Annie Easton
Played by: Aidy Bryant
The main protagonist, a journalist at the Daily Thorn who wants to change her life, but not her body.
- Apologizes a Lot: Constantly apologizing and self-deprecating due to her vulnerability and insecure nature.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Finally lets loose when she's tired of all the emotional damage Ryan did to her and Gabe's terrible treatment of her at work, giving both a "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
- Big Beautiful Woman: She's rather cute. It's part of what gets Ryan attracted to her.
- Book Smart: Very studious and highly educated, in addition to being awkward and nerdy.
- Brainy Brunette: Graduated Cum Laude from her university and is shown to be a very cogent and effective writer.
- A Degree in Useless: After she quits her job at the Thorn (but before she's rehired by Gabe), she can't find any other jobs aside from internships due to her English degree, despite being a respected journalist.
- Extreme Doormat: She's often "too nice" (something Fran tells her is wrong), rather gullible, and extremely passive and uncomfortable when dealing with higher-ups or more aggressive people, which leads to others walking all over her. It almost never occurs to her that someone may be trying to screw her over.
- Grew a Spine: Very notable in the last episodes of each season, becoming more confident in herself
- Hollywood Atheist: Averted, more or less. She passively lets it slip in Season 3 that she's an atheist (and it's done in a joking manner). The topic is never brought up again.
- Lovable Nerd: She's smart, but also socially awkward and a very nice person.
- No Social Skills: She's often socially awkward and timid, aside from being very insecure.
- Platonic Life-Partners: With Fran, her Lesbian best friend, and Amadi, who she does everything with at work.
Fran
Played by: Lolly Adefope
Annie's best friend since college and current roommate, a lesbian, black British woman who helps her build her confidence.
- Big Beautiful Woman: Like Annie, she's attractive. Doubled as she Really Gets Around.
- Birds of a Feather: She and Em are very similar to one another in terms of personality, which is part of what attracts Fran to them.
- Black and Nerdy: About as nerdy as Annie.
- Black Best Friend: To Annie, but she gets her own moments too.
- Everyone Has Standards: She won't cheat on her current partner at the time they are dating, which really goes into effect when she starts dating Em.
- Platonic Life-Partners: With Annie.
- Really Gets Around: Very popular with the ladies.
- Token Black Friend: Inverted. She's not a simple Satellite Character and gets her own storylines.
- Twofer Token Minority: Black and queer.
Amadi
Played by: Ian Owens
Annie's best friend aside from Fran, who also writes for the Thorn.- Black and Nerdy: Very intelligent and shown to be one of the best writers at the Thorn, as well as Gabe's go-to person for a story.
- Black Best Friend: To Annie at work, to the point that they're "work husband" and "work wife" to one another.
- Boomerang Bigot: He incorrectly assumes that Ruthie had a Dark and Troubled Past, due to being transgender, and thinks that she is living with Gabe due to having been disowned by her family. She later calls him out and he apologizes.
- Maligned Mixed Marriage: His wife is white, and she is apparently not sexually satisfied with him.
- Odd Friendship: With Ruthie. She constantly rags on him, but they still hang out and are shown to be on good terms.
- The Stoic: He keeps a low-key personality at all times, which impresses Annie.
Gabriel "Gabe" Parrish
Played by: John Cameron Mitchell
Annie's boss, the Editor-in-Chief at the Thorn.- Anti-Villain: In the first season. He's a perfectionist asshole, but still has some genuine moments of kindness and looks out for Annie in his own strange way.
- Bad Boss: In the first season, but only Annie views him as such.
- Beautiful Singing Voice: His cover of "Moonage Daydream" in Season 2 is wonderful.
- Camp Gay: Definitely the "gayest" of all the queer characters on this show.
-
The Cast Showoff: Seasons 2 and 3 both have ways to show John Cameron Mitchell's singing and guitar playing. - Characterization Marches On: Apologizes to Annie and re-hires her, as well as apologizing to the rest of his staff for being a dick, in the second season premiere. From then on, he becomes a much nicer guy.
- Dark and Troubled Past: He's a former drug addict, whose vices relapse when Ruthie gives him ketamine.
- Large Ham: Look at who plays him, this is expected.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In the first season. He's a dick sometimes, but he still works in the best interest of others and wants to please people.
- May–December Romance: His husband is much younger than him.
- Neat Freak: Obsessively concerned with neatness and minor details. Ruthie even calls him out for being "anal-retentive" at one point.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Based on writer and gay activist Dan Savage, whom Lindy West apparently dislikes, even down to his actor's resemblance to him.
- Not So Above It All: For all he thinks of himself as a rebel, it's clear Gabe has absorbed more negative traits as he's gotten older than he'd like to admit, both in his fatphobic views of overweight people and his complaints about younger journalists.
- The Perfectionist: It's a real problem for him.
- Politically Incorrect Hero: He has some fairly fatphobic views at first which Annie calls him out on.
- Terrified of Germs: In line with his perfectionist nature.
- Took a Level in Kindness: He becomes a lot nicer to his staff and Annie in the second season.
Ruthie
Played by: Patti Harrison
A transgender woman who is the Thorn's receptionist and friends with Annie and Amadi.- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Seems to have one as her ideas of "right" and "wrong" are very distorted.
- Cloudcuckoolander: She's a rather strange woman: she collects gas masks, regularly did ketamine for a while, and may have been a prostitute before her full transition.
- Collector of the Strange: Has a wall of gas masks, one of which was given to her by her father, and a drawer filled with vibrators in her bedroom.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Averted. Amadi assumes she must have had one of these due to being transgender, thinking that she is living with Gabe due to having been disowned by her family. She replies that she is on perfectly good terms with her family who accepted her transition with no problem and simply lives with Gabe due to his wealth and their adoration of her.
- Deadpan Snarker: Almost every line out of her mouth is a caustic, cutting remark or joke.
- Dreadful Musician: When she sings about being a C-section baby at her birthday celebration.
-
Ensemble Dark Horse: Due to the overwhelmingly positive reception her character had, she was made a main character in the second and third seasons. - Expansion Pack Past: All we know about her life comes from her own comments, which include being a C-section baby, having a good relationship with her dad, and dropping out of college.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Ruthie is bratty, rude and unpleasant a lot of the time but does show a softer side and has moments of kindness and affection for those she cares about, even with Annie who she does seem to sincerely like and regard as a friend.
- Odd Friendship: With Amadi. She constantly rags on him but does show genuine moments of kindness towards him, including an apology for all the mean nicknames she gave him. She also sincerely likes Annie and regards her as a friend. It just doesn't come across that because Ruthie is...well, eccentric.
- School Is for Losers: Has this mindset, and even dropped out of college because of how much it bored her.
- Spoiled Brat: An adult version - she lives with Gabe and his much-younger husband without paying any share of their rent, and they constantly buy her clothes and other material things.
- Token Evil Teammate: Of Annie's Thorn friends, even if "Evil" may be a strong word.
- Troll: Especially if Amadi is the target.
- Womanchild: She's not very mature, to put it lightly.
Angus
Played by: Sean Tarjyoto
A writer for the Thorn.- Ascended Extra: Went from a One-Scene Wonder in the first season to one of the show's most prominent supporting characters.
- Boss's Unfavorite Employee: Gabe treats him like crap for no reason.
- Hidden Depths: The work retreat in season 3 reveals that he's been writing a novel when not writing his articles.
- Noodle Incident: Season 3 reveals that he "had an accident with a marshmallow cart" at a camping trip in the summer between the seasons.
- No-Respect Guy: From Gabe, at least. He's generally well respected by the others at the Thorn. Maureen sometimes teases him, but it's nowhere near the verbal abuse from Gabe he puts up with.
- Token Minority: The only Asian person working at the Thorn, and the only Asian with a prominent role in the show.
