Andrew DahlProtagonist, Ensign/xenobiologist
Ensign and xenobiologist; drives investigation into the Narrative through deductive reasoning and persistent questioning; seminary background noted as relevant to his openness to Jenkins' theory.
AndyDill (misnamed by Abernathy)Dahl
FinnDead crewman / Dream interlocutor
Sardonic ensign with a background in quasi-legal alien substances; the group's primary voice of skepticism against Jenkins' theory; transferred after his XO went berserk on Xeno-pseudoagaricus.
Maia DuvallEnsign, core group member
Sedated by Finn to keep her off the away mission; later drugs Kerensky as part of the kidnapping plan; ends her relationship with Kerensky after he confronts his double.
MaiaDuvall
HesterEnsign / Swap survivor
Reveals his full name as Jasper; confronts his identity as a placeholder character; discovers his double is the comatose Matthew Paulson; volunteers to stay in the 21st century as Matthew's stand-in.
Jasper Allen Hester
Jimmy HansonEnsign / Narrative function
Provides detailed research on science fiction TV shows to contextualize the crew's situation; delivers the death-count statistics to Weinstein; stays with Hester during the Paulson meeting.
Hanson
Anatoly KerenskyLieutenant, main character / kidnap target
Participates in the Nantes away mission; is drugged unconscious by Duvall and used as the crew's Narrative-physics insurance for the shuttle; meets his actor-double Marc Corey; ends relationship with Duvall.
Lieutenant Kerensky
JenkinsTheorist / Threshold guardian
Reclusive crewman who has mapped the Narrative; lives hidden in cargo distribution hubs; reluctant guide with a sentimental attachment to the Xenobiology Lab; introduces the Enterprise comparison.
Commander Q'eengSenior officer / Narrative instrument
Assigns Dahl to the Forshan translation mission and authorizes Dahl's self-selected team, inadvertently supplying the shuttle needed for the escape plan.
Science Officer Q'eeng
CassawayExpendable crewman
Xenobiology crewman who blames Dahl for the away mission assignment and is killed by creatures on the colony planet.
MbekeExpendable crewman
Xenobiology crewman; inadvertently mentioned Jenkins to Q'eeng; killed alongside Cassaway on the away mission.
Fiona
CollinsDepartment head / Opponent
Xenobiology department head who deliberately assigns Dahl to the away mission to protect herself and Ben Trin, exploiting his newcomer status.
Captain AbernathyCommanding officer / Narrative anchor
Leads the Nantes away team; makes a reckless solo run to deactivate the cargo carts; misreads Dahl's manipulation as command anxiety and delivers an inspirational speech that greenlit the plan.
Lucius
Ensign GroverUnnamed ensign / expendable crew
Assigned to Kerensky and Q'eeng's sub-team on the Nantes; killed immediately by a cargo-cart pulse beam, fulfilling the Narrative's demand for a victim.
Brian Abnett21st-century actor, doppelgänger of Dahl
Advises the crew to use Kerensky's resemblance to Marc Corey to infiltrate the Vine Club and reach showrunner Paulson; reflects on his own non-existence in Dahl's timeline.
Brian
Marc Corey21st-century actor playing Kerensky
Referenced as the means of accessing the Vine Club; Kerensky meets him and has an intense emotional encounter that he experiences as profound self-recognition.
Nick WeinsteinHead writer of Chronicles of the Intrepid
Senior writer on Chronicles of the Intrepid who posts anonymously online after discovering the characters he writes are real; paralyzed by writer's block until a dream confrontation with dead characters.
Anon-a-Writer
Samantha MartinezActress / real-world counterpart of Margaret Jenkins
Receives a holographic projector from Dahl showing images of her actress-double Margaret and Jenkins's fictional counterpart; was briefly an actress before becoming a teacher.
Charles PaulsonShowrunner/executive producer of Chronicles of the Intrepid
Meets the crew at his Burbank office; discovers Hester is the double of his comatose son Matthew; breaks down in gratitude when Hester volunteers to stay; is presented with Dahl's list of demands.
youCrewman Hester
SandraLaw intern / Helper
Meets Matthew for lunch; uses a law-firm contact to illegally obtain his medical records; old friend with shared privileged background.
DavisMinor crewman / Sacrificial extra
Admiral's son stationed on security detail; fires pulse gun into a land-worm-infested cave floor against implicit warning, triggering a frenzy that kills him.
Ensign Davis
WestBridge officer
Consoles Abernathy after Davis's death; privately disparages Davis's intelligence to Q'eeng.
Lieutenant WestChief Engineer West
ChenMinor crewman
Mentioned alongside Davis as another recent crew loss; Q'eeng notes both should have known the dangers of Borgovian Land Worms.