open/close all folders
The Resistance
William Boone
Played by: Kevin Kilner
The protagonist of Season 1; Boone is initially offered a position with the companions, turns it down because he and his wife are happy where they are, and is understandably suspicious when his wife is murdered shortly thereafter. He accepts a job as one of Da'an's Companion Protectors, while working with the resistance, to get to the bottom of his wife's death.
- Anti-Climax: When Boone asks Da'an if Da'an is responsible for his wife's death, Da'an denies it. For various reasons, Da'an can't be lying, suggesting there is some sort of high-level conspiracy. It turns out Sandoval arranged it to get Boone working for them, and that's it. Presumably, he didn't think it worth Da'an's time to mention it.
- However, in the pilot of season 2, Zo'or berates Da'an for hiding from him that he had Boone's wife killed, and Da'an does not deny it.
- The Bus Came Back: To the surprise of anyone still watching during the fifth season; the end of Season 1 leaves no indication that Boone survived, only for him to be brought back four years later.
- Heroic RRoD: Overuses his skrill to the point of passing out in order to take out what appeared to be Taelon weapon, actually the first Jaridian probe, gone awry on a small town.
- Killed Off for Real: Comes back in Season 5 only to be killed off-screen in the penultimate episode.
- The Mole: For the resistance.
- The Symbiote: Skrills are initially explored in more detail through Boone's relation to his own, named Condor.
Lili Marquette
Played by: Lisa Howard
Officially Boone's assistant, Lili is the member of the resistance who first brings Boone in.
- Ace Pilot: Is an Air Force captain and has learned to pilot Taelon shuttles very well.
- She is also the one who designed the shuttles' Unusual User Interface.
- Killed Off for Real: Her likely fate, with most of the Jaridian species.
- The Mole: Like Boone.
- Put on a Bus: Is altered by Sandoval to be capable of reproducing with the Jaridians and promptly sent off to them. She's married to a Jaridian and has a child the next time we see her.
Liam Kincaid
Played by: Robert Leeshock
The protagonist from Season 2 until Season 5, Liam's father is the last survivor from a race the Taelons previously exterminated.
- The Chosen One: His unusual genetic makeup is an important part of the solution to the Taelons' Core Energy problem.
- Commuting on a Bus: Liam is never entirely sidelined, but Season 4 puts increasing amounts of effort into building René up as the new protagonist.
- Hand Blast: Being part-Kimera, his palms have the Shaqarava organ, which allows him, when the plot demands, to emit energy from them.
- Heroic BSoD: Has one of these early on when a time-travel incident convinces him he's going to go insane and gun down the resistance. The problem turns out to be something, and someone, else entirely.
- Mr. Fanservice: He's shirtless in his very first scene on the show. He's shirtless a lot, and when he isn't, he's mostly wearing leather.
- Refuge in Audacity: Liam spends some time trying to convince the rest of the resistance, particularly Doors, that they can trust Da'an, and is constantly rebuked. His solution is to bring Da'an to their base of operations unannounced, and let the fact that Da'an does not turn them in to the authorities speak for itself. Years later, this backfires spectacularly.
- Younger Than They Look: Grows to adulthood soon after being born.
Jonathan Doors
Played by: David Hemblen
CEO of Doors Industries, he initially appears friendly to the Taelons but is, in fact, the originator of the resistance.
- Dead Man Writing: "Cyber Doors," a computer-program version of Doors that surfaces to harass the Taelons after his death.
- Killed Off for Real: By his own son, no less.
- Properly Paranoid: Even other resistance members think Doors is a little unhinged at times, but he's usually not wrong to be worried about something. It can be said that this applies to his starting the resistance as well, as there is little indication that anyone else initially distrusted the Taelons.
- Taking the Bullet: In the pilot, he sees a Laser Sight on Da'an and blocks the bullet of the sniper. Of course, this is all a part of him trying to fake his death and go underground. Later, we find out that a bullet can't really hurt a Taelon anyway.
Joshua Doors
Played by: William De Vry
Son of Jonathan Doors, the two are estranged.
- Cycle of Revenge: In retaliation for the below shenanigans, he keeps playing nice with the Taelons, gets his hands on a metric crap-ton of Core Energy for a science experiment, and promptly dumps it into space. Liam and René are aghast that he doesn't realize the Taelons will undoubtedly kill him in retaliation; he admits he guessed as much and just doesn't care.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: Starts out hating his father but being no friend to the Taelons. In Season 2, he helps his father run for President, then turns on him at the last minute, getting the Taelon-friendly candidate elected in a landslide. Comes to a head when he later kills his father, but it turns out to be a...
- Mind-Control Device: The Taelon computer in the office building Jonathan works at had been subtly brainwashing him for years. Once its influence is removed, his behavior radically changes.
Marcus "Augur" Deveraux
Played by: Richard Chevolleau
The resistance's technical expert.
- Good-Guy Bar: Owns the Flat Planet Cafe, often used as a resistance hub.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: He and Liam become fast friends.
- Non-Idle Rich: Has a lot more money than the bar would give him; when Doors retires the resistance's underground base, Auger decides he wants it to live in and trades a set of rare paintings for it.
- Put on a Bus: Eventually decided to get the hell out of dodge and was replaced by Street; still made a handful of appearances afterward, but didn't come back for good.
- The Smart Guy: Is almost always the one to come up with solutions for technical problems, although he sometimes bites off more than he can chew and causes them.
Renee Palmer
Played by: Jayne Heitmeyer
Renee started as an executive in Doors International and quickly took an active role in the resistance. She ends up as the protagonist of Season 5.
- Ace Pilot: Seems to be as good as Lili by Season 5.
- The Cassandra: Spends much of season 5 trying to get anyone in the government or media to listen to her warnings of the Atavus.
- The Chosen One: Ra'jel and then Liam tell her it's her destiny to end the alien-involved conflicts on Earth. In the end, they convince her to take the Taelon mothership and use it to begin humanity's journey of exploring space.
Juliet Street
Played by: Melinda Deines
Auger's replacement and a math whiz.
- The Chosen One: More literal than Renee her genes give her the ability to work with the extremely complex math needed to solve the Taelons' Core Energy problem. It's hinted that Ma'el's modifications to the human species ensured someone like this would eventually be born.
Dr. Julianne Belman
Played by: Majel Barrett
A CVI expert who, despite appearing to be a staunch ally of the Taelons, is actually a member of the Resistance.
- Kidnapped Doctor: Was once kidnapped by a serial killer so she could modify his CVI, allowing him to operate a Skrill.
Hubbel Urich
Played by: Creator/Frank Moore
Head of the FBI. Not technically a member of the Resistance, as he didn't become a prominent character until after the Resistance was effectively disbanded, but he was vehemently against the Taelons remaining on Earth and was in a position of authority to do something about it.
- Da Chief: Head of the FBI and an important figure in the Atlantic National Alliance.
Taelons and Associates
A race of Sufficiently Advanced Energy Beings who come to Earth with the promise of peace. As the series goes on, it becomes increasingly clear that they aren't as advanced as they like to think and that their promises are made to be broken.
- Abusive Precursors: Technically, only one Taelon was a precursor and he told the others to stay away from Earth. To say they didn't listen would be an understatement.
- Energy Beings: Deconstructed; the Taelons didn't evolve naturally into their current form, and they can't actually replenish the energy they're made of. Their visit to Earth comes at the twilight of their species, as, without intervention, they'll soon all be dead from lack of energy to burn.
- No Biological Sex: The Taelons are neither male nor female despite being referred to with him/he pronouns "for ease of reference", and are all played by female actors with modulated voices.
Da'an
Played by: Leni Parker
The North American Companion and a dissenting voice for the Taelons' generally malevolent policies towards other species.
- Core Energy Is Thicker Than Water: Da'an lets a lot slide when it comes to Zo'or, his child. When he learns that Zo'or is responsible for General T'than's death, not only does Da'an keep Zo'or's secret, he gives Zo'or some of his own Core Energy. Contrast with Zo'or, who is perfectly willing to throw Da'an to the wolves if it suits him.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Taelons can test one another if an accusation is made that one has cannibalized another for their Core Energy, an act that carries the same repugnance as "normal" cannibalism does to humans. Da'an eventually decides that Zo'or has to be deposed regardless of their family ties, but by then, too much time has passed for the test to work.
- We Used to Be Friends: Da'an sells out several resistance cells to take suspicion off of himself once he feels like Zo'or is close to either exposing him or faking evidence to expose him. Liam never forgives him for it. This has the side-effect of further reinforcing Jonathan Doors's Properly Paranoid tendencies in hindsight, but Doors is long gone so it isn't brought up.
- Who Wants to Live Forever?: A failed attempt to join with a Jaridian kills the Jaridian and leaves Da'an with enough Core Energy to last a thousand years. Da'an's reaction is this, because the Jaridian was a friend and because the prospect of outliving the rest of his species horrifies him. Eventually, he shares his surplus of Core Energy with the remaining Taelons.
Zo'or
Played by: Anita La Selva
The last Taelon born, and Da'an's child, Zo'or becomes leader of the Taelon Synod in Season 2. While the Taelons clearly had an agenda that didn't necessarily include humanity's best interests before, Zo'or's leadership begins a downward spiral that doesn't end until Season 5.
Like Sandoval, Zo'or appears in all five seasons, but has only a small role in Season 1 and appeared in two episodes of Season 5.
- Big Bad: For Seasons 2 through 4. Arguably for Season 1; he only makes a handful of appearances but his scheming began off-screen long before he became a regular.
- The Caligula: Schemes his way to become leader of the Synod, but as time goes by he gets more and more out of control, threatens his subordinates, becomes enraged easily and is willing to sacrifice all of Earth for his own ends. Characters explicitly compare him to Caligula.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Seemingly happens in the Season 4 finale; is brought back for an episode in Season 5, and is frozen off-screen shortly after the episode fades out. Then brought back to reactivate the Mothership's weapons and is killed when Renee blows up the weapons.
- Gender Bender: In Season 5, when he becomes a female Atavus, since Taelons are sexless (but called "he" for ease of reference) but played by female actors. The first thing Zo'or does is have sex with a male human before feeding on him.
- Greed: Zo'or eventually develops a sense of greed for straight-up wealth after dealing with humans involved in political and economic power-play for years. His need is so bad that he starts hoarding gold on the mothership, and hallucinates that it's been stolen when he checks on it.
- Just Eat Gilligan: Being the primary antagonist meant Zo'or's death would end much of the show's conflict, so many opportunities that would have allowed the resistance to pull off an assassination are prevented by Contrived Coincidences and Idiot Balls.
- Pardon My Klingon: Utters the only known Taelon curse word "Shabra!" just before being Killed Off for Real.
Ronald Sandoval
Played by: Von Flores
The only character to appear in all five seasons as a regular, formally an FBI agent before going to work for the Taelons.
- Brought Down to Normal: In an episode of Season 4, Sandoval's CVI breaks down and must be removed; Zo'or teases that this means he'll have to give up his Skrill and use a lowly energy pistol. It turns out later that the entire thing is a ploy in case the situation he's walking into is a trap so he can hide his Skrill and then use it to escape after his pistol is confiscated. In Season 5, this happens for real after the the nuclear strike against the Taelon mothership severely injures Sandoval and kills his Skrill.
- The Dragon: To Zo'or and later, Howlyn.
- Dragon with an Agenda: Not that he's particularly loyal to either. He spends much of his time under Zo'or trying to undermine the Taelon agenda from the inside.
- FBI Agent: Before he started working with the Taleons, Agent Sandoval was with the FBI. He still maintains connections with the agency.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: Lampshades this when he discovers the Lair in the series finale, lamenting that he's been looking for it for five years since it was the base of operations for Doors' resistance, and has literally walked right over it several times.
- Heel–Face Turn: Teased early on when we see he despises the Taelons for what they've done to his life when their control is briefly removed. Once it's removed permanently, however, Sandoval turns into a scheming manipulator, and his chance at a real Heel–Face Turn is ruined by his own greed.
- I Regret Nothing: These are pretty much his last words as he finally bites the dust.
- Killed Off for Real: Survives until the series finale, where he dies fighting Renee.
- Motive Decay: Starts as a fairly normal FBI agent who became a Protector to the Taelons and whose villainous actions are due to his CVI influencing his personality. Then his CVI stops working, but he still becomes increasingly immoral and by Season 5 is chief henchman for the openly villainous Atavus.
- Slowly Slipping Into Evil: Sandoval began as a relatively decent guy who loved his wife, but after his CVI was put in, he felt she was a hindrance to his new job and had her committed to a mental institution. From there he descends more and more each season, until he is willing to sacrifice the entire population of Earth for his own ends.
- The Starscream: Tries more than once to betray the Taelons, Zo'or in particular, and Howlyn.
- Status Quo Is God: Despite numerous attempts to switch sides or at least hurt his masters, Sandoval does not end up a good guy.
- The Unfettered: Whatever he's set his mind to doing, he is not going to let anything like morality or loyalty get in his way. Wipe his own memory, murder, kidnapping, arranging a rape or two? He's not losing any sleep over it so long as the goal is accomplished.
Frank Tate
Played by: Richard Zeppieri
An FBI Agent loyal to Sandoval.
- FBI Agent: Still employed by the FBI. Sandoval often has hm carry out operations in his stead.
Ra'Jel
Played by: Helen Taylor
The first Taelon to take on their form, and the last survivor of the species. Ra'jel appears in Season 5 to help René fight the Atavus.
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Averted; according to Ra'jel, the attempt by the few remaining Taelons and Jaridians to merge actually failed.
- Last of His Kind: Following the events of the Season 4 finale, Ra'Jel is the last living Taelon.
Qu'On
Played by: Brooke Johnson
The leader of the Taelon Synod.
- Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: Murdered in the first episode of Season 2.
Others
Vorjak
Played by: Dan Chameroy
A Jardidian Military commander. Become the husband of Lili Marquette and fathers a child with her.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: As a Jaridian, he seeks glory in battle.
Howlyn
Played by: Alan Van Sprang
Leader of the Atavus and, thus, the main enemy for the final season.
- Big Bad: Of Season 5.
- The Caligula: While Zo'or began somewhat reasonable and kept getting worse as time went by, Howlyn is genocidal from moment one.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Howlyn's lack of patience when he finds his starship causes it to be forever grounded and inspires his newly-awakened second-in-command to kill him. None of the heroes are even present.
- No Delays for the Wicked: Howlyn and the Atavus move with speed and efficiency even beyond that given them by their skills and ruthlessness, encircling the heroes in record time, even after their infiltration has been wholly exposed. It verges on
Villain Sue territory at times. In one instance, a spanking brand-new top-secret factory meant to produce a vaccine/cure for Atavus infectious takeovers has, just as Renee arrives, already been nearly wholly infiltrated by enslaved hybrids and repurposed to make a substance to spread and worsen the infiltration. The logistics rival those of Columbia in BioShock Infinite. - Villainous Crush: Through most of the season he wants to make Renee his mate, despite the fact that she can't be hybridized.
Juda
Played by: Guylaine St. Onge
Howlyn's second-in-command, revived at the same time he was.
- Please Spare Him, My Liege!: Takes a liking to Sandoval and protects him from Howlyn's wrath.
Yulyn
Played by: Daniel Clark
Howlyn's estranged son, the only example of a "good" Atavus we see.
- My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Every other Atavus seems to be a bestial monster, who seeks to feed on humans and dominate the others. Yulyn is calm and peaceful, with a respect for other life. It's pretty clear that this is his late mother's influence, and Howlyn is pretty mad that his son didn't turn out like him.
- Vegetarian Vampire: Just like his late mother, Yulyn refuses to feed on humans. It's not clear how he stays alive.
