Contains major spoilers for all shows discussed.

Popular culture is rarely content to let Game of Thrones to Yellowstone, many of television's most popular and celebrated shows have been given a new lease of life through a spin-off series after reaching their original conclusion, often with vastly differing results onscreen. Depending on their execution, these follow-up shows can elevate the original's profile or irrevocably drag its reputation through the mud.

While these shows are never exact carbon copies, many high-profile spin-off series have drawn considerable inspiration from their source material, to the point that many of their characters essentially act as direct replacements for characters from the original. Whether they share a similar narrative function in the story, near-identical personality traits, or broadly follow the same arc of character development, these individuals wouldn't exist as we know them without an array of spiritual predecessors to guide their way.

10 Indira Shetty & Madelyn Stillwell

Gen V & The Boys

Masking sinister Machiavellian intentions behind a well-practiced smile, in light of their shared universe, it wouldn't be all that surprising to find out that Madelyne Stillwell and Indira Shetty went to the same finishing school. Shelly Con's nefarious Dean of Godolkin University essentially acts as a direct replacement for Elisabeth Shue's calculating take on Vought's Senior VP of Hero Management in the first season of The Boys' spin-off series, Gen V.

Despite affecting a warm and empathetic facade to the public, both women served as major antagonistic forces during their shows' first seasons, leading many fans to believe that they were being set up to play a big part in proceedings moving forward. However, that's where another direct similarity between the pair was highlighted, with Shetty and Stillwell's story arcs being abruptly cut short in brutal fashion before they could even reach their second season.

9 Spencer Dutton & Kayce Dutton

1923 & Yellowstone

One of the finest shows of recent years, neo-Western drama standout Yellowstone is far too inspired an outing to directly replicate characters from the original to its various spin-offs, a state of affairs that is only compounded by the conditions affected by the vastly differing historical periods in which prequels 1883 and 1923 take place. However, if you had to draw the closest thing to a parallel possible between the modern and historical versions of the Dutton family, you could do a lot worse than Kayce and Spencer Dutton.

A major character in Yellowstone's second prequel, 1923, Spencer fights in and witnesses the horrors of the First World War, evoking comparisons with his future relative's service in the U.S. Navy SEALs. Like Kayce, he's regarded as the prodigal son of his show, with both men beginning the series away from their ancestral land, before being drawn back as their respective shows progress. It would be reductive to label Spencer as a mere historical carbon copy of Kayce given the arguably richer nature of his character, but he's pretty damn close on paper.

8 Team Flash & Team Arrow

The Flash & Arrow

The first spin-off outing to Arrow, the long-running superhero series inspired by the DC Comics crime-fighter, Green Arrow, The Flash is also based on the adventures of its titular superhero. In many senses, the fact that the follow-up show aired for nine seasons is somewhat remarkable, given that the central premises and themes on offer are so similar to those of its predecessor, something that becomes even more apparent during multiple crossover events.

Following in the vein of Oliver Queen's vigilante superhero group, Team Arrow, Barry Allen goes on to form Team Flash to combat meta-human criminals in and around Central City. While the individual obviously differ from group to group, you would be hard-pressed to argue that the spin-off's superhero unit isn't essentially a direct replacement for Team Arrow; another diverse group of superhuman individuals committed to fighting crime united under the banner of their respective show's eponymous character.

7 Ted Black & Harvey Specter

Suits LA & Suits

While the debut season of Suits LA is taking great pains to stress that it is not just an uninspired duplicate of its predecessor, Suits, it's hard to find much to get excited about in this drab follow-up to the original hit legal drama. Case in point? While it would be reductive to label Stephen Ammell's Ted Black as an exact doppelgänger of Harvey Specter, the spin-off's new lead hasn't done much to prove that he's anything more than an inferior version of Gabriel Macht's fan-favorite charge from Suits.

It's a state of affairs that hasn't been helped by the latter briefly appearing on the show, highlighting Black's derivative nature in sharp relief. Acting as the central protagonists of their respective shows, both men are touted as ferociously intelligent and eloquent lawyers, complementing their extreme intellect with unshakable confidence and ambitious streaks a mile wide. It's also worth noting that Black subtly channels elements of Suits alum Mike Ross, considering some of the skeletons that are duly revealed to be lingering in his personal closet.

6 Jean-Luc Picard & James Kirk

Star Trek: The Next Generation & Star Trek: The Original Series

Brought to life by a first-ballot sci-fi Hall of Famer, William Shatner's take on James T. Kirk is one of the most iconic characters in television history. Spearheading Star Trek: The Original Series and a host of movies to boot, the captain of the USS Enterprise left big boots to fill for the lead protagonist of any future spin-offs, a task that fell to Star Trek: The Next Generation's Jean-Luc Picard, played in a memorable turn by Sir Patrick Stewart.

Let this writer first ionately disclaim; the two men are decidedly not the same Star Trek character. An unashamed explorer at his core, Kirk arguably always placed more of an emphasis on action first, while the more cerebral Picard preferred to deliberate and strategize. However, Stewart's character served as a direct replacement for Kirk as the modern face of the franchise, playing Picard across a host of shows and movies to rubber-stamp his credentials as a character who could rival, if not sur, Shatner's legendary charge.

5 Cleveland Brown & Peter Griffin

The Cleveland Show & Family Guy

Canceled after four seasons, the ignominious demise of The Cleveland Show has been a long-running joke on Family Guy, an ironic state of affairs considering that it's a spin-off of Seth Macfarlane's original outrageous animated sitcom. However, while the show initially demonstrated some promising signs, it's hard to escape the notion that The Cleveland Show largely crashed and burned due to the fact it was a near like-for-like take on Family Guy that simply couldn't match its predecessor for quality or humor.

Cleveland Brown is one of Family Guy's most iconic ing characters, but the spin-off just shoehorns him into Peter Griffin's tried-and-tested role of the lovable, buffoonish TV dad in a suburban setting, as opposed to bringing anything majorly new to the table with regard to his character development. In many senses, the argument is there to be made that every main family character on The Cleveland Show is at least a partial counterpart to a Griffin on Family Guy, although the most inescapable parallels are undoubtedly those between Peter and Cleveland.

4 Nacho Varga & Jesse Pinkman

Better Call Saul & Breaking Bad

Serving as two of the finest crime-drama series of all time, Breaking Bad and its spin-off, Better Call Saul, are both universally regarded as television royalty to this day. Given the disparate natures of their stories despite a shared universe, there are few characters between the shows that could be described as a like-for-like replacement. With that being said, it's hard to ignore the fact that fellow fan favorites, Jesse Pinkman and Ignacio "Nacho" Vargas, are decidedly cut from similar cloth.

Gradually morphing into the moral com for their shows, both characters represent good men trapped in a wicked world by poor decisions, rather than an inherently evil nature. A pair of disowned sons, Jesse and Nacho are duly chewed up and spit up by Vince Gilligan's ruthless universe, a brutal state of affairs that fortunately sees both shows ultimately reward them with a gloriously redemptive moment of catharsis with their respective tormentors before the end.

3 Madison Clark & Rick Grimes

Fear The Walking Dead & The Walking Dead

Earning widely mixed reviews, The Walking Dead's spin-off series, Fear the Walking Dead, never attained the lofty heights of its predecessor across seven seasons. However, parallels were still always going to be drawn between the post-apocalyptic horror drama and the original. Among those hardest to ignore, were the similarities between The Walking Dead's head honcho Rick Grimes, and the lady initially entrusted with helming the prequel-crossover effort, Kim Dickens' Madison Clark.

While she proved to be a much darker and less sympathetic character than her The Walking Dead counterpart, Clark's main character energy and fierce sense of resolve made her a natural fit for the role of the spin-off's central protagonist. Both characters found themselves leading their show's respective groups, with Rick and Madison also making miraculous returns from the dead throughout their character arcs.

2 Ezekiel “EZ” Reyes & Jax Teller

Mayans M.C. & Sons Of Anarchy

Brought to life by Charlie Hunnam and J.D. Pardo, respectively, it's hard to escape the parallels between outlaw bikers, Jackson "Jax" Teller and Ezekiel "EZ" Reyes. While the leading men of the acclaimed crime-drama Sons of Anarchy and its spin-off series Mayans M.C. weren't identical across the board by any means, the similarities between their story threads and personality traits throughout both shows are too great to ignore.

While their backstories differed, Jax and EZ endured a turbulent personal journey to the top of their motorcycle clubs, doing prison time and ultimately meeting a violent end while wearing the "President" patch. Both men possessed a ruthless streak a mile wide and were capable of supremely dark acts in pursuit of their goals, from EZ murdering his former love interest Gabriela to prevent her from going to the police, to Jax ruthlessly ordering a guilt-wracked Juice to silence Darvany Jennings.

1 Rhaenyra Targaryen & Daenaerys Targaryen

House Of The Dragon & Game Of Thrones

Chronicling the civil war between warring factions of the Targaryen family that became known as "The Dance of the Dragons" while simultaneously serving as a spin-off to one of the most popular shows in the history of television, the pressure was decidedly on for Game of Thrones' prequel series House of the Dragon to deliver. One of the most notable areas of concern was who would fill the Emilia Clarke-shaped void at the new show's heart, considering that the actress' iconic take on Daenaerys Targaryen had helped carry the original for eight largely exemplary seasons.

While Emma D'Arcy's fellow dragon-riding queen, Rhaenyra Targaryen, is far from a carbon copy of the Mother of Dragons, the similarities between "Dany" and their take on the Realm's Delight are hard to ignore. While Rhaenyra is born into power, she's another lone woman fighting for legitimacy in a realm entirely ruled by men, suffering countless betrayals and setbacks along the way in a manner akin to her revered ancestor. They're also both portrayed as fiercely protective mothers, whether the "children" in question take the form of Dany's dragons or Rhaenyra's sons.