How Did Hell Is Other People Sartre Influence TV Characters?

If I had to explain it in one line to a friend over coffee: many TV characters are shaped by the idea that other people create your private hell. That’s a weirdly comforting and terrifying thought I keep coming back to. From a storytelling craft perspective, the 'hell is other people' concept gives writers a ready-made engine for conflict: you don’t need a supernatural villain when the people around the protagonist will do the emotional work for you.

Look at antiheroes and flawed leads: in 'The Sopranos', Tony is continuously punished by family expectations and the judgments of his crew; in 'Succession', the Roy kids exist in a feedback loop of approval and contempt that defines them. The trope also fuels shows about confinement — 'Lost', 'Squid Game', even single-set thrillers use interpersonal pressure as the main antagonist. On a smaller scale, sitcoms like 'Seinfeld' make comedy from characters trapped in trivial social prisons of etiquette and opinion.

What I love most is how modern series flip the script: some characters try to break free by refusing the labels others give them, which is a blunt, rebellious reading of Sartre’s freedom doctrine. Others double down and perform their role, sinking into what Sartre called bad faith. Either way, the quote becomes a lens for seeing how identity is negotiated on-screen. Next time you watch, pay attention to who’s watching whom — you’ll start spotting those invisible rooms everywhere.

I still think of actors sitting in small interrogation rooms when I hear the phrase 'hell is other people', and TV keeps translating that into characters whose worst enemy is public perception. On many procedural and soap-y shows, the tension comes less from external danger and more from the social net: gossip, reputation, family duty, fandom — all those external forces shape choices. In darker dramas like 'Mr. Robot' or 'Killing Eve', the protagonists are constantly redefined by antagonists and allies, and the moral weight of being seen or misunderstood drives the plot forward. Even reality TV plays the same tune: participants are often punished by collective judgment, which produces theatre and genuine misery. What’s fascinating is how some series critique this by letting characters reclaim authorship of themselves, while others show them trapped for good — either route feels very Sartrean to me, and it’s one reason those shows linger in my head.

I get this image in my head of a cramped French salon where three people stare each other down — that’s literally Sartre’s 'No Exit', and its punchline 'hell is other people' has sneaked into TV character writing more times than I can count. As someone who binges shows on late nights and then chews over characters until 3 a.m., I see this idea show up as characters who are defined, haunted, or trapped by other people's gazes and expectations. It’s not just about literal imprisonment; it’s about psychological rooms where characters are forced to confront versions of themselves reflected in others.

Take ensemble dramas: in 'Mad Men' the social environment keeps Don Draper performing, hiding, and reshaping himself to avoid moral collapse; his agony is driven by how others read him. In 'Breaking Bad' Walter White’s descent is accelerated by how family, colleagues, and rivals define him, and by his terror of being seen as a failure. Even in comedies, like 'The Office', the fluorescent-buzzed workplace becomes a mirror that builds identity through embarrassment, praise, and ridicule. Writers use other characters as the furnace that forges—or fries—the protagonist.

There’s also the modern twist where shows make the gaze explicit. 'Black Mirror' episodes often literalize surveillance and judgment, turning external observation into existential torture. More introspective series like 'BoJack Horseman' or 'Fleabag' riff on bad faith: characters make choices to dodge responsibility, but the reactions of friends and lovers keep dragging truth out of them. I love spotting this in new shows: whenever a character seems less like a person and more like a role other people expect, that's Sartre’s influence humming under the surface. It keeps shows honest and, honestly, a little unbearable — in the best way.