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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/38829
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

There is plenty of information on how to draft characters for a single story, or characters that follow an important arc throughout a (small) number of stories.

Are there any techniques for designing protagonists for an open-ended series, though? Think of TV series like the typical space operas, detectives that solve case after case, etc. They typically start out with a bunch of more or less diverse characters who may, over the course of the (tv or book) series, evolve into initially unforeseen directions. The challenge I'm seeing is that none of the characters can (or even should) be tailored for the initial couple of adventures they face, nor is a pre-defined arc for these characters set in stone that they could be designed for.

What is the approach to take? Is aiming for a certain degree of diversity or conflict potential among the protagonists sufficient, and the actual traits can more or less randomly be distributed as I see fit? Or should I rather try to find a couple of examples for how different combinations of characters would interact, argue, or complement each other to evaluate how interesting or viable different sets of protagonists might turn out over the course of different adventures?

Original score: 5