Every Main Character From The Halloween Franchise Ranked

Over the course of its four-decade existence, the "Halloween" franchise has produced some of the horror genre's most iconic characters. It's had a lot of ups and downs over the years (with a couple of reboots thrown in for good measure), but the strength of the John Carpenter-directed and Debra Hill-produced 1978 "Halloween" has seen to it that the series and many of its greatest characters never die for long.

From the final girl who started it all (Laurie Strode played by Jamie Lee Curtis) to the stalking embodiment of pure evil, Michael "The Shape" Myers himself, and all the greats in between, we're taking a look at the main characters who've guided us through the haunted streets of Haddonfield, Illinois, for over a generation. Whether it's because of the mark they left on the franchise or just because they were easy to love (or hate), these characters will be ranked from worst to best.

This isn't a list of every single character who's ever appeared in a "Halloween" movie. It isn't even a ranking of the best characters. With the exception of one entry (to be explained later), each character is the protagonist of the entry in which they appeared or an overarching figure in the franchise. In the case of films with an ensemble cast, we're looking at the characters who best fit the traditional role of the protagonist. Without further ado, this is our ranking of the best main characters in "Halloween" movies.

"Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers" is a real mess. Most of it doesn't make sense, even if you ignore the Man in Black stuff and Michael's thorn tattoo. Those could've been forgiven as mediocre plot conveniences if it wasn't for the baffling decision to retcon the ending of "Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers" by making Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris) a traumatized kid who can't speak rather than the killer of the series.

Another confusing choice was to kill Jamie's foster sister, Rachel (Ellie Cornell), early in the film. She was poised to be the new heroin of the series but was done in by a pair of scissors. So, instead of the brave, resilient Rachel from the previous movie, we're asked to care about her selfish, annoying, and neglectful friend Tina Williams (Wendy Kaplan).

Tina is far more interested in partying with her boyfriend than she is with looking after Jamie, meaning the only person protecting Michael's niece is a totally unhinged Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence). Tina is insufferable and (by no fault of the actor, who was just doing her job) really drags an already abysmal movie down even further.

Tommy Doyle (Brian Andrews) is the little boy Laurie Strode babysits in the original "Halloween." At first, he's just a kid in a movie about teenagers and adults. Therefore, it's a little hard to judge him as a character. He has a small part in "Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers" (played by Danny Ray), but it isn't until "Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers" that he steps up as a lead character. Unfortunately, it might've been best to keep him out of the sequels entirely.

Played in the sixth installment by Paul Rudd, the character is a weird creep who peeps on Kara Strode (Marianne Hagan) from across the street. He comes off like a sad, lonely, borderline dangerous obsessive who just makes everyone uncomfortable. Rudd brings none of his usual charms to the role (he was still learning), and every scene featuring the character is just unpleasant.

When the timeline was rebooted in 2018, "Halloween Kills" introduced a new Tommy played by '80s icon Anthony Michael Hall. This rendition isn't much better. He comes off as a regular guy (which is nice), but he's also responsible for the death of an unwell and innocent man. When Doyle learns that Michael Myers is back to his old tricks, he riles up the citizens of Haddonfield by getting them to chant "evil dies tonight!" They chase down a terrified man looking for help, causing him to leap to his death. Yeah, Tommy Doyle only does more harm than good.

It would be easy to blame the stunt casting of both rapper Busta Rhymes and model Tyra Banks as the reason "Halloween: Resurrection" failed. Then again, you could also blame the very un-"Halloween" premise of a reality show being streamed from the Myers house as being so different and lame that it sank the series. More likely, though, it's the unfulfilled potential. Rhymes and Banks are totally serviceable in their roles and don't actually take anything away from the movie. At least the streaming idea was new and offered alternate filmmaking techniques. The problem is nothing interesting is done with any of it.

Other than some grainy POV shots, the streaming angle is pretty much wasted. All of the characters, not just the ones played by Banks and Rhymes, are shallow, uninteresting nobodies with absolutely nothing to offer narratively. Prime among them is Sara Moyer (Bianca Kajlich). Other than being smart and shy (all good attributes for the start of a satisfying character arc), she has no real personality to speak of. Why not give her an interesting backstory or a connection to the Myers house that creates conflict? The slightest effort on the part of the filmmakers would have elevated her character out of the "generic final girl" status into a worthy protagonist to take on Michael.

"Halloween III: Season of the Witch" is definitely the black sheep of the "Halloween" franchise. It's primarily known for being the one entry without Michael Myers (except for television airings of the original "Halloween" glimpsed in a few scenes), but once you get passed this fact, the movie proves far more interesting and stranger than its reputation would have you believe.

Since the intention with "Season of the Witch" was to transform the franchise into an anthology, the decision was made to move away from the slasher genre and instead tell an entirely unrelated story about the macabre origins of Halloween, complete with some straight-up nightmare fuel. It stars actor Tom Atkins as Daniel Challis, an alcoholic divorced doctor who finds himself involved in a bizarre mystery featuring androids, Stonehenge, and weaponized Halloween masks. It's wild.

Interestingly, Dan is the most normal element of this movie. He's an over-worked, heavy-drinking guy in his 40s trying to stop a bonkers plot to kill kids all over the country because he'd rather take a road trip with a young woman than be there for his kids. He's not exactly a sympathetic character, but he's almost painfully plain. Had we been given more characterization, he might've ranked higher.

The sixth installment of the "Halloween" franchise is such a mess that there are two versions of the movie out there. However, we'll be focusing on the theatrical cut as it's the version of the film most audience members would be familiar with. "Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers" has the thankless job of trying to tie up all the loose ends of "Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers." It takes some pretty strange turns (like connecting Michael's actions to a weird cult and pulling small characters from the original film out of nowhere), but one nice inclusion is Laurie's cousin, Kara.

For the most part, Kara's kind of your typical "Halloween" protagonist. She doesn't necessarily break any new ground, but in the context of this film, she's fairly compelling. A young mom living at home with her son, mother, and abusive father, Kara has clearly overcome some hurdles in her life, making her willing to step up and defend herself when necessary (like threatening her father with a knife). The performance from Marianne Hagan is warm and genuine, helping us take her side almost immediately. Had this been a more cohesive (or even logical) movie, she might have stood out as one of the series' classic leading ladies.

Slasher movies (a genre spawned as a direct result of the success of the original "Halloween") have a reputation for making their characters bland, one-dimensional knife fodder for the masked killer to murder. This is especially true of supporting characters. With rare exceptions, side characters are given no backstory, no depth, and nothing much to do. David Gordon Green's "Halloween" and "Halloween Kills" overcompensates for this by devoting a little too much to establishing these characters (some of whom are more compelling than the stars), but "Halloween H2O: 20 Years Later" gets it right.

Remember when we said there was one character on this list who didn't count as a protagonist? That's Ronald "Ronny" Jones, the security guard played by LL Cool J. He was included because the protagonist of "H20" is Laurie Strode (we'll get to her later) and her less interesting son (Josh Hartnett). Ronny is more interesting and entertaining than the rest of the cast (other than Laurie).

This is a man who isn't defined by his job. He's working as a security guard to pay the bills, but what he really wants is to write trashy romance novels, which he reads to his wife over the phone. That little quirk plus LL Cool J's sweet performance makes Ronny a sympathetic and likable character that we can root for. When it's revealed that the bullet fired at him only grazed his head, you want to stand up and cheer because Ronny deserves better than to be just another victim.

In the 2018 sequel "Halloween," Laurie Strode is a reclusive survivalist whose obsession with the man who murdered her friends 40 years ago has left her estranged from her daughter, Karen (Judy Greer). After all, Laurie because basically ruined Karen's childhood by relentlessly training her how to survive any and every threat against her life. But this distance means that Laurie's granddaughter, Allyson (Andi Matichak), doesn't hold the same opinion of her grandmother as her mom does.

Allyson is an intelligent young woman who's inherited her family's strength and persistence. Unfortunately, we don't really get to know her. There are so many characters and subplots in "Halloween" and "Halloween Kills" that Allyson comes off as borderline generic. Also, since both movies take place on the same night, there isn't much room to expand her character either. The conflict with her mother adds some interesting shading to her character that's nice to see, but she doesn't progress much further. The reason she ranks around the middle of this list is because of Matichak's performance. Even if the scripts for these movies haven't fleshed her out, the acting suggests an engaging inner life that makes her compelling enough to want to see her survive.

The majority of "Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers" sets up Laurie's orphaned daughter, Jamie, as the new protagonist of the series. She's definitely the main character of this movie. We see that she's literally haunted by visions of her homicidal uncle, taunted at school because of her family heritage, and is relentlessly pursued by the masked madman hellbent on slaughtering his entire family. The ending of the film suggests a different story, however.

When it's revealed that Jamie has assumed her uncle's murderous ways by killing her foster mother in the final moments of the film, it looks like the franchise is about to head in a new direction with Jamie as the killer (or Michael's assistant) and her foster sister Rachel as the new Laurie Strode. This would've been an excellent decision since Rachel proves herself to be a worthy protagonist.

Sure, she can be a bit vain, but her protective instincts over her little foster sister make her a fantastic heroin. Even while her romantic life is falling apart (and her neighbors are being butchered), Rachel never gives up on Jamie. She's there with her, taking on Michael Myers to the very end. Too bad the next movie had to kill her off in the first act and completely abandon the killer Jamie angle.

Since Michael Myers' first victim was his older sister and it was revealed in "Halloween II" that Laurie Strode was his younger sister, it only makes sense that his would-be victim for the fourth film (but third to feature the Michael Myers character) is his niece, Jamie Lloyd. It's explained that between "Halloween II" and "Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers," Laurie was married and had a daughter before dying in a car accident with her husband.

Her daughter, Jamie Lloyd, now lives with the Carruthers family. Our sympathies are with her from the jump because she has visions of her uncle coming to get her, and she's tormented by kids at school because of her evil heritage. Jamie is a great character because we can relate to her. She comes off like a genuine kid, rather than a Hollywood kid (thanks to the performance of Danielle Harris), and we want to see her survive.

The end of the fourth film sets up that Jamie may be just as evil as her uncle now, but the fifth movie dismisses the concept completely. Still, we root for Jamie as she faces off against her uncle in the film's finale. Tragically, the character (played by J.C. Brandy) is disposed of in the opening of "Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers" after giving birth to Michael's grandnephew. Despite that horrific and unfair ending, her determination and humanity make her one of the brightest spots of the series.

Donald Pleasence's Dr. Samuel Loomis serves as the Van Helsing to Michael's Dracula through seven movies (nine, if you count Rob Zombie's "Halloween" and "Halloween II"). His part is limited to an audio recording in the "Halloween" film from 2018 and flashbacks in "Halloween Kills," but they still count. He's as closely identified with this franchise as Myers himself or Laurie Strode. Even when Laurie was written out and replaced by her orphaned daughter, Loomis was there to try and keep Haddonfield safe.

In the original "Halloween," Loomis serves as a harbinger of doom rather than a real character. He lets everyone within earshot know just how evil Michael Myers is, adding a mythical element to the masked slasher. In the sequel, he's more of an active participant, taking the role of protagonist in Laurie's absence since she's in the hospital. His undying devotion to ridding the world of Myers means that he becomes more and more unstable with each installment, but he never ceases to be a welcome presence in every entry. The "Halloween" movies really lost something special when Pleasence died in 1995. No offense to Malcolm McDowell, but there's only one Sam Loomis.

He is the horror movie antagonist who launched a bajillion imitators. A silent, relentless killing machine who stalks the street of his childhood home in a blank mask, Michael Myers is easily the spookiest of horror movie slashers. Jason Voorhees might be the biggest and meanest, and Freddy Kreuger is probably the vilest and most sinister, but none of them come close to the quiet, unknowable terror that is Michael Myers.

It's the simplicity that makes him perfect. Later installments try to explain his motivations, but none of them really stick. The whole point of Michael Myers is the mystery. Why did he kill his sister Judith? Why is he fixated on murdering people on October 31? It doesn't matter. The more you know, the less scary he becomes. Since we don't know why he does what he does (regardless of what "The Curse of Michael Myers" and Rob Zombie's remakes say), we're free to project our own fears on him. He is a force of nature. He is inhuman. He is a shape.

Played by Jamie Lee Curtis, Laurie Strode isn't just the best main character because she's the first. That would diminish the impact the character has had. Plenty of great leading ladies have joined the franchise in her wake, but none of them carry the same weight as Laurie. Like Michael, there's a quiet simplicity about her. She doesn't quite fit in with the boisterous friend group, but we can tell she wants to. It's her private desperation to break free of her shy sensibilities that make her compelling.

Also, by all rights, she should've died at the end of the original film. Her friends, Annie (Nancy Kyes) and Lynda (P. J. Soles), seemed more like fighters than Laurie. Forget all the symbolism about promiscuity leading to death in slasher movies. In any other movie, Laurie would've had a victim written all over her. But because she is smart, selfless, and already fighting her own personal battle within herself, she's underestimated by her would-be murderer.

She was always a fighter. The signs were there. It's just the rest of the characters in the movie failed to notice. "Halloween: H2O" tells us she became an alcoholic living under an assumed identity in California. Rob Zombie imagines her as just another annoying teenager. David Gordon Green depicts her as an obsessive. None of them come quite as close to mastering the subtle strength of the original. For that reason, the very first Laurie is still the best.