It is all too easy to make a television character who is despised from their first appearance to their last. Whether it's due to the writing, the acting, the storylines, or simply being viewed as worse than the other characters in a show, there are any number of reasons a character can be consistently unpopular.
Rarer is when a character starts out popular, or at least accepted, and loses popularity over the course of the show. This also has a variety of reasons, from the show's overall quality declining, unpopular plot developments, the writers being unsure what to do with a character, or simply a character initially being so popular that it is unsustainable.
10 Daryl Dixon Flew Too High
When he first appeared in the first season of The Walking Dead, Daryl Dixon rapidly became the most popular character in the show, eclipsing even its popular lead, Rick Grimes. His blend of masculinity, sensitivity, and sheer 'cool' factor led to the fan saying "if Daryl dies, we riot."
Daryl never became unpopular, but his first season was like bottled lightning, and as episode counts increased, the showrunners struggled to give him enough relevance to maintain his popularity. As the show went on, some fans came to view Daryl as overrated, although he was bolstered by his potential romance with Carol Peletier and becoming the show's de-facto protagonist after Rick.
9 Ralph Bohner Let Fans Down
Wandavision was never a show afraid of confusing its audience, with its first few episodes throwing out question after question, and not providing many answers. Nonetheless, one of the show's big twists was the seeming return of Wanda's brother Pietro Maximoff. Some fans expected this, but what shocked many was his actor - Evan Peters of the X-Men films, rather than Aaron Taylor-Johnson from Age of Ultron.
The character intrigued many fans and spawned myriad theories regarding the multiverse, Wanda's powers, and Disney's acquisition of Fox. Ultimately, in the final episode, it was revealed that "Pietro" was just an imposter bearing fake memories sent by Agatha Harkness, and the casting was just a red herring, disappointing many fans and considered one of the weak points of the finale.
8 Rachel Berry Started With A Mixed And Only Declined
Rachel Berry was never the most popular character in Glee, with her initial characterization turning off many of the show's initial viewers. Nonetheless, her status as the main character, as well as several possible romantic relationships in the eyes of the show's rabid 'shipping' fandom - along with genuinely good musical performances - kept her popular in the show's initial seasons.
As the show wore on, however, Rachel's behavior continued to alienate fans as the show focused more and more on her. Ultimately, she began to lose popularity in favor of more consistently popular characters, like Santana Lopez. Later revelations about Lea Michele's behavior after the show ended would only retroactively worsen things.
7 Emily Tried To Break Up The Friends
When Emily first appeared in Friends as a love interest for Ross, she was met with moderate popularity, about what was expected for most recurring love interests in the show, and one with a hope of ending Ross and Rachel's 'will-they-or-won't-they.'
While her initial storylines were enjoyed, fan opinion of Emily changed after the infamous "Rachel" incident at Ross and Emily's wedding. Despite her understandable embarrassment at what happened, her actions of trying to uproot Ross from his friends and child, and then trying to exclude Rachel from the group, proved to sour her in the eyes of fans.
6 Scott McCall Became Overshadowed
On Teen Wolf, Scott McCall was never the most popular character in the show, despite being its protagonist. Seen by some as a slightly generic character, other characters like Derek, Jackson, and Stiles all became more popular than him. Nonetheless, no fans disliked him, and plenty enjoyed his relative naivete, humor, and story arcs.
Scott never became an unpopular character. It was just that, as the show wore on, fans who thought Scott was slightly bland tended to solidify this opinion, and his stance on never killing made some fans roll their eyes. Towards the end of the show's run, the prominence and return of other characters like Peter Hale, Jackson Whitmore, and Derek Hale saw him lose popularity just by comparison.
5 Fonzie Was Overused
The Fonz rapidly became the most popular character on Happy Days once he appeared, overshadowing the original characters, despite his initial status as merely a comedic bit character. Before long, he was so popular that executives were debating renaming the show after him.
However, Fonzie hit saturation, and his own popularity led to people becoming sick of him. In addition, he became associated, eventually, with a decline in the show's quality, best recognized as the moment when Fonzie jumped over a shark.
4 Stella Tanked Her Popularity By Jilting Ted
Fans were often skeptical of Ted's girlfriends on How I Met Your Mother, given that all of them were inevitably false leads, as they were clearly not the titular Mother. Nonetheless, Ted's relationship with Stella won itself supporters, with their initial "two-minute date" becoming one of the show's most iconic scenes.
Stella reversed her popularity quickly, in the very same episode in which she and Ted were to be married. When Stella bans their exes from the wedding, and Ted asks her to tell her own ex-husband, the result is Stella jilting Ted and breaking his heart. Later episodes where a hit movie is made vilifying Ted only served to cement fan dislike.
3 Elena Gilbert's Story Became Stale
The Vampire Diaries began as the story of Elena Gilbert and her complex romantic entanglements with a pair of vampire brothers, the Salvatores. While introducing fans to a complex and dark vampire underworld, this relationship also kept fans engaged, and Elena as a popular character, for several seasons.
Over time, however, controversial decisions like Elena becoming a vampire and wiping out an entire bloodline of vampires, and her relationship with Damon growing stale, as well as a view that she was 'stringing along' both brothers, led to fan support for her relationships dropping off, and the character ultimately leaving the show in the sixth season.
2 Fans Considered Jon Snow Wasted Potential
Part of Game of Thrones's controversial final seasons was that, in many fans' opinions, many promising characters and storylines were dashed. To some fans, one of the most egregious of these was Jon Snow, one of the most conventionally heroic characters in the show, with a compelling character arc around accepting the humanity of others and fighting to make a change.
Jon was given little to do for large parts of the seventh and eighth seasons, with some viewing the nadir as him being stopped from fighting the Night King by an army of wights, and Arya instead being the one to slay him, wasting his prophecized future as "the Prince Who Was Promise.". Killing Daenerys at the show's end angered other fans, as well.
1 Felicity Went From Beloved To Disliked
When Felicity Smoak first appeared in Arrow, she instantly became a fan-favorite, with demand getting her a larger role as a more prominent part of Team Arrow, and ultimately becoming Oliver's primary love interest, despite initial plans.
From here, however, it was downhill in the eyes of many fans. Felicity became more and more used and, for many fans, became too beloved by the creators. Hers and Oliver's previously drama-free relationship began to dominate more storylines, and she simply became overused.