Pop culture's most memorable imaginary characters

A fresh addition to the catalog, “IF” is one of the reasons this idea popped in our head. John Krasinski stepped away from quiet places to direct a breezy, fantastical comedy. A young girl suddenly finds herself able to see people’s imaginary friends, most of them abandoned by adults who grew out of them. She finds out her adult neighbor, played by Ryan Reynolds, has the same ability. It’s a nice enough concept, and “IF” features many a fun design for imaginary friends. Although, we do have a question for the kid whose imaginary friend is just a giant Gummy Bear. Like, you can’t be more imaginative than that?

What if your imaginary friend was a major problem? There are a couple of examples of that on this list, but “Drop Dead Fred” is more on the comedic end of things. It’s a dark comedy, sure, but still comedic at its core. Phoebe Cates plays an adult woman whose imaginary friend, the titular Drop Dead Fred, returns. Played by British alternative comedy legend Rik Mayall, Fred’s vibe is more “Beetlejuice” than anything nice. What if your imaginary friend was out of control and essentially haunting you? That’s “Drop Dead Fred.”

An old-school entry into this list. James Stewart was nominated for Best Actor for “Harvey,” while Josephine Hull won Best Supporting Actress. Stewart plays a man who says his best friend is Harvey, a giant rabbit who is also invisible. Naturally, most people think he is unwell, and his sister wants to have him committed. Harvey is technically real, specifically a figure of Celtic mythology called a puka. That’s where “imaginary” friends can get a little thorny. Yes, technically in the world of “Harvey” the titular Harvey exists, but also he’s a giant mythical rabbit nobody else can see. To us, that crosses the “imaginary friend” threshold.

Not every imaginary friend of a child is worthy of concern, but Wendy Torrance surely had to be a tinge worried about Danny talking to his imaginary friend Tony. Of course, Wendy had other issues at the Overlook Hotel. Like her husband’s friend Lloyd, a bartender who is possibly a ghost, and also possibly a hallucination of some sort. Jack, well, no work and no play is not going well for him. Yes, Stanley Kubrick’s seminal horror film “The Shining” is kind of weirdly stocked with imaginary friends.

There’s a decent chance you did not catch the indie comedy “Paper Man.” The cast is quite impressive, though. Jeff Daniels stars as Richard, a struggling novelist who moves to a beach town during the winter offseason to overcome writer’s block. He still talks to his childhood imaginary friend, a superhero named Captain Excellent. Captain Excellent is played by Ryan Reynolds, which marks the second appearance for Reynolds on this list. Also, in terms of shrewd casting, the teenager that Richard befriends is played by none other than future two-time Oscar winner Emma Stone (who apparently prefers to be called Emily).

Yet another 2024 entrant. This one is slightly different. Peter Farrelly directed this comedy about a group of friends with a different flavor of “imaginary friend.” A trio of friends, from childhood into adulthood, have long blamed a fictional friend, Ricky Stanicky, whenever they need a scapegoat. Eventually, though, the people in their lives insist upon meeting Ricky, which leads the three to hire a struggling actor (played by John Cena) to pretend to be Ricky. Needless to say, things don’t go smoothly.

No, we aren’t discussing the embodiment of emotions in Riley's head in Pixar’s beloved “Inside Out.” We speak, of course, of Bing Bong. Oh, Bing Bong. Voiced by Richard Kind, Bing Bong is Riley’s fantastical imaginary friend who ends up sacrificing himself to save Joy. It shouldn’t work, necessarily, but in execution, it does. R.I.P. Bing Bong. You were too beautiful for this world.

It’s right there in the theme song to the children’s show you, depending on your age, once loved, once hated, or mercifully missed the boat on completely. Apologies if this proves to be an earworm, but Barney is a dinosaur from our imagination. Yes, the theme song admits that the friendly purple dinosaur is imaginary. Since the song says “our” imagination, we guess Barney is a collective delusion? Anyway, now that song is stuck in our head and we aren’t happy.

Many a young child has put a personality onto a beloved toy. In “Calvin and Hobbes,” the iconic comic strip, we see the visual manifestation of that. Calvin and his beloved stuffed tiger Hobbes go out on adventures, with Hobbes fully realized in Calvin’s animation. Creator Bill Watterson isn’t one for licensing, so there haven’t been TV specials or movies, even if many would love it. Also, is it just us, or have those gross, obviously not licensed stickers of Calvin pretty much gone away entirely?

Following up “The Powerpuff Girls,” Craig McCracken brought another animated show to Cartoon Network. This time, instead of juvenile superheroes, we got a bunch of fantastic imaginary friends. As the title indicates, the show centers around a home for imaginary friends who stay there once the kids who imagined them outgrow them, where they can be adopted. However, our human protagonist Mac only gave up his imaginary friend Bloo under parental pressure, so he goes to the home to hang with Bloo in order to keep him from being adopted.

Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody are both polarizing creatives, so maybe it makes sense they have collaborated on occasion. That includes “Tully.” Charlize Theron stars as Marlo, a stressed mother who gets a new nanny, Tully, after the birth of her third child. Tully is played by Mackenzie Davis, and if you think that Davis and Theron kind of look like one another, well, spoiler: Tully is Marlo’s maiden name, and Marlo was imagining/hallucinating all of her interactions with Tully.

Christopher Robin makes Calvin look chill in comparison. Dude has an entire world populated with his stuffed animals come to life! Winnie is, of course, the headliner, but maybe you are partial to Piglet or Tigger or Eyeore or Rabbit (just kidding, nobody is partial to Rabbit). There have been movies, TV shows, you name it. Winnie and company have gotten a lot of shine.

So, um, Taika Waititi took a big swing with “Jojo Rabbit.” It got Oscar nominations, so evidently, it worked. It’s also a movie about a young German boy whose imaginary friend is Hitler. Yes, that Hitler. It’s bold, to be sure, including Waititi playing Hitler himself, but it is no mere stunt, as it proves crucial to the narrative and the heart of “Jojo Rabbit” (which is, of course, not pro-Hitler).

A couple of shows featuring numerous kids have at least one with an imaginary friend. While “Arthur” didn’t have a “Simpsons” level run, it aired 253 episodes on PBS from 1996 through 2022. The beloved kids show featured a bunch of anthropomorphic animals, including the titular aardvark, so there is a baked-in fantastical nature. There are actually five imaginary friends over the run of “Arthur,” but obviously one deserves to be shouted out first and foremost: Nadine Flumberghast, the pigtailed squirrel who serves as D.W.’s friend and conscience.

Here is a case of an imaginary friend who became real. At first, only Big Bird could see Mr. Snuffleupagus, aka Snuffy. He’s something of a wooly mammoth meets anteater. Big Bird would talk about his good friend Mr. Snuffleupagus, but nobody else saw him, and they would tell Big Bird his friend wasn’t real. Then, as the story goes, the folks at “Sesame Street” began to worry about the optics for a young audience. If they told an adult about something, would nobody believe them? Thus, Snuffy became real to everybody.

Indeed, we end with a third 2024 film involving an imaginary friend. Apparently, they are having a moment. “Imaginary” is of the horror tradition. Jessica, a children’s book author, returns to her childhood home with her new husband and his two daughters from his previous marriage. The younger daughter, Alex, finds Jessica’s old Teddy bear, Chauncey, who becomes her imaginary friend. Unfortunately, Chauncey proves just a bit more dangerous than your average imaginary friend. It’s a Blumhouse production, so you can probably picture the vibe.