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Theo & Kee
Theo
Theo Faron
"I can't really remember when I last had any hope, and I certainly can't remember when anyone else did either."
Portrayed By: Clive Owen
A former activist who was devastated when his child died during a flu pandemic.
- Action Survivor: He's had no combat experience, and his only real credentials are that he was a protester with Julian. Still, he manages to make it through an active warzone and the Fishes trying to kill him at every turn through pure determination and guile.
- Adaptational Name Change: A minor one: while he's called Theo in both the book and the film, it's short for Theodore in the book and Thelonius in the film.
- The Alcoholic: A subtle example. Despite this, he still uses up the last of his alcohol to sterilize his hands before delivering Kee's baby.
- Agony of the Feet: Played for Drama after Theo loses a sandal due to a scuffle with Syd. He proceeds to cut his foot on some scrap metal, then hops and limps his way through the rest of the journey.
- Badass Longcoat: In keeping with the realism of the film, Theo's coat is pretty shabby and worn. It's pretty badass though. While Theo undergoes multiple wardrobe changes in the film, for better or for worse, the coat is a constant.
- Cigarette of Anxiety: After Julian's death; his hands are shaking and he can't even light it.
- The Cynic: He's extremely embittered by the world and his own hardships, as exemplified by his conversation with Jasper.Jasper: So, the Human Project is havin' this dinner and all the wisest men in the world are there...Theo: Human Project, why do people believe this crap? You know even if these people existed with these facilities in these secret locations, fuck me, that's strong! Even if they discovered the cure for infertility, doesn't matter! Too late. World went to shit. Know what? It was too late before the infertility thing happened, for fuck's sake.Jasper: ...I was just tryin' to tell a joke, mate.
- Deadpan Snarker: He is extremely acerbic.
- Delivery Guy: Theo helps Kee deliver her baby in a rundown building in the middle of a war-torn refugee camp.
- Despair Event Horizon: Went through it years prior to the film after the death of his son.
- Does Not Like Guns: A bit more subtle than most, but throughout the film, Theo never once picks up one of the numerous firearms around. Hell, when he kills Syd, he uses a blunt object.
- Empty Shell: How he gets through the days at the start of the film.
- Friend to All Living Things: As a Biblical allusion, animals love him and are attracted to him. Lampshaded when he visits the farm and dogs that are said to hate everyone happily come up to him with wagging tails. Not too soon after, a kitten latches itself onto him and crawls up his pant leg.
- Functional Alcoholic: His mild alcoholism doesn't really impede him in any way. He drinks to dull his pain, not to get drunk.
- The Hero Dies: Theo takes a bullet during the gunfight with Luke, and right before the Human Project arrives to pick him, Kee, and the baby aboard, he slumps over and goes quiet, with Kee not being able to wake him.
- Heroic Sacrifice: He makes damn sure that Kee gets to the Human Project, surviving numerous assassination attempts, crossing an active warzone alone, and even taking a fatal bullet to save her and baby Dylan.
- Knight in Sour Armour: Theo is a bitter, alcoholic cynic but he ultimately has a good heart and will do the right thing.
- Non-Action Protagonist: He is a cynical bureaucrat tasked with protecting the world's first pregnant woman in 18 years, no easy task when crossing dystopian England with trained soldiers shooting at them from one side and armed militants shooting back on the other. Theo himself never even picks up a gun and survives mostly by guile and a good running start (although once he smashes someone's face with a car battery).
- Outliving One's Offspring: His and Julian's young son Dylan died during the flu pandemic.
- Perma-Stubble: He sports a constant unshaven look.
- Technical Pacifist: Theo bashes a couple of heads in self-defense (with a car door and car battery, respectively), but not once during the course of the film does he ever pick up a gun from any of the dead guys he passes by.
- Unlikely Hero: Theo. He begins the movie as an incredibly apathetic bureaucrat, feeling nothing but contempt for the world around him besides his love for a select few, such as Jasper, his wife, and Julian. However, throughout the film, he is shown to be genuinely kindhearted, which distinguishes him from so many post/pre-apocalyptic story protagonists.
- Working with the Ex: When he agrees to help Julian.
Kee
Kee
Portrayed By: Clare-Hope Ashitey
An illegal immigrant and the first pregnant woman in eighteen years.
- Action Survivor: Her and baby Dylan wind up being the only major characters to make it out to the end of the film.
- Deadpan Snarker: She's pretty snarky.
- Final Girl: She and baby Dylan wind up being the only ones surviving the escort mission.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Is something of a bitch to Theo at first but quickly warms up to him, the two of them being able to joke around and tease each other.
- Hope Bringer: She and her baby are this for the entire world and Theo in particular, as no one has given birth in nearly 18 years.
- Living Macguffin: The entire story is basically driven by the attempts of various characters to save or capture her.
- Meaningful Name: She is the key to humanity's survival.
- Mundane MacGuffin Person: Theo and Miriam have to try to keep her (and the baby) alive and out of the wrong hands.
The Fishes
Julian
Julian Taylor
Portrayed By: Julianne Moore
The leader of the Fishes and Theo's estranged wife.
- Composite Character: In the book, Theo had an ex-wife named Helena and was contacted by a former student of his named Julian, who is involved with a group of rebels that her husband, Rolf, leads. In the movie, all three roles are taken by Julian.
- Deadpan Snarker: No wonder her and Julian were happily married, since they share the same brand of sarcasm.
- Dead Star Walking: Probably the biggest name in the film aside from Michael Caine, but she dies early on to help set the plot in motion.
- Death by Adaptation: Survived the book, but died in the movie.
- Decomposite Character: Her role as the last mother on the planet is given to Kee.
- Fiery Redhead: Averted. She's rather cool and careful, although she's still a Rebel Leader with big plans.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Her and Theo's young son Dylan died during the flu pandemic. He accuses her of having gotten over it too quickly, which she denies, saying that she lives with it and thinks of their son every day.
- Rebel Leader: Of the 'Fishes', a terrorist/rebel group fighting for the right of immigrants.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: She dies before the film hits the halfway mark, shot in the neck by Patric.
- Working with the Ex: She needs Theo's cousin's connections to transport Kee.
Luke
Luke
"...how can it be peaceful when they try to take away your dignity?!"
Portrayed By: Chiwetel Ejiofor
A member of the Fishes and the second-in-command to Julian.
- Adaptational Villainy: He goes from a Good Shepherd in the book to a fanatical terrorist in the film, although it is a very loose adaptation.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Luke comes across as pathetic and human as anyone else in his final scene, pinned down with no way out, seemingly having a mental breakdown and tearfully recalling his (implied to be dead) sister.
- Anti-Villain: He genuinely believes he's doing the right thing for Kee, her baby, the rest of Britain, and presumably humanity.
- Big Bad: Luke is the most persistant antagonist, forcing Theo and Kee to go on the run, murdering Jasper and dogging them every step of the way.
- Big Bad Friend: To Julian, who of course never discovers that Luke arranged her murder.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Seemingly one of the more reasonable characters, he actually orchestrated Julian's death.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Mentions near the end that he had a sister who died.
- Deceptive Disciple: Seems to be loyal to Julian and appears to be genuinely panicked and grief-stricken when she's assassinated, but it's revealed to Theo that he planned for her to get killed so he could use Kee's unborn baby as a symbol for The Fishes and their Uprising. He never believed that the revolution against the totalitarian British government could be peaceful like Julian thought, so he took matters into his own hands.
- Faux Affably Evil: Even after the reveal, Luke's demeanor doesn't really change.
- Knight Templar: He truly believes he is doing the right thing.
- The Starscream: To Julian. He plotted her demise and made it seem like it was a random attack; that is, until Theo overhears him talking about it.
- Surprisingly Sudden Death: He is blown up during the firefight with the soldiers immediately after shooting Theo.
- The Unfought: There's no big showdown between Luke and Theo, which is probably good for Theo. Rather, Luke is killed by the British Army while still screaming at Theo to bring the baby back to him.
- Walking Spoiler: Look at all the spoiler tags.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: As with the rest of the Fishes. They want to eliminate Britain's horrible oppression of refugees. Their solution? Use Kee's newborn baby as a trump card. The Fishes certainly don't object to killing whoever gets in their way including their own leader.
- You Have Failed Me: Threatens Patric with this and tells him that he won't be allowed to screw up again.
Miriam
Miriam
Portrayed By: Pam Ferris
A member of the Fishes who joins Theo and Kee.
- Condescending Compassion: She often rubs hardened cynic Theo the wrong way, trying to sincerely offer aid in the form of her everything-happens-for-a-reason spirituality. Her least sympathetic moment might be when Theo overhears her saying that his and Julian's son died for a reason, when in reality it was a pointless tragedy.
- Granola Girl: Miriam is a little kooky and very spiritual, practising what appears to be tai-chi in the forest and performing a laying of hands on Julian's body before covering her with a funeral shroud.
- Heroic Sacrifice: She goads the soldiers into taking her off the bus to be executed, rather than having them discover Kee's pregnancy.
- The Load: While she means well, she often panics when things become chaotic. She redeems herself with her Heroic Sacrifice.
- Ms. Exposition: She drops occasional Info Dumps for us to fill in the blanks about events leading up to the present situation.
- My Greatest Second Chance: Invoked: she was a midwife in the days before the fertility crisis. It's implied she sees helping Kee's child as making amends for all the babies she couldn't save.
- Obsolete Occupation: Used to be a maternity nurse before people stopped having children. Naturally, she had plenty of time on her hands afterwards, and with her past experience, became a natural candidate to help shepherd Kee, the world's last known fertile girl, to the Human Project.
- Token Good Teammate: When she learns of Luke's treachery, she cannot bring herself to go along.
Patric
Patric
Portrayed By: Charlie Hunnam
A particularly aggressive and dim-witted Fish.
- Ax-Crazy: Patric is an aggressive, bloodthirsty asshole who takes pleasure in violence and is very eager to kill.
- The Dragon: To Luke.
- Dreadlock Warrior: He sports impressive blond dreadlocks.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: It's set up like there's going to be a climactic fight between Theo and Patric, but he is shot in the heart before that can happen.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He did love his cousin, and is outraged when Theo kills him in self-defense. See Moral Myopia.
- Hot-Blooded: His default mode seems to be 'psychotically angry.'
- Instant Death Bullet: During the firefight in Bexhill, he gets shot straight in the heart.
- Jerkass: Patric is an aggressive, violent jackass with virtually no intelligence and has the impulse control of a toddler.
- Moral Myopia: Patric wants to kill Theo because Theo mortally injured his cousin, who was trying to murder Theo at the time. All Theo did was open his car door to knock the motorcycle down, which hilariously enough works again when Patric tries catching up
- Number Two for Brains: He's a moron. Patric is impulsive, stupid and mean. His inability to just think things through and show even a hint of Luke's cunning or patience results in Kee's escape.
- Psycho for Hire: It's hard to imagine Patric was hired for anything other than his ability to shoot guns indiscriminately.
- Uncleanliness Is Next to Ungodliness: Theo notes that he has horrible breath early on.
- You Have Failed Me: Luke threatens him with this after he massively screws up by coming back to the Fishes' hideout to get first aid for one of his gang-members, thus alerting Theo and allowing him to escape with Kee. He manages to avoid such a fate, possibly because Luke can't really go killing able bodies unless they prove themselves to be a truly excessive hindrance.
The Palmers
Jasper
Jasper Palmer
"Your baby is the miracle the whole world has been waiting for."
Portrayed By: Michael Caine
Theo's aging hippie friend, a former editorial cartoonist who cares for his catatonic wife.
- Adaptational Heroism: The Jasper in the books is a rather unpleasant misogynist who signs his wife up to Quietus against her will; Jasper here is a Cool Old Guy with little in the way of serious character flaws.
- Adaptational Name Change: Jasper Palmer-Smith in the novel.
- Cool Old Guy: The epitome of this. He is a cheerful, intelligent, old-school hippie who spends his time listening to heavy metal and growing and smoking copious amounts of weed. He's a devoted husband to his catatonic wife, shelters Theo and Kee, uses his contacts to arrange for them to escape to Bexhill, and rather fearlessly sacrifices himself to keep them safe when the Fishes come calling.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: You wouldn't expect an aging hippie stoner to be as brave as he is.
- Defiant to the End: He makes jokes to Luke's face, mocking him even after being shot.
- Erudite Stoner: He's very intelligent.
- Gallows Humour: Jasper runs on it, almost to the point of being a Sad Clown. He's always joking with Theo and his guests (and his wall of Glory Days memorabilia shows he made a career of it), hides his bitterness over the treatment of him and his wife and exits the film making a fart joke with his executioner.
- Granola Girl: A male example. He grows weed out in his house in the woods, some of which has different flavors, the one he's most proud of being strawberry.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Stays behind to distract Luke so that Theo, Miriam and Kee can escape. Luke ends up killing him.
- Hippie Parents: Although not biologically related to Theo, the Palmer's can be seen as this. Jasper is an aging Granola Guy, living in the woods naturally with his wife, growing a
newimmensely popular variety of pot that has a strawberry flavor. It is implied that he was left without a choice but to withdraw from society after his wife was tortured by the government and became catatonic as a result. Jasper himself had a career as a famous political cartoonist, which also didn't exactly fly under Britain's new authoritarian regime. - Nice Guy: Jasper is an all-around awesome person.
- New-Age Retro Hippie: Doing the math that if Jasper is meant to be as old as his actor was, in his 70s in 2027, he's far too young to have been part of the original hippie movement given he would have been born in the 1950s, which means he likely got into it well after the heyday that happened in the 1960s and 70s.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: As part of his hippie image, he looks much like an aged John Lennon.
- Odd Friendship: The fact that he deals pot to Syd, who he openly calls a fascist pig as an inside joke, is peculiar.
Janice
Janice Palmer
Portrayed By: Philippa Urquhart
Jasper's catatonic wife.
- Empty Shell: She ended up a vegetative in a wheelchair after being tortured for questioning the British regime.
- Intrepid Reporter: She was an award winning photojournalist who bravely questioned the British government's actions towards refugees in her reporting before the events of the film. It resulted in her getting tortured by MI5 and becoming catatonic.
- Mercy Kill: Jasper gives her suicide pills to prevent her from being cruelly murdered (or tortured) by Luke.
Other Characters
Syd
Syd
Portrayed By: Peter Mullan
A border guard who buys weed from Jasper.
- Corrupt Cop: He's blatantly corrupt, breaking government protocol by allowing the protagonists to enter Bexhill in exchange for a large amount of Jasper's weed.
- Establishing Character Moment: When Theo follows Jasper's orders and tells Syd he's a fascist pig as a code word, Syd pulls out a baton and pretends like he's going to beat Theo over the head with it as a "joke". Having just met him, in an abandoned school in the middle of absolute nowhere, where no-one would ever find his body. This scene serves to establish him as a dark-humored, corrupt and untrustworthy man with a sadistic streak.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Syd makes a passing mention that he loves his mum, though it doesn't come off as sincere as he thinks it might be.
- Facial Horror: Theo smashes his face with a car battery as he tries to squeeze out through a blocked doorway.
- Faux Affably Evil: He makes jokes and plays a horrible prank on Theo early on. His idea of what's funny is clearly only funny to him.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Syd is a helpful enough guy at first and seems like he might be a good man at heart, but the reality is that he's a craven opportunist, only helping in exchange for Jasper's weed, and attempts to bring in Theo, Kee, and her baby for a reward when he finds out that they're wanted by The Fishes and the British government.
- Laughably Evil: Syd might be a sadistic, self-serving bastard but his Third-Person Person style of speaking, dark sense of humor and Peter Mullan's joyously evil performance all conspire to make him a joy to watch.
- Odd Friendship: Though they never appear onscreen together, it's odd that Jasper knows and trusts him, considering Jasper's a Nice Guy and Syd is a Jerk with a Heart of Jerk, although it's possible that he wasn't aware that Syd was that bad of a man.
- Only in It for the Money: He's perhaps notable in that he's the only character whose sole motivation is self-interest, which in his case, is cash.
- Third-Person Person: Syd refers to himself in such a way."Syd doesn't know why they want to get inside the camps. Syd doesn't want to know. Syd doesn't care."
- Troll: As evidenced in his first encounter with Theo; he plays a terrifyingly sadistic prank on him.
- Violent Glaswegian: He fits this trope to a T after he betrays Theo for his own profit. He shows himself to be fairly trigger-happy.
Marichka
Marichka
Portrayed By: Oana Pellea
A Romanian lady who acts as Theo and Kee's guide once they're in the camp.
- Canine Companion: Has a little dog that goes everywhere with her and that she carries through the warzone and gunfire.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She seems cold and indifferent to Theo and Kee's plight at first. However, once she discovers the baby, she still guides them to safety even though she's not expecting any sort of material reward and the heat surrounding Kee is massive. She attempts to warn them about Syd's true nature through her extremely limited English, and when he turns on them, she beats him with a heavy stick, shouting, "BAD! BAD! BAD!" She ultimately finds them a boat to escape the camp and sends them off, despite Theo imploring her to come along.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: Marichka cowers when Syd pulls out a gun and starts firing to intimidate her, Theo, and Kee. But when it becomes clear Syd will likely hurt Kee or her baby before he hands them over to the Fishes, she knocks him down with a 2x4 and whales on him repeatedly, giving them all an opportunity to evade him.
- Uncertain Doom: It isn't shown whether Marichka survives the bombing of Bexhill by the RAF. It could be inferred that she did given that she was last seen in an underground tunnel shortly before the bombing began... although that doesn't exclude the possibility of the British army sweeping through afterwards and putting all the remaining refugees and rebels to the sword.
- The Unintelligible: She speaks in her native tongue and none of it is translated. Most of the dialogue was improvised by the actress.
Nigel
Nigel
Portrayed By: Danny Huston
Theo's cousin and a high-ranking government official. Nigel runs a Ministry of Arts programme "Ark of the Arts", which "rescues" works of art such as Michelangelo's David (albeit with a broken leg), Pablo Picasso's Guernica, and Banksy's British Cops Kissing. He mentions that he tried to save Michelangelo's Pietà, but a mob destroyed it before he could.
- Collector of the Strange: Nigel runs a programme known as "Ark of the Arts" which involves salvaging (or stealing) works of great art from around the world to prevent them from being destroyed in country-wide riots and the like. He has Michelangelo's David, for example, with a piece of its leg having been destroyed during a riot.
- Grail in the Garbage: His job is to collect pieces of art that run the risk of destruction by angry mobs. He couldn't save Piéta, but managed to save Michaelangelo's David, give or take a chunk of leg.
- Nice Guy: Nigel might be sitting happily in his ivory tower while the world burns around him, but that doesn't change that he's an affable guy who seems overjoyed to see Theo again, to the point of helping him acquire transit papers on Theo's word, at no small risk to himself.
- Selective Obliviousness: Nigel's focus is on recovering art for its own sake, while actively choosing not to dwell on the fact that within a generation, there won't be a soul left alive to enjoy any of it.Theo: You kill me. A hundred years from now, there won't be one sad fuck to look at any of this. What keeps you going?Nigel: You know what it is, Theo? I just don't think about it.
- Stepford Smiler: Nigel is chummy and ever-smiling, but there are more than a few hints that his seemingly charmed life has problems of its own. His son has mental issues, his wife is off busying herself with some animal charity, and Nigel himself is seen taking an unidentified pill while cheerily telling Theo he simply doesn't think about mankind's approaching extinction.
- Suddenly Shouting: One hint that not all is well in Nigel's world is the moment when, despite otherwise being disarmingly pleasant, he aggressively barks at his son to take his pills when Alex isn't heeding him quickly enough.
