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Characters / The People v. O. J. Simpson

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Main Cast

    Chris Darden 

Christopher Darden

Portrayed By: Sterling K. Brown

  • Almost Kiss: With Marcia Clark, but he pulls back and afterwards, things are tense in the office.
  • Berserk Button: The implication or accusation that he is betraying the black community or his race in general by working to convict OJ, a rich athlete with a history of domestic violence, really pisses him off and is one of the few things to get him to drop his stoic persona.
  • Beware the Quiet Ones: Chris is usually reserved and calm as is required for his work but when he finally loses it on Cochran after one too many remarks calling Chris a race traitor, he is terrifying, unsettling even Cochran.
  • Cassandra Truth: He intuits that Fuhrman's presence is going to damage the case, but Marcia refuses to listen to his pleas not to put Fuhrman on the stand.
  • Category Traitor: He is viewed as being one by the black participants in the OJ trial.
  • Double Standard: Darden has more than earned his position, but resents that he gets little real credit for it due to the many racist assumptions that he's a result of affirmative action alone.
  • Fire-Forged Friends: He and Marcia were always on good terms, but over the course of the trial their bond is tested and ultimately deepens.
  • The Millstone: Although he's right that Mark Fuhrman is bad news, he makes several other critical errors during the trial and allows himself to get pushed around and manipulated by much more seasoned trial lawyers, Cochran and Bailey.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Darden pushes and pushes for Simpson to try on the gloves, and allows himself to be further manipulated into it by F. Lee Bailey. He finally goes over Marcia's head to have Simpson try on the gloves, only for it to fail and deal a devastating blow to the prosecution.
  • Oh, Crap!: His expression when the gloves fail to fit OJ.
  • Platonic Life-Partners: With Marcia, although they skirt the line of platonic very hard.
  • Race Traitor: He's accused of this by Cochran. Obviously, he takes special exception to this and accuses Cochran in turn of race baiting.
  • Rage Breaking Point: At one point, he snaps and calls out the defense for turning the trial into a media circus, eventually yelling that he should be held in contempt.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: For such a polite man, he does throw out some particularly harsh and cutting speeches to Cochran on two occasions and Marcia on another. His most notable might be when he tells Johnnie straight-up that his victory is not the Civil Rights milestone he thinks it is.
  • Shut Up, Hannibal!: When Cochran has the audacity to try and 'bring Chris back to the community' in an attempt to make up to him. Darden flatly tells him that he's changed nothing, and all he's done is set a murderer free.
  • Somebody Doesn't Love Raymond: Even before working to prosecute him, Chris is noticeably less keen on OJ than his friends, noting how OJ left the black community behind at the first opportunity and never did anything to help others in sharp contrast to others like Jim Brown who maintained strong ties, took open stands for civil rights and worked to improve things in black neighborhoods.

    Lance Ito 

Judge Lance Ito

Portrayed By: Kenneth Choi

  • Adaptational Nice Guy: Ito is portrayed as being far more feminist and understanding of Marcia Clark than he has been accused of being in reality. Which is true to life will probably never be confirmed for sure.
  • Inscrutable Oriental: Toned down by not being associated with villainy, but the pressures of his position.
    • The Real Life Judge Ito is the only person connected with the trial in any major capacity never to have written a book about it. That wouldn't have been ethical while he was still on the bench but it's still the case well after his 2015 retirement.

    Bill Hodgman 

Bill Hodgman

Portrayed By: Christian Clemenson

  • Deadpan Snarker: The prime example in the series. Most famously reacting to OJ's note stating he felt like a battered spouse with the line, "Well, he did cut his hand while he was killing her."
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: He's the dispassionate, cool blue to the hot tempered red Clark. In fact, when Hodgman does become emotional, it's bad enough that causes him to suffer a breakdown that sidelines him for the rest of the trial.

    OJ Simpson 

Orenthal James Simpson

Portrayed By: Cuba Gooding Jr.
  • Affably Evil: In spite of being a brutal murderer with a history of violent domestic abuse, Simpson is quite genial and friendly with almost everyone he interacts with, including his prison guards and limo driver. One possibility is that this is all an act, which makes it Faux Affably Evil. However, it's strongly implied that Simpson is an authentically friendly and pleasant individual except when driven to a jealous rage over Nicole. In other words, there was a reason he inspired such loyalty and charmed so many people.
  • Alas, Poor Villain: Played With in his final scene, while OJ is most certainly Nicole's murderer and feels little to no remorse over it, when he realizes his life will never be the same and his reputation has been irrevocably tainted dawns on him it's hard not to feel at least a little sorry for him.
  • Bad Liar: For someone so duplicitous, he's a terrible liar. He stumbles over his words, trails off, tries to play things off like a joke, goes on tangents and contradicts himself. During a rehearsal examination, he even starts flirting with the female aide feeding him the questions.
  • Broken Ace: On the surface, OJ is the perfect face of new black Americans. He's handsome, wealthy, extremely charismatic, a legend of football and a representation of what all black people could achieve with hard work and determination. Beneath it, he was a jealous, short-tempered and abusive man and very likely a vicious murderer.
  • Broken Pedestal: To America itself, in due time, but particularly to Robert Kardashian as he slowly comes to realize his friend's guilt.
  • Category Traitor: Implied heavily by the series. Despite the fact that it's this that helps him be found not guilty, he turns his back on all things "black" and shows outright contempt for them.
  • Crazy Jealous Guy: Ultimately why he killed Nicole, he couldn't handle her trying to move on from him...even though she wasn't.
  • Entitled Bastard: Simpson basically acts like he should be able to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants and throws tantrums any time anyone tells him he's not allowed to do something. Any other time this would be intolerable, but the fact that Simpson is being arrested for the murder of two people just proves what a selfish narcissist he is.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He seems to sincerely love his children, as well as his mother.
  • Karma Houdini Warranty: He gets acquitted of murder, but it comes with a steep price tag: he is convicted by the court of public opinion and all of his friends abandon him afterward, including his best friend Robert. The title cards before the credits mention his civil trial with the Goldmans (which left him bankrupt), and his robbery trial after that (which actually did send him to prison).
  • Manchild: OJ in the series comes off as a spoiled, indulgent brat, whining at any sort of inconvenience. His behavior isn't helped by his enablers, most of whom try to appease him due to past glories. The show pretty much argues that if he hadn't been a celebrity, he would have been arrested and convicted far sooner.
  • Never My Fault: He refuses to take responsibility for any of his rages or instances of violence or control against Nicole and even outright claims he was the victim of her rages and instability, much to Marcia's disbelief.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: Most of the time, he is addressed as either "OJ" or "Juice".
  • Villain with Good Publicity: Deconstructed. OJ was this, which enabled Robert and others to turn a blind eye to his violent temper among other flaws, and while he does evade a guilty verdict, this is a totally hollow victory as his reputation is destroyed.
  • The Whitest Black Guy: OJ wants to fit in with white people and was happy to leave the working-class black community behind as soon as he could. Cochran, however, knows that the smart money is on a race-heavy defence and thus goes about overhauling his image.

    Gil Garcetti 

Gil Garcetti

Portrayed By: Bruce Greenwood

    F. Lee Bailey 

F. Lee Bailey

Portrayed By: Nathan Lane

  • The Alcoholic: Bailey's penchant for alcohol is lampshaded by Marcia Clark when she wonders aloud when the last time Bailey had won anything other than a drinking game.
  • Chess Master: His primary trait. He has a unique way of manipulating others (including others on his own Defense team) to get what he wants.
  • Large Ham: Bailey was well known for having a big personality and he's played appropriately by noted ham Nathan Lane.
  • Rules Lawyer: His other defining trait, he pulls this even when it's not appropriate. He earns the ire of the Prosecution and Judge Ito at the same time because he suggests keeping a juror who was a victim of marital rape, pointing out marital rape technically wasn't a crime in California when it occurred for her.
    Marcia Clark: You just said that. Out loud.
  • Semper Fi: He was in the Marine Corps before his legal career and uses that fact to try and sweettalk Mark Fuhrman, another former Marine, into incriminating himself.
  • Smug Smiler: He's noticeably smirking at Shapiro after his gambit to replace Shapiro with Cochran succeeded.
  • Xanatos Gambit: Pulls this concerning the bloody gloves once the Defense realizes they're too small; if the Prosecution has OJ try them on, their case gets a serious hole in it. If the Prosecution refuses? The Defense has OJ try them on and get the same result.

    Marcia Clark 

Marcia Clark

Portrayed By: Sarah Paulson

  • Adaptational Attractiveness: As Marcia Clark commented, Sarah Paulson's portrayal is a good version of how she behaved, but is much more attractive than her.
  • Captain Oblivious: Marcia's inability to see the world for what it truly is costs her at several points during the trial. Case in point, she thinks that race *wouldn't be an issue* in the trial and that people would have moved beyond such petty issues, only a few years after the Rodney King Trials.
  • Hero with Bad Publicity: She's firmly on the side of good but her awkward and humorless demeanor compared to the far more charismatic Cochran, the narratives of the defense and the fact that she is going after a beloved icon cause her to be hated.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's abrupt, egotistical, and at times, downright blinkered which kind of costs her the case but her concern is genuine justice and preventing violence against women. She's totally right when she says that OJ's history of domestic violence has been forgotten and she truly wants to speak for Nicole and Ron and get justice for their families and she is very caring and affectionate with those close to her, especially Chris.
  • No Social Skills: Downplayed as she's a perfectly polite and well-mannered professional but she can be humorless, abrupt and doesn't come across especially well to jurors. This normally wouldn't be a massive issue but in a case as heated as the OJ trial and with a defense attorney as charismatic as Johnnie Cochran, it causes her to be unpopular with jurors and the public.
  • Rape as Backstory: She tells Chris a story of being raped by a waiter while on vacation in the past.
  • Selective Obliviousness: To race issues in LA. Even when it's pointed out to her at multiple points, she still thinks it's an overblown issue until it's far too late to do anything about it.
  • Struggling Single Mother: Her husband is in the picture, but they're getting divorced and she's stuck trying to raise two boys. She's in good shape financially, but the case combined with a custody battle takes it's toll on her.
  • Wide-Eyed Idealist: She truly believes in the cause of helping abused women and that the jurors will see past both race, the LAPD's history of racism and their love of OJ towards the facts of the case. Her belief turns out to be tragically misplaced.

    Robert Kardashian 

Robert Kardashian

Portrayed By: David Schwimmer

  • Absence of Evidence: He's very troubled by the growing realization that there's essentially zero real evidence that points to any suspect other than OJ.
  • Adaptational Nice Guy: In the book "The Run Of His Life", Robert appears as a fame-hungry hanger-on. Here, he is totally opposed to any media coverage, and genuine care and loyalty motivates his belief in OJ. Which is true is heavily debated.
  • Amicable Exes: He and Kris still get along relatively well, even though tensions rise when Robert is one of the lawyers who defends OJ during his trial.
  • Celebrity Is Overrated: Despite being friends with one of the most prominent celebrities of the 90s, he has a dim view of celebrity itself. He tries to stress to his children that the pursuit of fame is hollow compared to the pursuit of virtue. Given who his children are, and what they would end up doing with their lives, it's safe to say his efforts were in vain.
  • Comically Missing the Point: While Dershowitz talks about OJ's status as a popular figure being a depreciating asset, Bobby sternly and stupidly says that OJ will never "stop being The Juice".
  • Conflicting Loyalty: He was close friends with both OJ and Nicole. Initially, he's OJ's most ardent supporter precisely because he genuinely believes in his friend's innocence, but as time goes on he starts to doubt more and more. The DNA evidence is a turning point for him, and he ultimately realizes the truth and ends his friendship with OJ.
  • Good Is Dumb: Downplayed, but he's partly so nice because he's genuinely ignorant about OJ's dark side.
  • Good Parents: He is portrayed as this in comparison to the hysterical, narcissistic Kris.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: By the time he starts seriously doubting OJ's innocence, it's far too late: the trial is close to the end and if he walks out, it will not only ruin his career but will essentially mean he personally convicted his closest friend. He has a serious breakdown in front of Kris Jenner, tearfully admitting his doubts, and later when the verdict is read, he vomits in a nearby bathroom out of sheer stress and guilt.
  • Nice Guy: Naive he may be, but his motivations are pure and he's a good-hearted man.
  • Only Sane Man: He's the only one of the defense to be more concerned with the truth than their own success or reputation and who actually seems to care if OJ is innocent or guilty and to be troubled by the increasing likelihood that he may be helping keep a brutal murderer out of prison.
  • Token Good Teammate: Where nearly every other member of OJ's defense team is fishing for publicity or deliberately turning the trial into a circus to "make a statement," Robert just wants to defend his old friend from accusations he genuinely believes are false. As the trial continues and more of OJ's dark side is revealed to him, Robert's belief in his friend's innocence weakens until he is finally convinced of his guilt as well as the role he played in getting him acquitted.
  • Undying Loyalty: A tragic deconstruction. Kardashian and OJ had been friends for 20 years before the trial and stayed close after his divorce with Kris. This proves to be his Fatal Flaw because when OJ was being put on trial, he refused to believe the possibility of his guilt, even when a polygraph test and Kris told him otherwise. As the trial dragged on, the absent evidence as well as seeing more and more of OJ's darker personality leads him to be begging for some shred of innocence. By the time the trial reaches the end, he realizes what an idiot he'd been and breaks down in front of Kris for putting himself into a position where he is helping make a man a Karma Houdini in murder.

    Bob Shapiro 

Robert "Bob" Shapiro

Portrayed By: John Travolta
  • Bad Liar: Shapiro can't hide that he believes O.J. to be guilty, no matter how many times he says otherwise.
  • Did Not Think This Through: Shapiro comes up with the theory that O.J. has been framed by racist members of the LAPD. However, this is only two years after the L.A. race riots which were triggered by the acquittal of the police officers who were caught beating a black man on camera. As Cochran and Bailey continue to fan the flames of racial tensions by milking the racist police conspiracy theory, Shapiro becomes increasingly terrified that the trial's outcome will result in another race riot that he will be blamed for.
  • Everyone Has Standards: Slimeball he may be, but one thing that draws the line for him is when Johnnie hires Louis Farrakhan to be his security for the verdict. Farrakhan's men are notoriously anti-Semitic, so as a Jewish man he wants nothing to do with them.
  • It's All About Me: Throughout the series, Shapiro's number one concern is how everything connected to the case will affect him.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: While Shapiro seems mostly concerned with his image and political connections in Los Angeles, his concerns that the trial (and Cochran's focus on race in particular) might spark riots or other violence are very well-founded just a few years after Rodney King and the LA Riots.
  • The Millstone: Shapiro's only useful contributions to The Dream Team at the beginning are turning the case into a media circus by suggesting the LAPD only targeted Simpson out of racism (and then later saying the case will never be about race). He commits blunders that compromise the defense, suggests throwing the case at one point, and gets in childish fights with Cochran and Bailey. His only comeback (coming up with the strategy of having O.J. try on the gloves) is after four straight episodes of mistakes and almost completely losing O.J.'s confidence.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Shapiro is the one that specifically comes up with the idea to play the "race card" by suggesting that Simpson was framed just for being a successful black celebrity, and also directly injected the story into the mass media. Later, Shapiro is bluntly criticized that because of this, if they lose the trial, there's going to be another large-scale race riot which might dwarf the Rodney King riots, many people will die, and it will all be on his head. Shapiro becomes genuinely horrified, then desperately pulls a 180 turn, denying he ever suggested the trial was about race, wearing a police solidarity pin, etc. Of course, he's not so much horrified that people might die as he's frightened that people will accurately think it's his fault, and his career will be ruined.
  • Opportunistic Bastard: He is fully willing to use 'the race card' even if it means it'll flare up racial tensions, just so he can get his client off.
  • Out-Gambitted: He starts out as OJ's lead attorney, but he fumbles the case so badly that Cochran can easily swoop in and usurp his seat with backing from Bailey, whom Shapiro had previously spurned.
  • Punch-Clock Villain: Shapiro isn't evil per se. But he effectively works to get criminals reduced sentences and takes pride in the fact that he is able to negotiate favorable sentences.
  • Rage Breaking Point: When Ito is being investigated for being legally ethical to be on the trial when his wife is brought in, Johnny wants to put the pressure on the cross examination judge to avoid a mistrial. Shapiro blows up on him about this given how much pressure he's put on the city for a whole year.
    Robert Shapiro: PRESSURE?! You wanna turn up the pressure?! This city's about to explode! We have. Enough. Pressure.
  • Throwing the Fight: Shapiro is infamous for getting more settlements than winning cases and it is obvious (despite his claim to the contrary) that he doesn't believe O.J. is innocent. His proposal to have O.J. plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter earns him a demotion in favor of Cochran.
  • Small Name, Big Ego: Shapiro's defining characteristic throughout the miniseries is his tremendous vanity and self-importance. The more he is sidelined by Cochran, the angrier and more disinterested he becomes.

    Johnnie Cochran 

Johnnie Cochran

Portrayed By: Courtney B. Vance

  • Awesome Ego: The faith he has in his abilities is something to behold. However, this also has a darker side, as his desire to be seen as the man who got off OJ blinds him to the fact that he's no longer working for the best interests of African American citizens in LA.
  • Berserk Button: Bringing up his own history of domestic abuse and infidelity is one of the few things that causes him to lose his cool and get panicked or furious.
  • Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Even people who don't like him (which is a lot of people) agree that he's a very good, dangerous lawyer precisely because of the stunts he pulls.
  • The Charmer: Cochran's greatest weapon is his charisma which even his opponents are willing to admit to. It's for this reason that O.J. makes him the lead on the case over Shapiro. Even Cochran's ex-wife - whom he was accused of beating - calls him "the smoothest man in L.A.".
  • Condescending Compassion: He offers to help Chris back into the black community after the dust has settled from the trial. He's sincerely making an effort to reach out to Chris, who he genuinely likes and respects, and is taken aback when Chris responds with barely concealed rage at the idea that he had ever left and shoots back that all Johnnie did was get a rich and famous football player off for a double murder and didn't change a thing for black people in general.
  • Department of Redundancy Department: As in real life, he's very fond of using multiple, similar terms to describe whatever he is speaking about to really drive home his point.
  • Dramatically Missing the Point: As Chris Darden bluntly tells him following the trial, his defense of O.J. Simpson didn't actually achieve anything that will reform the system and prevent future mistreatment of minorities by the police. All he accomplished was proving the system can be twisted in your favor if you're a rich celebrity.
  • Entertainingly Wrong: Believes the OJ trial is a major victory for the black community. Chris Darden tells him all he's done is get a rich man off for murder, and he's done absolutely nothing to truly change the system for the better.
    • Cochran also genuinely believes that OJ is completely innocent and the victim of an unfair prosecution by the LAPD. However, practically the rest of the legal "Dream Team" aside from Robert Kardashian clearly believes OJ did it, they're just there to serve their client.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: Takes great pleasure in the abuse that Marcia Clark, Christopher Darden and even Robert Shapiro get in the media. But when his previous indiscretions are threatened to be exposed, he outright bribes his ex-wife to get her to shut up. When that fails to work later on, he has a massive breakdown at his shady past coming to light.
  • It's All About Me: While he speaks a good game about exposing racial inequality, and does practice what he preaches, it's made abundantly clear that his goal is to simply win at all costs, and to get credit as the one who did it. When Robert Kardashian brings up the fact that no viable other suspects have arisen late into the trial, Cochran merely waves him off and treats the valid statement as a minor inconvenience to be sorted out later.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: For all his oily and manipulative behavior, Cochran does genuinely have the good of the black community in his heart, and is (briefly) crestfallen when Darden tells him that defending O.J. didn't do anything to stop racism. He also genuinely likes and respects Chris and even has a few nice moments with Marcia, showing he's not above kindness even to opponents.
  • Knight Templar: He's rightly furious at the institutional racism of the LAPD, and uses the trial as a chance to fight back against discrimination and injustice. Problem is, end of the day, he doesn't achieve justice for black people, just for a rich and famous one who most likely got away with murder.
  • Large Ham: He wouldn't be Johnnie Cochran if he wasn't one of these. He's at his most theatrical in front of the cameras but it's shown he's always pretty over the top even in private.
  • Manipulative Bastard: He is ridiculously charismatic and as a result he is great at political spin.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: He briefly has this expression once Darden bluntly tells him he's changed nothing, and all he's done is help a guilty man go free.
  • Opportunistic Bastard: While his concerns about police brutality against black people is sincere, he can't help himself but spin the trial into being about racism rather than about OJ being a murderer.
  • Punch-Clock Villain: "Villain" may be too harsh, but Cochran mostly works to provide justice to those in the Black community who have usually been genuinely wronged by the system. Unfortunately, the OJ Simpson case is one where he is trying to get a possible murderer off entirely, and doing so in order to achieve what he erroneously regards as a major victory for the Black community as a whole.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: He's portrayed as being the most competent of OJ's lawyers.
  • Refuge in Audacity: Part of his danger comes from his willingness to take huge risks to get his clients off, most notably gambling on the famous driving glove which could have destroyed his case had it not gone his way.
  • Right for the Wrong Reasons: Cochrane is absolutely correct that the justice system is corrupt and unfairly targets men and women of color and that the LAPD is an institution with a history of racism. Unfortunately, the case with OJ is fairly evident not one of those instances, and it's made apparent there was no impropriety on behalf of the LAPD and they actually did their jobs.
  • Technician vs. Performer: He is portrayed as the performer to just about everyone.
  • That's What I Would Do: When his past as an adulterer and an abuser is exposed, he thinks it has to be a trick by the prosecution or Robert Shapiro to slander him. After all, that's what he'd do...
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Cochran is absolutely right that Black people are unfairly marginalized and punished by the LAPD, and society in general. His concern for wanting justice for his community is also completely genuine. It's just that the thrill of the victory and the popularity that the case brings him taints his efforts.
  • Wide-Eyed Idealist: He really believes his work in the trial will expose institutional racism in American society and change things for the better. Chris finally gets fed up and tells him after that all he's done is allowed a brutal murderer and abuser to get off because he was rich and he hasn't made life any better for black people in general.
  • Worthy Opponent: He reaches out to Chris after the trial, praising him for his work and showing genuine respect for him as a lawyer and on a personal level, and has a few moments of respect for Marcia when she proves herself adept at matching him at his own game.
  • Wrong Genre Savvy: After a fashion. Cochran genuinely believes he is fighting a crucial battle for civil rights, and representing an unfairly maligned Black man being set up for murder. In actuality, he's helping what appears to be a murderer get off scot free.

LAPD

    Mark Fuhrman 

Detective Mark Fuhrman

Portrayed By: Steven Pasquale
  • Bigot with a Badge: He is shown to be a collector of Nazi memorabilia and his past of using racist epithets and brutality against minorities is used against him and the prosecution by the defense.
    • The show references how the late-night comics would call him "Der Fuhrerman"
  • Cowboy Cop: Played With, as he definitely does some...unusual things during his investigation. Though if he actually bent or outright broke the law is left ambiguous.
  • Digging Yourself Deeper: Boy does he doesn't even begin to describe Fuhrman's conduct during this trial.
  • Dirty Cop: Played With. The defense certainly paints him this way during the trial, and his conduct during the trial doesn't help matters.
  • Historical Villain Upgrade: In real life, although there were allegations made about Fuhrman owning Nazi medals, it was never proven in court and was dismissed as hearsay. The series' portrayal of him, by contrast, is directly shown to collect them and other Nazi paraphernalia.

    Phil Vanatter 

Detective Phillip Vanatter

Portrayed By: Michael McGrady

    Tom Lange 

Detective Tom Lange

Portrayed By: Chris Bauer

    Dennis Fung 

Dennis Fung

Portrayed By: Jun Han Lee

The Dream Team & Associates

    Alan Dershowitz 

Alan Dershowitz

Portrayed By: Evan Handler

  • Amoral Attorney: He is first seen arguing in favor of OJ's guilt on TV, prompting Bob Shapiro to hire him as part of the defense—which, of course, immediately changes his tune.

    Carl Douglas 

Carl E. Douglas

Portrayed By: Dale Godboldo

    Linell Shapiro 

Linell Shapiro

Portrayed By: Cheryl Ladd

    Barry Scheck 

Bary Scheck

Portrayed by: Rob Morrow

  • Demoted to Extra: In Toobin's book, Scheck is portrayed as being the lawyer who had the most to do with OJ's acquittal apart from Cochran. Here, his role is greatly reduced.

The Jury

    Armanda Cooley 

Armanda Cooley/Poker Face

Portrayed By: Susan Beaubian

Simpson Family & Friends

    Kato Kaelin 

Brian "Kato" Kaelin

Portrayed By: Billy Magnussen

    Mama Simpson 

Eunice "Mama" Simpson

Portrayed By: Valeri Ross

    Jason Simpson 

Jason simpson

Portrayed By: Tye White

    Arnelle Simpson 

Arnelle Simpson

Portrayed By: Ariel Diane King

    AC Cowlings 

Al "AC" Cowlings

Portrayed By: Malcolm-Jamal Warner
  • Childhood Friends: Him and OJ have known each other since they were kids, and their bond runs deep.
  • Undying Loyalty: Always believes OJ is innocent, and desperately tries to save him as he is suicidal.

    Justin Simpson 

Justin Simpson

Portrayed By: Ehsan Shahidi

    Sydney Simpson 

Sydney Simpson

Portrayed By: Asia Monet Ray

News and Media

    Dennis Schatzman 

Dennis Schatzman

Portrayed By: Leonard Roberts

The Victims Families & Friends

    Juditha Brown 

Juditha Brown

Portrayed By: Mary Anne McGarry

    Louis Brown 

Louis Brown

Portrayed By: Garrett M. Brown

    Tanya Brown 

Tanya Brown

Portrayed By: Jenna Willis

    Dominique Brown 

Dominique Brown

Portrayed By: Kelsey Griswold

    Kris Jenner 

Kris Jenner

Portrayed By: Selma Blair
  • Amicable Exes: While Kris is upset at Robert for being a part of OJ's defense team, they are still on cordial terms and clearly care for one another.
  • Easily Forgiven: She was infuriated that Robert supported OJ, as she was certain that he butchered her friend Nicole. She immediately forgives Robert when he weeps ashamed as he comes to recognize OJ's guilt.
  • Only Sane Woman: Akin to the Goldbergs is one of the only ones who simply regards the trial as being for the murder of an innocent woman. Unlike, Faye, she makes no attempt to profit off of Nicole's death. Truth in Television as she famously refuses to speak much about her relationship with Nicole or the murder, which considering her family speaks volumes.
  • True Companions: With Faye and Nicole.

    Faye Resnick 

Faye Resnick

Portrayed By: Connie Britton

The Victims

    Nicole Brown Simpson 

Nicole Brown Simpson

Portrayed By: Kelly Dowdle
  • The Ghost: She is dead at the beginning of the series.

    Ron Goldman 

Ronald Lyle Goldman

Portrayed By: Jake Koeppl
  • The Ghost: Like Nicole, he is dead at the beginning of the series.

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