Public domain characters

In practice

A public domain character is a fictional character whose copyright protection has expired, so anyone can use them in a new story, script or adaptation without permission or payment. Sherlock Holmes, Dracula, Alice, Robin Hood and the characters of Shakespeare and the Greek myths are all free to retell. Writers use them for adaptations, sequels, parodies and mashups, from Wicked's retelling of Oz to the many modern Sherlock Holmes series.

In the United States, works published before 1978 are generally protected for 95 years after publication, and they enter the public domain on January 1 of the year after that term ends. So on January 1, 2026, works first published in 1930 became free to use, including the first Nancy Drew novels, Betty Boop's first cartoon and Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon with its detective Sam Spade. Each new year adds another year of works.

The catch is that only the character as they appeared in the public domain work is free. If a character changed in later, still-protected stories, those later traits stay protected, and a character's name or image may also be a trademark, which is a separate right that does not expire on a fixed date. Using a public domain character safely means working from the original source, not from the most famous modern version.

Working from the public domain version of a character

Priya's scene is the research every writer adapting a public domain character has to do: compare the original work with later versions and keep only what the original gives you. Her new description even turns the limit into a story idea. The character in the scene is invented, but the method is the real one.

Public domain character examples

Characters from older literature are the easiest cases: Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, Count Dracula, Frankenstein's creature, Alice, the Wizard of Oz cast, Peter Pan, Tarzan, Robin Hood, King Arthur, Hamlet, Dorian Gray and the characters of fairy tales collected by the Brothers Grimm. Mythological and religious figures, such as Zeus, Loki or Hercules, have never been under copyright at all.

Recent additions in the United States show how the annual date works. Winnie-the-Pooh from the 1926 book entered the public domain in 2022. The 1928 version of Mickey Mouse from Steamboat Willie entered in 2024, along with Tigger. Popeye from 1929 and Tintin's first adventure entered in 2025. Nancy Drew, Betty Boop and Sam Spade from 1930 works entered in 2026.

Within weeks of each of these dates, writers and filmmakers released new books, games and horror films using the newly free characters, such as Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey in 2023. Those projects stayed close to the original versions and avoided later, still-protected details, such as Pooh's red shirt, which first appeared in later Disney designs.

Public Domain Day: what enters each January 1

Public Domain Day is January 1, when a whole year of works loses copyright protection at once. On January 1, 2026, U.S. works first published in 1930 entered, including the first Nancy Drew books, Betty Boop and The Maltese Falcon's Sam Spade. In the EU, the U.K. and the other countries that count life plus 70 years, the works of authors who died in 1955, such as Thomas Mann, entered the same day.

On January 1, 2027, U.S. works from 1931 follow, among them the films Dracula and Frankenstein. Only those films' own additions become free, so a monster that looks like Universal's later versions can still raise questions. In life-plus-70 countries, A. A. Milne died in 1956, so his Winnie-the-Pooh books enter there in 2027, five years after they did in the U.S.

Which version of a character is in the public domain

A character enters the public domain as they were in the earliest works that are now free. Elements added in later works stay protected until those works expire. A 2014 U.S. appeals court ruling, Klinger v. Conan Doyle Estate, applied this to Sherlock Holmes: the parts of the character in the free stories could be used, while traits introduced only in the last, still-protected stories could not until they too expired.

In practice, that means working from the original text, film or comic, not from memory or a later adaptation. Keep a list of what the original actually says about the character's look, history, relationships and catchphrases. Anything you cannot find there either needs to be invented by you or checked against the later work's status.

Trademarks, titles and other countries

Copyright and trademark are different. A company may still hold trademarks on a character's name or image for products such as toys, clothing or a studio logo. Trademark law protects against confusing customers about who made a product; it does not stop you from telling a story with a public domain character, but it can affect how you title, market or brand the work. Avoid presenting your project as if it came from the original rights holder.

Public domain dates differ by country. Much of the world, including the European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan and South Korea, protects works for the author's life plus 70 years, so a character can be free in one country and protected in another. A work you plan to publish or produce internationally needs checking in each market where it will be sold.

How to write a new story with a public domain character

The strongest adaptations ask a question the original did not. Wicked asks what the Wicked Witch's side of the story was. Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea gives Jane Eyre's Bertha Mason a life and a voice before Thornfield Hall. Start with the original's premise, then decide what you are changing: point of view, genre, era, setting or whose story it is.

Keep your research with the draft. In Plot, a note at the top of the script can record which source edition you used and which details came from it, so anyone reading the script later can see what you took from the original and what you invented.

A five-minute adaptation exercise

Pick a public domain character you love. Write down three facts about them from the original work, and three things most people believe about them that came from later adaptations. You may be surprised how much of a famous character was added later.

Now write a one-sentence premise that keeps the three original facts and changes one big thing: the genre, the narrator or the century. If the premise still sounds like a story only this character could live, you have the start of an adaptation.