List of Falling Skies characters

Six cast members in front of a dark, smoky background
Principal Falling Skies cast members (l-r): Will Patton, Drew Roy, Connor Jessup, Noah Wyle, Maxim Knight and Moon Bloodgood

This is a list of characters from the TNT television series Falling Skies.

Main characters

Name Actor Starring seasons Recurring seasons
Tom Mason Noah Wyle 1, 2, 3, 4
Tom (a former Boston University military-history professor) becomes second-in-command of the Second Massachusetts Militia Regiment, a group of civilians and fighters fleeing Boston. He has three sons (Hal, Ben, and Matt), and his wife died early in the invasion. Tom befriends Anne Glass, eventually becoming romantically involved with her. At the end of season one, he boards an alien shuttle with Hal's girlfriend Karen and one of the Ishpeni in the hope of stopping the changes to Ben from his captivity earlier in the season. Tom is eventually freed, and finds his way back home. Between seasons two and three, he is elected president of the New United States. Tom continues to fight with the 2nd Mass, seeing himself as a military leader who belongs on the front line. He marries Anne in season three and they have a daughter, Alexis (Lexi). Due to interference by the invaders while the pregnant Anne was held hostage, Lexi is a hybrid of human-alien DNA. Season four finds Tom in a concentration camp similar to the ghettos of the World War II era.
Anne Glass Moon Bloodgood 1–4
Anne, a doctor for the 2nd Mass, was a pediatrician before the invasion. She is sympathetic to the civilians, and believes that everything possible should be done to help them. Her husband and son were killed at home in the invasion bombings. In season two Anne and Tom begin a relationship and have a daughter, Alexis. Anne and Alexis are captured by the Espheni, and released to the 2nd Mass. After the attack which scatters the regiment, she becomes de facto commander in the absence of Tom and Col. Weaver.
Hal Mason Drew Roy 1–4
Hal (age 16) is Tom's oldest son, who scouts for the 2nd Mass. After his girlfriend Karen is captured the former lacrosse player connects with tough newcomer Maggie, who helped free him and his father's squad from Pope's outlaws. Although she is reluctant, he kisses her and she eventually returns his feelings. Hal becomes paralyzed in season three, losing the ability to walk. Karen implants a probe in him, and it affects him deeply; he thinks he is meeting her in his dreams, but in reality he is meeting her at night to tell her his father's plans. The implant eventually takes over completely, but is retrieved when Hal is exposed as a mole. By season four Hal is his father's second-in-command, leading the ghetto resistance while Tom is held in solitary confinement.
Ben Mason Connor Jessup 1–4
Tom's second son, who was captured by the Skitters, in the pilot Hal sees Ben controlled by a spinal harness. Although he was rescued, he still hears aliens communicate on fluctuating radio frequencies. Stronger and needing little sleep, according to Hal he is no longer the bookish science nerd that he was. The spiky stubs in his spine still glow, despite the removal of the harness with a blowtorch, and his chemical changes make him convince his father to accompany the alien overlord at the end of season one. In season two Ben joins the fight, but he helps the rebel skitters by communicating with them with his spikes. In season three he continues helping the rebel skitters, and grows close to Deni. After the 2nd Mass is attacked, Ben is in a safe zone in Chinatown where humans are not attacked by the aliens because of his half-sister's presence.
Matt Mason Maxim Knight 1–4
Although Tom's youngest son makes a birthday wish in season one that everything returns to the way it was before the invasion, Matt volunteers to help Scott with the radio and Pope with making ammunition. In season two Matt participates more in the fighting, protecting Anne, and in season three he continues to fight. In season four he has been captured and placed in a re-education camp to brainwash young humans into believing that the Ishpeni are benevolent.
Captain (Colonel) Dan Weaver Will Patton 1–4
The commander of the 2nd Mass, Weaver is a retired active and reserve military officer who served with Porter during the Gulf War. He misses his family, and learns that his wife and oldest daughter may be alive. In season two, Weaver finds his daughter; she, her boyfriend and their surviving group leave separately and reunite in Charleston. His wife died of a stroke when supplies of her blood-pressure medication ran out. Weaver's gruff exterior belies a fierce determination and loyalty to the 2nd Mass, inspiring equal loyalty from them in return. Promoted to colonel between seasons two and three, he is a key advisor to Tom Mason in his role as President of the New United States. Weaver is trapped in the ghetto with Tom and Hal, and his daughter has been missing since the attack on the 2nd Mass.
Maggie May Sarah Carter 1–4
Maggie, once a reluctant part of Pope's gang, kills his brother and another rapist ("He thought he was better because he brought chocolate - he wasn't") and rescues Tom, Hal and their squad. A tough fighter, she teaches Anne to shoot and works hard to earn her new place. Maggie tells Hal that she knows the hospital where the harnessed Ben is held, because she was hospitalized there with cancer at 16. In "Death March" she says that after chemotherapy for brain cancer she fled, but was arrested when she was three months pregnant and gave birth in jail. In season three, Maggie and Hal begin a relationship and are happy; she protects him when she learns that Hal might be the mole. Maggie is in the Chinatown safe zone with Lexi, Ben and Lourdes.
Lourdes Delgado Seychelle Gabriel 1–4
The former college student helps Anne, proudly displaying her Catholicism. In season two Lourdes' romantic interest shifts from Hal to Jamil, and she is devastated when Jamil is killed by Skitters. She still helps Anne with the Charleston medical department in season three, but has been infected with eye worms which drive her to destabilize Charleston from within. Lourdes is unveiled as the mole, and her eye worms are removed by Lexi (to whom she is fanatically devoted). Lexi kills her in episode 407, "Saturday Night Massacre"; when Lexi emerges from her chrysalis she plans to leave Chinatown, disgusted with the 2nd Mass' violence. When Lourdes begs her to take her along, Lexi uses an alien power to strangle her without touching her.
John Pope Colin Cunningham 1–4
Leader of a post-apocalyptic gang who ambush Tom's squad when they scout an armory and kill a scout (Click) with a bow and arrow, Pope sends Hal to offer Weaver a trade: hostages returned for the gun mounted on a truck. Although Anne volunteers to return and patch up Pope's brother, Maggie kills her rapists and frees Tom's squad. Pope becomes the cook for the 2nd Mass and rides away after leading them to a motorcycle store, but helps the children escape a human traitor and makes bullets capable of killing the invading machines. His character a mixture of good and evil, in season two he leads the Berserkers (which include Lyle, Tector, Crazy Lee and Anthony). Although Pope leaves with Anthony, he returns alone to the 2nd Mass. In season three he opens a bar in Charleston, often speaking out about the alliance with the Volm and continuing to fight with the Berserkers. When Pope is in the ghetto, he returns to his mercenary ways.
Anthony Mpho Koaho 1–4
A fighter, a former Boston police officer, part of Tom's team and The Berserkers, Anthony is Anne's second-in-command.
Cochise Doug Jones 3–4
Son of the Volm commander, Cochise befriends Tom and helps Charleston in the fight against the Espheni. When the Volm retreat from Earth, Cochise commands one of the few scout teams remaining.
Dai Peter Shinkoda 1–2
A fighter who sees how Tom worries about his sons, Dai wryly says that his lack of a family at the time of the invasion had a positive side. In the season-two finale, he is killed by the Skitters.
Karen Nadler Jessy Schram 1 2–4
A teenaged scout and Hal's ex-girlfriend, Karen is captured when Mike is freed in the mission to retrieve Ben. Harnessed and indoctrinated, she replaces the deceased overlord in season three. After Karen's plans fail she tries to forge a truce with Tom and the 2nd Mass, warning them not to trust the Volm; Tom shoots her, with Maggie delivering the final blows when Karen tells Hal she has always loved him.
Alexis (Lexi) Glass-Mason Scarlett Byrne 4
Tom and Anne's daughter; due to manipulation by the Espheni during Anne's pregnancy, Lexi grows from infancy to adulthood in just over a year and possesses telekinesis, superior strength and a psychic link to her mother. She can affect alien technology, shutting down a mech when it invades the safe zone where she and other members of the 2nd Mass have taken refuge. Somewhat naive, she is manipulated by Lourdes into leading a cult of personality which sees her as a savior. Lourdes, who has developed a fanatical devotion to Lexi, tries to block opinions other than her own; this leads to conflict with Ben and Maggie. Lexi sees herself as the bridge between humanity and the invaders, a position with which she is uncomfortable and does not understand or want.

Supporting characters

Name Actor Recurring seasons Episode count
Jimmy Boland Dylan Authors 1–2 10
The 13-year-old fighter endangers the squad when he chases a dog in season one, and becomes more capable in season two. In "Compass" he dies when he is impaled on tree by a Skitter, and Weaver delivers his eulogy.
Rick Thompson Daniyah Ysrail 1–2 9
Rick, the son of fighter Mike Thompson, is saved from a harness by Anne. Mourning his father, he tells "everything" about the school defense to his Skitter "family". The Mechs attack in force, and are repelled because Tom retrieves the radio tube stolen by Rick. In season two, Boon accidentally shoots Rick instead of a Skitter.
Colonel (General) Jim Porter Dale Dye 1–3 12
The senior resistance leader in Boston, Porter was an army officer ready to retire at the time of the invasion. Presumed dead in season one, in season 2 he leads a group in Charleston and welcomes the 2nd Mass. Porter is promoted to eneral between seasons two and three.
Uncle Scott Bruce Gray 1 8
Anne's uncle teaches the children biology, fixes a tube radio and discovers that the Skitters communicate on fluctuating frequencies (also sensed by Ben). His suggested jamming repels an attack on the school. Scott dies protecting childran in the Battle of Fitchburg, about a month after Tom is abducted by the overlord at the end of season one.
Mike Thompson Martin Roach 1 5
Mike is a fighter who is killed protecting his formerly-harnessed son Rick and other children in "Sanctuary Part 2" by Terry Clayton, who lies to obtain 2nd Mass children for Skitters.
Michael Harris Steven Weber 1 3
Harris, a surgeon, was friends with Tom and his wife but left her to die; Tom knows this because the bag of food next to her body was too heavy for her to carry herself. Harris learns to save harnessed children by leaving half the spikes inside them, giving them opiates when the harness-drug injections wear off. When Tom brings a wounded Skitter to the school, it kills Harris before the thorough examination hoped for by Porter. Anne stabs it in its mouth, reaching its brain, and Hal realizes that he can kill the Skitter guarding the hospitalized, harnessed Ben.
Jamil Dexter Brandon Jay McLaren 2 6
A civilian in the 2nd Mass, Jamil replaces Uncle Scott, flirts with Lourdes and dies after an attack by alien bugs. When Lourdes and Anne try to help him, he ruptures and the bugs crawl out.
Tector Murphy Ryan Robbins 2–4 14
A fighter and Berserker, in "Death March" Tector tells Weaver he hides his rank (former USMC gunnery sergeant) because he blames himself for losing his squad in an ambush. During the Espheni assault on Chinatown, he blows himself up with C4 charges after he fails to kill the Overlord.
Lyle Brad Kelly 2–4 17
A fighter and Berserker, Lyle is killed in the season-four premiere by a laser fence while he is protecting Matt.
Crazy Lee Luciana Carro 2–3 9
A fighter and Berserker, she is killed when a gun blast impales her on a piece of rebar.
Boon Billy Wickman 2 3
A fighter and Berserker, Boon is Tector's partner whom Tom scolds for using Matt as bait in a hunting mission. He accidentally kills Rick instead of a Skitter, and is shot by a Mech in front of the 2nd Mass outside a hospital.
Jeanne Weaver Laci J. Mailey 2–4 11
The oldest daughter of Captain Weaver, Jeanne survives the initial invasion but is separated from her father. She lives with a group of children and teenagers, including her boyfriend Diego. Although when she is reunited with Weaver she decides to stay with her group rather than join the 2nd Mass, when the group is attacked she makes her way to Charleston and rejoins her father. Jeanne is captured in the season-four premiere "Ghost in the Machine" and transformed into a Skitter-like creature, a new version of shock troops for the Ispheni war. Although the transformation is supposed to erase a human's free will, Jeanne overcomes the programming. Her progamming flaw is discovered when she dies defending her father from a Skitter attack in season four's "Evolve or Die".
Arthur Manchester Terry O'Quinn 2–3 3
The former leader of the Charleston survivors retires at the end of season two. Arthur knows Tom Mason, and wants his civilians hidden for safety. Charged with finding the Charleston mole, he is killed by the spy (later revealed as Lourdes, under alien control).
General Cole Bressler Matt Frewer 2–3 7
Bressler is a Charleston military leader who wants a more-offensive approach. He declares martial law, arrests Arthur and takes over. Bressler refuses to believe in the Skitter rebellion, and orders de-harnessed kids and Skitters killed. He is killed on landing when he flies Tom and Pope back from the meeting with the real president.
Marina Peralta Gloria Reuben 3 10
Marina, a Charleston politician, is the aide of President Tom Mason and a leader of the human resistance. Charleston's acting vice-president, she becomes president of Charleston after Tom's resignation.
Deni Megan Danso 3–4 10
Deni, a de-harnessed human girl, fights with the Skitter rebellion and the human resistance and is close to Ben Mason.
Roger Kadar Robert Sean Leonard 3–4 7
A hermit scientist living under Charleston who helped design its power grid, Roger runs the test determining that Alexis is a human-alien hybrid. In season four he is with Ben, Maggie, Lourdes and Lexi in the Chinatown refuge. Roger is impaled with a piece of glass in his side during the Espheni attack, giving samples of Lexi's DNA to Anne and Tom before he bleeds to death.

References