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I like the idea that the second protagonist might actually be the antagonist. We tend to think of the antagonist as a "villain" but at their core they're simply a character who challenges the protagonist in their beliefs. Definitely some food for thoughts in there. Thanks Tyler!

You can have multiple protagonists in stories that go longer than a single feature film character arc. Such as series, or film trilogies. The key is that you complete the character arc before handing off the baton. Likewise, it'd be good to introduce the new protagonist early, by giving them a role in the story before focusing on them.

Reminds me of Captain America: Civil War where Iron Man and Captain America are two main protagonists of MCU. But in that movie, they made Tony Stark an antagonist both from their ideology of superhero management and personal drama since it's Cap's movie.

GRRM with different protagonists every chapter: *"Dammit this guy says it doesn't work, now I gotta change the whole series"*

i feel like the two protagonists things is often used in books. generaly, each has its own story line that's seems completely disconnected and then the two stories lines bump into each other at the story climax i love this moment where it's all connected after all ( like in the miserables by victor Hugo and in the end of times by murakami and probably ton of other )

Scully and Mulder are probably a good example of 2 characters working as a unity

It would be awesome to see a video of how each genre sets up the entire movie with point 1. I think everyone struggles with how to start, but first, remember, the story begins before the script

There are antagonists but there are also contagonists, mentors and sceptics which are also main character that aren't either protagonist or antagonist

Currently, I’m writing a story with two main characters. The idea is that they’re both interacting with their own separate stories and fails. Once their arcs come together, one becomes an antagonist to the other, even if she isn’t a “villain”. Despite one being an antagonist, I want them to both have equal screen time. How can I accomplish this type of story well?

"You shouldn't have dual protagonists." - Go watch Your Name.

The Prestige would like to have a word (and also the X-Men reboot movies)

"Why you should never do anything different than the way it's already been done before"

I'm currently writing a short action drama about English walnuts escaping prison, and I decided early on that the story was missing something, after turning one of my major side characters into a second protagonist I tried to keep their story as tight as possible, meaning they are motivated by the same inciting incident but in different ways and they both have gone too far to the extreme in their beliefs. So as the story progresses they learn from each other's successes and mistakes and despite not fully becoming new people by the end of the story (it is a short after all) they are far more balanced.

How do you think a movie like "Magnolia" by PTA has worked out with multiple protagonist and with multiple story lines. I don't think each of them are characters but they tend to have their own character arc which is why they meet the definition of a protagonist. Can you explain this?

Certain romances (like When Harry Met Sally, for instance) feature two protagonists. You could argue that they operate structurally as one because most of their scenes are together. But they are also the antagonist to each other, opposing and questioning the other's views.

Isayama: and I took that personally

Counterargument: Road to El Dorado. Yes, two protagonists can be done poorly... but like with all other rules of writing / storytelling, knowing the rules is critical to breaking them effectively.

Thanks for this! I was confusing the word "protagonist" with "hero" or the ethically correct person in the story.

Well said. I'm on my 2nd draft already :) so I have to make it work.

RRR was great, and both the protagonists had approximately equal screentime, but they had different reasons for being where they were, but at the end, both of them had the same goal (killing the antagonist). What made it interesting was that both the characters were given something to stick together, and were also given the Fire and Water symbolism.

I'd certainly like a video addressing how to write an ensemble cast. Maybe something that could better guide those writers who like larger casts.

Is it okay for 2 characters to undergo the same sort of character arc but in different ways?

My novel has 6 protagonists. I’m going for a true ensemble fantasy. Obviously novels are different from screenwriting which you mainly talk about

Interesting topic. I recently replayed Cyberpunk 2077 which also has a story with two protagonists, V and Johnny Silverhand. However, like explained in this video, Johnny's role changes a LOT. That man goes from antagonist to side-kick to protagonist in the span of 4 hours. V's role is very clear and static on the other hand. He is the protagonist although a weak one compared to Johnny's persona.

I do feel like even when there are 2 protagonists, the POV is skewed towards one vs the other

I was having trouble rewriting a story that seemed to have four main characters, operating as a dysfunctional unit, and one hidden villain. If the protagonist is the character that most defines how the story moves forward, I'm thinking that the four 'main' characters are actually heroic antagonists, and the villain may be the real protagonist? Any advice for writing a protagonist that manages to remain off screen for big chunks of the story? Or would that be a mistake?

The Last Watch and The Exiled fleet, published by Tor, great story two protagonists.

After watching this I was still confused about whether or not I had two protagonists in my story because it felt like I had second inciting incidents for one of my main characters. Afterwards though, I went and watched the video on “How to stop being confused about story structure” and realized what I was perceiving as a separate inciting incident for a different character, was actually part of the “adapt” section of the story. A conflict for one of the other main characters that was inadvertently caused by my protagonist’s reaction to her inciting incident. So thank you for helping me sort out that confusion.

A film which is one of my all time favorites and is also one of the most underrated of all time has 2 protagonists: Mikey and Nicky (1976).

In "real life" stories, sometimes there are "chain reactions" where one person's actions are misinterpreted by the next, and so on for several people. This is how incidents happen to people, but in a movie story the audience doesn't know whom to root for.

"Chariots of Fire" is a good example of two protagonists who only seem to oppose each other - it really is telling two complete stories side by side, each with their own "circle" or "arc" or however you choose to chart it. Harold's accomplishment at the end has a real ache to it because of Eric's absence in his race, but both stories are a triumph of faith over (potentially crippling) cynicism. Tyler's point is well-taken, though - it makes for a long movie, and Eric's switch to a different race does feel like a "bait 'n' switch." Still a great film that doesn't get enough love these days.

Most people (including Tyler) confuse “protagonist” and “main character.” Yes. Most of the time they are the same person. But “protagonist” as Tyler said is the driving force of a story while “main character” is the one who goes through a character arc. They can be, and, often are seperate characters in a story. Think The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966). Blondie (Clint Eastwood) is the “protagonist” as he drives the story forward but he doesn’t change or grow throughout. Meanwhile, Tuco (Eli Wallach) is the “main character” as he is the only character with a semblance of a character arc. (Same goes for Mad Max (Mel Gibson) in The Road Warrior (1981)).

This was so helpful and just saved me so much time. I’m in the early stages of writing my story and have been confused on this topic. Now I just need to choose a character to be my protagonist. Back to the drawing board

I dunno, I think it works when your protagonist can't be in more than one place and the plot requires it.

Prisoners (2013) does this well with 2 protagonists. Both protagonists are full of emotional depth which creates good development on screen from both of them. Detective Loki "needs" to find the two girls and solve the case. Keller Dover "wants" to find his daughter and her friend, but takes matters into his own hands and that's when the act of "morality" comes in. I'm probably wrong with what I've written and I might be overthinking it but that's just my opinion of the film, love it so much.

I'm a little confused. Nolan said that they decided to make Harvey Dent the Protagonist in the Dark Knight. In one of your videos, you explained the story circle. You said Batman is the Protagonist. Do you think, Nolan uses a different definition of Protagonist and not the one, you explained in this video? I really liked the video btw

What about Asoiaf or GoT?

If I take the film Se7en, I would say both -- the character of Brat Pit and Morgan Freeman are the protagonists, but they do not work in unison, and I would not say that one is the support or antagonist to the other. Thus I think it is possible to have two characters both being the protagonists, since they both create a dynamic with Pit's character being the one who is more pushing and thus driving while Freeman's character is the one who has in the end the complete character arc of a protagonist. Maybe their banter could be seen like a soliloquy in theatre of a single protagonist who is trying to reconciliate different aspects of themselves. Still, since they fall apart at the end, it would not work with a single protagonist (except maybe in sci-fi where the character could maybe then be separated into two different quantum personas). Guess what I want to say is: that if one is really experienced as storyteller then one can do that and make it work.

I get what you're saying Tyler, it can be confusing and difficult to write a story with two protagonists - however I would add that if done well, two-handers can make for very interesting stories. You can also add elements of surprise and reversals when the character you were rooting for actually becomes more of an antagonist, e.g. when the audience learns something about a character that changes their loyalties to the other "protagonist" and they eventually come out on top.

So with films like Magnolia where there are 5 or 6 strong characters that we follow... how do you write that? I am writing a script that calls for multiple characters like that, and am trying to figure out the best way to structure it. Should I story arc 7 characters and "braid" 7 Dan Harmon story circles together, but with one main protagonist we follow for the primary plot? In other words, do I burn out the first draft focused on the protagonist and then incorporate the other arcs afterwards. In Magnolia all characters are disjointed but intertwined in their stories, but I could not identify one protagonist.

Some stories actually pull it off and switch protagonists successfully at some point (Psycho and Midnight Mass come to mind) but there's probably a reason why that's not the norm.

I guess somebody forgot to tell several of the greatest authors of our time who wrote blockbuster novels with two protagonists. Such as Charles Frazier, author of Cold Mountain, which sold 5 million copies and won the National Book Award. And Anthony Doerr, who wrote All The Light We Cannot See, which sold 15 million copies and won the Pulitzer Prize.

“why u shouldn’t have 2 protagonists” Arcane: hi

Quick question, so 1 protagonist makes perfect sense, but can you have 2+ antagonists as well? Or is that just as bad?

I think this is one of the many faults that led the assassin's creed movie to failure, there were two characters and two completely different stories they were trying to focus on and drive forward and neither meshed with each other very well even though it seemed like they really tried to mesh them together.

I think the most important thing to remember is that your protagonist is the one who gives meaning to your story and all the other perspectives in your movie. So let's say in The Incredibles: Sure you have in both movies a big family with many members who have interesting perspectives and stories - But in the end it's the care and struggle of the father (the films protagonist) that gives meaning to this. Like when we see the kids struggle in school and normal life, but we as the viewer ultimately see this through the lens of the father, who struggled a lot in the two movies, to give his family that normal life and in hope they'll be more happy so. That doesn't mean that the father is the most important member of the family or even that he struggles the most. It's just that his characters want, is what sits at the core of the films structure and everything else is just another perspective on that core story. A lot of movies with big ensembles make it sometimes difficult to see, which main character is the protagonist. A good method I've found to clear this up is to look at the first and the last sequence of the movie and identify who's perspective (and later character-change) we're focusing on. Like in Se7en: Where it might seem like we have two protagonist, but ultimately it's the change in Sommerset we're focusing on. Or Sherlock where it was always (until they f it up in the last season) about Watsons change and him becoming a more competent person through being challenged by Sherlock.

In tropa de elite you have two, but then something happens. In Love and Mercy you have one protagonist in two time frames. In Heat, you have two and it works well because the real protagonist is Hanna and we think it's McCauley. In The Departed it's Sullivan but we want it to be Costigan. Also, you can have a shared journey eg the buddy cop genre. Also Godfather Part 2....split between two time frames. Traffic...split between different geographical regions. Frodo and Aragorn.

This is why I find Akira to be so confusing. Is the protagonist Kaneda or Tetsuo? Or Akira? wtf!

In T.V. shows it might be a good idea to not introduce all your characters in the first episode. This works especially well with antagonists or villains as it allows you to build tension, suspense or intrigue around a character.

i think game of thrones is a great example of how the "protagonist" baton gets handed off, and even splits into multiple viewpoints, developing another layer of tension as the protagonists you care about slowly start to collide. like multiple stories in their own rights finally come to butt heads. marvel had multiple protagonists lead their own stories, and then tried to bring over their arcs to the larger ensemble. but i feel like iron man and captain america were the only beating hearts to drive the story forward.

Is a deuteragonist the same as a second protagonist? I think of Dawson's Creek and there are definitely a few main characters, but one could argue Dawson and Joey are two protagonists, Pacey is a deuteragonist, and Jen is a triagonist OR Dawson or Joey as THE protagonist and the other as a deuteragonist, while Pacey/Jen are triagonists or just main characters. I mean, all four definitely have episodes, story arcs, or even seasons that are mostly their story, but overall it seems Dawson and Joey are the center of the story.

Can you do a few videos on the different types of non linear films? Also how would you describe something like Game of Thrones which seems to have multiple protagonists?

In my story, it’s more like protagonist and deuteragonist. Basically majority of the chapters in my book focuses on the one main character the story is about. While occasionally switching to the other main character the primary main character meets early on. Eventually though, both main characters occupy the same space together the rest of the way through.

This is something I just struggled with on a limited series project I started. I almost tried the 2 protagonist thing, but realized that it was never necessary. One of them is really the antagonist, but because it is a "main character" with an arc I really wanted to focus on, I confused it with being a protagonist. You can have main characters who are focused on as much as the protagonist, who are not the protagonist. Just because they have a lot of screen time or are more interesting than your protagonist, doesn't make them the driving force of your story. What I really had to decide in the end was: Do I want to tell this story from the point of view of this "good" protagonist hero type?... or just let this evil villain of a person become the protagonist and tell it in the spirit of Infinity War with the bad guy-protagonist. I chose to keep a traditional hero protagonist character and just write a really interesting villain with his own clear philosophical beliefs. Honestly, toying with this idea of every "main character" being the protagonist is a great tool for developing your characters. You just have to know that in the end, after you've fleshed them out, you have to put them back in their place and keep your 1 true protagonist.

Nothing Is Imposible:- RRR. Imaginary Boundries pushed.

I have always been contemplating about knowing who the main character should be in my story.. this really helped a lot with making me decide! Relating question: Do you have any advice on writing an ensemble cast that affect one whole big story like its the Avengers or something?

Would you say that castle in the sky has two protagonists? If so how does it not feel disjointed? Just a thought

How do feel about an ensemble cast of characters?

Dang, I must have messed up. I only have a tagonist.

Hi Tyler the script you posted here are gone. Where can I find the scripts to continue reading?

I think the ting that people need to know is that there is a difference between a "Protagonist" and a principal (Lead) role. a Protagonist is the driving force behind the story (and the story is usually told from their perspective) a Principal role (often referred to as a lead) supports the protagonist. (But they still have a large part in the story, either in the inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action or resolution and they can make decisions that advance the plot) Take a musical like Zombie Prom or Grease as a shining example. in Zombie Prom, Toffee is the protaginist because we see and hear more from her perspective throughout the show, although Jonny Warner (a LEAD) makes choices and decisions that directly move the plot along. it's because of Jonny's desire to return to school that almost gets the prom cancelled and it's his love that brings the principal to her senses. In Grease, Sandy is the protagonist (as, Like Toffee, we see and hear more from her perspective). throughout the show, Sandy makes decisions and Danny Zuko (a LEAD) also helps to advance the plot through things like the Thunder road rumble subplot.

Good advice. It's fine to have multiple characters but the story must be driven by the desire, decisions and actions of one particular character.

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Except in comedy. Unlike couples like Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh, but also Frasier and Niles. Two similar brothers pushing each other forward is the most masterful decision in screenwriting ever.

Currently I'm working on a novel where I'm planning to put two protagonists. U ituslly it focuses on a guy and hid brother who get seperated. The guy becomes an antagonistic figure to the world and once he would reunite with his brother, his brother also sees him as an antagoidt due to their same goal but different ideals. But he doesn't nessecsrily hate this "antagonist" but this "antagonist" hates him cuz he sees what he could've been if things were different. Thoughts?

by this logic I can say that Thanos was the protagonist of the movie avengers infinity war

Solid video. Thanks

...I got 4 main characters lol but its important for the story I'm telling x3

I'm thinking 9 main characters with 3 protagonist. 1 main protagonist and one main antagonist.

I think there's exceptions to every rule. Lethal Weapon has two protagonists. Saw has two protagonists.

I think most romcoms have a dual protag storyline. You might not like it due to the genre, but if you dismiss it as "not working" you haven't been paying attention. Even on your "story circle" you can have a constant feedbackloop of party A acting/reacting to party B which progresses the plot, story, character arcs, etc... Neither gets disconnected from the plot, because each jump from protag shows a reaction on the previous protags actions which leads to a response from the other. It's so basic that anyone who had two friends fight can understand this.

Then there is Heat.

What about "Django Unchained"? For some reason they gave Christoph Waltz the Oscar only for "Supporting Character", but Dr. King Schultz was clearly the character who drove the story forward, thus he was the protagonist. Django however took over at the end, and of course the movie was named after him. Do we have two protagonists here, and would you recommend it for a story?

kzfaq.info/get/bejne/nL-EdZxiuKebc40.html Here's Tyler's video on how to do 2 protagonists

I’m so jealous of the instant view count 🥺 #SubscriberGoals 😢😅😊

In my story I have two protagonist. But I wanna separate them after the first story (it'll be a trilogy bc how much I wanna explore). Just want feedback

👀 Oooo reference to Doctor Strange & Wanda 😂 I’m actually re-writing Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, so I really appreciate this video. Cheers Tyler

Wrong! : The Departed.

So what about buddy cop movies?

Well christopher nolan made dunkirk that had multiple characters and ended up being a success

What about love stories? Should pick a protagonist and make thr other one the antagonist ?

There is difference between stories and tales .stories have single protagonist and protagonists in tales are different

RRR has two protagonist and film is just 🔥🔥🔥🔥

So... you shouldn't write romance novels?

So you can only have one character arc in a story

George RR Martin: task failed succesfully

Can describe writing romance

Have to disagree. One of my favorite movies from 2011 was X-Men First Class. Charles and Eric are the protagonists of that movie and both are needed for the story to move forward and for the story to happen the way it does. I wouldn't want either of them removed or even lowered to supporting character since the film would have to be very different for that to happen. Now yes, Eric does become an antagonist later but first of all that doesn't happen until the last 20 minutes and secondly the primary antagonist for both Charles and Eric was Sebastian Shaw. He's the main antagonist for most of the film and it's not until he dies that Eric takes his place as a new villain. Another example is the 2018 God of War on PS4. Kratos you would think would be the main character but Atreus is every bit as important to that story as Kratos is in fact if you remove Atreus or put him out of commission then the story just wouldn't happen. Again both are needed for the story to happen and for it to happen the way it does. Neither of them are villains or central antagonists even though they have antagonistic moments towards each other. The antagonist of the story is Baldur and it stays that way until near the end of the game and he's finally killed.

Hello, I love this video! I have something to say regarding this two protagonists things. So I was wondering, how does this works in stories like Sherlock Holmes? I know the obvious answer is that Holmes and Watson act as one entity and thus a single protagonist, but I was like, do they really? I thought about this a little: Obviously the most interesting character, the one the story does not exist without, is Holmes, which makes him the protagonist, but... Everything is told through the eyes of Watson, since, at least in the books, Watson is the 'narrator', and usually in the screen adaptations there is a certain focus on maintaining the viewer stuck to Watson's point of view as well (since he is the everyman that allows the audience to be surprised at Holmes' ingenuity). They are mostly always together but there are many conflicts that involve them being separate, which is why I started to think this isn't a case of them being "one protagonist" - for example when Holmes fakes his death, the stories cannot continue without him so usually there are no prolongued moments, not many scenes in the story until Holmes returns (as in, we don't get to see what Watson does when there's no Holmes in the equation). This almost makes it seem as if Watson is a secondary character, even though he is the one we, audience, are always with! But then I realized, this doesn't mean Holmes is the sole protagonist. Sure he is the most important one, but the Sherlock Holmes stories cannot exist without Watson either - the stories begin precisely when they meet, even though Holmes had already been doing investigations for years. I thought this was super interesting to think about and tried analyzing it as an exercise for myself, so I wanted to share 😄😄

What about friends?

I 100% agree… but i did it by accident!

Umm, tell me if I'm wrong here, but aren't all those buddy cop TV shows and movies filled with a pair of protags? How would you break down the Batman TV series with Batman AND Robin? I can see making characters who work together actually have a rivalry, like a narcissist who leads a codependent.

Would love to see Tyler review some Anime.

Ask cars 2 why you shouldn't have two protagonist.

What about LA Confidential and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo?

Tyler Durden doesn't approve this message.

Hey Tyler!

Sholay👀

Okay? But I don't think Infinity war was a super disjointed story. I mean the movie had at least two protagonists