Characters / Under the Dome

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Main Characters

Dale "Barbie" Barbara

Played by: Mike Vogel

• Anti-Hero: He's killed many people even before being in the dome.
• Convicted by Public Opinion: To the point where no one even questions Big Jim's word against his. When he utters a plea of "Not Guilty" during the Kangaroo Court held for him, the townspeople don't even bother to hear his side of the story and instead jump straight to building a gallows.

• Easily Forgiven: Julia doesn't seem as upset as you'd expect when she finds out that Barbie killed her husband and then lied to her about it.
• Fall Guy: Big Jim frames him for all of the murders that he committed. Technically, he did kill Dr. Shumway, but it was in self defence.
• Gender-Blender Name:
  • His nickname, "Barbie", is more widely known as the name of the female doll line by Mattel.
  • His last name is Barbara, which is often used as a female name.
• Loan Shark: Worked as one under Maxine Seagrave.
• Nom de Guerre: He was given the nickname "Barbie" while he was in the army. The nickname came as a shortening of his last name and stuck, even after his discharge.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: The only person who ever refers to Barbie by his first name is his father. He introduces himself as Barbie and everyone in Chester's Mill, plus the few people from his past that are introduced, call him as such.
  Julia: Who the hell are you?
  Barbie: Barbie. People just call me Barbie.
  Julia: Barbie?
  Barbie: It's a nickname.
• Romancing the Widow: Barbie ends up engaged to Julia Shumway. Julia's husband Peter was killed shortly before the dome came down by Barbie in a case of self-defense. However, when he finds out that Julia is Peter's widow, Barbie doesn't really hesitate with continuing their relationship. Aside from an angry outburst when she finds out, Julia isn't really perturbed that she's in a relationship with her husband's killer and makes it a point that she does want to continue their relationship.
• Sympathetic Murderer: He murdered Peter Shumway, but only because Peter pulled a gun on him and threatened to shoot him, making the murder an act of self-defense. Even then, Barbie initially disarmed Peter and tried several times to make him stop before being forced to shoot him.

Big Jim Rennie

Played by: Dean Norris

• Adaptational Nice Guy: He's much more sympathetic and earnestly well-meaning than his utterly monstrous and despicable literary counterpart.
• A God Am I: Not quite a God, but his ego combined with his realization that his wife predicted the Dome coming has convinced Jim that he and his family have been chosen by divine providence to lead the town.
• Affably Evil: For a murderous, power-hungry councilman, Big Jim is actually pretty friendly if you're on his good side.
• Aloof Ally: He's hardly on the side of Barbie and the townspeople, but in the beginning, he still largely has the same goals as them and will help the town out when it seems other tactics have failed — usually by throwing his weight around as a councilman and acting mayor. However, he descends into flat out enemies with Barbie by the end of season 1.
• A Real Man Is a Killer: If his speech to Agatha Seagrave is any indication.

• Big Bad Duumvirate: With Rebecca during the first half of Season 2. They join forces and attempt to poison some of the town with a disease, but Rebecca ends up having a Heel–Face Turn and can't go through with it.

• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Before going off to kill Maxine, Big Jim tells Junior to stay at home with an almost tearful farewell that makes you wonder if Big Jim knows he might not come back alive.
• Hanging Judge: In the season one finale he orders a gallows be built to execute Barbie.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: Starts out as a Well-Intentioned Extremist Anti-Villain, albeit a bit more bloodthirsty than most Anti Villains. Reluctantly joins forces with the protagonists when a bigger threat comes along, only to backstab them once the new threat is neutralized. Spends all of season 2 as a villain, even trying to cut a deal with the new villains that arrive late in the season, only to get backstabbed by them and Non Lethal KOed by his own son... which spares him from the real villains' Lotus-Eater Machine, leaving him as a hero for season 3.
• I've Come Too Far: Most of the murders he commits are Asshole Victims in their own right, but his cold-blooded killing of Dodee after she hears the military chatter discussing his murder of the Reverend, sets him into full villain territory.

• Karma Houdini: After having lied, bullied, blackmailed and murdered his way through the entire series, he ends up as a well-paid Congressman without any comeuppance whatsoever, be it legal persecution or whatnot. Granted, he did have to kill his son to get there, but he appears to have gotten over that one pretty well.

• Mayor Pain: He definitely qualifies as the evil variant, though his title is "councilman" rather than "mayor". He's still essentially the acting mayor as he's the senior member of the town council, mayor included, who was in Chesters' Mill when the Dome came down.
• Morality Pet:
  • His son Junior, and also Rose.
  • Season 3 gives him a literal one, a stray dog that he eventually decides to take care of and names Indy.
• Protagonist Journey to Villain: He gets progressively more villainous as the series goes on.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Snarkily lampshaded by Norrie, who points out that for a man calling himself "Big Jim", he's really just a petty man who is not above threatening kids to satisfy his need to feel powerful and important.
• Skewed Priorities: Starts making a power grab the very day the Dome comes down.
• Villain Has a Point: Despite being an unrepentant jerkass, Big Jim definitely makes many valid points throughout the series and gives the protagonists information that aids them later on. So many points in fact that many fatal attacks directed towards him are disallowed to make use of his points.
• Villainous Valor: No matter what we think of Big Jim's motives and methods, he is no coward. He leads from the front and often puts himself in danger to save others.
• Villain with Good Publicity: A rare example in that the villain actually deserves the publicity. The show makes it clear that Big Jim is a pretty terrible human being... but the town is only seeing him handle potentially serious crises with a level head, and he has saved a lot of lives through his efforts.

Julia Shumway

Played by: Rachelle Lefevre

• Always Save the Girl: Averted. She realizes that in order to protect the Egg, she cannot rescue Barbie.
• Berserk Button: She does not like being called "stupid". She socked Big Jim in the jaw for doing so a second time.
• The Chosen One: Is the "Monarch" chosen by the Dome as the one who should protect Chester's Mill.
• Dark and Troubled Past / My Greatest Failure: Used to work for a prominent newspaper, until an attempt to disgrace a local politician by using falsified documents blew up in her face, destroying her reputation and leading to her dismissal. She and her husband, Peter, moved to Chester's Mill to escape the scandal.
• Fiery Redhead: Red Hair? Check. Stubborn and hardheaded to a fault? Check. Fiery Temper? Check.

Joe McAlister

Played by: Colin Ford

• Adopt the Dog: Quite literally. He adopts a dog named Truman, who was separated from his owner when the Dome came down and... separated him.
• Cannot Keep a Secret: Much like his sister, he cannot help but let slip information he was trying to hide.
• Captain Obvious: Has a tendency to say things that are blindingly obvious to anyone with eyes.
• Shirtless Scene: While in bed and being awoken by Norrie in "Imperfect Circles."
• Teen Genius: While he's a veritable fount of knowledge, his maturity level is still clearly that of a teenage boy.
• Totally Radical: Though not nearly as often as his buddy, Ben.

Norrie Calvert-Hill

Played by: Mackenzie Lintz

• My Nayme Is: According to official materials, Norrie is short for "Elinore", a name more commonly spelled "Eleanor".

Angie McAlister

Played by: Britt Robertson

• Break the Cutie: Thanks to being locked in the Rennies' fallout shelter for nearly a week.
• Cannot Keep a Secret: Like her brother, she cannot help but let slip information she was trying to hide.
• The Chew Toy: Quoth many a fan of the show, "Can't she catch a break?"
• Damsel in Distress: For the first third of season one.
• The Lancer: To Barbie when he's on the run from the rest of the town.

• Show Some Leg: Pulls this on Junior to get him out of the way, so Barbie can rescue Julia.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Dies very early on in the book, but is a major character in the show. Subverted as of Season 2, where she is brutally killed by an ax-wielding assailant in the final moments of the premiere.

James "Junior" Rennie

Played by: Alexander Koch

Big Jim's questionably sane son. Deputized by Linda shortly after the Dome appeared.

• Antagonistic Offspring: Subverted. He at first appears to betray his dad to side with Ollie Dinsmore, but ends up switching back to his dads side and killing Ollie to save him.
• Axe-Crazy: His claims to Angie that the dome coming down have messed with her brain apply much more to himself.
  • After being made a deputy, he dials back on the crazy, but still has a strong undercurrent of being unstable.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: After Angie breaks up with him, he follows her around, sees her bumming a smoke off another guy, and decides to kidnap her and keep her locked up in his bomb shelter—for her own good, of course, because the dome coming down clearly scrambled her brains and made her stop loving him, so he has to keep her safe until it lifts. He also tries to Murder the Hypotenuse, only Barbie has no idea what he's talking about and easily kicks his ass.

• The Dragon: To Big Jim, and briefly to Ollie Dinsmore.

• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Seemed pretty upset after receiving the vision from the Dome of Big Jim with stab wounds with he and the other kids holding bloody knives. After seeing that, his first impulse is to go find Big Jim and warn him that he might be in danger.
  • His entire reasoning for keeping Angie locked up, twisted as it might have been, was due to his concern the Dome was "making her sick".
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: He shifts between being a good guy and a bad guy depending on the situation.
• I Love the Dead: In the book, he keeps the rotting corpses of two of his "girlfriends" and ravishes them. Jim is pretty appalled by this but says nothing about it to him.

• It's All About Me: Seems to be under the impression that anyone who says anything that disagrees with his views is either lying or crazy.

• Police Brutality: Likes to partake in a bit of this.
• Sanity Slippage: Suffers one pretty early on.

• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Often gets forced to work with Barbie, a man whom he distrusts and dislikes. Later, he ends up having to help the other three Hands, even when his goals and theirs are fundamentally incompatible.
• Token Evil Teammate: For Joe, Norrie, and Angie, when it's revealed that he's the Fourth Hand. This means that they often need his help even when they're working at cross purposes from each other.

Rebecca Pine

Played by: Karla Crome

• Anti-Hero: After her Heel–Face Turn, she starts helping the heroes. It's clear that they don't really trust her at first and she knows it.
• Anti-Villain: Even though she attempts to kill some of the town, its clear that she only wants to survive the Dome.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: With Big Jim in Season 2. They join forces and attempt to poison some of the town with a disease, but Rebecca ends up having a Heel–Face Turn and can't go through with it.
• Foil: Somewhat to Julia initially, as it seems Julia sees her as a bit of a rival and doesn't trust her.
• Heel–Face Turn: She can't go through with their Big Bad plan and allows Julia to arrest her.

Supporting Characters

Linda Esquivel

Played by: Natalie Martinez

• Authority in Name Only: As Sheriff, she technically outranks Big Jim, but it's clear to everyone who's really in charge.
• The Dragon: Becomes one to Big Jim gradually, although she doesn't realize he's the Big Bad, and so therefore doesn't realize she's the Dragon
• The Guards Must Be Crazy: Makes several bad decisions during her tenure as sheriff of Chester's Mill. She starts to make some better decisions in Season 2, just shortly before her death.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Gives her life to save Barbie from being flattened by Big Jim's SUV when the Dome becomes magnetized.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Duke Perkins kept her in the dark about the drug trade he was involved in to keep her safe.
• Inspector Javert: Towards Barbie near the end of season 1.
• Police Are Useless: Despite any good intentions, she's clearly not cut out for the position of Sheriff, due to an inability to keep a leash on her deputies, and being bossed around by Big Jim, whom she technically outranks.
• Unwitting Pawn: Of Big Jim.

Phil Bushey

Played by: Nicholas Strong

• It's Personal: Dodee's death does this to him.

• Took a Level in Jerkass: Gradually becomes angrier (not to mention unhinged) as the show progresses, culminating in him attempting to kill Carolyn, resulting in his death.
• Unwitting Pawn: To Big Jim, who he fully supports in wanting to execute Barbie for the murder of Dodee. What he doesn't realise is that the real murderer is Big Jim himself.

Dodee Weaver

Played by: Jolene Purdy

• A Form You Are Comfortable With: The Dome takes her form to torment Big Jim.

• Defiant to the End: Tells Big Jim "People are going to smile when you die" immediately before he shoots her to death.

Carolyn Hill

Played by: Aisha Hinds

• Adults Are Useless: Quite happily averted, as she provides aid to Norrie and Joe during Big Jim's manhunt and the blackout.
• Keeping the Enemy Close: Her logic for accepting Big Jim's offer for her family to stay in his home.
• Twofer Token Minority: a black lesbian woman

Alice Calvert

Played by: Samantha Mathis

• A Form You Are Comfortable With: The Dome takes her shape on multiple occasions to communicate with Norrie and the others.
• Hospital Hottie: She's a psychiatrist, but unfortunately is the best the town has for doctors until she dies

Minor Characters

Sheriff Duke Perkins

Played by: Jeff Fahey

• Secret-Keeper: Was complicit in both Big Jim's drug trade, and in the cover-up of Pauline Rennie's suicide.

Maxine Seagrave

Played by: Natalie Zea

• Berserk Button: Her normally calm demeanour slips when Barbie suggests she plans to operate a brothel.
• Big Bad Ensemble: With Big Jim in season 1. She portrays the characteristics of the Big Bad better than Big Jim, but doesn't have a chance to stick around long enough. But during her time as Big Bad, she causes a lot of trouble, including shooting Julia, blackmailing Barbie and Big Jim and opening up an underground fight club.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Tries to be the biggest bad in town, but ultimately loses to Big Jim.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Becomes this when Big Jim kills her.
• Even Evil Has Standards: May be actively encouraging the manufacture and sale of a highly addictive and dangerous designer drug, but is morally offended when Barbie asks if she plans to start a brothel as part of her black market.
  • That being said, her outrage actually stems from the fact that her mother was forced into prostitution, due to not being able to find a job in Chester's Mill after they shunned her for her Teen Pregnancy. If this had not been the case, it's very likely Maxine would have had no such scruples about doing so.

• Gender-Blender Name: Often goes by "Max"

Ollie Dinsmore

Played by: Leon Rippy

• Adaptational Villainy: Ollie Dinsmore was a child and Woobie in the original book. The series turns him into a grumpy older farmer, and a minor villain.

Rev. Lester Coggins

Played by: Ned Bellamy

• Axe-Crazy: Taking drugs and hearing voices makes him increasingly insane
• Church Militant: Decides it's a good idea to steal and destroy as much of the medicine in town as he can, because he thinks it's God's plan.
• Entertainingly Wrong: He believes God is speaking to him and directing him to the story of "Moab". It later turns out that he was really picking up military com-chatter via his hearing aid, who were attempting to breach the Dome with a "M.O.A.B" strike.

• Heel–Faith Turn: Regained his faith (and more than a bit of crazy) after the Dome came down. Unusually for this trope, this makes him more of a bad guy rather than less.

Pauline Rennie

Played by: Sherry Stringfield

Big Jim's late wife, and Junior's mother. An aspiring artist who died several years before the series begins.

• Cassandra Truth: Her attempts to warn her husband, Big Jim, about the Dome were written off as insanity, putting strain on their marriage.
• Driven to Suicide: A particularly nasty argument with Big Jim drove Pauline to commit suicide by crashing her car into a tree. Big Jim and Duke Perkins covered it up and paid off the sole witness to make it look like an accident. Season 2 reveals that she actually faked her death, and is living in another town named Zenith.
• Faking the Dead: Faked her death in a car accident to get away from Big Jim's influence in her life. Eventually dies for real when she's mortally wounded by Lyle late in season 2 and, at her request, euthanized by Rebecca.
• Morality Pet: Was this to Big Jim, until her death.
• Posthumous Character: Died several years prior to the series. At least that's what everyone thought.
• Waif Prophet: Apparently had some notion that the Dome and the pink stars were coming.