Hot take: character development is overrated
Or at least, it's not required for a good story. Many of the best stories have static characters that still tell complex stories. But “character development” (increasingly synonymous with how much pain a character goes through) just became one of those highschool book report check boxed that midwits can lock in on and it became an end to itself in literature criticism.
I wonder if the Internet was cut off tomorrow and never returned how long it would take some people to realize their whole personality and worldview are completely fake. Seeing grown ass adults who are into grade school gender wars, sincere belief in political systems that have been discredited over a century ago or some kind of esoteric race science. If your worldview isn't related to physical reality it's just a fandom.
Okay, alternate history book pitch. It's like Harry Turtledove’s The Guns of the South where South Africans go back in time to give machine guns to the civil war era south, but it's civil war era soldiers that go forward in time to Nazi Germany to give them flintlock pistols. It makes everything worse and the Germans lose even quicker. Titled Der Tarden Dixie
This is another super deep cut note for the 3 people I know will get it.