J.M. Straczynsky’s creative genius had much to do with Babylon 5’s popularity, but the work of the ensemble cast was one of the main ingredients of the series’ appeal. Many TV shows boast an ensemble cast, but very few gave us such nuanced and expertly developed main and secondary characters as Babylon 5 did. Secondary or supporting characters on television series are often only used as convenient narrative tools (at times, a mere step above ‘red shirts’). Babylon 5, however, gave us a number of interesting supporting characters, from Walter Koenig’s psi cop Alfred Bester to Stephen Furst’s Vir Cotto.

Babylon 5 gave actors the space they needed to work out their acting muscles and develop even secondary characters well beyond the customary two-dimensional television clichés that many supporting characters were often confined to. Vir Cotto was the personal assistant of Centauri ambassador Londo Mollari. As such, he was only a secondary character, but Furst’s genuine personal charisma and talents as a method actor made Vir stand out as the most relatable character of the series.

Mollari’s assignment as ambassador was considered a joke by the Centauri government, so the position of his assistant could only be seen even more derisively by the Centauri. Vir was seen as Mollari’s unwitting assistant, and as such, he really represented the basic good person struggling with the moral dilemma forced upon him by his position, which gave Furst plenty of room to develop Vir well beyond the confines of a two-dimensional secondary character.

One of Babylon 5’s strengths was the development of the main characters over the course of the series. Most of the characters went through deeply transformative personal story arcs; some characters were deeply flawed and had to suffer the consequences of their shortcomings, others had to overcome significant personal issues or events, and some had to face terrible odds despite severe personal limitations. Vir Cotto’s was of the latter kind, and Furst’s talent was the reason Vir stood out from all other secondary characters and even some main characters of the series.

Vir Cotto could easily have been labelled as Babylon 5’s ‘comic relief’, especially given the manner of his introduction during the series’ first episode, Midnight On The Firing Line, where his entrance could have been heralded as ‘send in the clown’. Ambassador Mollari introduces Vir to Michael Garibaldi and the viewers with a simple “this is it” comment and derisive gesture.