List of Back to the Future (franchise) characters
The Back to the Future franchise, including film trilogy and subsequent animated series feature characters created by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale.
The lead character of the series is Marty McFly. During the course of the trilogy, he travels through time using a DeLorean time machine invented by his friend Emmett Brown. He also encounters the central antagonist, Biff Tannen, in several different time periods and visits his ancestors and descendants.
Main characters
Marty McFly
Martin Seamus McFly is the main protagonist of the trilogy. He is the son of George and Lorraine McFly and the youngest of 3 children. Marty travels between the past and the future, encountering his ancestors and descendants. Marty and his friend Doc Brown help restore the space-time continuum while encountering Biff Tannen at various points in time.Emmett "Doc" Brown
Doctor Emmett Lathrop Brown is the eccentric inventor of the DeLorean time machine. At various points in time, Doc helps Marty restore the space-time continuum and reverse the changes that were caused by time travel. During the 50's, he was shown to be a failure of a scientist but between then and 1985 became successful and discovered time travel.In 2008, the character was selected by film magazine Empire as one of The 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time, ranking at No. 20.
George McFly
George Douglas McFly is married to Lorraine McFly and is the father of Marty, Linda and Dave. Although he is one of the main characters in the first movie, George only makes cameos in Back to the Future Part II and Back to the Future Part III.In the first film, George is portrayed as a weakling with low self-esteem and the main target of Biff Tannen's bullying. The novelization of the film expounds on George's history of weakness, describing two incidents in which he is unable to stand up for himself. In 1955, in contrast with Marty, George did not have any friends for support and was targeted not only by Biff and his gang but also other kids in school. He has a penchant for science fiction, and writes some of his own but never allows himself to share them with anyone due to his fear of rejection. In 1955, Marty suggested George play the hero and save Lorraine at the dance while Marty pretends to be antagonistic towards her. Instead he winds up witnessing Biff attempt to rape her and rather than back down, he stood up to him. Upon seeing Biff physically shove Lorraine to the ground, after she tries to hey Biff off George, he gets the courage to stand up to Biff, knocking him unconscious. As a result, he and Lorraine fall in love and George becomes popular in school for defeating Biff in a fight. During the dance someone decided to steal Lorraine away in the middle of the song, so George showed that same courage in reclaiming his date, resulting in the kiss he and Lorraine shared. In the new future, they are both married with George working as a college professor and being a successful writer while Biff is running a door-to-door car waxing service. In the dystopian timeline in Part II, George was murdered by Biff in 1973.
Glover didn't like the sequel's script, and when he demanded more money than the producers were willing to pay him, the role was recast with Jeffrey Weissman. Weissman wore prosthetics to resemble Glover and imitated Glover's rendering of McFly, and his scenes were spliced with shots of Glover from Back to the Future. The result was so convincing that many people were fooled by it. However, Glover did not appreciate this and sued. While the lawsuit was settled before a legal precedent could be set, it did result in the adoption of stricter rules by the Screen Actors Guild to help prevent similar situations from occurring again. According to Hollywood Reporter, Glover had initially asked for $1 million, and the settlement sum amounted to $760,000.
Lorraine Baines/McFly
Lorraine McFly, née Baines, is married to George McFly and the mother of Marty, Linda and Dave. She is the oldest child of Sam and Stella Baines, and older sister of Milton, Sally, Toby, and Joey.In Back to the Future, Lorraine is initially portrayed in 1985 as middle-aged, out of shape, and unhappy with a drinking problem. In 1955, she became infatuated by Marty who was accidentally hit by her father with a car, this was in due part to Marty saving George, almost altering the timeline. After Marty changes the timeline and helps George gain his confidence and self-esteem, she is shown to be fit and happily married to George in 1985. In Part II, Lorraine is still happily married to George in 2015 but they are constantly disappointed in Marty for giving in to peer pressures that make his life difficult. In the alternate 1985 timeline, she is widowed and forced into a marriage to Biff Tannen.
Clara Clayton
Clara Clayton is married to Doc Brown and is the mother of Jules and Verne Brown.Clara moved to Hill Valley and originally died in an accident when her wagon plummeted into Shonash Ravine, which was renamed Clayton Ravine in her memory. This later changed after Doc rescued her, with Mayor Herburt naming it Eastwood Ravine in honor of Marty's alias Clint Eastwood, remembered as a town hero who saved Clara, defeated Buford Tannen, and allegedly died trying to stop two bandits who hijacked a locomotive. The animated series reveals that Clara, along with the rest of the family, moves to the early 1990s and lives in a farmhouse outside of Hill Valley. She then became a teacher at Hill Valley Elementary School.
Jennifer Parker
Jennifer Jane Parker is dating Marty McFly. In 2015, as seen in Back to the Future Part II, they are married.In 1985, Jennifer attends Hill Valley High School, along with her boyfriend Marty. In the animated series, Jennifer is enrolled to Hill Valley College with Marty after graduating high school and working part-time as a tutor. She lives with her family on a ranch, the deed to which was owned by Biff Tannen, after one of his ancestors forced Jennifer's great-great-grandfather to sign it over by holding Jennifer's great-great-grandmother hostage. In the episode "A Friend in Deed", Marty travels back in time to 1875 and sabotages the deal with help from Jules and Verne.
In the future witnessed in Back to the Future Part II, Jennifer and Marty had two children, Marlene and Marty Jr..
Melora Hardin was initially cast in the role, to appear alongside Eric Stoltz's Marty McFly. After Stoltz was fired from the production and Michael J. Fox was brought in, Claudia Wells was cast to portray the character, as Hardin was deemed too tall to appear next to the much shorter Fox. However, Wells was not available to film the sequels for personal reasons, and the role was recast to Elisabeth Shue although Wells reprised her role as Jennifer in Back to the Future: The Game as a punk rock version of her character. Consequently, the opening scene of Back to the Future Part II was re-shot with Shue taking Wells' place, rather than using the ending of Back to the Future.
Biff Tannen
Biff Howard Tannen is the main antagonist of the first two films, and a local bully who harassed George McFly and managed to alter history in the second film. He comes from a long line of bullies in Hill Valley, most of whom harassed members of the McFly family, including Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen, who is one of Hill Valley's outlaws during the 1880s.McFly family
Dave McFly
David "Dave" McFly is the eldest child of George and Lorraine McFly. In 1985, before Marty went to 1955, Dave works at Burger King, but in the post-time travel 1985, he wears a suit as a nondescript white-collar worker for an accounting firm. In a deleted scene from Part II, the alternate 1985 timeline shows that Dave is an alcoholic and a gambling addict following George's death and Lorraine's second marriage to Biff Tannen.Linda McFly
Linda McFly is the middle child and only daughter of George and Lorraine McFly. In 1985 before Marty went to 1955, Linda is having boy trouble and it is unknown if she is in college or has a job. In 1985 after Marty went to 1955, Linda works in a boutique and has gained the attention of many boys.Seamus and Maggie McFly
Seamus and Maggie McFly are Irish immigrants and the paternal great-great-grandparents of Marty McFly. In Part III, Marty is befriended by Seamus and Maggie. While Maggie distrusts the "strange young man", Seamus has a familiar feeling about him and believes that helping him is the right thing to do. They have a son named William. Much like his descendants, Seamus is harassed by a member of the Tannen family, Buford Tannen, however unlike his descendants he didn't take any notice of Tannen. He also had a brother, Martin, who was fatally stabbed prior to the film's events.Due to Lea Thompson playing both roles, Maggie bears resemblance to Lorraine, despite her being an ancestor of George; in a DVD commentary track for Part III, Bob Gale stated that the creative team considered it important to include Thompson in the film, and explained that McFly men were simply "genetically predisposed" to be attracted to women who resemble Maggie.
William McFly
William "Willie" McFly is the son of Seamus and Maggie McFly as well as Marty's great-grandfather.Arthur McFly and Sylvia Miskin
Arthur "Artie" McFly and Sylvia Miskin are Marty's paternal grandparents and George's parents introduced in Back to the Future: The Game and voiced by Michael X. Sommers and Melissa Hutchison respectively.Marty Jr. and Marlene McFly
Marty Jr. and Marlene McFly are Marty McFly and Jennifer Parker's future children in 2015 in Part II.Originally, 17-year-old Marty Jr. was to be arrested and sentenced to fifteen years in prison for joining a robbery initiated by Griff and his gang. Marlene attempted to help Marty Jr. break out of jail but failed and was sentenced to twenty years in a woman's prison. Doc and Marty prevented the event from ever happening.