As the lines between creators and their audiences blur, fans have begun to play a more integral role in the creative process, akin to the “12th man” in football, whose enthusiasm can sway a game. This evolving dynamic has led to a fascinating trend where fans become the muse for new characters, particularly in some of the world’s most beloved franchises.

Take, for example, “The X-Files” during its eighth season. With David Duchovny’s reduced presence, Robert Patrick joined the series as FBI Agent John Doggett. Alongside him, a new character emerged in the episode “Alone”—Agent Leyla Harrison, portrayed by Jolie Jenkins, who steps in when Scully (Gillian Anderson) takes maternity leave. Leyla Harrison, a character who struck a chord with audiences, was named in honor of a devoted “X-Files” fan who tragically passed away from cancer in 2001.

Similarly, the “Star Trek” universe, renowned for championing diversity since its inception in 1966, also drew inspiration from its fan base. When “Star Trek: The Next Generation” premiered in 1987, it introduced Geordi La Forge, played by LeVar Burton, to the crew of the USS Enterprise-D. While many assumed Geordi’s name hinted at international heritage, it was actually a homage to George La Forge, a long-time “Star Trek” enthusiast.

The idea of La Forge was rooted in Gene Roddenberry’s vision to include a crew member with a disability. After considering various concepts, the creative team settled on a character who was blind, using advanced technology to see. The name was a nod to George La Forge, a dedicated fan in a wheelchair, chosen by writer David Gerrold, famous for the beloved episode “The Trouble with Tribbles.” This decision underscored the bond between the series and its fans, illustrating how they continue to shape the stories that captivate us.

The “Star Trek” franchise has long been known for its diversity, going all the way back to the original 1966 TV series, where characters like Lt. Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) and Lt. Sulu (George Takei) served on the bridge of the USS Enterprise. So when “Star Trek: The Next Generation” launched in 1987 with lieutenant junior grade (“Star Trek” based its ranks and uniforms on the real life Navy) Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) at the helm of the USS Enterprise-D, most fans probably assumed the character’s name had some French or Italian origins, as a way of demonstrating the crew’s international roots. In reality, though, the character was named for a longtime “Trek” fan named George La Forge.

The naming of La Forge began with the decision by Gene Roddenberry to include a crew member with a disability. Several ideas were considered, including a helmsman who used a wheelchair. Eventually it was decided that the character would be blind, using a prosthetic device to see. When it came to naming them, production had the perfect source: a diehard fan in a wheelchair. It was a decision made by series writer David Gerrold, who also penned the classic episode, “The Trouble with Tribbles.” 

“I suggested that he be named after George La Forge, who was the fan in the wheelchair with muscular dystrophy. Gene thought that was a terrific idea,” Gerrold said in Mark Altman and Edward Gross’ book, “The Fifty Year Mission: The Complete, Uncensored, and Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek: The Next 25 Years, From The Next Generation to J. J. Abrams.” 

When “Star Wars” returned to theaters in 2015, it brought with it a new pantheon of heroes from a galaxy far, far away. From the emerging Jedi Rey (Daisy Ridley) to the skilled rebel pilot Poe (Oscar Isaac) and his will-they/won’t-they best friend Finn (John Boyega), fans had a bold new cast to cheer for against the dreaded First Order. But they also had a new droid named R2-KT, and while the diminutive astromech only has a cameo, it’s a noteworthy one, because it’s named for a young “Star Wars” fan who died in 2005.

A year before she died, Katie’s parents took her to a doctor after suffering from unusual symptoms, and received a diagnosis of an inoperable brain tumor. Her parents were big “Star Wars” fans, with the 501st Legion rallying support. The R2 Builder’s club also created a new droid as a symbol of Katie’s courage, highlighted with Katie’s favorite color, bright pink. Years later, R2-KT the droid became the centerpiece for charitable events. Eventually, Lucasfilm took notice.

R2-KT would receive several cameos on “Star Wars: Clone Wars” (as pictured above) but showrunner Dave Filoni also created another character to homage R2-KT, an astromech designed to look less like R2 called QT-KT, which meant she could take a more active role in some episodes. But as “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” was entering production, Katie’s father and the fan community came together to get R2-KT on-screen in the new movie — and the droid can be clearly seen in the background during scenes at the resistance base. 

Like “Star Trek,” the British sci-fi icon “Doctor Who” has been on and off TV screens since the ’60s. Over the past 62 years, the franchise has gifted pop culture with a number of great villains like the Cybermen, the Weeping Angels, and our number one choice, the Daleks. One of the less known, however, is the Judoon, who were introduced in the 2007 episode “Smith and Jones.” More than a decade later, the series introduced a Judoon captain named Pol-Kon-Don, whose name is a tribute to a lifelong Whovian named Paul Condon.

Pol-Kon-Don makes her first appearance in the 2020 “Doctor Who” episode “Fugitive of the Judoon,” written by showrunner Chris Chibnall, a lifelong fan of the franchise before he took over the reigns. In fact, Chibnall was once a member of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society and knew Paul Condon personally from his days as a fan ambassador. 

After Condon’s death in 2019, Chris Chibnall penned a tribute to his friend in an issue of Doctor Who Magazine (per CultBox), recounting how the pair met when they were teenagers, and connected over their love of “Doctor Who.” “He was a shining example of the best in ‘Doctor Who’ fans: he loved the show with passion, kindness, empathy and celebratory humour … His absence leaves a deep hole in a lot of people’s lives.” But he paid his friend the ultimate tribute by naming a character after Condon a year later.

Saint Walker made his debut on the comic book page in “Green Lantern” (vol. 4) #25 from 2008, as the brainchild of writer Geoff Johns, who came to fame writing “Green Lantern: Rebirth” in 2004. In 2011, Walker turned up as a recurring character in the CGI-animated “Green Lantern: The Animated Series,” voiced by Phil Morris. The character, whose full given name is Bro’dee Walker, is a member of the Blue Lantern Corps, who use hope to inspire people around the galaxy. Like everyone on our list, he gets his name from a fan: A man by the name of Brady Walker.

“Saint Walker is named after a fan,” Johns said in a 2023 interview with The Comic Pals. According to Johns, Walker approached him at a convention and told the writer that his work on “Green Lantern: Rebirth” helped get him through a dark time. “That conversation impacted me so much, and I’m like, that guy, he embodies hope, because he took that and made hope out of it.” 

Johns, however, also admits that he never told the fan that he was naming the character in his honor, and isn’t even sure if the fan even knows that Saint Walker is his namesake. “If anybody knows Brady Walker, tell him hello for me, and thanks for inspiring Saint Walker and the entire Blue Lantern Corp!”

In 2010, the superhero movie genre was rocked to the core with the release of “Kick-Ass,” a down-and-dirty, raucously violent, wildly vulgar action flick about a teenage superhero who fights crime without any superpowers at all. His real name is Dave Lizewski (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), he wears a supersuit that looks like some PJs, wields a pair of batons, and beats up crooks with the help of pre-teen sidekick Hit Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz). 

“Kick-Ass” was a hit and enjoyed a sequel in 2014. But both films were based on a comic book published years earlier by writer Mark Millar, who ran an auction to name the titular hero’s secret identity — with the profits of that auction going to charity. The winner of that contest was a fan who chose his own name: David Lizewski. It’s a fact that seems to have been lost over time, as few mention it anymore. 

It wasn’t the only time Millar ran auctions to name characters. He’d done it for some of his previous comics, and, years later, he auctioned off the rights to name both a hero and a rival for Book 3 of “Kick-Ass”. This auction raised close to $3000, although the winners were never disclosed.

We now know that when “Star Trek: The Next Generation” launched in 1987, it boasted a main character named after a fan, Geordi La Forge. But the good helmsman wasn’t the only character in the story named for a fan of “Star Trek.” As surprising as it might sound, so was the character of Q, the quasi-villainous cosmic trickster played by John de Lancie, who broke the fourth wall as another nod to his immortal cheekiness.

Despite an overall rough first season of “Star Trek,” “Encounter at Farpoint” remains iconic for introducing the character of Q, who pesters Captain Picard and his friends and family for decades, including the finale Season 3 of “Star Trek: Picard” (and perhaps beyond). But the demigod’s name doesn’t just come from an odd letter of the alphabet. It’s an homage to the big time “Trek” fan Janet Quarton. 

Hailing from the United Kingdom, Quarton was one of the earliest fanzine creators. She helped run the “Star Trek Action Group,” acting as editor on a series of newsletters about “Star Trek” for years throughout the ’70s. She also assisted in fundraising the first British “Star Trek” convention in fan history. Quarton was so respected, in fact, that series creator Gene Roddenberry often consulted with her when developing new scripts, making her in some ways, a creator — much like her on-screen counterpart Q.

Somecould argue that “The X-Files” is the greatest sci-fi show of all time, and possibly the best horror series, too. One of “The X-Files” all-time best episodes (it makes our top 10) is the Season 1 finale, “The Ehrlenmeyer Flask,” a riveting installment that cracks the fledgling conspiracy arc wide open. Mulder discovers the apparent truth behind alien experimentation on human DNA, kicking the series’ mythology arc into high gear — a story that would continue across nearly a dozen more seasons and two feature films. A key figure in this episode is Dr. Terrance Berube (Ken Kramer) — another “X-Files” character named for a fan.

In the episode, Berube is a scientist working on a genome project who is murdered under mysterious circumstances, with some believing it was a suicide. Of course, it’s actually part of an elaborate cover-up. The origin of Berube’s name is equally as secretive, though not receiving nearly as much attention in the fan community as series cohort Leyla Harrison, earlier in this list. 

Dig deep into “X-Files” lore and you’ll discover that Berube was the name of a fan who wrote to creator Chris Carter to discuss what they did and didn’t like about “The X-Files.” As it happens, Carter has a penchant for naming characters after people he knows, be it personal friends, old acquaintances, and, indeed, fans of his work. Whether Berube was named derisively or not, however, we may never know.

Science fiction has long been a genre where fans and creators connect more easily than most. That could explain why naming a character after a fan seems to be more common in sci-fi, especially given the enormous fanbases of franchises like “Star Wars,” “Star Trek,” and “Doctor Who.” But it’s not just the long-running icons that have taken to paying homage to audience members. In the mid-1990s, the cult classic sci-fi series “Babylon 5” did it, too, with the character of Julie Musante, played by Shari Shattuck.

Exploring the inner workings of government more than most sci-fi shows, “Babylon 5” was occasionally a quasi-political thriller, and the character of Julie Musante was a part of that side of the show. She served as a high-ranking member of the administration of Earth Alliance President Morgan Clark (Gary McGurk), and later was assigned to station Babylon 5, where she helped found the troubling paramilitary organization, Nightwatch.

One thing that made “Babylon 5” so unique was how its creator, J. Michael Straczynski, embraced the emerging internet community. Part of his connection led to eventually paying tribute to a fan. This was no mere homage this time, but a legitimate thank you: As detailed in  “Cult Television” by Sara Gwenllian-Jones, two fans stepped up to help raise money for series star Michael O’Hare, who’d been stiffed on a convention payment he was owed: Julie Helmer and Mark Musante. Put it together, and that’s a classy thank you.

Though “Star Trek” may have laid the groundwork for TV and film creators to connect more with their fans, it is “Star Wars” that might be best known today for leveraging that connection. R2-KT isn’t the first character in the prequels to get their name from a fan, however. That honor retroactively goes to a Neimoidian who appears in “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.” That character’s name is never spoken, and was only revealed more than a decade later as Zill Kartay.

In 2014, a fan known as Lizzi made a post about how Zill Kartay ended up with a name based on her fandom presence. In 2012, she became such a popular part of the fan community (and contributor to Wookiepedia, the go-to fan reference site) that she was asked to contribute a back cover to a Belgian “Star Wars” fan club magazine. The editor of that magazine was Tim Veekhoven, who would go on to work at the official “Star Wars Insider” magazine. When that publication did a spread on the Neimoidians from “The Phantom Menace” a year later, and needed to name some previously-unnamed characters, he delighted Lizzi by flipping around some letters and transforming her surname into something that sounded Neimoidian.

The vast majority of characters named after fans come from the realm of science fiction (with several sci-fi shows even saved by fans via petitions), but several other TV series and movies have done it, too, including the more fantastical “Supernatural.” Series creator Eric Kripke, who went on to adapt “The Boys,” is well known for his appreciation for the fandoms that have sprung up around his work. It makes sense that he’d draw from his audience for inspiration from time to time. One example came in the form of the bartender Jamie, who appears in the Season 4 episode “Monster Movie.”

“Monster Movie” is a gimmick episode of sorts, filmed in black and white, and crafted as an homage to old-school horror movies from the 1940s. Jamie appears in the episode as a bartender working at the Bavarian Beerhaus Tavern. Her name comes from a fan who had been suffering from an unspecified illness and who had written to Erik Kripke to express her gratitude for “Supernatural,” which helped her through the healing process. These names are all a great way fans and creators can uplift the genres they love, creating some special memories.