15 TV Characters Who Experienced A Total Personality Change — From Winston In "New Girl" To Robin In "Stranger Things"

Some lost brain cells, some gained brain cells, and some there is no explanation.

The beauty of TV shows is you've got multiple seasons to grow and develop a character. Most of the time, that growth is gradual. Like real humans, they change due to life experience and usually become different people than the characters we meet in Episode 1.

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Sometimes, a character changes drastically from season to season. Often, it's due to an event in the storyline, but sometimes, there is literally no reason whatsoever.

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I'm rounding up 15 TV characters with major personality shifts throughout their respective series. For some of these folks, it worked! For others, it completely sabotaged their likability. Do you agree with this list? I want to hear your opinions in the comments below.

1. Sansa Stark (Game of Thrones)

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Perhaps one of the biggest transformations of a TV character is seen through Sansa Stark in Game of Thrones. Between the first and final seasons, Sansa is nearly unrecognizable, though this arc is not without reason. When we first meet Sansa, she's an entitled kid who thinks the world is unfair. Turns out, the world is unfair, and after the Stark family gets torn apart, Sansa is on her own and goes through hell.

Between the Joffrey Baratheons and Ramsay Boltons of the world, her storyline can be difficult to stomach. The Sansa we see in later seasons comes out stronger and bolder and definitely learns to hold her own. She becomes a true leader and completely changes as a person due to life experience and getting older.

2. Winston Bishop (New Girl)

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Winston Bishop is one of the best TV characters of all time. During the early days of New Girl, he's funny enough but doesn't really hold his own among other big personalities in the series, like Schmidt or Jess. As the seasons go on, Winston really finds his place as one of the best characters of the series, becoming an essential member of the loft crew.

It's impossible not to fall in love with his character arc. He evolves from a standard jock to a sweet, caring, and layered friend who always wants to keep peace among his roommates. His quirks (like his devoted bond with his cat, Ferguson) are endearing and make him even more lovable.

3. Robin Buckley (Stranger Things)

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When we first met Robin in Stranger Things Season 3, she was scooping ice cream and cracking Russian code alongside Steve, Dustin, and Erica at Starcourt Mall. She's sarcastic and witty and mostly foils Steve's goofy persona during the Scoops Troop era. 

In Season 4, she's still extremely intelligent, but we see an entirely different side of Robin that balances funny one-liners with vulnerable insecurities. In my opinion, this change works. The character feels different across both seasons, but Season 4 Robin is comfortably part of the group and no longer the one-dimensional new girl.

4. Quinn Fabray (Glee)

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Unlike the aforementioned characters, the transformation of Glee's Quinn Fabray was all sorts of bizarre. She began the series in a classic 'mean cheerleader gets pregnant' trope, with a ton of potential to grow. Instead, over the seasons, the writers can't seem to figure out Quinn's direction, and she is given some of the weirdest, wildest plot lines in the series.

She waivers between kind and cruel without explanation, gets paralyzed but only temporarily, tries to steal her baby back after placing it up for adoption, enters a goth era for no reason, and apparently has an entire backstory of being bullied in junior high, though it's only mentioned once. Her drastic personality shifts totally ruin her character. 

5. Miranda Hobbs (Sex and the City/And Just Like That...)

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As I've gotten older, I've realized that among the four women of SATC, Miranda is the realest. She's intelligent, hard-working, independent, and a great friend to boot. Through the original series, we see her tackle some real stuff, such as embracing life as a wife and mother while not diminishing her self-worth and passions as an individual.

In the reboot, there are still elements of the original Miranda, but many of them are lost. This version of Miranda feels like the opposite of her rational self. She's a sucky friend, seems relatively unbothered by leaving her husband (OG Miranda would've had more empathy), and just like that... the powerhouse character we knew is almost unidentifiable. 

6. Eli Moskowitz/Hawk (Cobra Kai)

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In Cobra Kai, Eli is faced with awful teasing at school. This horrible experience leads him to take up karate, where he gains confidence and undergoes a massive personality change. Leaving behind his old identity, Eli channels his anger into a new persona that he calls "Hawk," changing his appearance and picking fights whenever he's upset. 

Though this transformation is a result of mistreatment, it's definitely not healthy. Hawk becomes just as mean-spirited as his bullies and lets his rage get the best of him. Fortunately, as the show progresses, he begins to let go of this anger, and we start to see a little bit of his real personality shine through. 

7. Leslie Knope (Parks and Recreation)

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Leslie Knope is a TV treasure, but there were major changes to her character after Parks and Rec first premiered. Like with any series, the writers were trying to find their feet in the first season and made some significant alterations to the characters moving forward. By Season 2, Leslie is less cartoonish and is seen as a powerhouse leader who is, of course, still hilarious in her own right.

In my opinion, this creative decision totally worked and helped make Leslie a character that stands the test of time. She's the perfect balance of quirky and funny, while also remaining a strong character that you want to see succeed.

8. Manny Delgado (Modern Family)

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Though Manny is one of the best parts of Modern Family's early seasons, many fans were disappointed with his character arc later on in the series. The charm of Early-Days Manny is that he's a kid with the wisdom of a full-grown adult. As he becomes a teenager, the show doesn't seem to know what to do with him, and his personality often feels inconsistent and unrecognizable. 

The same can also be said for Luke, whose adorable goofiness as a little kid doesn't always translate well in adolescence. While Manny remains a great character overall, he's best remembered as that little kid with an old soul.

9. Elena Gilbert (The Vampire Diaries)

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Despite being the main character of The Vampire Diaries, Elena Gilbert's characterization is kind of a mess. She starts out as a reserved good girl who can't decide which of the two hunky vampire brothers she likes better, and from there, we get a different Elena each season. 

Elena becomes a vampire, dies, dates both Salvatore brothers, and ultimately becomes a human again thanks to a cure. Unlike others on this list, her demeanor doesn't really change over time. We simply get stints of Angry Elena, Lovestruck Elena, or off-the-rails "Humanity Turned Off" Elena. 

10. Cami O'Connell (The Originals)

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In The Vampire Diaries' spin-off series, Cami is a therapist who accidentally gets caught up in the world of vampires. She's the human element of The Originals, befriending the moody and psychotic Klaus as he struggles to maintain any inkling of his former self. Because this show lives within the TVD universe, it's only a matter of time before every human becomes a vampire, so naturally, Cami succumbs to this fate as well.

During her short stint as an immortal, Cami is truly insufferable and ends her time on the series as one of the most annoying characters. The vampire arc for Cami wasn't surprising, but she became suddenly selfish and annoying in its wake. 

11. Jan Levinson (The Office)

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There might have been actual aliens involved in this personality transplant. The Jan we first meet in The Office is all business, acting as the complete opposite of the always unprofessional Michael Scott. When she begins dating Michael, we see her spiral into madness, becoming whackier than he is and forming a strange addiction to candle making.

From this point on, her character remains a weird enigma, and we see her make a lot of questionable choices that would appall OG Jan. Is this what happens to people who suffer through corporate life for too long? If so, I want out. 

12. Joey Tribbiani (Friends)

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In many long-running sitcoms, there is one character who slowly becomes a total goof. In Friends, it's beloved Joey who suffers this trope. At the beginning of the series, he's the actor pal who can be a little bit spacey, but he still has street smarts and knows how to be a good friend. 

As the show progresses, his character resorts to being comedic relief among the group, and he often can't function in normal day-to-day situations. While other characters were able to become more layered over time, Joey stays fairly one-dimensional and loses any depth.

13. Eric Matthews (Boy Meets World)

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Another example of this type of sitcom trope is seen in Boy Meets World. Cory's older brother Eric is a popular jock who doesn't always get along with his little brother. Over time, Eric's character becomes ridiculously dim-witted, and his coolness is swapped out for dumb jokes.

The Reddit community has some interesting theories as to why this character changed so blatantly. Some fans think that Eric's cartoonish behavior began after his head injury in Season 4. Others think that because the series is from Cory's perspective, the way he views his cool older brother shifts as he grows.

14. Jenny Humphrey (Gossip Girl)

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In Gossip Girl, everyone wants to be part of Manhattan's Elite, including Dan Humphrey's little sister, Jenny. The Humphrey family is new to the uber-rich world of bratty socialites, so at the beginning of the series, Jenny desperately wants to fit in. We see her feel rejected time and time again, and when she finally makes it into the 'it' crowd, popularity isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Jenny then enters her punk-rock era and tries to sabotage a billion storylines. It makes sense that she rejects everything that her wealthy peers are about, but her character tanks as this personally change progresses. 

15. Carol Peletier (The Walking Dead)

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At the start of the zombie apocalypse, Carol is shy and timid. Even before dealing with a bunch of undead, we see her letting others take control, particularly with her abusive husband. As seasons progress, Carol drastically undergoes a personality change due to difficult trauma and the need to survive.

In later seasons, Carol is smart, cunning, brave, and a strong fighter. Within the group of survivors, she becomes the one who is not afraid to make difficult choices for what she deems as the good of the group. Her entire personality makes a 180, but it is a powerful choice in storytelling, given all she's been through.

Did these characters change for better or worse? I want to hear your opinions in the comments!