Characters of Deadwood
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This article contains fictional character biographies from the HBO original series, Deadwood.
[edit] Major characters
[edit] Seth Bullock
Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant) left his Ontario, Canada home at 16 and wound up a Marshal in Montana. Soon he heard stories of gold in Deadwood. Rather than searching for gold, he wanted to open a hardware store with best friend and longtime partner, Sol Star. At the camp, he met Wild Bill Hickok. When Hickok was murdered, Bullock pursued the killer into the Black Hills and captured him, taking him back to Dakota for trial. After his return, he became sheriff of Deadwood. Bullock, one of the few honest men in the camp, was enlisted to look after a gold claim for Alma Garret, an upper class East Coast woman whose husband was killed by Swearengen's men over that claim. Eventually, they became sexually involved despite the fact that Bullock is married to his brother's widow and is the stepfather of their son. Although his honest character is instinctively repulsed by Swearengen (and vice versa) the two have formed an uneasy alliance to defend the camp against outside interests (e.g., the Hearst mining interests, the territorial government, Alma Garret's in-laws) who have begun to appear in the camp, now that Deadwood shows the potential of some degree of wealth.
[edit] Al Swearengen
Albert Swearengen (Ian McShane) is the proprietor of the Gem Saloon and the de facto head of Deadwood. Apparently born in England, raised in a Chicago orphanage under an abusive figure known as Mrs. Anderson whom he insults and derides on numerous occasions during drunken rants, and having spent time in Australia, Swearengen has forged a formidable position in Deadwood. The most popular place for drinking, gambling, and prostitution in Deadwood, the Gem also acts as Swearengen’s base of operations for various criminal endeavours that enforce his control over Deadwood. Swearengen is cunning, manipulative and perhaps the most cynically amoral of all the characters, showing no hesitation in resorting to violence and murder when it is to his advantage; this is highlighted in the first season by his willingness to have a child murdered. He has been able to establish himself as the undisputed kingpin of the camp until the arrival of equally ruthless businessman Cy Tolliver and former U.S. Marshal Seth Bullock, whose upright and law-abiding manner seems a threat to Swearengen - until he turns it to his advantage in securing the camp's future.
Forward-thinking and obsessed with power, Swearengen does display an almost paternalistic affection for his employees that is simultaneously offset by his often violent and belligerent attitude should they disappoint. He also has shown affection toward Trixie, one of the prostitutes of the Gem, abusing her when she has either threatened his income in some manner or gone against his wishes. Swearengen’s central goal is to remain in a prominent position in Deadwood and keep the camp stable and secure in the future, an act born not of altruism but a desire to remain in control.
The second season sees him become ill and nearly die, but is eventually saved by Doc Cochran only after an excruciating medical treatment; he shows no weakness, however, and maintains his position on top of the Deadwood pecking order as the camp's future annexation looms along with the increase in outside interests. He does, however, begin having lengthy conversations with a wooden box purportedly containing the severed head of an Indian, going so far as to take the box out onto the balcony to watch the spectacle of a bicycle negotiating Deadwood's thoroughfare. He is fully aware of the eccentricity this represents, wryly ascribing it to advancing age. However, his mental facilities are in no way hampered, as he is able to negotiate with Commissioner Hugo Jarry to secure his power with Yankton in the developing camp, deal with George Hearst to control the town's Chinese population and keep Seth Bullock as an ally, proving his power in Deadwood remains – for now – undisputed.
Ian McShane won a Golden Globe in 2005 for his portrayal of Swearengen.
In season 3, Swearengen battles with his rival, George Hearst. The battle results in the removal of Swearengen's middle finger from his left hand, putting him on edge. Furthermore, he is seen to become increasingly obsessive - scrubbing floors and the bar.
[edit] Alma Garret
Alma Russell Garret Ellsworth (Molly Parker), a beautiful 30-year-old New Yorker, moved to Deadwood with her new husband Brom Garret, who left the high society of New York to experience frontier life by buying a claim in the gold rich territory, bringing his new wife with him. It is not long until Brom Garret falls foul of Al Swearengen after the gold claim he purchases in a deal brokered by Swearengen appears worthless - threatening the saloon owner with Pinkerton involvement should his money not be returned to him. He is promptly murdered on Swearengen’s orders - only for the claim to turn out a rich one. Now stranded in Deadwood and dealing with attempts by Swearengen to buy the claim back, the widow Garret decides to try her luck on the new frontier and then sell the claim to return back East. She hires Wild Bill Hickok to investigate both the claim and Swearengen’s interest. He soon nominates Bullock to assay her gold claim prior to her husband's murder; an event that places Bullock as the sole guardian of her interests. Eventually, the two begin an affair that is cut short by the arrival of Bullock's wife and stepson and their mutual revulsion at the prospect of marital infidelity. Alma is, however, broken-hearted and jealous, as well as furious with both Seth and Martha, although she knows that feeling is irrational. Her mood is not aided by her being pregnant by Bullock. In the meantime, she has had to fend off not only her own father, who has heard of the newfound wealth and come seeking a share, but also a surreptitious plan by her husband's family to frame her for her husband's murder and therefore take the claim over for themselves. The additional intense interest of the Hearst mining empire in her claim also poses future problems. To ensure she is not ridiculed during her pregnancy, Trixie tells Ellsworth that he should propose to Alma. After a period of hesitation, Alma accepts Ellsworth's proposal and marries him the following week in front of several Deadwood citizens and friends. In the initial episodes she had an addiction to laudanum, which she overcame with the assistance of Trixie. She has also taken Sofia Metz, an orphan whose family was murdered, under her wing as a foster daughter.
In the Third Season, Alma's drug addiction has returned, her marriage to Ellsworth is disintegrating, and talk has begun to circulate about the possibility of Sofia being taken from her. The arrival of George Hearst to the camp also threatens the security of her title to the claim.
[edit] Cy Tolliver
Cyrus Tolliver (Powers Boothe) is the owner of the upscale Bella Union saloon and Al Swearengen’s main rival. Cy has an 18-year relationship with former prostitute and madam Joanie Stubbs, who later leaves the Bella Union to form her own brothel, leaving a mix of friendship and anger between them. Ruthless and with a veneer of class and polish, Cy soon proves that while he may lack his rival’s skill in cunning duplicity he makes it up in ambition, becoming temporarily allied with the Hearst combine in Season Two. He also becomes partners with Mr. Lee, the newly arrived Tong leader from San Francisco, in “Celestial’s Alley”; a low priced house of gambling and Chinese prostitution that sees women placed in unspeakably horrid conditions, a fact Cy dismisses as a mere “cultural difference”. However he does accept the offer of Doc Cochran to treat them for free, as a condition of Cochran's continuing to treat Tolliver's Caucasian prostitutes. As Season Two climaxes Swearengen ends out on top, leaving Cy Tolliver in a weakened position; with both Francis Wolcott and Mr. Lee dead and Cy receiving a knife to the stomach courtesy of Andy Cramed.
[edit] Secondary characters
[edit] Sol Star
Sol Star (John Hawkes) is Seth Bullock's best friend and partner in the hardware business and the only Jew in camp. Imperturbable and sensible, Sol has become a rising force in the camp; originally seeing the potential wealth in providing tools to the mass of prospectors in Deadwood, the Second Season sees Sol set his sights on forming the first bank in Deadwood alongside Alma Garret. Though ruthlessly mocked by Swearengen at every turn for his being Jewish, particularly during the initial phase of buying the future site of the Bullock and Star hardware from the Saloon Owner, Sol never rose to the bait; showing not only his business acumen but his level headedness against his friend's occasionally rash nature.
He also formed a relationship with Trixie, Swearengen's favored girl at The Gem, after becoming acquainted through Alma Garret - originally born of a mutual sexual attraction, his feelings toward her have grown stronger. She helped nurse him back to health from a gunshot wound sustained as a bystander to the fight between Swearengen and Bullock in the opening episode of Season Two, but Sol has become frustrated at the fondness and loyalty she still retains for Swearengen.
[edit] Trixie
Trixie (Paula Malcomson) is Al Swearengen's favorite girl at the Gem. Swearengen often abuses her, but she always returns to him. She is attracted to Sol Star whom she nurses back to health after he is shot and with whom she eventually finds employment and romance, but remains devoted to Swearengen and reports back to him on Star's and Bullock's activities.
Although the character is not based on a single real-life person, the scene of her putting a bullet through the skull of a violent client who astounds all by clinging to life for another half hour, is based on an actual report by John S. McClintock of such an occurrence involving a prostitute at the Gem Theater named "Tricksie", including the doctor's inserting a probe through the hole in the man's skull.
[edit] E. B. Farnum
Eustace Bailey Farnum (William Sanderson) is the proprietor of the Grand Central Hotel and self-appointed mayor of the town, a role he inhabits with comic opera buffoonish seriousness. He is totally controlled by Swearengen, although he harbors delusions of potential grandeur for himself. He delivers a line which perhaps summarizes the series best: "One hopes for the best. One perseveres. One reevaluates constantly. One is an asshole if one doesn't." He is incredibly greedy - costing Al the chance to buy Alma Garret's claim due to low offers - and continually asks prying questions to people around town, leading to numerous abuses and threats directed towards him. He was the agent in helping establish the Bella Union in town, although Al chose to let him live as an informant. He is possibly mentally unstable, saying "my hotel is my hospital. I am my own warden." George Hearst eventually buys the Grand Central from Farnum, offering him $100,000 and position as manager.
[edit] Joanie Stubbs
Joanie Stubbs (Kim Dickens) is Cy Tolliver's former madam at the Bella Union. Joanie seems to be more independent than Trixie; however, she is still abused. At one point, she is forced to kill a young woman who had been trying to rob the Bella Union, then points the gun at herself. She does not kill herself, but soon after this she leaves the Bella Union to form her own brothel, the Chez Amis, even more upscale than the Bella Union, importing high-class and experienced prostitutes from back East. Unfortunately, one of her patrons is Francis Wolcott, who slips into his prior habit of murdering prostitutes, and intends to murder the rest to cover his tracks. Joanie arranges for the surviving prostitutes to be spirited to safety by Charlie Utter, but remains sitting alone in her now-shuttered place of business with her dreams of independence destroyed. Her spirits are restored by smashing a bourbon bottle on Wolcott's head when he returns to the camp, and she also finds comfort in her growing friendship with Calamity Jane.
At various points in the series, Joanie is portrayed with somewhat ambiguous sexuality. In one episode, she kisses a whore that she is tending to when Cy pokes his head into the room. This scene shows Joanie distraught afterwards, and it appears more that she was trying to shock or humiliate Cy rather than indulge in her attraction to the woman. When Joanie comforts Flora after Flora witnesses a murder at the Gem, she is tender in a way that lovers might be to each other. Also, later Flora refers to Joanie as "the dyke." In season 3, when Joanie and Jane befriend each other, they kiss on some occasions and appear to start a romantic relationship. In addition, some comments are made throughout the series that refer to Joanie's attraction to women, or perhaps relationships with them prior to her life in Deadwood. It can be argued that, as opposed to Joanie being a lesbian or bisexual, these incidents are an adaptation on her part to find some kind of affection in a life and place that is otherwise violent and hostile. As much is suggested in the DVD extras.
[edit] George Hearst
George Hearst (Gerald McRaney) does not make his appearance on screen until the finale of season two, but his name is in the minds and on the lips of many as his geologist, Wolcott, attempts to buy up and otherwise acquire gold claims for him throughout the second season. He is known as "Boy-The-Earth-Talks-To" due to his skill and obsession with finding gold ("the color" as he calls it).
In Boy the Earth Talks To (Season 2 Finale), Hearst makes several arrangements with figures in the camp, including purchasing the Grand Central from Farnum. An avowed misanthropic sociopath (as revealed in Season 3), he acknowledges the necessities of social propriety by firing Wolcott for cutting the throats of three prostitutes. Tolliver attempts to blackmail Hearst for a 5% commission by claiming he possesses a letter containing Wolcott's admission to the murders. Hearst also allows Wu to take over Chinese arrangements from Lee when he learns Lee is burning the bodies of dead whores.
In the Third season, Hearst remains in Deadwood - personally overseeing his interests in the camp, including his attempt to possess the Garret claim and suppressing attempts by his miners to organize and form unions. Obsessed with 'the color', Hearst's ultimate goal is total control of Deadwood, or to have it destroyed if he cannot consolidate his power over the camp.
[edit] Francis Wolcott
Francis Wolcott (Garret Dillahunt), the chief geologist of wealthy San Francisco mining magnate George Hearst, has arrived in camp in order to ascertain whether any of the claims might be of value to the Hearst empire, and if so, to set about acquiring them by any means necessary. Wolcott has an unfortunate habit of murdering prostitutes, however. (Wolcott and McCall, arguably the two members of the cast with the most degraded character, are played by the same actor, a source of some discussion and speculation among fans of the series over whether the producers are communicating a philosophical message there). Wolcott committed suicide shortly after Hearst's arrival into Deadwood.
[edit] Calamity Jane
Jane Canary (Robin Weigert), a former scout for General Custer, arrived in camp with Wild Bill Hickok and Charlie Utter. She idolized Hickok, is still friends with Charlie Utter, and has forged a grudging friendship with Doc Cochran, after their joint efforts in protecting Sofia Metz and the doctor's enlistment of her aid in fighting an epidemic. Known for her hard drinking and swearing, Jane is truculent and abrasive upon first impression, but her character has a loopy humor and an upright moral center that grows on people in the camp. After Hickok's murder, she sinks even deeper into depression and alcoholism; Utter is seen voicing "grave doubts" about Jane's future to Hickok's grave. She has recovered somewhat due to her friendship with Joanie Stubbs, who is even able to coax her into a bath and -- once -- a dress.
[edit] Charlie Utter
Charlie Utter (Dayton Callie) is the good friend of Hickok and Jane, and Hickok's sometime business partner. He runs a mail and freight business in the camp and is also one of Bullock's deputies. An honest person, he is approached by Joanie in desperation upon the murders of three of her prostitutes by Wolcott, and smuggles the rest out of town to safety. Sworn to secrecy about the matter, Utter nevertheless takes the opportunity to administer a terrible beating to Wolcott on the pretext of Wolcott's having stepped on Utter's toe.
[edit] Doc Cochran
Dr. Amos Cochran (Brad Dourif) is the only doctor in the camp of Deadwood and for this reason is respected and revered, despite apparently having a problem with substance abuse in the initial episodes (probably to help bury traumatizing professional experiences from the Civil War which are occasionally elliptically referred to). He is relatively invulnerable to the risk of violence in Deadwood, as he is valuable to Swearengen and Tolliver for his medical maintenance of the prostitutes, but resents the relationship because of Swearengen's and Tolliver's characters. He maintains an interest in medical research which would put him more in sympathy with modern physicians than his contemporaries. When Chinese prostitutes appear in town, he is shocked by the inhuman conditions in which they are kept and begins to treat them for free, but much to his distress he is unable to save them from their ultimate fate.
In Season 3, he shows symptoms of tuberculosis; this has sparked rumors that he will be killed off towards the end of the series, though fans of Brad Dourif, on the forums of Dourif.net, are hoping that Cochran is not killed off - a fate suffered by many of Dourif's characters, major and minor, in his career.
[edit] Dan Dority
Dan Dority (W. Earl Brown), probably based on the real-life Dan Doherty, is Al Swearengen's right-hand man. A former bushwhacker, he has been with Al for years and serves him as bodyguard and enforcer. Dan helps manage the Gem and will kill almost anyone Swearengen asks, and while violent and short-tempered he is not a heartless killer. In the first season he defies Al with the help of Doc Cochran, helping spirit Sofia Metz out of town instead of killing her. Dan is jealous of Silas Adams' recent favor with Al, leading Adams to comment 'Any chance you and me don't end in blood?' The two have an uneasy alliance, however, and Adams saves Dan from a throat-cutting in the second season finale.
[edit] Martha Bullock
Martha Eccles Bullock (Anna Gunn) is Seth Bullock's wife and former sister-in-law. Seth's brother Robert had been murdered and Bullock felt obliged to marry and take care of the widow and orphan, although he is not actually romantically involved with her. She feels a confusing mix of gratitude towards Bullock, perhaps even romantic love for him, but wishes that he not sacrifice his own happiness any more than necessary to provide for her and her son. However, she still harbors great deal of jealousy towards her husband's feelings for Alma Garret, although the two are endeavoring to end the romantic relationship due to Martha's presence.
The real-life Martha Bullock was not the widow of Seth Bullock's brother, but was Bullock's childhood sweetheart.
[edit] A. W. Merrick
A. Walter Merrick (Jeffrey Jones) is the proprietor of the local newspaper, the Black Hills Pioneer. Somewhat pretentious in his bearing, he prides himself as a newspaperman with a duty to print the truth, but must navigate a twisty path of remaining friends with all the major players in town and being privy to their plans and confidences.
[edit] Ellsworth
Whitney Conway Ellsworth (Jim Beaver) is an experienced prospector who has pursued the color all over the country, even having once worked as a miner at wage and an overseer on sites owned by the Hearst mining company. Having left his position with the company, disgusted at the nonchalant attitude to the well being of the miners, he is introduced in the first Season as one of the many individuals who has travelled to the town with the promise of wealth in the gold rich hills, revealing himself to have a 'dead-eye' for the color having successfully managed to eke out a comfortable living in this profession. A jovial and well-natured man whose main interests outside of gold are prostitutes and booze, he was a regular of the Gem Saloon like many of the town's prospectors and was liked by the Gem's employees including Trixie and Dan Dority. Also understanding the dangerous nature of their employer, he keeps his witnessing of Brom Garret's murder to himself lest he meets a similarly unfortunate accident; in return for his silence Dan Dority does not make known to Swearengen Ellsworth's status as a witness.
After being hired by Seth Bullock to manage Alma's claim to keep her title active, he begins growing an attachment and a strong sense of loyalty towards her and the young orphan Sofia in her care with whom he begins to form a father-daughter bond. By the Second Season Ellsworth has gone from a mere prospector to completely overseeing Alma's claim and the digging operations as well as a trusted friend and confidant. He defends her claim by chasing off Hearst's Geologist, Francis Wolcott, when he comes to spy out the territory - the two familiar with one another from Ellsworth's days working for the company - and advises Alma to stay her ground when rumor is spread about the camp about the future stability of gold claims once the town is annexed. He also seems to grow distanced from the Gem as well, refusing to genuflect in the presence of the likes of Dority as he once did - a sign of his moving away from his older life and his growing self-assurance and confidence. He has formed friendships with Joanie Stubbs and Sol Star.
Later he is advised by Trixie to wed Alma once it is clear she has become pregnant by Sheriff Bullock. Trusting it is the right thing to do and with a genuine wish to help her save face and help raise both Sofia and the future child, he proposes. She demurs for the nonce but soon accepts his proposal and marries him the following week in front of their gathered friends and towns people.
When George Hearst attempts to force Alma to sell him her gold claim, Ellsworth is one of the few in town who will stand up to him. Near the end of season 3, he is shot to death by one of Hearst's agents while supervising Alma's claim.
[edit] Silas Adams
Silas Adams (Titus Welliver), also known as "the bagman from Yankton", who comes to camp to bring bribe money to Magistrate Clagget. Swearengen hires Adams to join his operation, paying him to slice Clagget's throat for extorting money from Swearengen. Adams serves Swearengen as his contact in Yankton to bring him news of the territorial changes, as well as relying on his legal counsel when dealing with Commissioner Jarry and his election proposals. He also serves as middleman between Hearst and Swearengen.
He is a rival of Dan Dority for Swearengen's favor, although he saves Dan's life from a Chinese knife-wielder in the season two finale and the two have formed a tentative alliance.
[edit] Johnny Burns
Johnny Burns (Sean Bridgers) is a worker at the Gem Saloon and one of Al's lackeys. His main jobs are as bartender, cleaner and hauling corpses to Wu's pig sty. Young and ambitious, Johnny is also not too bright, leading Al to continually abuse him verbally and physically. He shoots Charlie Utter and Sol Star in the second season but does not kill them and expresses severe remorse - unlike Adams and Dority, Johnny has not killed anyone so far.
[edit] Leon
Leon (Larry Cedar) Cy Tolliver's general informant and lackey, he is also addicted to opium. Formerly employed as a double agent to give Swearengen false information, he and the dope fiend Jimmy Irons robbed and murdered Mr. Wu's opium courier, leading to Jimmy being fed to Wu's pigs. Leon worked to incite anti-Chinese sentiment in the camp following this event, and now serves as Tolliver's eyes around town.
In the final episode of season 3, Cy Tolliver, in a fit of frustration over Hearst's treatment of him, stabs Leon in the leg. The knife cuts through his femoral artery, and Leon soon bleeds to death on Tolliver's balcony shortly after.
[edit] Con Stapleton
Con Stapleton (Peter Jason) The dim-witted card dealer at the Number 10 saloon, Stapleton secured a position as sheriff when the Number 10's owner, Tom Nutall, began to fear that the camp was "leaving him behind" and asked Al Swearengen to set up his employee in a position of power. However, Stapleton quickly let himself be bribed by Tolliver to stir up anti-Chinese sentiment and was stripped of his badge by an enraged Bullock. While Nutall renounced him following the incident, Stapleton has remained in Tolliver's employ, working odd jobs such as security at the Bella Union and trashing Merrick's printing press.
[edit] Jewel
Jewel (Geri Jewell) is the severely disabled cleaning woman at the Gem, Al Swearengen's saloon and brothel. (She is played by Geri Jewell, who is affected by cerebral palsy.) Al makes a public show of barely tolerating her, often publicly referring to her as "the gimp" or complaining about her noisily dragging her stiff leg. Jewel responds with a cheerful, mocking disrespect Al would tolerate from no one else (when Al was briefly disabled after a minor stroke, Jewel was heard to loudly comment, "He's always dragging that fucking leg!"). In private, Al has enough consideration (complaining loudly all the while) to pay the town doctor to fit Jewel with a leg brace. Trixie, defending Swearengen to Calamity Jane, cites Jewel as an example of Al's kindness, which he publicly downplays: Al maintains that he only keeps Jewel around in case a customer "only has nine cents" (i.e., can't afford the usual price of a Gem whore), but Trixie calls this "his twisted ... way of protecting her" implying he may simply be fond of her.
[edit] Richardson
Richardson (Ralph Richeson) is an unkempt, seemingly simple-minded employee at the Grand Central Hotel whose duties include cleaning and cooking. He rarely speaks and is quite inarticulate on the occasions that he does, both in sharp contrast to his talkative employer Farnum. Richardson has a strange fixation with an old pair of deer's antlers given to him absent-mindedly by Alma (whom he told "I like you. You're purdy."). He clings to the antlers when frightened, carries them when sent by Farnum on an errand, and sometimes appears to pray with them.
Farnum detests Richardson, regards him as a mental feeble, and frequently chastises him, sometimes comparing him to a frog or grotesque beast. Late in the show's run, some indications are given that Richardson is not totally the completely uneducated idiot he seems; he is seen reading a newspaper in private, and reveals himself as an adept juggler at the newly opened theater's amateur night. In season three, his job as the Grand Hotel's cook is taken over by Aunt Lou, though Richardson continues as her assistant.
[edit] Mr. Wu
Mister Wu (Keone Young) is the official or unofficial leader of Deadwood's substantial but mostly unseen Chinese ("Celestials") population, the Asian counterpart to Swearengen. He routinely interacts with Swearengen and other Caucasians over a few matters of business, such as the opium trade, and the seemingly daily efficient disposal of numerous human remains, through the route of his pigs. He knows almost no English beyond the word "Cocksucka!". He however communicates effectively with Swearengen (to whom he refers as "Swedgen!") with the aid of charcoal drawings and hand signals.
In season 2, he becomes highly anxious over the arrival in town of the much more polished Mr. Lee from San Francisco, who appears to be the local representative of a large and shadowy Tong organization allied with George Hearst, which henceforward supplied Deadwood with opium and low priced Chinese prostitutes, from a new establishment to be called "Celestials' Alley", in partnership with Tolliver.
In the second season's final episode, Wu strikes back with the blessing of Hearst and Swearengen, slitting Lee's throat and leading Swearengen's crew to kill Lee's men. Swearengen strikes a deal for Wu to take over Lee's position of finding laborers for Hearst's mining operation, easily supplanting Tolliver in running Chinese affairs. In a symbol of loyalty to Swearengen, Wu slices off his braid and declares he will remain in America forever.
In season three, he returns from business in San Francisco wearing Western dress (which, as multiple characters remark, he looks terrible in). Wu had been tasked by Al with recruiting Chinese laborers in San Francisco to work in Hearst's mines. Sensing that Swearengen and Hearst have become bitter rivals, he holds the workers in another town rather than bring them to Deadwood.
[edit] Tom Nuttall
Thomas Nuttall (Leon Rippy) is proprietor of the No. 10 saloon which is the site of Wild Bill Hickock's murder. One of the first settlers to arrive in Deadwood, arriving before even Swearengen, he has grown increasingly disillusioned with the camp and its future and has gone as far as to consider selling his saloon and leaving the camp. Towards the end of Season One, he convinces Swearengen to set up his saloon's card dealer, Con Stapleton, as the camp's first sheriff, but renounces him when he falls under Cy Tolliver's corrupting influence and is physically stripped of his badge by Bullock. In Season Two he receives the first bicycle in camp, which he defends against ridicule by accepting a challenge to ride through the town over difficult terrain. In Season Three he expresses interest in co-founding a Deadwood fire brigade.
[edit] Sofia Metz
Sofia Metz (Bree Seanna Wall) is the sole survivor of an attack on her family on the way home to her native Minnesota, a robbery by Swearengen's men disguised as an attack by hostile "Indians". Tramautized and unresponsive, possibly not even speaking English, her parents and two siblings murdered, she is nevertheless targeted for murder by Swearengen to eliminate the possibility of her identifying her family's killers; however, with the help and protection of Calamity Jane and Doc Cochran, she regains her health and becomes the ward of Alma Garret.
[edit] Jack Langrishe
John "Jack" Langrishe (Brian Cox) is a theater operator and leader of a troupe of traveling actors who come to settle in Deadwood long-term early in the third season. In Deadwood, which lacks any but the lowest forms of entertainment, he seeks both financial opportunity and a chance to bring art and culture to the town. He is a close, longtime friend of Al Swearengen. Langrishe's accent and name hint at Irish origins.
Possessing a dry wit, and prone to both flattery and self-deprecation, the flamboyant Langrishe charms most of the people he meets, including Martha, Alma, and Merrick. Scouting a location for his theater, he decides that Joanie's former brothel, the Chez Amie, now being used as a schoolhouse, would be perfect if redecorated. He makes her a generous offer to sell the building to him, and she accepts, on the condition that Langrishe have a new schoolhouse built at his own expense. The theater opens some days later in the renovated Chez Amie, with a very successful amateur night.
Al keeps Langrishe aware of the machinations between himself and Hearst. Langrishe discovers that Hearst suffers from back pain, and talks him into trying out a new form of treatment, administered by Langrishe himself in the form of pulls, prods, and thrusts. Later, he suggests to an interested Al the possibility of using these time-consuming but useless back treatments as a way of occupying Hearst's time.
Langrishe is based on the historical theater owner Jack Langrishe.
[edit] Minor characters
[edit] Wild Bill Hickok
James Butler Hickok (Keith Carradine) has a reputation as one of the fastest gunslingers around. During a card game in 1876, he was shot in the back of the head by Jack McCall. Hickok had promised to help Alma Garret defend her late husband's claim from Swearengen; after his sudden death shortly thereafter, the duty fell to Bullock, with whom Hickok had become friends. Hickok's friends and partners Charley Utter and Calamity Jane also remain in town, to some degree carrying on his civilizing influence.
[edit] Jack McCall
Jack McCall (Garret Dillahunt) was a drunkard who shot Hickok in the back of the head as he played poker. McCall was found not guilty by a hurried and impromptu court of locals on the grounds that he was merely avenging the prior murder of his (probably nonexistent) brother by Hickok; but due to Hickok's high regard and the presence of many of Hickok's good friends in town, thought it best to leave. He is later tracked down and brought to Yankton, Dakota Territory for prosecution, by Seth Bullock and Charlie Utter.
[edit] Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Earp (Gale Harold) rode into camp with his brother Morgan, supposedly after saving a stagecoach from robbery, although Earp later confesses to making the story up to enhance their reputation. Upon his arrival he is greeted by Sheriff Bullock. Wyatt tells him that he was a lawman in Kansas, but has come to camp to work a timber lease he won in cards. Wyatt and Morgan are hired by Cy Tolliver as gunman but are fired when they see Hearst bring in the Pinkertons. After the Earps have a confrontation with one of Hearst's gunmen, and finding out that the timber lease is worth nothing, Sheriff Bullock tells Wyatt and Morgan that it's best they move on. Wyatt and Morgan leave town as allies, if not friends, of Bullock.
[edit] Morgan Earp
Morgan Earp (Austin Nichols) rode into camp with Wyatt after saving a stagecoach. Morgan has a knack for being a hot head and is always looking for ladies to be with. After some harsh words with one of Hearst's gunmen, he shoots him in the leg. Wyatt, fearing for his brother, pulls the gunmen's pistol out of his holster and claims it's a fair fight. Morgan leaves town with Wyatt after Bullock said they should move on.
[edit] Hostetler
Hostetler (Richard Gant) runs the livery stable. Hostetler is, by default, the primary source of company for Samuel Fields, by virtue of being the only other black man in camp. When Fields becomes unwitting victim of an angry mob led by a hooligan named Steve Fields seeking to take out their frustration at the possibility of being bilked out of their claims, Hostetler provides brief shelter to him, and then immediately betrays him when faced with threat of violence. Fields, for his part, never blames him for this, saying "I'd have done the same thing, only quicker." See Samuel Fields, below. Hostetler kills himself by gunshot in Season 3 after being accused by Steve of lying.
[edit] William Bullock
William Bullock (Josh Eriksson) is Seth Bullock's nephew turned stepson. He is very polite and is respectful towards those with authority but on his arrival to Deadwood could not help but goggle at the prostitutes' dangling breasts, for which his mother scolded him. He shows much respect towards his step-father and admires his accomplishments. His introduction to Deadwood was a truly memorable scene; the stagecoach rolling to a stop next to the sight of his stepfather and Swearengen in a deadly serious brawl which had just propelled them off the second floor balcony onto the street, punctuated by partisan onlookers taking shots at each other, and Swearengen about to stab Bullock with a knife which he had produced from hiding, but pausing to raise his bloody head to grin demonically at the passengers and bellow "Welcome to fucking Deadwood!" One day while helping Tom Nutall with his new bicycle, young William was trampled and killed by Samuel Fields' horse after it escaped an attempted gelding.
[edit] Miss Isringhausen
Alice Isringhausen (Sarah Paulson) is hired from back East by Alma Garret to tutor Sofia. While Isringhausen remains unobtrusively in the background with Sofia throughout most of the drama between Alma and Seth, after Seth's family suddenly arrive, in Alma's newly upset state Alma and Isinghausen have an argument over Alma's perception of Isringhausen's lack of warmth towards the girl, and she is fired (albeit with a substantial severance package in view of the pronounced lack of job opportunities for tutors in this part of the world). Isringhausen does not leave town, however, and instead begins to spread tales of Alma's having been behind Swearengen's murder of Mr. Garret; Swearengen quickly realizes that she is not what she seems to be, and she confirms that she was indeed sent by Mr. Garret's family to wrest control of what promises to be a lucrative claim away from Alma, by any means necessary. Swearengen appears to go along with the plan to frame Alma, but correctly identifies Isringhausen as a Pinkerton, whom he despises as inferior to even his own admittedly low moral standards, and, more importantly, he calculates that the entrance of large and powerful interests from outside the camp would be inimical to his own interests. Therefore, he makes plans with Bullock to double cross Isringhausen by getting her to document her scheme then exposing it.
[edit] Samuel Fields
Samuel Fields (Franklyn Ajaye) The Nigger General, loosely based on Samuel Fields, is befriended by Calamity Jane. He is nearly lynched during mob violence as an opportunistic diversion to the actions of Cy Tolliver. A wild horse he and Hostetler are attempting to geld escapes the operation and tramples William Bullock, the adopted son of Seth Bullock.
[edit] Reverend Henry Weston Smith
Reverend Henry Weston Smith (Ray McKinnon) Reverend Smith is a minister who, among other tasks, leads the funerals of many of the individuals who die in the course of the first season. All the while, he suffers from a brain lesion that gradually causes a mental and physical collapse. He is eventually euthanized by Al Swearengen in an act of mercy. In the second episode of season 2, Al says that some men found the reverend in the woods, murdered by heathens.
The real Reverend Smith was killed on the road to a neighboring town, however Father Mackin, a later religious figure in the camp, did die of "softening of the brain" after a series of seizures.
[edit] Maddie
Maddie (Alice Krige) is hired by Joanie Stubbs to be the Madame of the Ches Amis. She knows Wolcott kills prostitutes and sets him up for extortion, and is slaughtered by him during the extortion negotiation.
[edit] Andy Cramed
Andy Cramed (Zach Grenier) is a conman who has often worked with Cy Tolliver and is set to do so again until he arrives in Deadwood suffering from smallpox. He is taken to the woods and left to die on Tolliver's orders, but is discovered by Jane. After his convalescence in the smallpox tent and aiding in the distribution of the vaccine, he leaves.
He eventually returns as an ordained minister in the second season, conducting the funeral service of William Bullock and the marriage of Alma and Ellsworth. In the second season finale he attacks Tolliver for mocking God and his new found faith in front of him, stabbing him in the gut and walking away.
[edit] Commissioner Hugo Jarry
Hugo Jarry (Stephen Tobolowsky) is the representative of Yankton in the camp. Bullock must protect him from an engraged mob of prospectors who fear their gold claims will be invalidated when the camp is incorporated into Dakota. Swearengen, with the assistance of Bullock, Star, and Adams, forces Jarry to make concessions to Deadwood in order to outbid Montana on annexation.
[edit] Captain Joe Turner
Captain Joe Turner (Alan Graf) is an enforcer and bodyguard to George Hearst. First seen in the second season ruthlessly safeguarding Hearst's mining operation and dealing with thieves, he joins his employer by his side when he arrives in the third season. He helps Hearst assault Swearengen, and later taunts Swearengen's muscleman Dan Dority into a public brawl; a fight set up to prove Hearst's superiority over Swearengen. Despite initially gaining the upper hand, Dority tears out Turner's left eye in a move of desperation before beating him to death with a makeshift club.
[edit] Jen
Jen (Jennifer Lutheran) is one of Swearengen's prostitutes in the Gem Saloon. Petite, blonde, pretty, she is demure in a way that belies her occupation. She is learning to read with the help of Johnny Burns, who has a growing affection for her. He defends her against the coarseness of Morgan Earp and stands up to Swearengen when Al schemes to appease Hearst's demand for the death of Trixie by killing Jen and substituting her body for Trixie's. Johnny fails to stop Al, and the ruse is carried out successfully.
