
25 Well-Written Female Characters That Still Deserve Applause
Women in media were often depicted as helpless or mere eye candy supporting male heroes. But thanks to pioneering actresses and strong writing, dynamic female characters began to take centre stage. From the serious role of Trinity from Matrix to iconic teenage schoolgirl Buffy Summers from Buffy The Vampire Slayer, these well-cast roles resonated with audiences, inspiring many to admire or emulate them. Scroll down for a list of favourites from a recent discussion thread on Reddit .
#1

Clarice Starling.
#2

Ellen Ripley in Alien
#3

Emily Blunt in Edge of Tomorrow & Sicario.
#4

Leia Organa.
#5

Ripley is the ultimate Queen. Gotta add Scully from the X-Files. Smart, level headed, can take care of herself and kick a*s when needed.
#6

Buffy Summers. Incredibly brave, honest, smart, kind, but still a teenage girl having to deal with teenage girl problems like popularity at school, homework & grades, being a good big sister, dating boys (most of whom are vampires), a hellmouth at her high school, and trying to save the world from the apocalypse.
#7

Tv? Sarah Conner from the Sarah Conner Chronicles.
Movie? Sarah Conner from the Terminator movies
No matter the format, or who played her she always kicked a*s and was smart as hell.
#8

Emma Peel.
#9

TV – Carol in The Walking Dead
Trinity – The Matrix.
#10

You picked the GOAT op
I’d add Furiosa, Clarice Starling and Marge Gunderson.
#11

Olivia Dunham in Fringe.
#12

Some of my favorites:
Camina Drummer – The Expanse
Kira Nerys – Deep Space Nine
Dana Scully – The X-Files.
#13

The women from the people who wrote The Office/Parks and Rec/Brooklyn 99 and The Good Place.
Specifically Leslie Knope.
#14
Seven of Nine, especially in Star Trek: Picard.
(Honorable mention to Catherine Janeway).
#15

Jyn Erso.
#16

Beatrix Kiddo and Oren Ishi
Strong willed, skilled, flawed, vulnerable and able to overcome their disadvantages.
#17

I always loved Leeloo in Fifth Element.
#18

Kim Wexler, Better Call Saul.
#19

Jessica Jones in the Netflix show.
#20

Geena Davis in the Long Kiss Goodnight
Amy Adams in Arrival
Jackie Brown.
#21

Delenn, Susan Ivanova, Lyra Alexander- Babylon 5.
#22

Katniss Everdeen.
#23

Alice in Resident Evil and the Bride in K**l Bill.
#24

Laura Roslin – BSG.
#25

Veronica Mars! Villanelle and Eve Polastri and Carolyn Martens! Lorelai Gilmore! Emily Gilmore!

Shanilou Perera
Shanilou has always loved reading and learning about the world we live in. While she enjoys fictional books and stories just as much, since childhood she was especially fascinated by encyclopaedias and strangely enough, self-help books. As a kid, she spent most of her time consuming as much knowledge as she could get her hands on and could always be found at the library. Now, she still enjoys finding out about all the amazing things that surround us in our day-to-day lives and is blessed to be able to write about them to share with the whole world as a profession.