Interviews · Movies · TV

Where Might They Be Now? Speculated Fates of Movie and TV Characters

By  · Published on September 26th, 2016

Actors and filmmakers tend to assume the worst of their creations.

In a recent interview for ShortList magazine promoting Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Sam Neill gave the following morbid update on where his Jurassic Park character, Dr. Alan Grant ‐ last seen in Jurassic Park III ‐ is at today:

No one knows where Alan Grant is anymore. I think he’s retired from paleontology. He’s sick to death of dinosaurs and running. He’s not quite as fleet of foot as he was, and he’s now retired to Dayton, Ohio, and he has a very successful accountancy business.

I think that’s what’s happened. Either that or he’s dead.

How do you recover from all that stuff? I don’t think there are therapists that are trained to deal with kind of post-dino stuff. Accountancy would be one way.

The call hasn’t come. And no one can find Grant. He’s disappeared. Someone found his hat. His hat was floating on the Hudson River. But that was the last that was ever heard of him.

A lot of actors and filmmakers, when asked where their beloved characters are today, have similarly dark answers. Some are dead, some have broken up with the love interest they were with at the end of the movie(s), and there are other miserable fates, as well. There are also a few with positive outcomes, however. Below are quotes from creators and portrayers from movies and TV on where they think their fictitious people wound up.

Patrick Bateman (American Psycho)

“[He] would have been the founder of a number of dotcoms. He would have partied in Tribeca and the Hamptons, indistinguishable from the young and handsome boy wonders who were populating the scene then, with their millions of nonexistent dollars, dancing unknowingly on the edge of an implosion that happened mercilessly, wiping out the playing field, correcting scores. While twirling through that decade myself as a youngish man, I often thought that this was a time Bateman could have also thrived in, especially with the advent of new technologies that could have aided him in his ghoulish obsession with murder, execution, and torture ‐ and in ways to record them…Certainly he could also just as easily be a hedge-funder in New York: Patrick Bateman begets Bill Ackman and Daniel Loeb.” ‐ author Brett Easton Ellis, Town & Country

John Bender (The Breakfast Club)

“He’d clearly be the principal of that high school! He knows what those kids are going through.” ‐ Judd Nelson, Daily Mail

Harry Burns and Sally Albright (When Harry Met Sally…)

Cho Chang (Harry Potter)

“I reckon Cho would probably have become a really successful entrepreneur, and really cold and ruthless…she’s cried all the tears she could cry, and now she’s become real cold and heartless.” ‐ Katie Leung, The Huffington Post

Seth Cohen (The O.C.)

“If I had to predict, I’d say Seth Cohen is dead. I think he’d be going down to Mexico and probably had a bad car accident. It wasn’t any fault of his own, but yeah, knowing what I know now about Seth and his poor decision-making, that’s my guess.” ‐ Adam Brody, Nylon

The Conner Family (Roseanne)

“D.J. gets published, Mark dies in Iraq, David leaves Darlene for a woman half his age, Darlene meets a woman and they have a test tube baby, Becky works at Walmart, Roseanne and Jackie open the first medical marijuana dispensary in Lanford, Illinois, and pay off the mortgage before the house is foreclosed on, Arnie becomes the best friend of the Governor of Illinois, Mom sells a painting for ten grand, Nancy and Arnie remarry, Jerry and the grandsons form a band like the Jonas Brothers, Dan shows up alive after faking his death, Leon has a sex change op, [and] Bonnie gets busted for selling crack.” ‐ Roseanne Barr, Roseanne World

Dirk Diggler (Boogie Nights)

“I fear that most of [the characters in Boogie Nights] might be dead. I doubt Dirk Diggler’s still alive. He’d be probably gone. I couldn’t see him making it.” —writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson, Moviehole

Monica Geller, Rachel Green, and the Rest of the Gang (Friends)

“I’m hoping that Ross and Rachel, and Monica and Chandler, and Phoebe and Mike are still married and living happily ever after. I imagine that after they had the surrogate twins, Monica did get pregnant after all and they had a third child, so they have a wonderful family. Chandler now owns his own number-crunching business…He realized he wanted to go back, so he formed his own WENUS organization. They’re living very nicely in Westchester. I think Ross and Rachel ‐ I don’t know. I’ve never imagined any of them before! They also had another child. Joey is a star. He finally got his big break…and it was a huge blockbuster. And Phoebe opened a chain of holistic spas across the country using her unique massage techniques she developed over the years. She’s spreading the joy.” ‐ co-executive producer/director Kevin S. Bright, TVGuide.com

Regina George (Mean Girls)

“Regina is a Real Housewife. She’d have too much time on her hands, for sure. She’s probably found all her other Reginas.” ‐ Rachel McAdams, Entertainment Weekly

Cady Heron (Mean Girls)

“Cady’s with Oprah in Africa working at children’s schools with a family, teaching girls to be nice to each other.” ‐ Lindsay Lohan, Entertainment Weekly

Cher Horowitz (Clueless)

“[Cher would be] married to her brother!” ‐ Alicia Silverstone, Good Morning America

Luna Lovegood (Harry Potter)

“I think Luna would have an adventure documentary series. She becomes a naturalist, and I think she’d travel the world and have a show. I could be a wildlife narrator…and she would prove all her creatures exist. Everyone is so dubious of her, and I’d like her to show they’re real.” ‐ Evanna Lynch, The Huffington Post

Kevin McCallister (Home Alone)

Lizzie McGuire (Lizzie McGuire)

“I don’t think she’d be married to Gordo. I don’t know, I think she’d go off to college and potentially become a little cooler than she was, but still not bitchy at all. I think she’s just the biggest-hearted girl ever…I can imagine her being on a path to something really special and great, but I feel like she’d still be working her way through the office grind and she’d probably constantly embarrass herself ‐ mishaps in the office all the time. And she’d probably still be wearing butterfly clips, bringing it back!” ‐ Hilary Duff, US Weekly

Ken Miller (Freaks and Geeks) and Ron Garner (Undeclaired)

“They’d all be dead.” ‐ Seth Rogen, FanPop

Blossom Russo (Blossom)

“[She’s] probably a practicing lawyer and working for the rights of the underprivileged as a lawyer ‐ that would be my guess.” ‐ Mayim Bialik, Today.com

Lorraine Saracen (Friday Night Lights)

“Do you want to know where Grandma Saracen is now? She’s dead!” ‐ Louanne Stephens, People

Torrance Shipman (Bring It On)

“ I think she probably is a cheerleading coach for sure, and she has a family. Not with Cliff ‐ with somebody else, for sure. She’s such a good mom. Like, she just seems like someone you want to be your mom, she’s just like the all-American woman. I was thinking ACTUALLY, maybe since she loves helping people and stuff, she could be working for the U.N. or something like that. Maybe Torrance took her cheerleading skills to a higher level.” ‐ Kirsten Dunst, MTV News

Karen Smith (Mean Girls)

“Karen would manage or own a store that sells really cool dog attire, like Swarovski dog collars and Halloween costumes for animals. She’s probably really focused.” ‐ Amanda Seyfried, Entertainment Weekly

Jason Street (Friday Night Lights)

“Street is, you know, a top 3% agent out there. He’s got Aaron Rodgers. He’s signed Steph Curry. He’s got a Gulfstream. He’s got a jet. He’s got a wheelchair-accessible jet, which is pretty cool.” ‐ Scott Porter, AOL Sports

Viola and Duke (She’s the Man)

“There’s no reason that 10 years later, Viola wouldn’t have made it to the U.S. team and taken us to Olympic gold, and maybe Duke was doing the same thing on his end. They both like gouda, so in my mind, they definitely ended up together and probably some day will go off to have a litter of soccer pups. They’re definitely probably doing the AYSO [American Youth Soccer Organization] parent/soccer thing and looking at the next generation of fierce soccer players.” ‐ director Andy Fickman, People’s Choice

Karen Walker (Will & Grace)

“Karen would be married to Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump.” ‐ Megan Mullaly, Bustle

Ron Weasley (Harry Potter)

“I would expect Ron has probably divorced Hermione already. I don’t think that relationship would have done very well…he’s living on his own, in a little one-bedroom apartment. He hasn’t got a job…they’re briefly separated.” ‐ Rupert Grint, The Huffington Post

Walter White Jr. (Breaking Bad)

“The family is not okay. [Walt Sr.] lied. What people don’t realize is that it’s not just their lives he ruined. It’s hundreds of peoples’ … those on the crashed planes … the family is probably just barely getting by on food stamps. It’s so sad.” ‐ RJ Mitte, Mashable

Gretchen Wieners (Mean Girls)

“Gretchen is probably running the Toaster Strudel empire. She is probably married and has, like, seven babies right now. She and Jason worked it out. She has very big curly hair.” ‐ Lacy Chabert, Entertainment Weekly

Brian ‘Smash’ Williams (Friday Night Lights)

“In my mind, you know, Smash is playing pro. Got a couple rings already. You know, bought his mom a couple houses.” ‐ Gaius Charles, AOL Sports

Brooke Wyndham (Legally Blonde)

“[She would be gallivanting] in Montecito or Monaco…[or] maybe she lost it all and she’s in jail in Bangkok.” ‐ Ali Larter, The Huffington Post

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Christopher Campbell began writing film criticism and covering film festivals for a zine called Read, back when a zine could actually get you Sundance press credentials. He's now a Senior Editor at FSR and the founding editor of our sister site Nonfics. He also regularly contributes to Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes and is the President of the Critics Choice Association's Documentary Branch.