Can't believe you guys didn't mention Wooderson from Dazed and Confused. Or actually, several side-characters from D & C, like Slater or Mike Newhouse and his gang, and so on and so on...

Hi Matt, Hi Alison
Could you imagine a Wilson, the volleyball feature length follow up to Cast Way? The film would begin immediately after Wilson drifts apart from Tom Hanks, and like Tom Hanks, he is later rescued by a passing cargo ship and spends the rest of the movie traveling the world. The drama and entertainment would come from the various characters that collect Wilson on his journey from country to country, continent to continent. All this leading to a climatic reunion with his close companion of 4 years, Chuck Noland. The movie could be financed by Fed Ex and Wilson Sporting Goods.

Back in the late 70s/early 80s, Lucas licensed the Han Solo Trilogy of books devoted to Han Solo's smuggling days. http://tinyurl.com/ykltk63. To my knowledge, once Lucas had licensed a portion of the Star Wars mythos to a particular medium, it became otherwise off-limits to other media. This guaranteed continued merchandising of the Star Wars universe, but allowed him to keep ownership of the years/events portrayed in the original movie series and the prequels.

Neil Patrick Harris' Barney Stinson character from How I Met Your Mother would totally sell with a show simply called "Barney". I can totally see that happening.

A great supporting character that would probably make a terrible spin-off would be Vincent D'Onofrio's bug from Men In Black. Until seeing that movie the first time I was not familiar with him as an actor. He stole the show from a couple of very talented and charismatic actors in Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith with raw talent of his own. Since then I have been a huge fan of his and any time that movie (or virtually anything with him in it) comes on I have to watch. Still, a movie with the bug as a lead would probably be pretty stupid. He made a great villain for their depiction of a secret quirky society on earth, but as the lead the story would likely have to exist solely of aliens with rules and interactions that would seem forced, contrived, or just plain stupid.

Another supporting character that I believe could make a great spin-off would be Lex Luther, Superman's nemesis. As a child, I read dozens, if not hundreds, of the Superman comic books and I always liked those best with Lex. Gene Hackman made a great Lex Luther in the first Superman and Kevin Spacey's was so-so, primarily due to a poor script. But in both, they played cartoonish, almost silly, versions of the villain that were surrounded by a bunch of incompetent idiots. In the original comic books he was more intelligent, ruthless, and maniacal. The reader actually feared him, like one feared Heath Ledger's Joker. The ideal story would leave the viewer conflicted over whether they wanted him to succeed or finally get caught. Of course, Superman would be have to be absent from the story without explanation or mention.

Great topic and podcast guys but I have a little point to make if that’s okay. Matt, we did get a Han Solo movie, and it was called Indiana Jones. It’s basically the same character but channeled into a slightly different medium. A Han Solo movie probably could have worked but I’m glad that Lucas and company sidestepped such a project which probably would have exhausted the character. They took a step back and filled in some gaps and cleaned up some corners and presented us with a more complete beta version of Han Solo, vis a vis Indiana Jones.

Now a good supporting character ripe for his own film is none other Cosmo Brown from Singing in the Rain. What a great comedy this would be. The story of a down on his luck songwriter trying to make it in Hollywood and not lose his musical integrity all while trying to get the girl and write his great symphony (after he stops his suffering). Donald O’ Connor was such a great entertainer that I have not doubt that he could have carried such a film by himself (as a matter of fact he did have a starring role in the film “Call Me Madam”)