unmasking or revelation. So, let’s discuss how you can structure character growth across a series!

Still from 'Better Call Saul' (2015-2022). Photo credit: Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures Television

Why Character Growth is Important

Crafting a story centered around a flat protagonist, one who never changes, grows, learns, or arcs, requires skill beyond that of a novice writer. It takes a strong understanding of storytelling to pull it off successfully.

While it’s technically possible to create a compelling story with an unchanging character, it’s doubtful that an inexperienced or novice writer will find that approach rewarding or effective.

At its core, storytelling is about characters grappling with new information and change and figuring out how it fits into their world.

That change or growth doesn’t need to be profound, philosophical enough to make your audience pause in awe. But without some transformation or new insight occurring throughout the story, there simply is no story.

Series Character Growth

You don’t have to call it “character growth” when discussing a series. The story’s events have to impact the character somehow, but that doesn’t necessarily mean growth–just change. Characters can’t simply brush off everything like it’s no big deal unless they’re specifically written that way, and even then, that doesn’t mean they’re exempt from evolving.

As the story progresses, the characters should face challenges that test them, and their responses to these challenges will shape their changes.

What matters is that the change feels believable within the story’s context. The character might become better or worse; good character development is about meaningful change, not whether they end up on one side of the moral spectrum or the other.

How to Develop Your Characters in a Series

You can structure an entire series as a gradual exploration of a character’s flaw. With each episode or season, the character faces a new challenge and gains fresh insights, inching closer to overcoming their flaw, but the full resolution doesn’t come until the final installment.

You can also keep their flaw, relatively subtle in their everyday life, causing occasional minor problems but never completely derailing them. In fact, within the series context, that flaw might even become an occasional advantage. This approach works exceptionally well in cozy mystery series, where the same protagonist tackles a new case in each episode or season.

Add Conflicts and Resolutions

It’s not just about overcoming personal flaws. Sure, that’s a great way to tie the plot closely to a character’s arc, but sometimes an external challenge gets things moving.

The simplest example is a direct physical challenge, like, “Can I defeat X and save Y before Z happens?” Some might call that lazy storytelling, but that’s not necessarily true. Yes, it can be done lazily, but any approach can. The key is ensuring the character is emotionally invested and affected by what’s happening.

A more compelling challenge is one that tests a character’s beliefs or worldview. This can be layered on top of a physical challenge to add depth and meaning. Maybe the character faces a moral dilemma–like the temptation to use dark powers to overcome an enemy, even though they know it’s wrong.

Or they might have to accept that, despite their strength and past growth, they can’t save everyone. Or maybe your character is cynical and believes people never truly change, but now they must trust a former rival just to survive. The possibilities for testing your characters are endless.

Character Development

People often use the word “develop” differently when discussing characters. Sometimes it means creating engaging, dynamic personalities, and other times it refers to how characters change throughout the story. Not every character needs to change, but all should be engaging.

Remember to make your characters products of their setting. Who they are should be shaped by where and how they grew up. To do this well, you need a strong understanding of your setting and how it influences people.

Give them a set of core values they genuinely believe in–values that can conflict. For example, if a character is intensely loyal to their country and partner, what happens when they must choose between betraying one another? A relatable dilemma like this reveals the complexity of the character.

You can also give each character a unique trait that sets them apart. Doing so helps readers easily identify and remember them.

Character Motivations

I’ve found it helpful to think of characters through a simple matrix of four core motivations layered with basic attitudes about how they pursue these drives and a background explaining why these motivations work the way they do. This gives a kind of straightforward equation for character action.

●     What does the character consciously desire–something important they believe they can achieve if they put in some effort? They’re aware of this goal and, all else being equal (which it rarely is), will try their best to get it.

●     What does the character truly need to be fulfilled? This can be the same as what they want or completely different, even conflicting. Often, characters aren’t fully aware of their need; they discover it throughout the story through what happens to them. If they do recognize their need, it usually matches their want or feels unreachable.

●     What does the character dread most–not a simple phobia (unless your story is about that), but something they passionately want to avoid? While the want pulls them toward something, the fear drives them to flee or resist.

●     What deep, hidden damage or trauma prevents the character from growing? This is the opposite of the need. Characters are often unaware of how much they’re hurt or what healing they require. The story reveals this wound and what they must do to heal.