10 Shows About Young Versions of Iconic Characters

I’ve noticed something really interesting lately – if I love a character from a movie or show, there’s a good chance someone’s already made a show about their childhood! It’s weird, but it happens a lot. Once a character gets popular, people want to know their backstory and how they became who they are, so someone usually creates a story showing their early life and setting up their future.

These shows serve two main purposes. First, they breathe new life into familiar stories and characters in a fresh way. Second, they attract a younger audience, potentially inspiring them to discover the original content as they grow older – creating a cycle that keeps these characters popular across generations. Plus, the idea is just fun! It makes you wonder about the backstories of beloved characters like Kermit or Carrie Bradshaw when they were children – questions we never thought to ask before.

Certain shows are instant hits. People naturally want to see the origins of beloved characters – like what Clark Kent’s life was like growing up in Kansas before becoming Superman. Many were eager to learn about the childhood adventures of Sheldon Cooper, the brilliant physicist. Even if not everyone was asking, doesn’t it pique your interest? While some spin-offs have been more successful than others, they all offer a compelling look at how iconic characters are developed from the very beginning.

10 TV Shows About “Young” Versions of Iconic Adult Characters

Muppet Babies (1984-1991)

The Muppets are already adorable, but Muppet Babies takes the cuteness to a whole new level. This animated series, which ran for eight seasons, shows the Muppets as toddlers, letting a new generation fall in love with these familiar characters. It’s a clever concept – what better way to engage young kids than by showing them what their heroes were like when they were little? The idea actually originated in a dream sequence in The Muppets Take Manhattan, and the show quickly followed the movie’s release. Disney Jr. later updated the series with a fresh animation style in 2018.

The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992-1996)

I always loved the glimpse we got of young Indiana Jones in the beginning of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, River Phoenix was just perfect! It was so exciting when The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles came out in 1992, showing us his earlier adventures with Sean Patrick Flanery and Corey Carrier playing him at different ages. Sadly, it didn’t really catch on with viewers – most of us just preferred the grown-up Indy we knew and loved. Plus, it was a pretty expensive show to make, filmed in real locations all over the globe, and unfortunately that, combined with the ratings, led to its cancellation.

Young Hercules (1998-1999)

Before becoming a spacefaring actor and a frequent guest on Saturday Night Live, Ryan Gosling starred as a young version of the famous Greek hero Hercules in the show Young Hercules. This series was a spin-off of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, and it focused on Hercules as a teenager attending a special academy where he trained to be a warrior. He was mentored by Cheiron alongside other young heroes and villains. Although the show had 50 episodes, it only lasted one season. (Interestingly, another spin-off focusing on a warrior princess proved much more successful.)

Smallville (2001-2011)

Few shows have captured the “young origin story” concept as well as Smallville. While it featured the beginnings of a famous superhero, it cleverly disguised itself as a typical high school drama. The creators, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, famously avoided capes and flying, keeping the show realistic. Smallville focused on the everyday challenges of teenage life, occasionally mixed with plots involving supervillains threatening the world. This version of Clark Kent never became the iconic Superman; instead, the series explored young Kal-El’s journey of self-discovery, learning who to trust, and understanding his future.

Clone High (2002-2024)

This idea might be a bit outside the usual, but let us explain. Early in their careers, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller came up with a funny animated sitcom called Clone High. The show imagined a high school filled with teenage clones of famous historical figures – Joan of Arc in English class with Abraham Lincoln, Cleopatra eating lunch with JFK and Gandhi, and so on. It was a hilarious parody of teen dramas like Degrassi and Dawson’s Creek that didn’t necessarily teach much history, but it was definitely entertaining.

Bates Motel (2013-2017)

Ever wonder what made Norman Bates the way he was in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho? If so, you might have already seen Bates Motel, the series that tells the story of a young Norman and his mother, Norma, before the events of the film. They run a motel where they secretly commit murders. While it’s a prequel to Psycho, Bates Motel is set in modern times—likely to save money on production—which immediately creates a disorienting, Hitchcock-style atmosphere. The show was popular, lasting five seasons, and the final season roughly follows the plot of Psycho, featuring Vera Farmiga as Norma and, of course, the famous shower scene.

The Carrie Diaries (2013-2014)

If you enjoyed And Just Like That… and were curious about other Sex and the City spin-offs, you might remember The Carrie Diaries. This show was a prequel that followed a teenage Carrie Bradshaw (played by AnnaSophia Robb) as she navigated life and worked in 1980s New York City. In its second season, the show introduced a young Samantha, and the showrunner, Amy B. Harris, later shared that they had planned to introduce a young Miranda if the series hadn’t been cancelled. It makes you wonder how long it would have taken for all the girls to meet young Charlotte!

Gotham (2014-2019)

During the development of Smallville, Warner Bros. also considered a prequel series about a young Bruce Wayne, showing his life before becoming Batman. These plans were delayed until 2014, when Fox launched Gotham during a surge in popularity for darker superhero stories. While a young Bruce Wayne appears in the show, the main focus is on James Gordon, a detective who will later become police commissioner and an ally to Batman, and the early careers of iconic Batman villains like the Joker and the Penguin. The series also features various mob bosses all vying for control of Gotham City.

Young Sheldon (2017-2024)

When CBS announced a spinoff of the popular show The Big Bang Theory, focusing on a young version of one of its characters, it seemed like a gamble. But Young Sheldon unexpectedly became a huge success, running for seven seasons. The show follows nine-year-old Sheldon Cooper, a gifted child, as he navigates high school and college, succeeding in academics but finding it hard to connect with others due to his unique personality and interests. Though we know Sheldon eventually does well, fans had to wait nearly two seasons to hear his famous catchphrase.

Young Sherlock (2026- )

Although a third Sherlock Holmes film is currently on hold, director Guy Ritchie is working on the series Young Sherlock. As the title suggests, the show follows Sherlock Holmes as a student at Oxford University, where he becomes involved in a murder investigation that could jeopardize his future and his new friendship with James Moriarty—who will eventually become his greatest enemy. The series is based on the Young Sherlock Holmes book series by Andrew Lane, originally published in the 2010s, and officially approved by the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It reveals details about Holmes’ early life and introduces his unusual family.

TV Shows We Used to Love That Are Cringe Now

The West Wing (1999-2006)

When people discuss classic TV shows that haven’t aged well, The West Wing often comes up. It’s not that the show was bad – the plots weren’t terrible, and the acting was generally good. The problem is that The West Wing presented an idealized, overly optimistic view of politics. Given the current political climate, it just doesn’t feel realistic. The show portrayed an America run by incredibly smart and ethical leaders who always did the right thing, or faced consequences if they didn’t. But that’s not how things actually work, and watching it now feels unsatisfying rather than hopeful. (And let’s not even talk about The Newsroom.)

Entourage (2004-2011)

Few shows seem as dated as Entourage. It’s surprising it even got made, let alone lasted as long as it did. The series, about a moderately successful actor and his friends navigating Hollywood, seems harmless enough, but it originally aired in the late 2000s—a time of big social and technological changes. What came across as the height of cool masculinity in 2004 now feels pretty irritating. To say the show’s portrayal of relationships is outdated would be a massive understatement. It’s still mildly entertaining as a glimpse into the past, but just barely.

Supernatural (2005-2020)

Was Supernatural always unintentionally awkward, or did it become that way over time? The show started as an enjoyable adventure about hunting monsters, set to a great rock soundtrack and playfully using biblical stories. But it really went on too long, lasting about four or five seasons past its prime. Eventually, the constant, high-stakes storylines all blurred together, characters repeatedly died and came back to life, and the relationships between the main characters became repetitive and dull. Even in its final episodes, when it finally acknowledged a popular romantic pairing among fans, it did so in a way that many fans considered prejudiced. It was certainly a long and memorable journey!

The Secret Life of the American Teenager (2008-2013)

Let’s be honest, ABC’s teen drama The Secret Life of the American Teenager was always a bit awkward, but it was surprisingly popular. Despite its title sounding like a warning from the 1970s, the show didn’t offer much new insight. Instead, it was a pretty standard high school story with fairly traditional views on teen pregnancy—basically, have the baby, get married, and build a family. The writing was notoriously bad; a quick online search for “secret life cringe” will turn up tons of examples, including some truly awful lines of dialogue.

Glee (2009-2015)

Like a train wreck you can’t look away from, Glee was often cringeworthy but also strangely captivating, walking a fine line between terrible and enjoyably bad. This “I can’t believe this is happening” vibe is pretty much the signature style of its creator, Ryan Murphy. While Secret Life was too cautious to be interesting, Glee went completely overboard, with increasingly ridiculous storylines. The characters were strangely one-dimensional yet overly complicated, and its covers of popular songs were often irritating. The show’s infamous cover of “Blurred Lines,” performed by teachers, is just one example of its many questionable choices.

Sherlock (2010-2017)

Sherlock experienced a particularly dramatic shift in audience opinion – people either loved it or stopped enjoying it, and there are many reasons why. It was a huge hit when it first aired, launching Benedict Cumberbatch to international fame, and its clever updating of classic Sherlock Holmes stories was a breath of fresh air compared to standard crime shows. However, with only a few long episodes released every couple of years, the show became overly ambitious. Many of the original fans had lost interest by the time the later seasons arrived, and everyone remembers when the once-innovative ‘mind palace’ concept started to feel stale.

Game of Thrones (2011-2019)

Like many shows, Game of Thrones started strong but lost its way towards the end. While it was initially loved, the final seasons were widely disliked. We still think the earlier parts of the show are good – even excellent – but the quality noticeably declined after a certain point. The show always asked a lot of viewers, requiring them to keep track of fictional places, characters, and complex storylines. This became tiring, especially as the series neared its conclusion and began killing off popular characters in ways that felt unsatisfying. Now, when someone says they’re a fan, they usually add “the early seasons” to avoid arguments – it’s become a sensitive topic!

House of Cards (2013-2018)

It’s tempting to dismiss House of Cards now that its star is no longer involved, but the show wasn’t particularly strong even before. As one of Netflix’s early hits, it was promoted as a smart, intense political drama—like The West Wing, but darker—following a ruthless congressman and his wife as they climbed the ranks through manipulation and betrayal. While the show’s direct address to the audience was initially innovative, the increasingly predictable twists at the end of each season became tiresome. Ultimately, most viewers stopped watching, especially after the show struggled to deal with the controversy surrounding its lead actor.

Orange Is the New Black (2013-2019)

Like House of Cards, interest in Orange Is the New Black started to decline well before its final season. The show began strongly as a unique prison drama with a diverse cast and storylines that suggested many seasons of compelling stories. However, a key issue emerged: the show consistently focused on its least engaging character. This became especially apparent with the main character, who even dedicated fans found boring, despite receiving the most screen time. After a few seasons of this, viewers began to question why they were still watching, and the show now serves as a prime example of how not to plan future seasons of a hit series.

The Mandalorian (2019-2023)

The success of The Mandalorian may have ironically damaged the reputation of the Volume – the innovative video wall soundstage that allowed for real-time background effects. While the first season offered a promising, stylish Star Wars story reminiscent of a Western, later seasons lost focus. Instead of developing that original concept, the show became bogged down in unnecessary lore and suffered from unpolished visuals that didn’t live up to the potential of the groundbreaking technology. Viewership declined significantly by the final season, a disappointing outcome for a show that once held so much promise.

2026-03-13 16:59