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Cooper
Cooper Redfield
Portrayed By: Wyatt Russell
- Basement-Dweller: He mentions that he still lives with his mother. Though, unlike most versions, this isn't used to make him look bad or pathetic and it's mentioned he was taking care of his dad.
- Butt-Monkey: He goes through immense psychological torture, none of which he remotely deserved.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Has his brain fried by the malfunctioning device while his consciousness is only partially uploaded. From his perspective, he literally lives out his worst nightmare; from our perspective, he dies alone and pitifully, crying out for his mother.
- Deadly Nosebleed: Suffers this when he calls out for his mom.
- Fatal Flaw: His difficulty in facing problems head on and reaching out to his mother.
- Friend to All Children: He's shown comforting a little girl on an airplane during turbulence.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: He's blonde and a very sweet-natured guy.
- Manchild: He's a bit immature. He comes across as the kind of "goofy American" who would run a gaming channel on YouTube.
- Nice Guy: Unlike most Black Mirror protagonists, Cooper isn't a Villain Protagonist or someone in need of a lesson; he's a friendly, genuine and funny guy who tries to ease a girl's fears on a plane during turbulence. According to
Word of God, Cooper was originally intended to be an Asshole Victim but Wyatt Russell suggested the idea of making him and his situation sympathetic to audiences so what he goes through hits all the harder. - Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: If he hadn't turned his phone on it wouldn't have interfered with the uploading process and caused him to literally die from his worst nightmares.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: He looks a lot like then Giant Bomb employee and "blinking White guy"
◊ Drew Scanlon◊ right down to the blue shirt in the style Scanlon commonly wore while working at Giant Bomb. - Wrong Genre Savvy: He thinks the horror game he's in is your typical haunted mansion jump-scare adrenaline-fest. He's entirely wrong; the horrors he has to face run much deeper.
Sonja
Sonja
Portrayed By: Hannah John-Kamen
- Deadpan Snarker: She has quite a dry sense of humor.
- Gamer Chick
- Nightmare Face: Primarily because she ends up not having one.
Katie
Katie
Portrayed By: Wunmi Mosaku
- Deadpan Snarker: "Well, I haven't killed anybody yet..."
- Mission Control/Mission Control Is Off Its Meds: She communicates with Cooper through an earpiece throughout the simulation. Eventually however her voice becomes a malicious force who joins in his torment.
Shou
Shou Saito
Portrayed By: Ken Yamamura
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: A video game developer who puts a volunteer through an experiment with minimal safeguards, and then when the volunteer has a seizure and dies, he coldly chalks the incident up as a corporate loss.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: The episode ends with Shou facing no immediate repercussions for Cooper's death, but it is implied in a Freeze-Frame Bonus in Black Museum that he was eventually put on trial for what happened.
- Lack of Empathy: While Katie is clearly shook up by Cooper's sudden death, Shou seems rather cold about it.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: He looks like he was modeled after Hideo Kojima.
