Characters / Dawson's Creek

The characters from Dawson's Creek.

Main Characters

Dawson Leery

Dawson Leery

Played by: James Van Der Beek

The show's main protagonist (in theory, at least) he starts the show as an extremely idealistic and innocent boy who just can't fully grasp the extent of his growing pains. An ardent Spielberg fan, he tends to perceive everything around him through a cinematographic lens; his inability to choose between childhood best friend Joey and mysterious newcomer Jen, and his progressive and slow ambition to become a movie director/screenwriter are the recurring plots of his story on the show.

---

• The All-American Boy: Dawson is the classic clean-cut all-American nice guy.
• Amicable Exes: With both Jen and Joey. Although he had romantic relationships with both, he still managed to remain friends with both of them after their relationships ended.
• Anchored Ship: Dawson had this type of relationship with Joey throughout the show.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: Many, many, many times with Joey throughout the show. Especially in Season 2, Episode 6 when Dawson tells Joey that he loves her for the first time. Unfortunately, he tells her he loves her (and Joey tells Dawson she loves him as well) when they have their first break up.
• Author Avatar: The character of Dawson Leery is basically the life story of the creator of Dawson's Creek, Kevin Williamson. The story basically tells the life of Kevin during his youth through the character of Dawson. Like Dawson, Kevin had big dreams of becoming a successful director and filmmaker.
• Berserk Button: DO NOT call Dawson "Oompa Loompa". It won't be pretty.
• Better as Friends: First with Jen and then way later on, with Joey.
• Betty and Veronica: Originally, Dawson is the Archie to Joey's Betty and Jen's Veronica. Later on, particularly in Seasons 3 and 4, he becomes the Betty to Pacey's Veronica for Joey's Archie.
• Childhood Friend Romance: Best friends with Joey since childhood, they have a Relationship Upgrade as teens but eventually don't end up together.
• Cock Fight: With Pacey, over the affections of Joey.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Dawson would often get very jealous and possessive, especially where Joey was concerned.
• Did Not Get the Girl: In the series finale, Joey ends up picking Pacey over Dawson as her romantic partner.
• Dogged Nice Guy: To Joey.
• Establishing Character Moment: He spends much of the pilot obsessively trying to prove his mother and/or father are cheating on one another in order to "spice up" his movie about them. Joey calls him on out on how he has a family she would kill for but wants them flawed just for "drama."
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Melancholic.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Dawson is generally kind, caring and protective of his family and friends.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Pacey. Before Joey came between them and broke up their friendship in season three.
• I Don't Want to Ruin Our Friendship: Primarily with Joey. He sometimes feared that getting romantically involved with Joey would ruin their strong friendship.
• Informed Ability: Dawson's ability to direct. Although almost every character tells him that he has the potential to be an excellent director, it is hardly shown throughout the show.
• It's All About Me: At times, Dawson can be very self-absorbed. Dawson is the most immature of the main cast, and a deep thinker and a dreamer; he often gets caught up in his own thoughts, ideas and problems, to the point of losing track of the thoughts and problems of those around him, especially Joey and Pacey. Even though Dawson is Pacey's best friend, Dawson is sometimes rather oblivious to the emotional abuse that Pacey endures at home.
• It's Not You, It's Me: Primarily in his relationships with Jen and Joey. Dawson would often say that him breaking up with either Jen or Joey had nothing to do with them or anything that they did but it's because of him and what he feels.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Even though Dawson loved Joey, he always wanted what was best for her, even if it wasn't him.
• The Leader: Dawson is Type II.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Despite being a nerd, Dawson is remarkably capable in physical danger. During the Season 2 finale he literally runs into a burning building to save people, and early in Season 4 he pilots a motorboat into a storm to rescue Pacey and Jen, who have gotten caught out in the bad weather.
• The Movie Buff: Dawson is extremely knowledgeable about films, directors, producers and can name a film or director at the top of his head without even thinking.
• My Girl Is Not a Slut: Towards Jen in Season 1. After Jen confesses to Dawson that she isn't a virgin, Dawson continues to believe that just because she has had sex, she isn't promiscuous.
• Nice Guy: Despite his flaws and questionable moments, he's generally a goodhearted person.
• Oblivious to Love: To Joey for the majority of Season 1, and also, long before the series began (since their childhood).
• Official Couple: With Joey throughout the series.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Dawson and Pacey, with Dawson Blue and Pacey Red. Appropriately, there are paired episodes called "The Tao of Dawson" and "The Te of Pacey" — with tao and te being terms in Taoism for going with the flow vs following your own heart.
• Relationship Upgrade: With Joey, from season two onwards.
• Romantic Runner-Up: To Pacey. In the series finale, Joey ends up with Pacey.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Dawson is the Sensitive Guy to Pacey's Manly Man.
• Silly Rabbit, Cynicism Is for Losers!: Dawson always calls out Joey for being way too pessimistic, jaded and cynical about everything.
• Starcrossed Lovers: With Joey.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: Dawson and Joey always had a sexual tension between them going back to season one, however, most of the sexual tension was on behalf of Joey for Dawson, since Dawson was oblivious to Joey's feelings for him.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Dawson is the epitome of someone who is too idealistic. Dawson is a self-proclaimed optimist and dreamer. Even if something goes wrong, he always believes that things will get better, even if the situation looks extremely dire. Both Joey and Pacey frequently call Dawson out on his overly idealistic, dreamer personality.
• Will They or Won't They?: With Joey, especially in the first season.

Joey Potter

Josephine "Joey" Lillian Potter

Played by: Katie Holmes

Initially, the only female in the trio she formed with Pacey and Dawson, Joey is somewhat of a town's pariah at the start of the show, since her mother died of cancer, her father abandoned her and her sister and is on prison, and she is on charge of trying to meet ends along with her pregnant sister Bessie and her brother-in-law by working on The Ice House, a family business. The more aloof, mature and cynical counterpart to Dawson, she starts the show as a snarky and abrasive young girl who is nonetheless head-over-heels for Dawson, her best friend since childhood. Over time, however, Joey becomes the de facto protagonist of the show, becoming more open and sociable and developing an interest in art which, coupled with her excellent academic PA, allows her to free herself from her rather humble upbringing.

---

• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Joey is tall and brunette. She is also calm, cool, composed and aloof in nature.
• Always Second Best: Felt this way about Jen in season 1, because Jen is seen more desirable by boys, especially Dawson.
• Amicable Exes: With Dawson. Even though they both admitted that they were each other's soulmate, they still remained close friends.
• Anchored Ship: With Dawson throughout the series.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: To Dawson many times.
• Betty and Veronica: Joey is initially the Betty to Jen's Veronica for Dawson's Archie. Later on, Joey is the Archie to Dawson's Betty and Pacey's Veronica.
• Break the Cutie: Bordering on Break the Haughty considering her personality.
• Brainy Brunette: She's the smartest of the group, gets perfect grades, and has brown hair.
• Broken Bird: Joey is generally cynical, pessimistic and sarcastic in nature. She is essentially troubled and comes from a rather dysfunctional family. Her mother died of cancer when she was younger and her father is a convicted felon who is a drug trafficker.
• Brutal Honesty: Joey is very blunt and sarcastic. She is opinionated and will never hesitate to say exactly what is on her mind, even if it isn't something pleasant.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Since childhood, Joey has always had romantic feelings for Dawson, but Dawson only saw Joey as his best friend.
• Character Tics:
  • Often tucks her hair behind her ear.
  • Almost always shakes her head while talking, especially during dramatic moments.
• Childhood Friend Romance: First, with Dawson and later on with Pacey. Although, her primary childhood romance is with Dawson. Although she has known both Dawson and Pacey since childhood, she was only in love with Dawson during childhood.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: In the first season, she was jealous of any girl who even made eyes at Dawson, most notably Jen.
• The Cynic: Joey is the epitome of cynical and pessimistic. She even teases Dawson about being too much of an idealist, an eternal optimist and a dreamer.
• Deadpan Snarker: Joey is the embodiment of this trope. She is almost always sarcastic.
• Deus Angst Machina: Joey has been through a lot of tragedy in her life.
• Deuteragonist: Joey is the deuteragonist to Dawson's protagonist. Even in Season 1, when she is billed fourth in the credits, she was always the second most important character. In fact, from season 2 onwards, she's billed second.
• Disappeared Dad: Her father was in prison for quite some time after Joey's mother died.
• Dude Magnet: Joey doesn't really attract the opposite sex during her high school years. However, later on in the series, she starts to have an abundance of different boyfriends and love interests other than her main object of affection Dawson (these include Pacey, Anderson, Eddie, Jack, A.J., Charlie, Professor David Wilder).
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: The Choleric.
• Girliness Upgrade: Originally, Joey starts out as a tomboy who lacks any femininity. However, later on in the series, she becomes much more in touch with her girly side. She wears more feminine clothing and ups her cosmetic usage.
• Girl Next Door: She is generally a nice, wholesome girl who has known her male neighbor (Dawson) since childhood.
• Go-Getter Girl: Joey is highly ambitious, scholarly, hard-working, gets straight A's and often volunteers in school extra curricular activities.
• Huge Schoolgirl: Joey is very tall (5'9”); she is this height at only 15 years of age (which is the age she is at the start of the show). She feels insecure about her height especially in the beginning.
• I Just Want to Be Special: Joey has always yearned to be seen as beautiful and special, especially to Dawson.
• Informed Attribute: Joey's "it" during the college years. She went from merely being seen as very pretty to an absolute knockout whom no heterosexual male in her vicinity could resist falling in love with.
• Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: Light Feminine to Jen's and Audrey's Dark Feminine. Somewhat played with as she is a Brainy Brunette and they are both blondes.
• Love Hurts: In all of her romantic relationships, but primarily with Dawson.
• Love Interest: Joey is the main love interest to the protagonist Dawson. She later on becomes a love interest for Pacey.
• Missing Mom: Joey's mother, Lillian, died of cancer when Joey was thirteen.
• Nerds Are Sexy: Joey is a brainiac, but it doesn't prevent her from attracting members of the opposite sex left and right.
• Odd Friendship:
  • With Audrey in college. Joey and Audrey couldn't be more different in personalities and temperaments but nevertheless, they develop a rather strong friendship.
  • With Jen as well, since two originally started out as rivals for Dawson's attention. Jen got over it before Joey did, but by Season 4 the two are fast friends.
• Official Couple: With Dawson throughout the series. Also with Pacey in season three onwards.
• Parental Abandonment: Joey's mother died when she was thirteen and Joey's father has been in and out of prison for drug trafficking. Because of this, Joey was mostly raised by her elder sister, Bessie.
• She's All Grown Up: Joey was never found to be attractive or appealing to her childhood friends Dawson and Pacey. At least not until Joey's teen and adult years.
• Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: Joey often lectures Dawson about being too idealistic and too much of a dreamer.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Mostly with Dawson but also with Pacey.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Although the series is named Dawson's Creek, Joey is the only character who appears in every episode.
• Starcrossed Lovers: With Dawson.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: She can be moody and distant, only her close friends will know her sweet, warm side.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Joey and Jen with Joey being the Tomboy to Jen's Girly Girl. This was primarily in the first few seasons; eventually, Joey goes through a Girliness Upgrade in the later seasons.
• Tomboyish Name: Joey is a nickname for her full first name, Josephine. Lampshaded in "Hopeless":
  Anna: [to Pacey] You must be Joey. Nice to meet you. Anna.
  Pacey: Hi.
  Joey: You're not Joey. I'm Joey. It's nice to meet you, Anna.
  Drue: Pacey, guy. Joey, girl. I told you 1000 times in the car.
• Tsundere: Joey is a Type A, often in her interactions towards Dawson and Pacey.
• Unrequited Love Switcheroo: It's sometimes easy to forget that most of the first season had Joey pining over Dawson, since for much of the rest of the series it's the other way around.
• Will They or Won't They?: Her relationship with Dawson and later on with Pacey.

Jen Lindley

Jennifer "Jen" Lindley

Played By: Michelle Williams

The mysterious newcomer to Capeside on the very first episode of the show, Jen is a new-yorker teen who's came to Capeside in order to take care of her sick grandad. The moment he sees her, he becomes Dawson's dream-girl and a permanent fixture on the lives of him, Joey and Pacey. It's eventually revealed, however, Jen's not as pure and good as Dawson wants to believe, and was in fact sent to Capeside by her parents in order to calm down on her sexually charged, self-destructive behavior on New York. Over the show she will start searching herself (though not always on the most appropriate places) and will become a really trusted and appreciated friend to the main trio.

---

• Anyone Can Die: Jen dies by succumbing to a fatal heart condition after she collapses in the series finale.
• Always Someone Better: Joey feels this way about Jen in season 1.
• Betty and Veronica: In Season 1, Jen is the Veronica to Joey's Betty for Dawson's Archie.
• Broken Bird: Jen is a troubled girl and comes from a background of dysfunction. Jen gives off a rather cynical and pessimistic vibe; because of this, she seems to have low self-worth and low self-esteem.
• Deadpan Snarker: Jen is capable of making incredibly witty, sarcastic and snarky comments whenever the mood strikes her.
• Dude Magnet: Since the first season, Jen attracts many members of the opposite sex. She is also very aware of her attractiveness and popularity. She was by far the biggest dude magnet in the high school seasons.
• Everyone Loves Blondes: She gains popularity and eventually becomes head cheerleader of the school's cheerleading squad. Jen is also nominated for Homecoming Queen and she wins the title.
  Jen: They voted for me because I'm blonde and I fill out my sweater.
• Fag Hag: Jen is this to Jack. The two have a very close, tight and intimate relationship with each other.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Phlegmatic.
• Girl Next Door: Zigzagged Trope. Her personality — the aloof, attractive newcomer with more sexual experience than the others — doesn't fit the trope when contrasted to Joey, Dawson's tomboyish childhood friend. But she does, geographically speaking, live next door to Dawson.
• Good Bad Girl: Although Jen is a good-hearted person who has good intentions, she is willing to cross the moral line from time to time. She often engages in hard partying, drinking, drug use and promiscuous sex.
• Hands-Off Parenting: Jen's mother, Helen, is a completely aloof and emotionally distant woman who wasn't capable of showing Jen any love and affection. Jen has referred to her mother as a cold hearted woman. Jen's father, Theodore, was also noted to be a cold and distant, emotionless man.
• Hard-Drinking Party Girl: Especially during her younger teen years and in Season 2. Jen lived a wild, out of control and an unpredictable lifestyle while still living with her parents in New York.
• Herald: The show starts when Jen enters the lives of the Power Trio, and ends when she leaves.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: Jen has always yearned to have a normal life with a normal family. Unfortunately, her dysfunctional background and her wild past often makes Jen feel that she is incapable of having a happy, normal life.
• Naïve Newcomer: Jen was new to Capeside in Season 1. She was the new addition to the trio of Dawson, Joey and Pacey.
• New Transfer Student: In Season 1.
• No Guy Wants to Be Chased: In Season 2, Dawson rejects Jen after she attempts to seduce him.
• Odd Friendship: With basically the entire cast, mainly with the main trio (Dawson, Joey and Pacey).
• Parents as People: Fundamentally, the root of Jen's trauma is not just her parents' distant natures but their complete unwillingness to apologize for allowing her to suffer the consequences of their actions. Best seen in the Inciting Incident that led her to be shifted to Capeside, which is revealed to be a May–December Romance between her father — who was, and is, still married to her mother — and a girl who was then a senior in high school and may or may not have been legally capable of consenting.
• Platonic Life-Partners: With Jack. Jen forms a very strong bond and friendship with Jack, especially from Season 3 onwards. By the final episodes, they describe each other as (platonic) soulmates.
• Really Gets Around: Before coming to Capeside, Jen had the reputation of having a lot of promiscuous sex. She still retains this reputation in Capeside.
• Satellite Love Interest: In season 1, her primary purpose was to serve as the protagonist Dawson's main love interest.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Mostly with Dawson in Season 1. Jen has been with her fair share of bad boys, but she sees Dawson as one of the few good guys that she's ever encountered.
• The Social Expert: Although Joey is the main female character, Jen is seen as the one who has social influence on the core group. She is often the one who tries to bring everyone together, regardless of differing personalities, temperaments and outlooks.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Girly Girl to Joey's Tomboy. However, this later changes when Joey embraces her more feminine, girly side.

Pacey Witter

Pacey John Witter

Played by: Joshua Jackson

Dawson's best friend and Capeside's resident loser, Pacey is actually the extraverted, charismatic and fun-loving young of the trio. The youngest (and apparently less loved) son of a very big family, even though he's pretty well liked by his friends, Pacey has a really low self-esteem, and is failing high school at the start of the show. During the first season, he's mainly defined by his affair with Capeside's new English Literature teacher, Tamara Jacobs. Halfway the season, however, that ends, and the funny and mature character that is Pacey gets revealed to the audience.

---

• Abusive Parents: He's considered a loser by his parents and they both treat him horribly, especially his father.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: With his father, surprisingly. Most of the time, his father is a Jerkass who hates him but they share a few heartwarming scenes in a couple of episodes.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: To Doug and Gretchen.
• Berserk Button: Insulting the woman he loves (i.e. Andie or Joey), calling him worthless or a failure or attacking his sister (Gretchen) is not a good idea.
• Betty and Veronica: The Veronica to Dawson's Betty for Joey's Archie.
• Black Sheep: Pacey doesn't fit in with his family at all. He is the unfavorite child. Most of his family see Pacey as an embarrassment or a failure.
• Book Dumb: Pacey failed a lot of classes in high school and was not particularly academic or scholarly.
• Breakout Character: Pacey was popular amongst the viewing audience and ends up overshadowing the main character and becoming the love interest to the female lead.
• Bromantic Foil: The rebellious foil to wholesome good guy Dawson.
• Butt-Monkey: The biggest one in the show. Pacey was treated like he was the laughingstock of the entire world by everyone, especially by his own family.
• Character Development: It slowly started in season 2, thanks to his first serious girlfriend, Andie.
• The Charmer: Despite his loser status, girls can't help to like him because of his charming personality.
• Childhood Friend Romance: With Joey. They were friends since childhood, fall in love in high school, and end up together at the end of the show.
• Cock Fight: With Dawson, over the affections of Joey.
• Deadpan Snarker: Pacey is the wittiest character on the series.
• Establishing Character Moment: Pacey teases Joey - while trying to feel her up, as they shoot a scene for Dawson's film.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: He's Book Dumb and rebellious (Foolish), while his sister Gretchen is a smart college student and his brother Doug is a police officer (Responsible).
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: The Sanguine.
• Held Back in School: Despite encouragement from Cute Bookworm Andie and Brainy Brunette Joey, Pacey fails his junior year of high school and re-takes it while everyone else is a senior.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Dawson, before Joey came between them in season three.
• Hot-Blooded: Pacey is emotional, impulsive and passionate by nature.
• Insecure Love Interest: He's a very insecure person in general, prone to Self-Deprecation, so he's genuinely surprised when girls fall in love with him, notably Andie and Joey. When it comes to Joey especially, the insecurities are exaggerated because of her close relationship with Dawson and he believes to be the Third Wheel.
• The Lancer: To Dawson.
• Last-Name Basis: With his girlfriends (McPhee and Potter).
• My Sister Is Off-Limits: Played straight in the fourth season, though Pacey doesn't make as much of a deal about it because he's keenly aware he himself did something Dawson disapproves of (to wit, fall in love with Joey).
• Plucky Comic Relief: More so in season one, but he often serves as this even in later seasons.
• Real Men Can Cook: In Season 5 Pacey is apprenticed to a celebrated celebrity chef, and takes to it immediately. By the Series Finale, he is running his own restaurant and is completely comfortable in the role.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Pacey is the Red Oni to both Dawson and Joey's Blue Oni.
• Sad Clown: Pacey often uses humor and sarcasm to hide his sadness.
• Self-Deprecation: He has a very low opinion of himself, an inferiority complex, and often talks about how much he's a loser compared to everyone else.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Manly Man to Dawson's Sensitive Guy.
• Ship Tease: He dated all the female leads: Andie, Jen, Joey and Audrey.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: Pacey seems to have this dynamic with most of his girlfriends, particularly Andie and Joey.
• Stepford Snarker: He's aware of his Butt-Monkey status since childhood and also has Abusive Parents. He uses humor and sarcasm to hide his emotional pain.
• Straw Loser: In one episode, a drunk Dawson admits that Pacey is so messed up that he makes him feel good about his own life.
• Successful Sibling Syndrome: Exaggerated. With no disrespect intended to Gretchen or Doug, neither of them is exactly a success story; but Pacey is nonetheless treated as being an abject failure and waste of space.
• Teacher/Student Romance: With Tamara Jacobs in season one. It didn't end well.
• Token Good Teammate: In his family. His older sister Gretchen was actually good as well, but everyone else...
• The Unfavorite: His abusive parents are very vocal about it. Telling him he's an embarrassment and a Black Sheep to his face. They aren't that cruel to Pacey's other siblings.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: His father is very hateful and dismissive towards him. Pacey desperately wants his father's love and not to feel like his father hates him.

Jack McPhee

Jack McPhee

Played by: Kerr Smith

A shy, attractive boy who comes to Capeside alongside his sister Andie in Season 2, Jack starts his tenure on the show slowly befriending Dawson's group and working as a waiter alongside Joey on The Icehouse, where he reveals his clumsy nature. It is not long, too, until he falls in love with Joey who was actually dating Dawson at the time, and starts dating her, embroiling himself in the melodrama of the cast. During the same year, however, he slowly comes to terms with the fact that he's gay, which would become the crux of his character from then on. Him and Andie joined the cast (and quickly befriended Dawson's circle) on Season 2 as recurring; he would get promoted to main the following season and for the rest of the show.

---

• Coming-Out Story: One of the first on primetime television.
• Endearingly Dorky: He was a clumsy Naïve Newcomer in his early appearances in season 2, but still kind and endearing once you get to know him. While Joey is initially annoyed by his awkwardness, she falls for him for a while, noticing how sensitive he is.
• Fish out of Water: In the beginning, he was shy and socially awkward.
• Gay Best Friend: Eventually, after his sexuality is revealed, he becomes Jen's closest friend and confidant.
• Gym Bunny: In later seasons.
• Iconic Sequel Character: Is introduced in season 2, and remains a main character for the rest of the show.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: To the point where he throws himself completely into anything that gives him the feeling of being just another guy, even to the point of neglecting his friends.
• Lovable Jock: During season 3 while he's on the football team.
• Naïve Newcomer: When he first arrives in Capeside in season 2, with his overall naivete and inexperience.
• Nice Guy: He's friendly to most people and also very sensitive.
• Platonic Life-Partners: With Jen.
• Promotion to Opening Titles: In season 3.
• Sixth Ranger: He becomes an official member of the group. This is arguably cemented by the series finale, which the other potential sixth members, his sister Andie and Joey's roommate Audrey, do not appear in.
• Straight Gay: He's gay but not particularly flamboyant.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: His actor Kerr Smith is very tall, and Jack unwittingly attracts the attentions of a few girls on the show.

Andie McPhee

Andrea "Andie" McPhee

Played by: Meredith Monroe

Capeside's Naïve Newcomer at the start of the second season, Andie is an upbeat, hyperactive girl who's always in for everything, be it a party or an all-night study session. Andie and her brother Jack's family is actually a formerly rich upstate clan scarred by their father's abandonment and their mother's frail mental state after the mother felt responsible for the death of her eldest son, Tim, in a car accident.. Andie has the rare distinction of being the most open and sincere character of the cast, at least at first, and quickly starts a romantic relationship with Pacey early on in her debuting season. She and Jack entered the cast (and quickly befriended Dawson's circle) in Season 2 as recurring, and she got promoted to main in Seasons 3 and 4. Though she left the show in Season 4, she was a guest for the finale... in a deleted scene.

---

• Back for the Finale: In a deleted scene.
• The Bus Came Back: At the end of Season 4 to graduate from Capeside High. This is her last appearance on the show.
• Cute Bookworm: An innocent and enthusiastic bookworm with a crush on Pacey, who eventually likes her back.
• Cute and Psycho: A nice and nerdy girl but also emotionally unstable and it's eventually revealed she has a mental illness.
• Derailing Love Interests: She's set up in Season 2 as dorky yet cute soul mate to Pacey, the first person who believes in him and helps him turn his life around, until she abruptly cheats on him in-between seasons, then hammers the point home by cheating at an exam and lying about nearly being raped. This was done in order to have Pacey get close to Joey.
• Extracurricular Enthusiast: Because of her academic ambitions, she often volunteers in school extra-curricular activities.
• Genki Girl: She has all the energy of the typical Go-Getter Girl.
• Go-Getter Girl: Andie is a driven overachiever and a straight A student. She is admitted into Harvard, one of the most prestigious universities on the planet.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Especially in season 2 where Andie was a well-intentioned, naive Genki Girl and a virgin.
• Iconic Sequel Character: Is introduced in season 2 as the first serious Love Interest to Pacey, and remains part of the core cast for almost three seasons.
• The Mentally Disturbed: Her mental health issues are due to her older brother's death. Her mother is mentally ill as well.
• Promotion to Opening Titles: In season 3.
• Put on a Bus: In the middle of season 4.

Audrey Liddell

Audrey Liddell

Played by: Busy Philipps

• Ascended Extra: In Season 5, to the point that she's added to the opening credits the following season.
• Derailing Love Interests: Like Andie, she's another girlfriend of Pacey who starts to derail when the writers want him to get close to Joey. In Season 5, she is portrayed as the first girl to be Pacey's equal, until she suddenly turns from a lovable party girl into a screwed-up alcoholic who ends up in rehab the following season.
• Genki Girl: Very outgoing and talkative.
• Good Bad Girl: Promiscuous but eventually revealed to be a good friend to have.
• Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: The dark to Joey's light.
• Odd Friendship: With Joey. They couldn't be more different in personalities and temperaments but nevertheless, they develop a rather strong friendship.
• Promotion to Opening Titles: In season 6.
• Sixth Ranger: In later seasons, she sort of becomes the sixth member of the main group.

Gail Leery

Gail Leery

Played by: Mary Margaret Humes

Dawson's mother is the local TV news' host, and, apparently, a pretty happy and attractive career woman. It's revealed on the very first episode she's cheating on her husband Mitch with her co-host, which would embark both of them in a really tricky and dramatic marital crisis. She is, however, a really reliable parent to Dawson, and spends a whole lot of time with him. Gail was a main character for the first four seasons of the show, and recurring for the last two.

---

• Demoted to Extra: When the characters leave home and head off to university in Season 5, she is removed from the opening credits; in compensation, she gets star billing in the Guest Star credits when she appears.
• Good Parents: She's a caring mother to Dawson.
• Depending on the Writer: Her first name's spelling, apparently (Gaile? Gayle? Gayl?). The consensus seems to have settled for 'Gail'.
• Parental Substitute: For Joey.
• Progressively Prettier: Subverted. Her actress is not ugly at all, but she was presented as a confident and very attractive middle-aged woman on the first episode, and show more and more drab and homely the more she had scenes at her house.
• Second Love: Remarries in the series finale. Her new husband has no lines and is not even given a name.

Mitch Leery

Mitchell "Mitch" Leery

Played by: John Wesley Shipp

Dawson's feather, though quirky and implied to be as idealistic as his son, he's a Reasonable Authority Figure for the group, and tends to give good sentimental advice to the youngsters. He's implied to be some kind of office worker at the start of the show, though that isn't very consistent, and he's however mostly seen at house; his motivation to open a restaurant was equally an inconsistent plot thread in the early episodes ─by the thrid season, all of that was abandoned and he became a History teacher and football coach at Dawson's High School. Mitch was a main character for the first four seasons of the show, but was demoted to guest on Season 5 (coinciding with the move to college of the show) and absent on the final season.

---

• Back for the Dead: When the characters leave home and head off to university in Season 5, he is removed from the opening credits. The next time he appears, he's killed off.
• Good Parents: He was a caring father to Dawson, who was shocked by his death.
• Only Sane Man: Not really apparent at the start of the show, but he's one of the most mature and emotionally stable characters of the cast.
• Parental Substitute: Serves as a surrogate parent to Joey and Pacey, due to them both having problematic home lives.
• Parting-Words Regret: Killed in a car accident in season 5 after telling Dawson he's disappointed in him for dropping out of school.

Evelyn "Grams" Ryan

Played by: Mary Beth Peil

Jen's grandmother and the Leery's next-door neighbor, she takes in her granddaughter at the start of the show, and is tending Gramps Ryan, her husband. A former nurse and really Christian woman, her clash with Jen's, who is not a believer, is one of the main plots of Season 1; he would become a widow starting on Season 2, and shifted to being more of a voice of reason for Jen. Grams has the dubious honor of being the only adult character to stay a main character throughout the entirety show.

---

• Cool Old Lady: Even Jen, who is certainly her polar opposite, comes to truly respect her.
• The Fundamentalist: She's strictly religious, but it's subverted in that she is very tolerant and her stern demeanor is mostly just old-fashioned.
• Parental Substitute: For Jen and, eventually, Jack.
• Took a Level in Kindness: She is far less strict and more tolerant in later years.

Bessie Potter

Bess "Bessie" Potter

Played by: Nina Repeta

Joey's older sister, she owns The Ice House, which is the character's Local Hangout during the first seasons and were his boyfriend, Bodie, works as a cook. She's pregnant from Bodie's son during Season 1, which puts a strain on Joey (who has to take care of both their house down the creek and the restaurant) and, eventually, of their relationship. She's however an understanding and caring guide for Joey, and supports her on her very important, very dramatic decisions. Bessie would be billed as a main character during the show's first four seasons, and a recurring one for the last two.

---

• Advertised Extra: Though she received star billing for four seasons, she appears in less than half of those episodes (this is true of all the parental characters, but Bessie gets hit by it the worst).
• Demoted to Extra: When the characters leave home and head off to university in Season 5, she is removed from the opening credits; in compensation, she gets star billing in the Guest Star credits when she appears.
• Feminine Women Can Cook: For the first two seasons, her and Joey's primary income (and source of employment) is a restaurant called the Ice House. When it burns down at the end of the second season, they convert their home into a bed & breakfast.
• Maligned Mixed Marriage: Her boyfriend, Bodie, is black, and she gets in trouble for it at times. (They technically are not married either, though this doesn't affect either character's conduct.)
• Promoted to Parent: Bessie, 10 years older than Joey, became the only authority in the house when their mother Lilly passed away and their father Mike was jailed for drug dealing.

Recurring Characters

Introduced Season 1

Tamara Jacobs

Played by: Leann Hunley

Capeside's High School new English Literature teacher, Tamara enters the show seemingly flirting with Pacey (even though she's almost 20 years her major), and, funnily, they both learn later she's her teacher. They, however, initiate a secret relationship that would last until the rumor gets out over the town and she decides to leave Capeside, ending her and Pacey's relationship. She would come back on Season 2 for a couple episodes, where she sells a warehouse of her property to Mitch and gives closure to Pacey.

---

• Ambiguous Situation: How much she's serious about Pacey and hers' relationship. For much of Season 1, it's implied she sees it as a legitimate relationship; but she leaves him when there's the risk of people knowing about it. Of course, there's also the matter of their relationship being illegal, which cleary puts her as a sexual predator and taking advantage of Pacey; the show never adresses this ─maybe to keep the situation, well, ambigous.
• The Bus Came Back: Briefly, for a couple of episodes in Season 2. She gives some much needed resolution and confidence to Pacey and almost gets in with Mitch. But she doesn't last too long and skips town.
• Expy: Of Summer of '42's Dorothy, at least in appearance. This being Dawson's Creek, it gets instantly noted by the main characters.
• Mrs. Robinson: Of course. Her main purpose on the show is to give Pacey his first romantic and sexual experience.
• Put on a Bus: Midway through Season 1, allowing Pacey to get involved on his friends' plots. This is pretty reasonable in-universe, though; once the suspicion that she and Pacey had a relationship has arise, she prefers to leave town in order to shut off any suspicion on both of them. Then again on her brief appearence during the start of Season 2, and this time for good.

Abby Morgan

Abigail "Abby" Morgan

Played by: Monica Keena

Capeside's resident mean girl, she starts on an episodic role in Season 1 and both befriends and antagonizes (normally at the same time) Dawson and his friends. She would become a more relevant figure on Season 2, when she becomes friends to Jen though, as usual, that doesn't last too long.

---

• Alpha Bitch: Subverted. She acts like a stereotypical Alpha Bitch except that she isn't popular at all and has no friends whatsoever aside from her on-again, off-again friendship with Jen.
• Asshole Victim: Literally no one can stand her. Not even her friend Jen was really saddened by her death.
• Brutal Honesty: She's extremely blunt and rude to people.
• Deadpan Snarker: Probably the biggest one on the show. She never misses a chance to snark and is not subtle about it.
• Hidden Depths: Suggested in a few episodes. She's very insecure and vulnerable behind her nasty behavior.
• Jerkass: To everyone, including her supposed friend Jen. Then there's the way she cruelly makes fun of Andie's family situation and Joey's dead mother.
• Killed Offscreen: Gets drunk along with Jen and then falls into the water. The next episode was about her funeral.
• Manipulative Bitch: Although some of her manipulations end up backfiring in her face.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Jen, and how. During the course of Season 2, it becomes really difficult to know if Jen and her are friendly or at each other's throats.

Doug Witter

Played by: Dylan Neal

Pacey's older brother, he got into the police force of Capeside per the Witter's family tradition. He seemingly thinks his young brother is an useless loser, and likes to remind him everytime they cross paths.

---

• Aloof Big Brother: To Pacey.
• Ambiguously Gay: Played with until the end of the series.
• By-the-Book Cop: Part of the tension between Doug and Pacey, as Doug is not generally inclined to bend the rules or put up with teenage misbehavior.
• Coming-Out Story: The series finale deals with this, as Doug finally comes out of the closet rather than lose Jack.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The Responsible (a police officer) to Pacey's Foolish.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Actually does care about Pacey in a stern kind of way. Forced to do a ride-along with Doug during his police shift, Pacey comes to realize just how much Doug helps the people in town.
  • His actions in Season 3 solidify this: he takes in his little brother in his house and helps him to process his feelings towards Joey.
• Neat Freak: One of the Tertiary Sexual Characteristics used to hint at his sexuality.
• Odd Couple: With his brother, somewhat, when they live together during Season 3. He's always cleaning after unkempt Pacey, and he's the responsible goody-two-shoes to his brother's laid-back nature.
• Straight Gay: Doug does not really exhibit any stereotypical gay traits. But...
• Transparent Closet: Most people seem to suspect or comment on his sexuality, often to his annoyance. Pacey spends his debut episode reminding him of that, much to his annoyance.

Introduced Season 3

Eve Whitman

Played by: Brittany Daniel

A mysterious woman who befriends ─or rather, seduces─, Dawson on his bus back to Capeside from Philadelphia at the start of Season 3. She's revealed to be an stripper at the local strip place, and becomes oddly smitten with Dawson. Although at first she seems obsessed to get in his pants, over the course of the first half of the season she's revealed to be somewhat more profound.

---

• Replacement Flat Character: She's what Jen would be if her Hidden Depths hadn't been revealed over the course of Seasons 1 and 2. Their personality and looks are really similar, but Eve is somewhat more mature and more sex-crazed.
• Expy:
  • At first, of Risky Business's Lana, which of course gets instantly lampshaded. She's a stripper, not a prostitute, though.
  • As noted above, she also serves a similar function to Season 1 Jen, by giving Dawson experiences outside of his comfort zone. She's also really attractive, seductive and blonde. However, she differs greatly in her approach to sex: while that is a point of contention and torture for Jen, Eve seems to rather enjoy being teasing. Makes sense, considering they're half sisters.
• Femme Fatale: If you set her on a High School instead of a detective agency. She's not really malicious, though, just teasing.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Up until the revelation she's searching for her mom, she's treated by the gang as a mild annoyance.
• Hidden Depths: She eventually reveals she's moving beneath legality's radar in order to search for her mother, who gave her away when she was born; she also tells Dawson she's legitimately attracted to his wide-eyed idealism. A pity she disappears right after.
• Meaningful Name: Of course, this is Dawson's Creek. It's not clear if it's a pseudonym or her real name, though.
• Ms. Fanservice: As much as the WB would let them. She's only seen in short tops and very revealing outfits, and behaves in a titillating manner towards Dawson.
• Unknown Relative: She's Jen's half-sister. And remains unknown till the end of the series, since her plot never resolves.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: And how. She doesn't even get to see the resolution of her plot, and disappears near the middle of her debut (and only) season with no explanation (other than she 'skipping town').

Henry Parker

Played by: Michael Pitt

Jen's love interest for Season 3. A freshman at the gang's High School, he befriends Jack since they both enter the football team that year, and falls head-over-heels in love with Jen ─to no avail. An innocent, fresh-faced (and insistent) young boy.

---

• Age-Gap Romance: With Jen, who is a junior (16) while he is a freshman (14).
• Love Interest: To Jen in Season 3.
• Naïve Newcomer: A freshman whose innocence is explicitly a part of Jen's attraction to him.
• Offscreen Breakup: Has one with Jen in Season 4 after he's sent to a private school. She does at least get a "Dear John" Letter.
• Put on a Bus: Literally, in this case: the last time we see him, during the season finale, he's on a bus with the Capeside football team, heading to summer camp.

Principal Howard Green & Nikki Green

Played by: Obba Babatundé and Bianca Lawson, respectively.

Howard Green joins the gang's high school as the Principal right at the start of Season 3. He reveals himself a reasonable, though strict autorithy figure for Dawson and his friends, and gets them involved on several of the high-school plots of his season ─and just as often acts as a spectator for their larger than life melodrama.

Nikki Green is a high-schooler who meets Dawson on his visit to Boston University ─an aspiring cinematographer, like him, that nonetheless has a grater success with her submission to the film festival of the university. Her film makes Dawson rethink his aspiration on life and they begin a friendship of sorts. Then she reveals she's Principal Green's daughter and joins the cast at Capeside.

Although very important during their short tenure, they both leave the show mid-season, on Episode 3x16.

---

• Reasonable Authority Figure: Principal Green is this to the main group. He's aloof at first but understanding of their problems ─a defining moment of the character is when he lets Andie get off being punished for cheating on the PSAT.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Applies to both of them, but specially to Nikki, who's the first cinema-minded person of his age for Dawson and makes him start searching for his real purpouse in life ─an in film.

Arthur 'AJ' Moller Jr.

Played by: Robin Dunne

Joey's short-lived boyfriend during Season 3. They meet at Boston University, where he's her tour guide and a Literature Major, and alsoa teacher's assistant. She ends up really smitten by him, and they start a relationship but, sadly, also learns he's oblivious to his feelings towards Morgan, a childhood friend.

---

• Androginous Name: Which makes for a really funny scene where both Joey and him believe they are to meet a person of their same gender for the tour of the university.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Joey, [[Yandere/obviously]]. They start arguing on their very first scene together, and only make amends once he shows his tender and vulnerable side. Subverted, however, since once they start dating they are soft with each other -and they're not meant to be anyways.
• Derailing Love Interests: Of course. His main purpouse is not getting Pacey and Joey together ─and making her keep believing she still doesn't feel anything for her friend.
• Foil: To Pacey, of course. He's cultured, very mature (even condescending), and older than Joey ─or, in other words, the contrary of his foil. Physically, however, they look very much alike.
• Mirror Character: He's this for Dawson, as Morgan is for Joey. An idealistic, culturally-minded and terribly Oblivious to Love young man who's too intelligent for his own good, just as Dawson. Morgan is an artsy-minded young woman, shy but really sensitive ─just as Joey. Their story also makes a Plot Parallel to both Joey and Dawson's story and Joey and Pacey's by the point he shows up on the show.
• Oblivious to Love: He could give Dawson a run for his money! It's Joey the one who has to spell it out for him that his childhood friend Morgan and him are actually in love, but unwilling to adimt it.
• Replacement Flat Character: Not exactly a 'replacement', but he shows up just as his mirror, Dawson, starts to question himself, his motivation in life and his relationship towards the world around him. AJ is what Dawson would be if he had never met Nikki (another Small Role, Big Impact character). And of course, he has so little screentime, he remains a Flat Character.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Appears for a grand total of four episodes, but his and Joey's breakup is the main event that makes Pacey finally confess his feelings and that makes Joey start to realize she might love him back. It's even in the post-breakup drive home where all of this happens!

Ethan Brady

Played by: Adam Kaufman

Jack's slightly older, more experienced gay friend, and on-and-off love interest. Both men met when Jack is returning form Boston University to Capeside, and start a mentor-mentored relationship of sorts when they both learn the other's gay too. Jack, however, has more deep feelings towards Ethan.

---

• Small Role, Big Impact: As it happens with a lot of Season 3 characters. He's Jack's first gay friend and semi-boyfriend, although he only stars in five episodes.

Introduced Seasons 4-6

Gretchen Witter

Played by: Sasha Alexander

• Age-Gap Romance: With Dawson, who is a senior (17) while she is in college (20).
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: A part of her Dark and Troubled Past.
• Childhood Friend Romance: With Dawson. She was the first girl he ever had a crush on.
• Cool Big Sis: to Pacey.
• Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Played straight. She gets pregnant from her college boyfriend (see "All Girls Want Bad Boys") but had a Convenient Miscarriage.
• Remember the New Guy?: Though Pacey has expressed that he is the youngest of his family, Gretchen herself is never explicitly mentioned until she comes home from college.
• Women Are Wiser: Becomes an advisor to basically the entire main cast; not only does she have greater life experience, but her sisterly knowledge of Pacey's personality is specifically valuable to Joey as she is dating him during this particular season.

Mr. Brooks

Played by: Harve Presnell

• Grumpy Old Man: Introduced as "Albert Brooks," a persnickety customer at the Yacht Club, whom Dawson steals a boat from (it's a long story).
• Hidden Depths: ...who turns out to be "A. I. Brooks," a famous film director from the black-and-white era. He and Dawson collaborate on a memoir documentary about his (Brooks') career, which helps boost Dawson's reputation as a filmmaker.
• History Repeats: Left the film industry after his best (male) friend and his girlfriend fell in love under his nose. Did we mention that this is the season when Pacey and Joey are dating?
• Lonely Funeral: Exactly five people show up: Dawson, Gale, Mitch, Gretchen and Grams. All of them met him because Dawson stole his boat, leading Dawson to bleakly speculate what might have happened if he had done no such thing.
• Love Interest: For Grams.
• Secretly Dying: Of pancreatic cancer.
• Shipper on Deck: Encourages Dawson to kiss Gretchen after he recognizes the Unresolved Sexual Tension between them. Did we mention that this is the season when Pacey and Joey are dating?