History Characters / TheExpanseTVProtogenCorporation

* AxCrazy: He's extremely volatile. When another prisoner takes a bench he was using, he promptly beats him half to death and takes it back. All without barely changing his expression. Hell, his first on-screen appearance had him ''losing his shit'' at Miller's squad after they disconnected the VR lab.

* RenegadeSplinterFaction: Of a sort - they have co-conspirators in both the Earth and Mars governments, but it's an alliance of convenience, as Protogen is really playing both sides off against each other to get one side to pay them more for proto-molecule research than theother.

[[Characters/TheExpanseTV MAIN]] | [[Characters/TheExpanseTVTheRocinante The Rocinante]] | [[Characters/TheExpanseTVTheBelt The Belt]] | [[Characters/TheExpanseTVTheOPA The OPA]] | [[Characters/TheExpanseTVEarth Earth]] | [[Characters/TheExpanseTVMars Mars]] | Protogen | [[Characters/TheExpanseTVIlus Ilus/New Terra]]

* NightmareFetishist: His utter absence of empathy turns him into someone who sees genuine beauty in the protomolecule, with zero fear of what it could do to humanity if allowed to grow beyond control.

* DirtyCoward: He kills a fellow lab tech to make it look like he was rescuing the children from her. Unfortunately for him, it's Prax and Amos that tracked him down, so they know he's full of crap. [[spoiler:He proceeds to spin his lies, desperately trying to convince them that he heroically saved Mei and put himself in danger to do so. They don't buy it for a second. In the same episode, every other main villain meets their fate with varying degrees of defiance or acceptance, but not Strickland: he's a cowardly monster right to the end.]]

* BigBad: He's the man pulling the strings of the Protomolecule conspiracy, and is firmly in control for Seasons 1 and 2. At the end of Season 2, he finds himself outmanoeuvred by Errinwright. He is now, at best, a BigBadDuumvirate with Errinwright. At worst, he's been DemotedToDragon.

* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler:Can be considered this for the 2nd half of Season 3, as his daughter Clarissa's actions that drive the conflict are done to avenge her father's arrest and she is haunted by memories where she fails to get his approval. Another factor to her anger is having her assets frozen by the UN, which was because of her father's role in the Eros Incident.]]

* NonActionBigBad: Mao is not a fighter. He runs away before bullets start fighting and [[spoiler:does not try to resist when Holden captures him]].

* TheHeavy: In the 1st season and briefly for the 2nd. Even though he works for Mao, Mao seems to trust Dresden as the expert. He is the one that commands infecting Eros and apparently had the idea in the first place when [[spoiler:confronted by Holden, Miller, and Fred Johnson.]]

The CEO of Mao-Kwikowski Industries, a major Lunar powerhouse that has interests all over the Solar System. He is the father of Juliette Andromeda Mao (see: Belters).

* DiscOneFinalBoss: [[spoiler:Along with Errinwright. He is the villain for the first two and a half seasons, but is captured by Holden and then imprisoned by Earth in the middle of Season 3. He is not seen in the present again.]]

[[Characters/TheExpanseTV MAIN]] | [[Characters/TheExpanseTVTheRocinante The Rocinante]] | [[Characters/TheExpanseTVTheBelt The Belt]] | [[Characters/TheExpanseTVTheOPA The OPA]] | [[Characters/TheExpanseTVEarth Earth]] | [[Characters/TheExpanseTVMars Mars]] | Protogen

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Granted [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes the man was Mao's cousin]], but it still doesn't change the fact that he was rather appalled that Avasarala would go so far as to arrest an innocent Buddhist monk to use as a bargaining chip.

* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Every time it seems like he might have a conscience, his evil impulses take over.

* DirtyCoward: He kills a fellow lab tech to make it look like he was rescuing the children from her. Unfortunately for him, it's Prax and Amos that tracked him down, so they know he's full of crap.

* MadScientist: The guy experiments on children without demonstrating a shred of remorse.

* TheConspiracy: They are the driving force orchestrating the proto-molecule conspiracy. Protogen was originally called in by Mars to study the extraterrestrial proto-molecule samples they found on Saturn's moon Phoebe - but when they realized just how powerful what they were dealing with was, they betrayed the Martian base staff to the deaths to test the terraforming virus on them, then sold out to rogue elements of Earth's government that wanted to use the proto-molecule as a weapon against Mars. Then after this turned into the Eros debacle that nearly destroyed Earth, Protogen cut their losses and switched sides ''back'' to the rogue elements of the Mars military, offering them proto-molecule hybrid super soldiers in exchange for resources. Eventually Undersecretary Errinwright make an attempt to brow-beat them back into working for his side by blowing up the ship carrying their Martian clients.

-->''"Have you heard of Genghis Khan? He built one of the greatest empires in human history. Killed or displaced a quarter of the entire population on Earth during his conquests. Today, that's the equivalent of 10 billion people. Eros is hardly a rounding error by comparison."''

* BoomHeadshot: Miller puts a bullet right between his eyes. [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill Then two more.]]
* ForScience: Protogen as a whole might want the proto-molecule in order to sell technology based on it for untold fortunes, but Dresden is very much doing it just to unlock the potentially vast scientific breakthroughs it can provide.

* SociopathicHero: He'd argue that what he is doing (i.e. killing a lot of people) is vital for the survival of humanity. He may or may not have a point; after all, if he's wrong about what the molecule is, he borked his whole research from the start with a flawed premis (that it's an extra-system weapon sent to "terraform" the Sol system) and triggered everything to snowball without cause. If he's right... all he's basically doing is... forcefully hacking and adapting that terraforming on the rest of the universe in mankind's image, thereby making Mengele look like an amateur. Most other people just question the state of his human empathy and emotional reasoning; it's nil-nada-zilch, by-the-by.
* PunchClockVillain: He doesn't care who he works for or what that person intends to do with the Protomolecule - as long as he can continue his research and receive proper funding, he'll do whatever he's asked - whether it's for Protogen or the OPA.
* TheExtremistWasRight: Everything he said about the Protomolecule, he was absolutely ''right'' about it. It's precisely ''why'' Miller shot him, because he didn't want the Belt jostling over his knowledge.

[[Characters/TheExpanseTV Back to main.]]

* ParentalFavoritism: He strongly prefers Julie over Clarissa.

* UnwittingPawn: While he wasn't unwitting in getting his brain altered, following Thoth station he's found himself in the un-envious position of being the OPA's only source of information on the Protomolecule. He even gets caught in a pissing match between Fred Johnson and Anderson Dawes and is eventually kidnapped by the latter.

* HeelRealization: [[spoiler:After bonding with Mei on Io and her reminding him of his own daughters, he comes to realize just how far he's come and puts a halt to the experiments. He seems horrified to realize just what he's been doing. Unfortunately, seeing Katoa's abiliy to communicate with the rest of the protomolocue via vast differences convinces Mao that his experiments were justified.]]

* ParentalFavoritism: He strongly prefers Juli over Clarissa.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Mao's goals ''are'' noble and even somewhat altruistic: he wants to defend the system from the Protomolecule (and the possibly alien creators of such) by understanding and harnassing it. He's just willing to let thousands, even millions, die in agony to preserve the future of the human race.

* ParentalFavoritism: He strongly prefers Juli over his other daughter.

* TheExtremistWastRight: Everything he said about the Protomolecule, he was absolutely ''right'' about it. It's precisely ''why'' Miller shot him, because he didn't want the Belt jostling over his knowledge.

->'''Portrayed By:''' François Chau

The lead scientist of Protogen.

A Protogen pediatrician on Ganymede.

A Protogen scientist.

%%* MadScientist

* WouldHurtAChild: Strickland is downright ''proud'' of himself for discovering a genetic anomaly in certain children, whom he tears away from their families and turns into test subjects.

* FauxAffablyEvil: Mao has a very carefully-maintained public image, presenting himself as a charming captain of industry. In reality, he's a corrupt and ruthless man. Eventually the public image he'd cultivated is disassembled by Avasarala, although he's slippery enough to escape arrest.
* {{Fiction 500}}: He's one of the richest men in the entire solar system.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: He starts questioning his plans when Eros goes rogue, [[spoiler:and seeing firsthand how his scientists are experimenting on children convinces him to abandon the project, at least until he stumbles upon another one of its successes]].

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Mao's goals ''are'' noble and even somewhat altruistic. He wants to defend the system from the Protomolecule (and the possibly alien creators of such) by understanding and harnassing it. He's just willing to let thousands, even millions, die in agony to preserve the future of the human race.

* LackOfEmpathy: He doesn't seem to even understand ''why'' experimenting on children is wrong. It doesn't seem like his brain was altered like Cortázar's was, which makes his behavior all the more disturbing.

* LackOfEmpathy: He doesn't seem to even understand ''why'' experimenting on children is wrong. It doesn't seem like his brain was altered like Cortázar's was, which makes his behavior all the more disturbing.