Arthur Bailey
- Played by: Alan Ritchson
A Contracrime officer, shanghaied into the race.
- All-Loving Hero: Arthur is displeased at the brutal tactics used by Contracrime, does not want to kill anyone during the race, and wants to help Grace save her sister, though the two have never met.
- Audience Surrogate: As Arthur learns things about the Blood Drive, so does the audience.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Arthur is generally a nice person, but you do not want to piss him off. Just ask Rib Bone.
- By-the-Book Cop: Arthur definitely has a dark side, but for the most part, he is very concerned with upholding the law, and wishes to bring down Heart Industries because of his concern for the people they are hurting.
- Combat Pragmatist: Arthur throwing Smax powder on Rib Bone causing the patients to eat him.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: On the receiving end of this from Rib Bone until he throws Smax chocolate powder on him.
- The Determinator: Nothing is going to stop Arthur from bringing down Heart Industries.
- Distressed Dude: Has a habit of winding up in trouble, requiring Grace to bail him out.
- Due to the Dead: Once a homeless scrounger, he accidentally shot and killed the one decent cop left in LA. He became a cop and took over his fight against Heart to make up for his mistake.
- Epic Fail: His initial attempts to impersonate Slink and entertain the Blood Drive spectators. His weak joke about talking muffins needs to be seen to be believed.
- Face–Heel Turn: Briefly, when he becomes Primo. He gets over it, though.
- Going Native: Arthur's specifically told to act like he's done this to survive the asylum. It involves taking off his shirt and wrapping his belt around his head.
- Happens again during "Scar Tissue", thanks to the happy gas pumped into Cronenburgh.
- Happens yet again in "Rise of the Primo" and "Faces of Blood Drive", when becoming Primo goes to his head.
- Groin Attack: Arthur gets three of these in episode 5: two courtesy of Grace, one self-inflicted. This seems to temporarily nullify the effects of the Dionysus Strain he was infected with.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Blond-haired, good-hearted, and very morally upright.
- Large Ham: When he briefly gets to play Slink.
- Mr. Fanservice: Gets his fair share of shirtless scenes, plus a sex scene in the very first episode. To be fair, the guy is played by a former Abercrombie model.
- Pretty Boy: Why Grace gives him the nickname "Barbie".
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Arthur functions and thinks like the protagonist in a PG-13 action flick. It frequently gets him in trouble, as the Blood Drive is anything but.
Grace D'Argento
- Played by: Christina Ochoa
Arthur's unwilling partner in the race. A take-no-shit bombshell looking for her sister.
- Action Girl: Like Arthur, Grace is more than capable of kicking seven different kinds of ass.
- Cain and Abel: With Karma. She's the Abel in the situation.
- Deadpan Snarker: Probably the snarkiest character in the show.
- Despair Event Horizon: When she hears of Karma's death.
- Ms. Fanservice: Has a fondness for midriff-baring Action Girl tank tops.
- My Greatest Failure: Too busy trying to schmooze Primo (The reigning Blood Drive champ) to watch Karma. Who promptly got hooked on Red Rapture and driven insane.
- Super Window Jump: Does this in "A Fistful of Blood".
Julian Slink
- Played by: Colin Cunningham
The diabolical, bombastic ringmaster of the Blood Drive.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Julian is all hammy showmanship and excess. But behind the veneer is the mind of a very dangerous and manipulative mastermind.
- The Chessmaster: He orchestrated Karma's descent into insanity and everything that followed to get Grace to compete in the Blood Drive. He openly brags about being "a hundred steps ahead" of everyone when fighting with the Gentleman for control of the race.
- Evil Is Hammy: Given that he's the emcee of Blood Drive, that shouldn't be a surprise.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Slink speaks in an elegant, lower-register purr.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: Depending on how his interests line up with everyone else's.
- Humanoid Abomination: It becomes apparent over time that Slink isn't entirely human, if at all. In "Faces of Blood Drive", it's revealed that he is one of many humanoid robots/clones.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Slink spends episode 3 listening to Heart Industries higher-ups complain about the Blood Drive. Said complaints sound suspiciously like (and considering Blood Drive has a working complaint hotline, may actually be) viewer grievances.
- No-Sell: Slink shrugs off being set on fire.
- Repulsive Ringmaster: The vibe and look he gives off.
Christopher Carpenter
- Played by: Thomas Dominique
Arthur's Contracrime partner. Stuck as his man on the inside.
- Ass Shove: On the receiving end of this from Aki, when she shoves her gloved hand and arm up his behind multiple times to retrieve a stool sample.
- Break the Haughty: At the start of the show, Chris revels in his Contracrime duties. Taking quite a bit of glee in cracking skulls. Weeks of torture by Aki has left him far more meek.
- Censor Box: Prominently displayed over his junk several times when camera angles or Hand-or-Object Underwear fail to cover.
- Electric Torture: Inflicted on him by Dominatrix!Aki as part of his Heart Industries "orientation".
- Electronic Eyes: Receives one after his Heart Industries "orientation" is finished, which contains a video camera Aki uses to spy on him as well as certain other defensive applications such as a weapon that shoots out of it, which stabs an assailant in the forehead and causes them to messily bleed out.
- Eye Scream: Courtesy of a bottle to the face during the first episode.
- Fan Disservice: Christopher ends up in various states of undress a lot. Unfortunately, a large chunk of it is during his Heart Industries "orientation", where Dominatrix!Aki subjects him to some pretty gruesome treatment. See Ass Shove above and Aki's own entry in this trope for some "highlights".
- Neck Snap: Kills Sergeant Gower this way.
- Unstoppable Rage: When he finds out that Sergeant Gower was behind his getting recruited to Heart Industries and Arthur being forced to participate in the Blood Drive, his rage meter (which is handily displayed on the right side of his perspective) hits max and he snaps her neck, seemingly impressing Aki.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: After Aki discovers that Christopher was digging into things he shouldn't, she uses the tech implanted in his eye to make him vomit in several different colors. The show even fakes going to commercial three times, just to show him throwing up more.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Christopher seems to spend a lot of time in various stages of undress. He's even shirtless in the image on the main page!
Aki
- Played by: Marama Corlett
AKA, an "Autonomous Kinetic Intercourse" machine. A Heart Industries sexbot, and Chris's overseer/torturer.
- Artificial Human: And replicated countless times by Heart Industries.
- Dominatrix: The Aki overseeing Christopher's "orientation", who is even called so by the Syfy website episode recaps.
- Emotionless Girl: Claims to be this, as she's a machine, and it's the main source of her Fan Disservice. Gradually averted as the show goes on, as the Aki assigned to Christopher's relationship with him awakens emotions in her.
- Eye Colour Change: After awakening to her emotions, the Aki assigned to Christopher's eyes shift color from robotic green to brown.
- Fan Disservice: Despite being incredibly shapely and not wearing very much in the way of clothing (see Ms. Fanservice below), much of what she does is this, especially the sequence in episode 4 where she went topless and masturbated Christopher for a sperm sample.
- Fun with Acronyms: Aki's name apparently stands for "Autonomous Kinetic Intercourse" machine.
- Heel–Face Turn: Happens to the Aki assigned to Christopher. The rest of them continue to serve Heart Enterprises.
- The Mole: Planted in Contracrime, presumably to recruit Christopher. Though Sergeant Gower had more to do with that...
- Ms. Fanservice: Both dresses as a dominatrix and walks the walk.
- Nipple and Dimed: If Dominatrix!Aki going topless in episode 4 is any indication, none of the Akis have nipples.
- Replacement Goldfish: Possibly, as there was a human Aki (the daughter of the Chinese restaurant owner in "The Chopsocky Special", claimed lost in the Scar when it opened).
- Sci-Fi Bob Haircut: Appropriately enough, for the show's resident Sexbot.
- Sexbot: Aki, despite being Nipple and Dimed upstairs, is fully capable of having sex, as that was what she was originally designed for before her homicidal tendencies were discovered. Her name stands for "Autonomous Kinetic Intercourse Machine", and Christopher even refers to her as a literal "sex object".
- Uncanny Valley Girl: Perfectly sits on the line of appearing human, but being incredibly robotic and unnerving.
- What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: At first, she's very confused by her attachment to Christopher, but does realize that what she's feeling for him is indeed love.
The Gentleman
- Played by: Andrew Hall
A foppish, cultured racer.
- Domestic Abuser: A very abusive, uncaring partner to The Scholar.
- Drunk with Power: When he's made emcee of the Blood Drive, he goes on a power-trip. Trying to enforce manners on the scum that populate the race, and threatening head explosions for everything.
- Exact Words: In episode 1, Arthur makes the Gentleman promise not to kill the cheerleaders he just saved. The Gentleman swears to keep his word "to the letter". Immediately after Arthur leaves, the Gentleman says that he can't take their lives, but that their fingers and tongues are another matter.
- Faux Affably Evil: Wears a mask of culture and upper-crust manners. But he's just as twisted (maybe even more so) than other racers.
- Punny Name: When combined with his counterpart, the Scholar.
- Quintessential British Gentleman: The aptly named Gentleman.
The Scholar
- Played by: Darren Kent
The partner/mechanic/sex-toy of The Gentleman. A meek fella with amazing mechanical know-how.
- Ambiguously Bi: There was his "relationship" with the Gentleman, and he falls in love with a female mechanic.
- The Dog Bites Back: He blows the Gentleman's head away after one too many abusive comments.
- Heel–Face Turn: Does away with the abusive Gentleman in "The Gentleman's Agreement", and joins forces with Arthur and Grace.
- I Choose to Stay: Having fallen in love with the town mechanic, he stays in Red River to become the new Sheriff.
- Idiot Savant: Not very bright, but a mechanical Einstein.
- Nice Guy: The out and out nicest member of the race.
- Punny Name: When combined with his counterpart, the Gentleman.
- Surprisingly Happy Ending: Not only is he the only racer besides Arthur still alive at the end, he also manages to end up happy and in a genuinely nice place with a companion that likes him. This is downright shocking in a show that embodies Kick the Dog.
Rasher
- Played by: Carel Nel
Julian Slink's assistant and fellow organiser of the Blood Drive.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Working on the assumption that Rasher is not his real or only name.
- Tattooed Crook: Completely covered in tattoos and helps run a race/reality show in which people being ground up into fuel is considered normal.
- Too Kinky to Torture: And how! When Slink threatens to "shove a drill up his urethra" if he doesn't know the answer to a question. His response is to spread his legs and grin, saying "I don't know".
Karma D'Argento
- Played by: Alex McGregor
Grace's beloved younger sister who is trapped in a mental asylum and is her motivation for competing in the Blood Drive.
