The Unknown Characters

An unknown actress cast as Daisy Rue in Ronan Peters' horror film and sent to New Avalon for an immersive 1926-style retreat. She is nervous, desperate to succeed, and haunted by guilt over her sister Molly's drowning, which shaped her need to become someone else. Over the week she is deceived by the other actresses and ultimately chooses ambition, leveraging a secret to become an Oscar nominee.

Arc: Arrives afraid of failure and convinced the role is make-or-break, then survives the staged hauntings and is drawn into covering up Ronan's murder. She learns the truth about Daisy/Azra and Molly, and by the end she decides she wants to be known, accepting Violet's help.

• Ronan Peters — her director, who hires her and later makes an unwanted advance
• Violet Wright — fellow actress and eventual accomplice who stages the hauntings and later helps her career
• Loretta Zeverin — producer who welcomes her and manages her paperwork
• Susie Hutchinson — jealous castmate who resents her role
• Heather Benchley — castmate and search companion
• Julianne Brown — castmate who shares worries and later apologizes to her
• Brad Brillstein — production assistant who escorts her around the island
• Lindy Garrett — the actress she replaced
• Molly — her dead older sister, whose ghost she fears and sees
• Pete — boatman who ferries her to the island
• Veronica — her agent
• Daisy Rue — the historical woman she is cast to play

A famous horror director who auditions Marin by asking for a ghost story and insists the cast live in period-accurate 1926 conditions for authenticity. He is obsessive, manipulative, and sexually predatory, having secretly recorded sexual encounters with Elise Haines and other women. He pressures Marin, confesses his role in Elise's death, and is stabbed to death by Violet while she appears possessed by Daisy.

Arc: He denies the supernatural throughout and refuses to take responsibility, blaming Elise for overreacting. His confession under duress does not save him, and he dies unrepentant.

• Marin Keane — the actress he casts and later forces himself on
• Violet Wright — the actress plotting revenge against him who kills him
• Elise Haines — the woman he recorded and humiliated, leading to her suicide
• Loretta Zeverin — his producer and collaborator
• Susie Hutchinson — an actress he rejects in a secretly recorded video
• Brad Brillstein — the PA who implements his staged séance ideas
• Daisy Rue — the historical diarist whose diary he adapts into a screenplay

An established movie star and the lead actress cast as Ruth Hume Semple. She is secretly the orchestrator of the island's staged hauntings, designed to force Ronan to confess to destroying her secret daughter, Elise Haines. She kills Ronan during the final séance and afterward makes a deal with Marin to protect her secret and advance Marin's career.

Arc: Starts as a supportive idol to Marin, then is exposed as a calculating conspirator. After murdering Ronan, she lives with the loss of her daughter and fulfills the bargain with Marin, presenting at the Oscars four years later.

• Marin Keane — fellow actress, accomplice, and later career beneficiary
• Ronan Peters — the man she plots against and kills
• Elise Haines — her secret daughter whose death drives her revenge
• Loretta Zeverin — her sister and co-conspirator
• Susie Hutchinson — co-conspirator in the staged haunting
• Heather Benchley — co-conspirator in the staged haunting
• Julianne Brown — co-conspirator in the staged haunting
• Brad Brillstein — co-conspirator who rigged special effects
• Lindy Garrett — an actress who refused to join the plan
• Ruth Hume Semple — the historical woman she portrays and whose journal she destroys
• Frank — her dead father, whose presence she senses

A high-powered producer who greets Marin, enforces the phone contract, and manages production logistics on New Avalon. She is Violet's sister and a co-conspirator in the plan to extract Ronan's confession, having fired Lindy Garrett and paid for her silence. After Ronan's death she helps keep the story under control.

Arc: Looks like a welcoming producer while secretly enabling the revenge plot; she remains an accomplice and continues working with Violet.

• Marin Keane — the actress she welcomes and manages
• Violet Wright — her sister and co-conspirator
• Ronan Peters — the director whose project she helps sabotage
• Brad Brillstein — taken off the island with him after his staged illness
• Lindy Garrett — the actress she fired and paid with an NDA
• Elise Haines — a woman she loved and helped avenge

A fellow actress cast in the film who resents Marin for taking the lead role. She helps stage her own disappearance, fakes the camcorder footage, and impersonates Molly at Marin's window as part of Violet's plan. Afterward she gives vague interviews stoking rumors of a curse and moves on to reality TV.

Arc: Goes from jealous castmate to feigned victim to revealed conspirator; she never learns the truth about Ronan's death.

• Marin Keane — the rival she deceives and resents
• Ronan Peters — the man she tries to entrap on video
• Violet Wright — the leader of the revenge plot
• Heather Benchley — friend and co-conspirator
• Julianne Brown — friend and co-conspirator
• Elise Haines — a friend she loved and wanted to avenge
• Molly — impersonates her at Marin's window

A pragmatic castmate who dismisses ghosts and argues they need to get off the island. She is secretly part of Violet's scheme, faking her disappearance by hiding in a camouflage sleeping bag and being taken away by boat. She later reappears to help restrain Marin.

Arc: Pretends to be a victim of the haunting, then is revealed as a co-conspirator; she returns to acting work afterward.

• Marin Keane — fellow castmate and search companion
• Susie Hutchinson — friend and co-conspirator
• Julianne Brown — friend and co-conspirator
• Violet Wright — co-conspirator
• Ronan Peters — the man she helps expose
• Brad Brillstein — helped her fake her disappearance
• Elise Haines — a friend she loved
• Clarence — her oldest cousin, named by the séance glass

An older actress and acting teacher who seems frightened by the séance and blames Azra for the disappearances. She is another co-conspirator, having been Elise Haines's acting teacher, and she helps restrain Marin once the deception is exposed. She carries guilt over telling her first husband Dean she wanted a divorce just before he died.

Arc: Moves from frightened participant to revealed conspirator; after the island she returns to the Chicago stage.

• Marin Keane — fellow actress she helps deceive and later apologizes to
• Heather Benchley — friend and co-conspirator
• Susie Hutchinson — friend and co-conspirator
• Violet Wright — co-conspirator
• Dean — her late first husband
• Elise Haines — her former acting student
• Ronan Peters — the man she helps expose

A production assistant who welcomes Marin, collects phones, and helps run the period retreat. He is a co-conspirator who faked an appendicitis attack so Loretta could take him off the island, and he rigged many of the séance tricks, including the fishing-line chair and hidden mechanisms. He continues working in special effects.

Arc: Plays the helpful crew member and then the medical emergency, later revealed as one of Elise's friends seeking revenge; no real change.

• Marin Keane — the actress he escorts and assists
• Ronan Peters — the director whose staged séance ideas he implements
• Violet Wright — co-conspirator
• Loretta Zeverin — the producer who takes him off the island
• Heather Benchley — helped her fake her disappearance
• Elise Haines — a high school friend he wanted to avenge

The local boatman who ferries Marin, Loretta, and the others to New Avalon and tells the old legends about the vanished women. He is Mr. Ruggle's grandson, and his grandfather's appearances in Daisy's diary make him a brief suspect. He is scheduled to pick the group up on Saturday.

Arc: Serves as the outside link to the mainland and local lore; his suspicions about the island prove less important than the staged plot.

• Marin Keane — the passenger he ferries to and from the island
• Loretta Zeverin — the producer he also shuttles
• Mr. Ruggle — his grandfather
• Ruth Hume Semple — one of the missing women in the story he tells

The actress originally cast as Daisy who was fired for refusing to come to New Avalon. She texted Marin a warning, threatened that no one would leave alive, and later becomes a suspect. In truth she knew about Violet's revenge plan, refused to participate, and was paid off with money and an NDA before leaving Hollywood to become a yoga instructor.

Arc: Goes from mysterious texter to prime suspect to the one who chose not to participate in the scheme; she later texts Marin 'was it worth it?' before being blocked.

• Marin Keane — the actress who replaced her as Daisy
• Ronan Peters — the director whose film she was fired from
• Violet Wright — the woman whose plan she refused to join
• Loretta Zeverin — the producer who fired her and bought her silence
• Elise Haines — a fellow actress she knew from auditions

Marin's agent, who sends her the casting notice, tells her she got the part, and texts her good luck. She initially thought the audition would only be good experience. She only appears at the start.

Arc: No arc.

• Marin Keane — her client

The historical woman whose diary is adapted into Ronan's screenplay. In the diary she comes to New Avalon with Mrs. Semple, feels a supernatural Gift, and is tormented by an entity she calls Azra. In reality she is the dominant alternate personality of Azra Kovacic, and her hidden final diary pages show she killed Mrs. Semple and probably escaped the island.

Arc: Changes from a hopeful young woman seeking a home into a terrified diarist, then a revealed killer/escapee whose false identity is unmasked. Marin believes she survived and became Zara McCutcheon.

• Marin Keane — the actress cast to play her
• Ruth Hume Semple — the island host and therapist she kills
• Azra Kovacic — her true identity, whose body she shares
• Katrina Fiske — a hallucination she experiences as a real companion
• Jonquil Collins — a hallucination she experiences as a real companion
• Phoebe Minafer — a hallucination she experiences as a real companion
• Mrs. Clack — the woman who sends her to New Avalon
• Daddy — her abusive father, whom she killed
• Ronan Peters — the director who adapts her diary

The island's historical owner who brings women to New Avalon each summer and is the character Violet plays. Her journal reveals New Avalon was actually a psychiatric facility for troubled girls, and she was treating Azra Kovacic/Daisy Rue; her skeleton is found beneath a cottage, still clutching her journal. She was killed by Daisy after trying to eliminate Daisy's alternate personalities.

Arc: Presented as a warm host in Daisy's diary and as a spirit-like presence in the modern séances, then revealed as a dead therapist and murder victim whose records expose the truth.

• Daisy Rue — the patient who kills her
• Azra Kovacic — the patient she tried to bring forward
• Mrs. Clack — the woman who refers patients to her
• Mr. Ruggle — the supplier who collects bootlegged liquor from the island
• Roderick Semple — her father
• Katrina Fiske — one of Daisy's hallucinations she tried to eliminate
• Jonquil Collins — one of Daisy's hallucinations she tried to eliminate
• Phoebe Minafer — one of Daisy's hallucinations she tried to eliminate
• Violet Wright — the actress who portrays her
• Marin Keane — the woman who discovers her remains and journal

The real woman behind Daisy Rue, an immigrant who suffered abuse from her alcoholic father and developed paranoid schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder. Mrs. Semple tried to bring Azra forward and eliminate Daisy's hallucinations, but Daisy resisted. She is the only person who vanished without trace from New Avalon, and Marin believes Daisy used her body to escape.

Arc: Hides as the timid true identity beneath Daisy until Mrs. Semple's therapy draws her out; her final fate remains unknown, with Zara McCutcheon as a possible later identity.

• Daisy Rue — her dominant alternate personality
• Ruth Hume Semple — her caregiver and therapist
• Daddy — her abusive father
• Katrina Fiske — one of her hallucinations
• Jonquil Collins — one of her hallucinations
• Phoebe Minafer — one of her hallucinations
• Zara McCutcheon — possible later identity after escaping New Avalon

In Daisy's diary, a fellow guest on New Avalon who is suspicious, mocking, and claims to have visions. She is actually one of Daisy's hallucinations, eliminated through Mrs. Semple's hypnosis, with her dress hung in the oak tree. In the modern plot, her disappearance mirrors Susie's.

Arc: From antagonist in the diary to vanished 'victim' to revealed hallucination.

• Daisy Rue — the personality she originated from
• Jonquil Collins — fellow hallucination and companion
• Phoebe Minafer — fellow hallucination and companion
• Ruth Hume Semple — the therapist who eliminates her
• Susie Hutchinson — her disappearance mirrors Susie's

In Daisy's diary, a bold, fun-loving fellow guest who defends Daisy and calls the séance bunk. She is another of Daisy's hallucinations, eliminated by Mrs. Semple with clothes hung in the oak. Her disappearance mirrors Heather's.

Arc: From lively companion to vanished 'victim' to revealed hallucination.

• Daisy Rue — the personality she originated from
• Katrina Fiske — fellow hallucination and companion
• Phoebe Minafer — fellow hallucination and companion
• Ruth Hume Semple — the therapist who eliminates her
• Heather Benchley — her disappearance mirrors Heather's

A proper, religious woman in Daisy's diary, also called Mrs. Minafer, who denounces the séance as evil and fears for her soul. She is one of Daisy's hallucinations, eliminated by Mrs. Semple; her disappearance mirrors Julianne's.

Arc: From scandalized matron to vanished 'victim' to revealed hallucination.

• Daisy Rue — the personality she originated from
• Katrina Fiske — fellow hallucination and companion
• Jonquil Collins — fellow hallucination and companion
• Ruth Hume Semple — the therapist who eliminates her
• Julianne Brown — her disappearance mirrors Julianne's

The boardinghouse keeper—actually a warden—who refers Daisy to Mrs. Semple and supplies a suitcase of dresses. She warns Ruth to be careful with Daisy.

Arc: No arc.

• Daisy Rue — the young woman she sends to New Avalon
• Ruth Hume Semple — the woman she asks to take Daisy in

Pete's grandfather, the island's regular supplier who also collects buried bootlegged liquor. He appears in Daisy's diary, which makes Marin suspect Pete for omitting him. He is expected to return to the island weekly.

Arc: No arc.

• Pete — his grandson
• Ruth Hume Semple — the island owner he supplies
• Daisy Rue — appears in her diary
• Marin Keane — briefly suspected by her through the diary

Ruth's father, the historical owner of New Avalon who made a fortune from cannon-making and came to feel haunted by the men his cannons killed. He carved daisy wheels/witch marks around the island for protection.

Arc: No arc.

• Ruth Hume Semple — his daughter

Marin's older sister who drowned in the family pool at age eleven. Marin saw her as a dripping figure at the window for a year and believes she sees her again on New Avalon; one appearance is later revealed to be Susie impersonating her. She embodies Marin's guilt and grief.

Arc: Remains a haunting presence; Marin ultimately chooses to believe Molly's visits were real.

• Marin Keane — her younger sister, who sees her ghost
• Susie Hutchinson — impersonates her at Marin's window

An aspiring actress who had a relationship with Ronan, was secretly recorded by him, and died by suicide after he shared the video. She is revealed to be Violet's secret daughter, and her death motivates the entire revenge plot. She never appears alive.

Arc: No arc; her story is uncovered piece by piece.

• Ronan Peters — the man who exploited her and drove her to suicide
• Violet Wright — her secret mother
• Susie Hutchinson — a friend who sought justice for her
• Heather Benchley — a friend who sought justice for her
• Julianne Brown — her former acting teacher
• Brad Brillstein — a high school friend
• Loretta Zeverin — a friend who loved her
• Lindy Garrett — knew her from auditions

Julianne's late first husband, who was killed by a cab after she told him she wanted a divorce. His name appears in the séance glass, and Julianne later believes she sees him outside, causing her to run into the dark.

Arc: No arc; he appears only through memory and illusion.

• Julianne Brown — her late first husband

Violet's father, who died while Violet chose to make a movie instead of being at his deathbed. Violet senses his presence through the smell of pipe smoke and English Leather aftershave.

Arc: No arc.

• Violet Wright — her dead father

A woman seen in a 1931 photograph identified as a Canadian businessman's wife. Marin believes she is the spitting image of Daisy and may be Daisy after escaping New Avalon.

Arc: No arc; she is evidence of Daisy's possible survival.

• Daisy Rue — possible later identity
• Azra Kovacic — possible later identity

Daisy/Azra's abusive, alcoholic father, whom Daisy killed with a knife. In Daisy's nightmares and visions, the Darkness appears in his form. He is the root of Daisy's trauma.

Arc: No arc; appears only in memory and as the face worn by the Darkness.

• Daisy Rue — her abusive father, whom she killed
• Azra Kovacic — her abusive father
• Mommy — her wife and Daisy's mother

Daisy's dead mother, referenced only when Daisy swears on her grave that she did not mean to kill Mrs. Semple.

Arc: No arc.

• Daisy Rue — her dead mother

Heather's oldest cousin, whose name is spelled by the séance glass, shocking Heather. He does not appear in person.

Arc: No arc.

• Heather Benchley — her oldest cousin