Movies are made by the quality of their supporting characters. Oh sure, the leads are the people that drive the story, but if they don’t have quirky best friends to bounce off, what’s the point? And if the characters who appear in only a scene or two are equally as memorable? That’s even better.
Last week, news broke that the team behind Cobra Kai is taking this fact to heart. They’re developing a spinoff to the classic 1986 film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, only it’s not about Ferris or any of his friends. It’ll follow the two parking attendants who take the Frye Ferrari for a spin while Ferris and his friends are out on the town. We know they drove a lot, but where did they go and what did they do? We’re going to find out.
Whether you like that idea or not it got us thinking: What other memorable side characters from movies of the 1980s deserve their own feature films? Here’s our (sort of) serious list of suggestions.
1. Sexy Sax Man from The Lost Boys
He may be credited as “Beach Concert Star,” but to us and the world, he’s the sexy sax man. Played by Tim Cappello, we’ve written about him exhaustively and would love to know more about the character. Did he live in Santa Carla? Was he aware of the vampires? If those answers are “Yes,” did he fight them? Come on, this movie writes itself.
2. Oola from Return of the Jedi
All most fans know about Oola is that she was enslaved to Jabba the Hutt and was unceremoniously offered up to the Rancor. But did you know she had a life before? That she was part of a royal family and trained as a dancer? It’s true, there’s canon to back it up, and I think she deserves a Rogue One-style dance battle adventure before being captured by Bib and Jabba.
3. Bob from Batman
I was always fascinated by Bob. Bob, the Joker’s number one. Bob the Goon. Maybe it was because it was so random that he actually had an action figure made of him. But what did Bob do when he wasn’t with the Joker? Did he have a family? Why did he turn to a life of crime? All these questions could be answered.
4. Grig from The Last Starfighter
Grig is Alex’s co-pilot in the film but also a very accomplished pilot himself. He’s also a very accomplished, ahem, lover in that he has 6,000 kids. Um, what? That obviously opens the genre of this spinoff up to some disturbing and unexpected places but we’d just like to see where he came from, how he became a pilot, etc. Good old-fashioned hero stuff.
5. Vasquez from Aliens
This one is actually happening, kinda! Vaz is obviously one of the coolest, most badass characters in one of the coolest, most badass movies ever, and later this year, a book is coming out all about her. Unfortunately, like with Oola, we know Vaz doesn’t survive, but it must be quite the story to see how she became such a memorable character.
6. Yogurt from Spaceballs
Part of the fun of Spaceballs is that it never takes any of its mythology too seriously. You don’t get any midichlorians here. And yet, whether it’s a comedy or not, who wouldn’t want to know what happens with Yogurt and his minions when Lone Star and the team aren’t there? How did he get the Schwartz? What does he use it for? Is there a Baby Yogurt? We need to know.
7. Linda McFly in Back to the Future
Why do the boys get to have all the fun in Hill Valley? Marty travels through time. Biff travels through time. Dave gets to go to an office. But what’s Linda’s story? We want to know more about Linda! It doesn’t even necessarily have to be about time travel. Maybe we see what it’s like to be alive when time travel is happening elsewhere. Plus, was it Greg or was it Craig?
8. Louis and Janine from Ghostbusters
I’m cheating a bit here by getting a two for one but, you get it. We saw bits and pieces of Louis and Janine’s lives, and eventual romance, in the first two Ghostbusters films and Janine even appeared briefly in Afterlife, but what was life like for the couple between those events? Did Louis continue to try and be a Ghostbuster? Did Janine become famous for her job with them? How did that dynamic play out? Inquiring minds want to know.
9. Herman Mueller from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
What’s life like as the best friend of Indiana Jones? In the movies, we meet a few of those friends as adults and you’re always getting into trouble. But Herman knew Indy as a kid so you have to imagine some of that Indy spirit rubbed off on him. Maybe he became a famous archeologist too. Who’s to say?
10. Large Marge from Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure
What do we know about Large Marge, really? We know she’s a truck driver. We know she died in the worst accident ever and is now a ghost. But has she haunted others? Why is she a ghost? Truly, the one scene opens up a very fun Pandora’s box.