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Meadows Family
Julia
Julia Meadows
Played By: Keri Russell; Katelyn Patterson (as a child)
A teacher who has returned to her childhood town after a 20 year absence.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Film Julia is given an abusive backstory not present in the original short story.
- Age Lift: Julia is 23 years old in the original short story. In the film, she's in her forties. Film Julia was absent from her hometown for almost as long as her original iteration has been alive.
- Failed a Spot Check: She hears Frank's cry from some distance away but completely fails to hear him savaging her brother right outside the house, even though he very loudly rammed into the wall of their shed multiple times.
- Spared by the Adaptation/Adaptational Badass: The film has Juila slaying Frank in the final confrontation, while she was brutally killed by him in the ending of the original short story.
Paul
Paul Meadows
Played By: Jesse Plemons
The town sheriff and Julia's brother.
- And Then John Was a Zombie: Paul is strongly implied to be the next host of the Wendigo, after surviving a mauling by Frank.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Frank non-fatally impales Paul when he attacks him.
- Related in the Adaptation: He and Julia are siblings in the film, whereas they weren't related in the short story.
Father
Father Meadows
Played By: Andy Thomas
The late abusive father of Paul and Julia.
- Abusive Dad: He was physically abusive to Paul and molested Juila. His abuse was what drove Juila away from Cispus Falls, and cut her entire family from her life. Only after his death did she return to Siprus Falls and reunite with Paul.
- No Name Given: He is never named in the film. The credits only refer to him as "Father Meadows".
- Posthumous Character: Julia and Paul's father took his own life prior to the events of the film. As stated above, his death is what pushes Julia to make amends with Paul.
Weaver Family
Lucas
Lucas Weaver
Played By: Jeremy T. Thomas
Lucas is one of Julia's students, hiding a dark secret in his family life.
- Creepy Child: His habit of collecting road kill and killing animals for their meat will make him appear to be one by observers. However, he is doing this entirely to feed his metamorphosing father and younger brother.
- Sole Survivor: By the end of the film, he is the only member of his family alive, as both his father and brother are now dead.
Frank
Frank Weaver
Played By: Scott Haze (human); Dorian Kingi (Wendigo)
Lucas' father and a local drug dealer.
- Adaptational Heroism: Unlike his iteration from the short story, he legitimately loves his children and locks himself up voluntarily as a means of avoiding having to harm them.
- Big Bad: He's the Wendigo that Lucas keeps secret from everyone else and is the source of the horror.
- Body Horror: His transformation into the Wendigo is not a pleasant one. First he becomes much more emaciated, dishevelled and all-round sickly to the point where he's more or less a walking corpse, and when he fully transforms after murdering and eating Ellen, his Wendigo form proceeds to gruesomely and painfully tear its way out from inside of his body, leaving his former human self behind as a charred, bloody mess.
- Bully Hunter: Shortly after his Painful Transformation into the Wendigo, Frank attacks and mauls Clint to death while he's harassing Lucas on his way home.
- Death by Adaptation: Unlike the original short story where he lives, Frank is killed by the end of the film when Lucas turns against him by stabbing him in the back while Julia rips his fiery heart out.
- Monster Is a Mommy: He becomes a gender inverted example, once he transforms into the Wendigo.
- Offscreen Teleportation: He somehow appears behind Ellen in the attic, even though all that was behind her was the wall, which she had just been looking at a moment ago, and the stairwell which she had climbed up.
- Papa Wolf: Locks himself away when he begins to turn to avoid harming his children. Even when he fully transforms, he still retains enough of his old self to recognise and not only spare them from his hunger, but actively protect them.
- Parents as People: Although he loves his kids and goes out of his way to protect them, Paul mentions in one scene that Frank has a history of substance abuse.
- Was Once a Man: A glimpse into Lucas' flashbacks along with a large part of the film itself chronicles how Frank Weaver went from a troubled drug addict but well-meaning father to a man-eating, horrifically twisted Animalistic Abomination.
- Would Hit a Girl: In the final stages of his transformation into the Wendigo, he attacks Ellen in the attic, bites off her finger and then kills her by ripping her throat out. Later, when he's a full-on Wendigo, he hits Julia in the mines when she starts shooting at him.
- Would Hurt a Child: After he transforms into a Wendigo, the first thing Frank does is attack Clint Owens, the bully from Lucas' school.
Aiden
Aiden Weaver
Played By: Sawyer Jones
Frank's youngest son and Lucas' younger brother.
- Adaptational Wimp: Todd in the short story had changed into a Wendigo just like Frank. Here, Aiden stays human throughout the film and is killed by Julia before he gets the chance to transform.
- Adaptation Name Change: In the short story, he was known as Todd.
- Creepy Child: A given, since he was slowly being possessed by the Wendigo.
- Death by Adaptation: He gets killed by Julia right after she kills his father, whereas both of them killed Julia in their Wendigo forms.
- Mercy Kill: Is killed by Julia after it's clear that he's beginning to go down the same road as his father.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: He spends much of the film with his shirt off. Justified since he's going through the same sickness as his father.
Law Enforcement
Warren
Warren Stokes
Played By: Graham Greene
Cispus Falls' retired sheriff and Paul's predecessor. Stokes is a Native American man, and his expertise in indigenous mythology has made him very useful to the protagonists.
- Magical Native American: Not as egregious as some of the other examples, but he certainly does give that vibe when he discusses the spiritual aspect around the Wendigo legend.
- Mr. Exposition: Stokes is the one that divulges information about the Wendigo myth to Julia and Paul.
Dan
Dan Lecroy
Played By: Rory Cochrane
One of Paul's deputies.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Dan suffers this when Frank attacks him with his antlers.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He doesn't get much characterization beyond being Paul's deputy.
Cispus Falls Elementary School
Ellen
Ellen Booth
Played By: Amy Madigan
The principal of Cispus Falls Elementary School.
- Mama Bear: Ellen is horrified upon seeing Aiden's condition, and tries to defend him once Frank attacks her.
- Sacrificial Lamb: Her death is what signals Frank's final transformation into the Wendigo.
- Too Dumb to Live: She enters the Weaver house despite it "smelling like death", having visible bloodstains inside, and all the power being out. Then she enters the attic which has numerous locks on the door, even more bloodstains, and has disturbing sounds emanating from it. No points for guessing what happens to her.
Clint
Clint Owens
Played By: Cody Davis
A bully at Lucas' school.
- Asshole Victim: He gets devoured by the Wendigo after he bullies Lucas.
- The Bully: His entire role in the film before being disemboweled by Frank.
- Oh, Crap!: His reaction when the Wendigo makes his presence known, shortly before getting ripped apart.
Others
Wendigo
Wendigo
Played By: Dorian Kingi
A vengeful Native American spirit that feeds relentlessly and infects anyone with its curse.
- Eyeless Face: The creature lacks any visible eyes on its face, just like the Xenomorph.
- Greater-Scope Villain: The original Wendigo serves as this for the whole film, given that it infected both Frank and Aiden with its curse.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: It was originally trapped in the mountain before the town's coal-mining industry accidentally unleashed it, killing a group of miners and infecting Frank Weaver.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Though it only appears at the beginning of the film, its attack on Frank and Aiden is what sets off the events of the film.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: It's not revealed what exactly happened to the creature after it attacked Frank and his partner, though it doesn't appear to be in the mines anymore.
- Xenomorph Xerox: The Wendigo is almost similar to the Xenomorph in that it doesn't have any eyes and is able to escape its host's body, only through the mouth.
