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Mike
Mike Milch
Portrayed By: John Gallagher Jr.
An employee at Belko Industries.
- Nice Guy: Mike gets along with pretty much everyone.
- Thou Shall Not Kill: Tries all film to avoid killing. Only when Leandra is killed does he give up, and goes for Barry.
- Took a Level in Badass: Originally against killing he goes from an average office worker to someone who beats his boss to death with a tape dispenser and massacres the heads of the experiments with their own bombs and an assault rifle.
- Sole Survivor: The winner, as it were, as the last surviving employee.
Norris
Barry Norris
Portrayed By: Tony Goldwyn
The COO of Belko.
- The Heavy: Though The Voice is the true villain, Barry is the prominent threat in the building.
- Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: He tries to be rational in the beginning. But when it becomes apparent it's them or him, he assumes role of Judge, Jury, and Executioner.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Being the COO and the one that many look to in the beginning of the experiment, he starts off like this, before gradually Jumping Off the Slippery Slope.
- Retired Badass: Someone comment he is ex special forces and he does have the skill to match it.
Leandra
Leandra Florez
Portrayed By: Adria Arjona
Norris' assistant.
- Final Girl: Outlasts all the other females, but doesn't survive the entire film.
- I Told You So: Leandra says that if she survives, her mother will nag her about how she told Leandra going to Columbia would be dangerous.
- Vasquez Always Dies: Leandra is a divorced, tattooed smoker, The Cynic, and an Action Girl who proves to be good with bladed weapons, while the other women around her age are more demure and mostly die without putting up a struggle or run and hide (albeit while still helping the others in some cases). She does get shot, but she outlasts the other female characters.
Wendell
Wendell Dukes
Portrayed By: John C. McGinley
A socially awkward top executive.
- Asshole Victim: Being an Ax-Crazy, sexual harasser who ruthlessly starts murdering other employees with no remorse when the experiment really kicks off, no one mourns him.
- Ax-Crazy: Wendell is the quickest to acclimate to the game, and clearly didn't have far to fall mentally.
- The Brute: Serves as Barry's unstable muscle during stage 2.
- No Social Skills: Wendell seems lacking in any social intelligence, and believes "Fuck off" counts as a "mixed signal" from Leandra.
- Stalker with a Crush: He stares incessantly at Leandra.
Dany
Dany Wilkins
Portrayed By: Melonie Diaz
A new hire at Belko.
- Boom, Headshot!: Capped by Barry when the elevator doors open.
- Decoy Protagonist: We start to follow her on her first day with the company, and has many traits that fit the mold of a perfect Final Girl. she's unceremoniously shot down during the climactic killing spree, leaving the role to go to Mike.
- Don't Ask, Just Run: She is the first to take the announcement seriously and go on hiding. It makes sense as being the first day she has no reason to trust anyone.
- First Day from Hell: The titular experiment starts a few hours into her first day at the office.
- Idiot Ball: After evading death through the entire movie and even parkouring her way through the elevator shaft, she very stupidly takes it down to the lobby. It goes about as well as you'd expect and she dies for it.
Keith
Keith McLure
Portrayed By: Josh Brener
- Hope Spot: Keith gets blown up in the second phase, right after thinking that no one was going to activate his explosive.
Roberto
Roberto Jerez
Portrayed By: David Del Rio
- Oh, Crap!: Roberto is very creeped out to find out that Dany, who is an enclosed space with him, has already killed someone (by accident, but he doesn’t know that) and may be spared if she keeps killing people. However, neither of them turns on the other and the scene is Played for Laughs.
Brian
Peggy
Peggy Displasia
Portrayed By: Rusty Schwimmer
Mike's secretary.
- Took a Level in Badass: Peggy is initially frightened by the ordeal, but in later scenes, she defiantly stares down a man preparing to kill her and then stabs one of his accomplices after the tables turn.
Terry
Terry Winters
Portrayed By: Owain Yeoman
- Reluctant Monster: Though drawn into Barry's fold, he proves to not have the stomach to kill.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Tosses his cookies during the lobby execution.
Bud
Bud Melks
Portrayed By: Michael Rooker
Belko's head of Maintenance.
- Dead Star Walking: Dies from a wrench to the head early on.
Marty
Marty Espenscheid
Portrayed By: Sean Gunn
- Erudite Stoner: Marty is a flaky stoner, but he is a contemplative guy who does do a lot to try and think his way out of the crisis (such as by considering that the water may be drugged and trying to dig chips out of dead bodies’ heads to make a bomb and blow the door open).
- Nervous Wreck: He has a paranoia-fueled breakdown (implied to be made worse by the weed) and starts dumping out all the water coolers while ranting near-incomprehensibly.
Chet
Chet Valincourt
Portrayed By: Abraham Benrubi
- Older Sidekick: Chet is far older than Marty, but follows his lead in trying to find ways to buy time or deescalate the situation.
Lonny
Alonso "Lonny" Crane
Portrayed By: David Dastmalchian
- Sanity Slippage: The first employee who truly starts cracking under the pressure. And first to kill another employee, if accidentally.
Leota
Evan
Evan Smith
Portrayed By: James Earl
- Bullying a Dragon: Taunts the already unhinged Wendell by tossing the armory keys down the stairs. It gets him fatally stabbed.
Vince
Vince Agostino
Portrayed By: Brent Sexton
- Face–Heel Turn: For most of the film, Vince is a kind-hearted ally of Michael. Sadly, once he learns that only the person who has killed the most number of people will be spared, and that he is already in the running after killing one of Barry's accomplices, he starts killing people to try to save himself.
- Stout Strength: Vince is a plump man who is strong enough to carry a wheelchair-bound woman.
Raziya
Raziya Memarian
Portrayed By: Mikaela Hoover
- Token Minority: Even with Belko being as much of a melting pot as it is, Raizya seems to be the only Muslim character (or at least, the only one who wears a hijab).
- Turn the Other Cheek: She tearfully pleads with Vince and several others to stop beating Bradley to death even though he was trying to kill them a few minutes earlier.
Liezel
Liezel Freon
Played by: Alietta Montero
An elderly custodian.- Playing Possum: She briefly hides in the stairwell, slumping down like she is already dead.
Tyson
Tyson Moon
Played by: Joe Fria
- Ambiguously Gay: The letter to his family/Apocalyptic Log looks like it is being addressed to a spouse and children, and the first name on it is male (Declan). However, Declan could also be a sibling or other relative or loved one.
- Apocalyptic Log: After the first deaths, he is shown tearfully writing a goodbye letter to his family, saying he doesn't think he'll be alright.
- Don't Ask, Just Run: He spends a lot of the film hiding in a freezer.
Helena
Helena Barton
Played by: Sylvia de Dios
- Iron Lady: She is one of the only women in a managerial position at the company and is stern and impersonal with her subordinates. She is also quick to help an injured man and is unafraid of Barry and his men, calmly closing her eyes when it's her turn to be shot.
Antonio
Antonio Fowler
Played by: Benjamin Byron Davis
- Beard of Evil: He has the biggest beard out of any of the characters and acts as a selfish and brutal enforcer for Barry.
Bradley
Bradley Lang
Played by: Andrés Suarez
- Pet the Dog: Despite being one of Barry's followers, he lets Dany go when he finds her hiding place. This turns into a Nice Job Fixing It, Villain moment when she promptly interferes with the attempts to execute more people like The Voice ordered.
Lorena
Lorena Checo
Played by: Cindy Better
- Fan Disservice: She strips down to her bra, but the context of the scene (tearfully trying to offer herself to Barry so he won't kill her) takes away any erotica.
Agnes
Agnes Meraz
Played by: Mauria Shelton
- Don't Ask, Just Run: Like Dany, she quickly decides to try and find a quiet place to hide and wait things out, choosing the bathroom.
Samantha
Samatha Belcos
Played by: Luna Baxter
- Defiant to the End: She tells Barry to go to Hell as he executes her.
Raven
Raven Luna
Played by: Maia Landaburau
- Improbable Weapon User: She grabs a fork to defend herself when she is worried that Antonio is about to start stabbing people.
The Voice
The Voice
Portrayed By: Gregg Henry
The voice providing the instructions of the Deadly game to the workers.
- Big Bad: The primary antagonist and the reason for all the hell breaking loose.
- Entitled Bastard: Oh, so much!
- Hoist by His Own Petard: He forces Mike to give up his Thou Shalt Not Kill stance during the climax, which comes back to bite him in the ass when Mike has him cornered. He even has the gall to make a Call-Back to that trope in a pathetic attempt to save his own life. It doesn't work.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Dies a well-deserved death at the hands of Mike.
- Smug Snake: Thinks he has complete control over everything, to the point of having Mike brought to him after all the other employees have been killed so he can interview him on how the killings affected Mike's psyche - without making sure that Mike was unarmed first! BIG mistake.
- Villains Want Mercy: Has the nerve to beg for his life when Mike is holding him at gunpoint.
