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Character page for Steven Spielberg's 2002 film Minority Report.

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Pre-Crime Division

    Chief John Anderton 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/johnanderton-minority_report_1359.jpg
Played By: Tom Cruise

A divorced, middle-aged man who is a Chief Officer of the Department of Precrime in Washington, D.C. The disappearance of his son, Sean, has devastated him for 6 years and provided the incentive for him to join the Precrime unit. He is addicted to drugs, which he uses to cope with the pain from the loss, but maintains a professional appearance while at work. John was a true believer in Precrime, thinking it was flawless, until the day he was somehow tagged as a future murderer. Now on the lam from his own comrades, John has to figure out why this once perfect system is out to get him and goes to unbelievable lengths to prove his innocence for a crime he hasn't even committed yet.


  • Adaptational Attractiveness: Tom Cruise (who merely turned 40 at the time) plays a guy who was described as "old, fat and bald" in the original short story.
  • Clear My Name: His entire mission is to clear his name for a crime he hasn't yet committed, although his priorities gradually change as he uncovers more of the truth behind Precrime.
  • Decomposite Character: Anderton of the short story was both the chief of Precrime and its founder. Anderton of the film is only the chief, whilst his role as its founder went to Lamar.
  • The Fettered: When push comes to shove, Anderton can't bring himself to murder Crow, instead tearfully reading him his Miranda Rights. Crow still ends up dead, but more by his own actions than Anderton's.
  • Fugitive Arc: Roughly three-quarters of the film is spent running from his former Precrime allies.
  • Functional Addict: Despite his Neuroin addiction, Anderton is able to remain perfectly functional throughout the day; it's not until he gets home from work that his chemical dependency takes over. Mostly he just uses it as a coping mechanism for his depression and severe stress.
  • He Knows Too Much: The reason he was framed. He'd been looking into the death of Anne Lively, although at first he thinks Witwer set him up to steal his job.
  • The Hero: Despite the cynical and jaded setting, he remains a straight hero throughout, moral and determined to never hurt innocents in his line of work.
  • The Leader: He's the de-facto leader of the Pre-Crime division. Fletcher, his second in command, takes up the role when John is on the run.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: When Anderton learns about minority reports, he's horrified by the possibility that he may have haloed innocent people.
  • My Greatest Failure: Being unable to prevent his son's disappearance. It's haunted Anderton for years, to the point that he takes drugs to dull the pain and still wakes up screaming from nightmares about the last time he saw him.
  • Papa Wolf: The apparent motivation for him killing Leo Crow is because of the abduction and murder of Anderton’s son Sean. Ultimately subverted when he chooses not to kill Crow, especially after he learns that Crow was hired to be Anderton’s murder victim. During his confrontation with Lamar, he yelled at Lamar for using his dead son’s memory to set him up for murder.
  • Suddenly Shouting: At the climax, when Lamar mentions Sean by name, Anderton roars at him to never do that again.
    Anderton: Don't you EVER SAY HIS NAME!

    Director Lamar Burgess 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/burgess-minority_report_8542.gif
Played By: Max von Sydow

An elderly official in Washington, D.C. who is a co-founder and current director of the Precrime Program. He and his former wife, Dr. Iris Hineman started the Precrime experiment in 2048 and is anticipating the country's approval of the system to go national. He is Anderton's superior as well as good friend and father figure to him.


  • Alas, Poor Villain: He spends his final moments apologizing to Anderton.
  • Badass Longcoat: Lamar wears one when he is called by Danny Witwer. When Lamar kills Danny, the very shot has the end of his coat covering the headshot.
  • Berserk Button: Getting too close to the crime he was hiding when he thought that no one would ever mention it again, prompts him to tell Lara that he is going to "pay a visit".
  • Big Bad: He killed Anne Lively when she was clean from drugs and wanted to get Agatha back, manipulated the Precogs' minority reports to get free from murder, and framed John for getting too deep inside the Anne Lively case.
  • Big Bad Friend: He acts as a mentor figure for Anderton but is revealed to be the one who set him up for murder to get him out of the way when Anderton got to close to an unconvenient truth.
  • Chekhov's Gun: He is given a revolver with five bullets at the Pre-Crime celebration. That same revolver is what he uses to commit suicide.
  • Composite Character: Anderton himself is a Decomposite Character as his role as the creator of Pre-Crime and of a cop were separated. Here, it's Lamar who is the creator of Pre-Crime. So Lamar was created with Anderton and General Kaplan, the elderly general and Big Bad of the short story. It was Kaplan who was the one to frame Anderson, much like Lamar, and their plans are both to consolidate power for themselves; albeit Kaplan wanted to destroy Pre-Crime while Lamar wanted to spread it.
  • Cool Old Guy: He is on good terms with John, like father and son, and he is worried about his drug addiction much like Lara. That is until John mentions the name of Anne Lively and tries to silence him by framing a murder.
  • Deadpan Snarker: When Witwer starts interrogating him about where John may have gone, Lamar sardonically claims that the last thing he and John discussed was baseball.
  • Driven to Suicide: He shoots himself in the climax to prevent himself from going to jail and see Pre-Crime undone.
  • A Father to His Men: He is very parental towards John and quite worried about his substance abuse before the events. And when he dies in John's arms he calls him son.
  • Faux Affably Evil: He continues acting as John's friend while setting him up for murder, and after it becomes clear that Witwer knows too much, Lamar adopts a light, pseudo-friendly tone as he explains that, with the precogs out of commission, no one can prevent Witwer's own murder. Later, when Lara learns Anne Lively's name, Lamar voices his intent to drop by for a visit the following day, trying to sound gentle, but coming off as menacing.
  • I Never Said It Was Poison: He slips up with Lara when he accidentally reveals that he knew how Anne Lively died when she never specified the cause of death.
  • Manipulative Bastard: He manipulated the visions of the Precogs when he committed the murder of Anne Lively leading to the Pre-Crime team to think it's an "echo", a revision of a murder from the past. Also he posed Leo Crow as the killer of Sean, John's lost son, so that Leo's family could have a better future.
    Lamar Burgess: Shh. Do you know what I hear? Nothing. No footsteps up the stairs, no hovercraft out the window, no clickety-click of little spiders. Do you know why I can't hear any of those things, Danny? Because right now, the precogs can't see a thing.
  • Morton's Fork: The situation he ends up trapped in at the climax. Either he kills Jon and gets himself jailed for murder, or he holds back and discredits Pre-Crime. Not wanting to be jailed or see his work undone, he commits suicide.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
    • He accidentally mentions that Anne Lively was drowned to Lara when she didn't say that at all. He menaces her and Lara runs to free John from prison.
    • Burgess's entire scheme to set Anderton up for murder was to stop him from discovering the truth about Anne Lively. Anderton learns what really happened to Anne as he tries to uncover the truth about the plot to frame him.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Precrime is his life's work, and he believes it ultimately does good. It later transpires that he knew about the minority reports, but kept it quiet for the greater good. And he killed Anne Lively when she wanted to get Agatha back, something that would bring down Precrime.

    Danny Witwer 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/witwer-minority_report_2154.gif
Played By: Colin Farrell

A cocky Department of Justice agent sent to observe and evaluate the Precrime process. He spent three years in divinity school and carries a rosary. He chose his career path because his father, who was a policeman, was murdered when he was 15.


  • Adaptational Dye-Job: In the book, he has blond hair and blue eyes. In the movie, he has black hair and brown eyes.
  • Adaptation Name Change: He was named Ed Witwer in the original short story.
  • Alone with the Psycho: When he calls Lamar to talk about the Leo Crow and Anne Lively crimes. It's that same time when it's revealed to the audience that Lamar is the mastermind and kills Witwer.
  • Boom, Headshot!: Lamar shoots him in the head to make sure he is dead.
  • Death by Adaptation: It is worth mentioning that in the short story, Witwer survived the events of the story, and became the next head of Pre-Crime. In the movie, he is shot and killed by Lamar Burgess for knowing too much.
  • He Knows Too Much: He is murdered by Lamar for getting too close to the truth about Anne Lively.
  • Face Death with Dignity: He kisses his rosary beads one more time before he is shot in the head.
  • Gory Discretion Shot: The part where he is killed by Lamar, the shot in the head is covered by Lamar's longcoat.
  • Inspector Javert: To Anderton. He pursues him during the first half of the film for the future Leo Crow murder. Subverted in that after Crow dies, he looks over the evidence and realizes that Anderton has been set up.
  • Internal Affairs: The whole reason he shows up at Precrime is to evaluate the process, and in particular he sets his sights on John.
  • Irish Priest: He spent three years in divinity school before going into law enforcement. He still carries rosary beads.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Witwer comes off as smug, and his bringing up Sean's disappearance to both John and Lara is exceptionally callous, which furthers the film's portrayal of him as an antagonist. However, he's on the up and up, and, when he realises that Anderton is being set up, his first response is to try and call off the hunt.
  • Killed to Uphold the Masquerade: He is murdered by Lamar when he gets too close to the truth.
  • Officer O'Hara: Witwer is a native Irishman, like his actor Colin Farrell. Before joining the Department of Justice, he was a homicide detective in an unspecified police department.
  • Orgy of Evidence: The Trope Namer. He tells this to Fletcher at the Leo Crow crime scene when he knows that it was all a frame-up for John Anderton.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: Briefly becomes this after he realizes Anderton was indeed set up and before he's murdered by Burgess.
  • Red Herring: At first glance, the story would have you believe he's the antagonist of the movie, being hellbent on hunting down John and supposedly wanting John's job for himself. Turns out he's just a really dedicated investigator, and is in fact the first person to suspect that John had been set up.
  • Religious Bruiser: Before facing John at the Lexus factory he kisses his rosary beads and begins his fight against him.
  • Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: He's obsessed with finding the flaw in Precrime, but drug abuse is a legit reason for busting Anderton and he doesn't blame Anderton for being framed for Crow's murder when he sees the forged evidence. Also, in the end, it turns out that he was right all along about Precrime. Too bad he didn't live to see it.
  • Too Dumb to Live: Is able to discover a criminal conspiracy has been carried out by someone with inside knowledge of Pre-Crime, yet he somehow fails to consider the possibility that this person could be the guy with the most inside knowledge of anyone involved in the project, Lamar Burgess. Thus he explains his discovery to Burgess while both of them are isolated far from the police station and while the precog units are not functioning, thus handing Burgess the perfect opportunity to get away with murdering him. Burgess could not have come up with a better way to murder a cop and get away with it than the one Witwer handed him on a silver platter.
  • The Watson: In the opening scenes, his lack of familiarity with the specifics of Precrime's methods necessitate an explanation being given to Witwer and, by extension, the audience.

    Gordon Fletcher 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fletcher-minority_report_2619.gif
Played By: Neal McDonough

A former U.S. Treasury Agent who became the second-in-command Precrime officer and John's loyal right-hand man.


  • Number Two: Anderton's right-hand man. When John goes on the run, Lamar notes that Fletcher is next in line to assume command of the team, objecting to Witwer seizing authority over him.

    Knott 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/knott-minority_report_5201.gif

One of the precops on Anderton's team.


  • The Big Guy: His main role on the team is to provide muscle, though Anderton's ingenuity gives him an edge when they fight.

    Evanna Frank 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/evanna-minority_report_1168.gif
Played By: Jessica Capshaw

The precop pilot on Anderton's team.


  • Older Than They Look: Presumably she has to be an adult or at least teenager, but looks about 10 years old. For what it's worth, Capshaw was 26 at the time so not that old (but, still, not a child). She does at least sound like an adult, so it's easy enough to guess she's probably just gifted with a baby face.

    Jad Alexander 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jad-minority_report_8697.gif
Played By: Steve Harris

An operations liaison at Precrime who assists the officers.


  • The Big Guy: Of a non-combatant type. He's literally called 'big man' by one of his coworkers at one point.
  • Friend on the Force: Anderton's wife calls him and ask him for the favor of transferring the Anne Lively murder images from Agatha straight into the conference room where Burgess is celebrated for his achievements. Jad agrees without a second thought.

    Gideon 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gideon-minority_report_1683.gif
Played By: Tim Blake Nelson

The warden who watches over prisoners forced into "halo sleep".


  • Captain Obvious: After he points out to Anderton that Agatha's data stream was missing from the Ann Lively murder case, he goes on to repeat the same message using different words:
    "See? We have the two previsions. We got what Art saw, we got what Dash saw, but Agatha's isn't here."
  • Large Ham: A very loud person, to say the least.

    Wally 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wally-minorityreport_8417.png
Played By: Daniel London

The technician at Precrime who cares for the Precogs. After Precrime was dissolved, he helped the Precogs adjust to normal life. In 2065, he's become a recluse, paranoid about the government spying on him, though he proves an invaluable ally for Dash and Lara by rigging a system that allows them to see Dash's vision.


  • Fatherly Scientist: His job at precrime was, essentially, to take care of the precogs. Getting to know them outside of the milk bath, he became something of an Honorary Uncle, especially to Dash.
  • Mr. Exposition: He explains to Witwer how the Precogs work.

Other Characters of 2054

    Lara Anderton 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lara-minority_report_9607.gif
Played By: Kathryn Morris
Dubbed By: Laurence Bréheret (European French)

Anderton's ex-wife and the mother of his lost son.


  • Alone with the Psycho: When she visits Lamar after John has been detained. More prominently when she tells him that she didn't mention that Anne Lively was drowned.
  • Babies Ever After: After reuniting and starting a new life with John again, she is seen pregnant.
  • Divorce Is Temporary: Divorced after Sean's disappearance, they return back after solving the Anne Lively murder.
  • She Knows Too Much: When Lamar accidentally reveals to her how Ann Lively was murdered, and subsequently promises to further "discuss" the issue at her place later on, she pretty much figures that she'll fall victim to this trope unless she does something, so...
  • Took a Level in Badass: When she finds out that Lamar is not up to something good, she goes to the prison using John's original eyes to get in and forces Gideon at gunpoint to free her husband.

    Dr. Iris Hineman 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hineman-minority_report_3371.jpg
Played By: Lois Smith

A lonely, jaded, retired clinical physician who was a co-founder and major pioneer of the Precrime Program and ex-wife of Lamar Burgess.


  • Call to Agriculture: She has retired and found a new passion in nursing her Garden of Evil.
  • Cloud Cuckoolander: Hineman's light, unfaltering tone, casual description of the effects of her plants, and poetic description of the precogs makes her come across as rather eccentric. She also plants a kiss on Anderton for no apparent reason before sending him on his way.
  • Dissonant Serenity: She gives a very calm explanation of the potentially fatal effects of a plant Anderton scraped himself against while breaking into her garden. While Anderton is undergoing said effects.
  • Irony: She gives a speech about how organisms will focus upon their own survival as a priority, but later in the movie, this assumption is subverted when Crowe begs Anderton to kill him so that his family is "taken care of", and eventually provokes Anderton to pull the trigger while struggling to force the weapon to aim at his chest, being pushed back towards the window and falling through to his death from the bullet weakening the glass pane.
  • Mr. Exposition: Her purpose in the story is to tell in detail the origins of Pre-Crime and the precogs, and revealing the existence of the minority reports.

    Dr. Solomon P. Eddie 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/solomon-minority_report_4222.gif
Played By: Peter Stormare
Dubbed By: Féodor Atkine (European French)

A crooked plastic surgeon arrested by Anderton many years ago for setting his patients on fire, Dr Eddie now makes a living by performing illegal surgical operations. The first of Anderton's underworld contacts encountered, he provides Anderton with new eyes.


  • Back-Alley Doctor: His profession. Working out of a filthy apartment, the only thing stopping the operations from turning disastrous is a combination of Eddie's own expertise and a metric ton of antibiotics.
  • Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Creepy and borderline-insane though he may be, Dr Eddie is actually a very capable surgeon.
  • Deadly Doctor: Subverted. After admitting that he set his patients on fire, Dr Eddie is very quick to note that he eventually put them out, and he doesn't actually commit murder during the film.
  • Evil Is Petty: After explaining his arrest and imprisonment in great detail, the film briefly gives the impression that Eddie might take revenge by deliberately botching the surgery or straight-up murdering Anderton. Instead, Eddie seems pretty content to leave Anderton unharmed except for a few extremely cheap jokes at his expense - namely by leaving a moldy sandwich and a bottle of spoiled milk next to their perfectly fresh counterparts in the fridge.
  • Jerkass: Yells at his assistant, sedates Anderton without waiting for his content, and goes on to play a number of disgusting pranks on his freshly-blinded patient.
  • Large Ham: For most of his time in the spotlight, Eddie is gleefully gnawing on the scenery, especially once the sedatives kick in and Anderton goes quiet.
    Solomon: Quack, quack!
  • Mad Doctor: Originally arrested and jailed for setting his patients on fire, all so he could demonstrate his skills in patching them up. Later, as a black-market surgeon, he has no trouble with playing incredibly petty tricks on recently-blinded patients... and for good measure, it's never established exactly how Mr Yakamoto donated his eyeballs to Eddie's surgery.
  • Organ Theft: Implied to be the recipient of stolen organs, especially given that Anderton's new eyeballs still have their owner's ID attached to them.
  • Prison Rape: Cheerfully recalls that most of his time in prison was spent desperately trying to avoid this trope. In the end, he succeeded by cloistering himself in the library and studying medicine for as long as humanly possible, which is one of the reasons why he's able to perform the operation on Anderton to begin with.
    For true enlightenment, there is nothing like... well, let's just say taking a shower while this large fellow with an attitude you couldn't knock down with a hammer keeps whispering in your ear "Oh Nancy, oh Nancy." Now that was a lot of fun.

    Leo Crow 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/leocrow-minority_report_109.gif
Played By: Mike Binder

An otherwise unassuming citizen of D.C., and John's future victim.


  • Chronic Evidence Retention Syndrome: Subverted. When Anderton tracks him down, Crow's bed is covered in photographs of children — supposedly all the children he murdered; however, it's later revealed that the evidence was deliberately planted in order to drive Anderton to murder, making this an Enforced Trope.
  • Death Seeker: Though clearly frightened by the incoming ordeal, Crow is clearly resigned to death at Anderton's hands if it means that his family will be taken care of... and when it looks like Anderton might be about to walk away, Crow actually goes so far as to force his hand.
  • Driving Question: Who is Leo Crow, and why would Anderton want to kill him?
  • Good All Along: It turns out that the photographs of missing children in his apartment are staged and he's not a serial killer at all. Instead he was set up as a patsy to drive Anderton to murder, hoping to be killed so that his family would be financially taken care of.
  • Insurance Fraud: Attempts to secure money for his family by trying to get executed by Anderton.
  • Killed Mid-Sentence: Heard throughout the visions and finally in reality. However, it's not until the end that the context behind the words becomes clear.
    Anderton, wait a sec-
  • Orgy of Evidence: The trope-naming incident. He seemingly leaves a massive, incriminating pile of photos of missing and abducted children on his hotel room bed, so as to make Anderton's "motive" unambiguous. However, all of it reads as a little too convenient for Witwer, who drops the trope name and realises that Anderton's being set up.
  • Serial Killer: Subverted. Despite the many photographs of missing children and apparent past victims in his possession, he's actually an innocent man.
  • The Scapegoat: Agreed to pose as the murderer of Sean Anderton and hundreds of other children, all in order to get John Anderton to murder him; in return, Crow's family would receive financial support.
  • Suicide by Cop: When Anderton fails to kill him, he forces Anderton to shoot him, thus making it look like the Precogs' vision was real.
  • Would Hurt a Child: Subverted; while the set-up makes Crow appear to be a serial child killer, he is no such thing. Lamar just set him up to look like one so Anderton would have a believable motive for murdering him.

    Rufus T. Riley 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rufustriley-minority_report_4519.gif
Played By: Jason Antoon

A mildly flamboyant computer and electronics expert previously charged with felony hacking, now running a well-known Cyberspace parlor called "Dreamweaver". A "friend" of Anderton's, he is called upon to extract Anderton's minority report from Agatha's brain.


  • Alliterative Name: Take out the middle initial and you get Rufus Riley.
  • Blatant Lies: Indulges in this during his introduction; halfway through discussing a VR scenario featuring the murder of a client's boss, Riley notices Anderton striding towards him. Without missing a beat, Riley starts talking as loudly as possible about VR scenarios about becoming a conductor, then acting disgusted when the client tries to push the issue.
  • Kissing Cousins: Suggested. He apparently has "thoughts" about his cousin Elaina.
  • Percussive Maintenance: Discussed; when Anderton asks him to slow down the playback from Agatha's mind, Riley wonders aloud if he should hit her over the head.
  • Reformed Criminal: He might be a bit of a sleaze, but for a former cybercriminal, Riley's actually running a semi-legitimate business and rather shaky about virtual reality scenarios that might draw police attention.
  • Videogame Cruelty Potential: Since most of his business involves tailoring virtual reality scenarios for high-paying customers, Riley often ends up catering to clients who want to commit murder or have sex in their scenarios. For example, one client can be seen asking for a VR setup where he can murder his boss, and though Riley isn't willing to talk about the subject when cops are on the premises, he doesn't consider it out of the question.

    Anne Lively 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/anne_lively-minority_report_1324.gif
Played By: Jessica Harper

A former Neuroin addict and mother of Agatha. Drowned by an unknown assailant a few years prior to the events of the film. Her murder was one of the earliest Precrime cases. She promptly becomes the subject of John's investigation upon seeing her in a prevision.


  • Hope Spot: Murdered while waiting to be reunited with her long-lost daughter. Agatha's vision of the future makes this moment even nastier: Anne had just been rescued from an unknown assailant by Precrime cops, and Lamar had followed this up by personally comforting her and giving her every assurance that she'd be allowed to meet Agatha soon. Minutes later, Lamar dons a ski mask and gloves, and murders Anne Lively in cold blood.
  • Killed to Uphold the Masquerade: By Lamar Burgess, in order to prevent Anne from potentially destabilizing Precrime.
  • Leitmotif: A gloomy One-Woman Wail tune plays whenever she appears on-screen.
  • Oh, Crap!: The visions of her final moments tend to focus on her horrified expression a great deal. And it's not just because she knows she's going to be murdered - it's because she's realized that the murder's going to be committed by the man who supposedly rescued her.
  • Posthumous Character: Dead for six years before the film begins.
  • Small Role, Big Impact: Only appears in a handful of scenes, most of them Precog visions of her death... and yet the events of the film could never have happened without her. To begin with, her Neuroin addiction ends up bestowing psychic powers upon her unborn daughter, completing the Precog triad with its most powerful member and ensuring the formation of Precrime. Anderton's investigation into her murder ends up getting him framed in order to prevent him from discovering the truth, kicking off the main plot of the movie. Finally, Agatha's vision of her death, as displayed before the public, ends up helping to discredit Precrime for good.

    Sean Anderton 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sean-minority_report_822.png
Played By: Tyler Patrick Jones and Dominic Scott Kay

John and Lara's beloved son, who was kidnapped six years before the events of the film.


  • Timeshifted Actor: Tyler Jones plays Sean around age 10 or so while Dominic Kay plays Sean at age 6.
  • The Unreveal: We never find out what happened to him.

The Precogs

     As a Whole 
The Precogs were the children of Neuroin addicts who developed the ability to see the future. Though capable of having visions of anything, the most common thing is murder — which caught the attention of the authorities. At a young age, they were inducted into the Precrime system and spent six long years having visions of every murder within the city. After Precrime dissolves, they are moved away from the public to live peacefully, but while Agatha prefers her new life, her brothers are not as content.
  • Adaptational Intelligence: The Precogs were near brain dead in the original short story. Not fit for anything or than muttering incomprehensible predictions that could only be deciphered by computers.
  • And I Must Scream: The Precogs' existence under Precrime. Already prisoners of the Temple, they're also effectively imprisoned within their own bodies as a result of their drug regime, forced to watch horrific murders committed on a 24/7 basis. For good measure, their sedation not only prevents them from awakening from sleep, but it also prevents them from drifting into too deep a sleep, keeping them suspended in a hellish limbo between consciousness and unconsciousness.
  • Blessed with Suck: Big time. Imagine you're able to see the future, but it's mainly continual flashes of people being horrifically murdered. Now imagine you've been doing this your entire life. Basically, your head has been filled with virtually nothing but sheer invokedNightmare Fuel... and as long as the government can still rely on your predictions, it's never going to stop.
  • Dehumanization: When discussing their plight, Anderton admits that "it's better if you don't think of them as people".
  • Dreaming of Things to Come: Dr. Hineman tells Anderton that the "gifted" children had nightmares of the terrifying things that would later turn true.
  • Hive Mind: Wally explains that they are a hive-mind and it takes all three of them for their prediction to work.
  • Intoxicated Superpower Snag: The Precogs' ability to predict murders only works in their nightmares, so the Department of Precrime keeps Agatha, Arthur, and Dashiel drugged so that they'll always be receptive to new visions... at the cost of leaving them stuck endlessly watching murders and unable to wake from their semi-conscious dream-states. After Agatha is freed by Anderton, it's discovered that she still has powers while sober and awake, though her conscious vision is limited to a few minutes into the future - meaning that she's been operating under this trope for most of her life.
  • Instant Oracle: Just Add Water!: They float in a milky substance that seems to support their visual capacities.
  • Junkie Prophet: Because their visions of murders are experienced in dreams, the Precogs were kept in a state of perpetual sedation while in Precrime activity. Plus, it was because of the drug Neuroin that they were born with their powers to begin with.
  • Police Psychic: Exaggerated. However, the precogs have been in government control since childhood, constantly see the worst of humanity in their visions, and are constantly sedated to keep them compliant.
  • Psychic Powers: Precognition or Clairvoyance in this case as the unexpected byproduct of a Bizarre Baby Boom with "neuroin"-addicted parents somehow granting their offspring with super abilities.
  • Secret Project Refugee Family: The three precogs at the end.
  • Seers: They can see the future in brief flashes.
  • Tainted Veins: They sport visible veins on their faces and foreheads.
  • Theme Naming: Agatha, Arthur, and Dashiell are named after iconic mystery fiction writers Agatha Christie (Murder on the Orient Express), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes), and Dashiell Hammett (Sam Spade).

    Agatha 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/agatha-minority_report_8356.gif
Played By: Samantha Morton (film), Laura Regan (series)

The lead precognitive, who has the most powerful psychic abilities of the three. For tropes applying to her in the Sequel Series, see here.


  • Break the Cutie: She endures traumatic experiences her whole life as a result of her powers, including witnessing her own mother's murder.
  • Cloud Cuckoolander: Agatha and reality have a rather tenuous relationship and most of her dialogue following her initial release swings from traumatized mumbling to barely-comprehensible advice.
  • The Cuckoolander Was Right: Her apparently random orders actually help Anderton stymie their pursuers; she is a Precog, after all.
  • Mad Oracle: Played with. Years spent under constant sedation while being forced to observe murders have left her more than a little bit disturbed, an impression only worsened by her lack of social skills; however, as she spends more time outside of captivity, she gradually becomes more lucid and is able to help Anderton more directly.
  • Meaningful Name: Named after celebrated novelist Agatha Christie. Her last name, revealed to be Lively as she turns out to be the daughter of Anne Lively, may ironically refer to the nature of her function in Precrime: continually seeing people killed in gruesome ways and constantly kept somewhat sedated thus being "neither dead nor alive".
  • Non-Linear Character: She is so used to seeing nothing but the future that after Anderton breaks her out of Precrime she has to ask him "Is this now?", as it's been so long since she's seen the present.
  • The Other Darrin: In the TV series she's played by Laura Regan.
  • Powered by a Forsaken Child: Without her, the 6-year Precrime experiment wouldn't have existed. The people of DC can live in peace knowing that Precrime will keep them safe from any murders that are about to go down...but only at the cost of keeping her and the twins constantly sedated and continually seeing human nature at its worst on a daily basis.
  • Properly Paranoid: Dash thinks she's overreacting when she tells him that his working with Vega is dangerous, but she has visions to back her own fears up. She doesn't tell him because she doesn't want to scare him about the possibility that they will be recaptured and Precrime reinstated.
  • Waif Prophet: Agatha has been left extremely frail as a result of her time in captivity, and can barely walk without assistance following her release.
  • Women Are Wiser: Dr. Hineman notes that she is the most talented one among the three precogs. Once Anderton kidnaps her from the system, this literally breaks the Hive Mind and prevents the Precrime system from functioning during her absence.
  • You Killed My Mother: Lamar killed her mother and used her to predetermine future crimes. A reoccurring scene she sees is her mother's death.

    Dashiell 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/arthuranddashiell-minority_report_1758.png
Played By: Matthew Dickman (film), Stark Sands (series)

One of the twin Precogs who, along with Agatha and Arthur, form a hive-minded psychic link to see future murders. After his release, he was still troubled by the murders he saw, and returned to DC in order to try and solve them. He comes up short until he teams up with Detective Lara Vega. For tropes applying to him in the Sequel Series, see here.


  • Always Identical Twins: In the film. In the series, however, it's retconned to fraternal.
  • Ascended Extra: Dashiell becomes one of the lead characters in the Minority Report TV series.
  • Meaningful Name: Named after iconic mystery writer Dashiell Hammett (Sam Spade).
  • No Social Skills: Dash has only come into the public world in the past few weeks - and the fact that he was imprisoned for most of his life and never saw anything but murder certainly doesn't help matters.
  • Powered by a Forsaken Child: He was placed in the Precrime division at a young age.
  • The Runt at the End: Dash is the youngest and "weakest" of the precogs. His name even starts with a different letter. When they were in the temple, Agatha would get the clearest image and Arthur would get the names while Dash's visions would be used to fill in the gaps. Now that Dash is trying to operate alone, the limitations of his abilities make trying to stop murders all the more difficult.

    Arthur 
Played By: Michael Dickman (film), Nick Zano (series)

One of the twin Precogs who, along with Agatha and Dashiell, form a hive-minded psychic link to see future murders. Between the events of the movie and the series, Arthur grew dissatisfied with being locked away from society and returned to DC. When Dash next meets him he's become arrogant and rich through his abilities. For tropes applying to him in the series, see here.


  • Always Identical Twins: In the film. In the series, however, it's retconned to fraternal.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Arthur is much more at ease with the world than Dash, and is better prepared with a quip than his younger twin.
  • Meaningful Name: Named after iconic mystery writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes).
  • Mundane Utility: Not exactly "mundane", as he's used his visions to steal the identities of rich people about to die and clean out their accounts, allowing him to live in a penthouse suite. Still, it's a leap from preventing murders like he used to.
  • Powered by a Forsaken Child: They were placed in the Precrime division at a young age.
  • Power Perversion Potential: Arthur used his abilities to get rich and take advantage of people - and implies that this includes showing off to seduce women.

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