An (incomplete) list of characters to be found in the television series The Good Fight.
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Main
Diane Lockhart
- Played by: Christine Baranski
See her folder at The Good Wife's character page. Tropes exclusive to The Good Fight go here.
- Author Tract: Her rants about Trump.
- Broken Ace: Through Creator Breakdown about Trump. The Good Wife showed her to be a brilliant attorney, but she now never does court cases, preferring to join the Resistance.
- Divorce Is Temporary: She and Kurt are separated throughout Season 1 and 2 for often good reasons (their different politics and his affair), but they get back together in Season 3 and appear happy.
- Good Adultery, Bad Adultery: The "good adultery" to Kurt's "bad". She cheated on him with a fellow disillusioned liberal, but is given a more sympathetic treatment due to Kurt cheating first.
- Sanity Slippage: Hallucinates and becomes paranoid when she investigates Trump.
- Soapbox Sadie: Especially in Season 3. While she always had strong opinions, she's become completely fixated on Trump.
- White Man's Burden: Woman's, but still. She gets called out on this a lot by Liz and Adrian at different points.
Maia Rindell
- Played by: Rose Leslie
Diane Lockhart's protege and goddaughter.
- The Apprentice: Is a protege of Diane, her godmother and an associate.
- But Not Too Gay: Maia is gay, but her girlfriends or romantic interests tend to disappear without warning.
- Fiery Redhead: At first she's a nervous mouse, but she definitely becomes this after Blum takes her under his wing.
- Found Family via Work: Subverted and defied. Although they had once been good friends, after being fired, Maya rejects Lucca's attempts to help her, and coldly tells her that they had only been "work friends" anyway before slamming the door in her face.
- Hidden Depths: Starts out as a nervous associate but proves herself to be a competent lawyer when pushed and motivated.
- Mafia Princess: Her backstory, although she didn't know it. She knew she was extremely wealthy and well-connected, she just didn't know that it all came from her father's Ponzi scheme.
- Naïve Newcomer: To law. She just passed the bar in Season 1.
- Lipstick Lesbian: Starts out with a live-in girlfriend in Amy Breslin and has only shown in the past to hold attraction to women.
- Ponzi: Due to her father's machinations, Maia becomes a victim in the fallout of the ponzi scheme once it is publically revealed.
- Protagonist Journey to Villain: After being Put on a Bus following being fired from Reddick-Boseman, Maia joins Roland Blum in his quest to take down Reddick-Boseman.
- Put on a Bus: At the end of Season 3 she leaves Chicago for Washington, D.C. to start a new firm with Blum. May also qualify as Esoteric Happy Ending or Put on a Bus to Hell, given that she's likely to end up a crooked drug-addicted lunatic (who is nevertheless rich and powerful) just like her boss.
Lucca Quinn
- Played by: Cush Jumbo
See her folder at The Good Wife's character page. Tropes exclusive to The Good Fight go here.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Colin, although it calms down a lot once he's Put on a Bus.
- Icon of Rebellion: Played with. As Luca is black and Colin is white, making her son mixed-race to two political figures, Lucca is often pushed into taking some kind of political stance, which she does (such as her #MotheringWhileBlack campaign), but also tries to resist the overt political manipulations of the role.
- Mama Bear: Becomes this to her and Colin's son.
- Power Hair: She has short hair and becomes a powerful divorce lawyer.
- Working with the Ex: Often with Colin, throughout Season 1 and 2. They also often work against each other.
Adrian Boseman
- Played by: Delroy Lindo
One of the name partners at Reddick, Boseman & Kolstad. He and Barbara Kolstad share the highest authority and serves as Diane's immediate boss.
- Amicable Exes: With Liz.
- Bald of Authority: He is bald and in charge of his law firm.
- Benevolent Boss: He is very caring of the people who work for him.
- Broken Pedestal: After discovering how Carl Riddick abused countless women over the years, Adrian has a hard time understanding how a man he respected as a fearless fighter for social justice could treat the women under him as nothing but sexual toys.
- Hidden Depths: Is shown in one episode to have started taking a French cooking class and apparently being quite good at it.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Downplayed, with much more emphasis on the pragmatic, but Adrian admits to paying white people over black (despite his own morals and the firm's) because they're more in demand.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: Always seen in well-cut suits (with a waistcoat more often than not), striped shirts and silk ties, the latter of which are always tied with a big Windsor knot.
- Working with the Ex: With Liz, to whom he was married.
Marissa Gold
- Played by: Sarah Steele
See her folder at The Good Wife's character page. Tropes exclusive to The Good Fight go here.
- Ambiguously Jewish: Not so ambiguous in the original, but she mentions that she went to Jerusalem but generally doesn't comment on the Jewish issues the firm often confronts, such as Neo-Nazis.
- Badass Israeli: Downplayed as she isn't a soldier, but she's a former charity worker in Israel who responds very calmly to crisis, such as Maya being targeted by Kill All Lawyers.
- Daddy's Little Villain: Deconstructed. Marissa is very moral, but has inherited her father's more dubious morals. She's more likely to take the attitude that people are more important than politics (see: choosing to help Julius), which apparently horrifies the Democratic Eli.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: The "tiny girl" to Jay's "huge guy".
- Hyper-Competent Sidekick: Rather than being Alicia's assistant, she's now an investigator but remains very good at it.
- Plucky Office Girl: Downplayed, but Marissa is plenty optimistic and tough, and works as an investigator and general administrator.
Jay Di Persia
- Played by: Nyambi Nyambi
- Afro Ass Kicker: Sometimes, such as when he and Lucca are attacked by Nazis in Season 3.
- The Big Guy: Jay is very tall and usually plays the role of a necessary badass.
- Bruiser with a Soft Center: His badass behavior is often just necessary in support of the firm, and in reality, Jay is pretty gentle.
- Genius Bruiser: Jay is a very tough investigator who is also highly intelligent and loves art.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: The "huge guy" to Marissa's "tiny girl".
- Hyper-Competent Sidekick: To Adrian especially.
- Tall, Dark, and Snarky: Downplayed because he's not always snarky, but he is tall, dark, and charismatic.
Liz Reddick
- Played by: Audra McDonald
- Amicable Exes: With Adrian.
- Daddy's Girl: Deconstructed. Both she and Carl were committed to racial justice and she followed him into profession, but she's realistic about Carl's neglectful treatment of she and her mother even before she learns that he was a serial rapist.
- Legacy Character: To Carl, her father.
- Sins of the Father: In multiple episodes, Liz has to pay for the fact that her father, Carl, was a rapist (without her knowledge), but this is justified because she chose to make the victims sign ND As.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Barbara. Both are relatively young but extremely competent lawyers, and Liz replaces Barbara in position as well as in cast.
Tom & Jerry
Two guys who work at Reddick-Boseman analyzing which cases will turn a profit.
- Those Two Guys: You never see one without the other.
- Shout-Out: Their names are Thomas and Jeremy, but everyone calls them Tom and Jerry.
Recurring
Barbara Kolstad
- Played by: Erica Tazel
- Satellite Character: She's the boss throughout Seasons 1, and in the pilot episode is presented as hesitant to allow Diane to join the firm, but we learn almost nothing about her before she leaves in Season 2.
- Put on a Bus: Very abruptly leaves Reddick, Boseman & Kolstad in the Season 2 premiere to join Renee's firm, and is not seen again afterward. The show does not even reveal anyone's reaction to her leaving the firm aside from Diane's.
Mike Kresteva
See his folder at The Good Wife's character page.
Colin Morrello
- Played by: Justin Bartha
- Dating Catwoman: Dates Lucca even though they're from rival firms.
- Nice Guy: Unlike most at his firm, he is a genuinely sweet person.
- Hero Antagonist: Not a bad guy, just a prosecutor doing his job, however his cases sometimes have him against the Boseman firm.
- Put on a Bus: To Washington between Seasons 2 and 3.
Elsebeth Tascioni
Henry Rindell
- Played by: Paul Guilfoyle
- Eviler than Thou: To Lenore, somewhat. Maia thinks that Lenore is the worst parent, as she cheated on him with his brother, but Lenore can't put Maia in prison and Henry can.
- Faux Affably Evil: Everything about Henry's early appearances would suggest that he's kind and extremely protective of Maia, despite being a fraudster. Then he tries to frame her and is willing to make her the scapegoat, and it swiftly becomes apparent what a self-serving villain he is.
- Give Him a Normal Life: Deconstructed. He apparently wanted this for Maia...but in fact manipulated her for years to be unknowingly party to his fraud, by running shell corporations and charities for him.
- Manipulative Bastard: There's nothing he wouldn't do to get the upper hand on Maia (and, ideally, put her in prison for his crimes).
- Put on a Bus to Hell: After going to prison.
Lenore Rindell
- Played by: Bernadette Peters
- Even Evil Has Standards: She knew about and was complicit in her husband's fraud and attempts to implicate Maia, and she has an affair with his brother, but when it comes to it, she cracks and admits that Maia knew nothing, allowing her to go free.
- Settle for Sibling: She's married to Henry but cheats on him with his brother Jax.
Kurt McVeigh
- Played by: Gary Cole
See his folder at The Good Wife's character page. Tropes exclusive to The Good Fight go here.
- Divorce Is Temporary: He and Diane separate throughout Season 1 and 2, but Season 3 shows them to be back together and (mostly) happy.
- Everyone Has Standards: Despite his right-wing political views, he didn't vote for Trump in the 2016 election; instead, he wrote in Ted Cruz.
- Good Adultery, Bad Adultery: The "bad" to Diane's "good". When he cheated on her with Holly, he broke Diane's trust and so it's treated as much more moral when she cheats on him although they're still together.
- Pet the Dog: When he tells Diane he didn't vote for Trump.
- Punch-Clock Villain: Invoked in-universe when he starts working for Donald Jr and Eric Trump on hunting trips.
Amy Breslin
- Played by: Helene Yorke
- Closet Key: For Maia as far as we know.
- Lipstick Lesbian: Is a lesbian and as feminine as Maia.
- Satellite Love Interest: She's FBI but we don't learn anything about her or her past.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Amy is completely absent in Season 3, despite there being no explicit reference to her and Maia breaking up prior to this. The two were shown to still be together even after Amy testified against Maia for the FBI, and there was even talk of them getting engaged. It's possible that Maia broke up with her shortly after having sex with Carrine at the office, but it's never given a follow-up. Notably, Amy isn't brought up at any point during Maia's firing from Reddick, Boseman & Lockhart or subsequent exit from Chicago and one scene shows Maia and Marissa tempted to engage in a romantic moment, implying that she's no longer in the picture.
Felix Staples
- Played by: John Cameron Mitchell
A flame-baiting, controversial alt-right internet personality.
- Attention Whore: So much so that when his ban on the show's equivalent to Reddit is lifted, he gets angered because it means he can no longer argue with Reddick, Boseman and Kolstad's panel.
- Camp Gay: Downplayed; he is openly gay and dresses in pretty flashy clothes, but doesn't really have any particularly campy mannerisms.
- Expy: Of Milo Yiannopoulos, a flamboyant gay personality and online conservative who worked for Breitbart News.
- Faux Affably Evil: He'll act all cheerful and personable, but make no mistake; Staples is a bigoted creep, through-and-through.
- Gay Conservative: And very open about both.
- Informed Judaism: He claims to be Jewish (and offers to show that he's circumcised to prove it), but he isn't seen engaging in any practices related to the Jewish faith and even admits to crudely referencing The Holocaust in at least one online conversation with a Jew.
- Jerkass: Oh, yeah. There is literally nothing good about this guy. Racist, sexist, and an utter slimebag on top of it all.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Even Diane admits that he has a point when he shows some angry messages sent to him from people on the opposite end of the political spectrum that contain blatant slurs and insults referring to his homosexuality and Judaism. His open bigotry and trollishness makes this a very blunt point.
- Manchild: Diane all but calls him an angry child who is acting out. He also seems to have some kind of fixation on her, telling her that she reminds him of his mother, as well as a child-like concept of winning and losing.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: A very thinly veiled caricature of Milo Yiannopoulos.
- Slimeball: His brand of "charm" is the kind that leaves you wishing you could take a shower. The fact that it's obviously and blatantly insincere doesn't help.
- Smug Snake: He's damn proud of pissing people off on the internet. Because that's such a difficult thing to do in this day and age.
- Troll: Openly admits that he says deliberately hurtful, offensive things online because he thinks it's fun to piss people off.
Roland Blum
- Played by: Michael Sheen
- Amoral Attorney: Oh God, yes. Immoral is an even better descriptor.
- Ambiguously Bi: Is only seen embracing or kissing women, flirting with Maia, saying he slept with Marissa's mother. But, it is suggested that he has had sex with his nude, Chinese man-servant and Marissa suggests that Roy Cohn had sex with him he agrees it happened.
- Fat Slob: He often strips off although he's not fat per se, but is shown to be extremely messy, rude, and undignified.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: No one likes having to work with him, and will go to lengths to get out of it if they can.
- Greedy Jew: Unfortunately he's shown as being completely amoral, egotistical, and money-oriented, and describes himself as Jewish. Oddly, he uses Jewish slurs towards Marissa, who is Jewish herself. N-Word Privileges in action?
- I'm a Man; I Can't Help It: His rationalisation for his drug use and sex.
- Large Ham: both in and out of court.
- No Inside Voice: He shouts constantly, whether in court or to Maia.
- Obviously Evil: He pulls a great deal of obvious stunts. Bizarrely, everyone falls for it.
- Pet the Dog: He seems genuinely concerned to find Maia crying alone in her office and asks her what's wrong.
- Token Evil Teammate: He works with Boseman and Partners, and later becomes a partner. He's also completely snide, rude, and aggressive.
