13 Reasons Why

Series overview

Cast and characters

Main

• Dylan Minnette as Clay Jensen, a student at Liberty High who had a crush on Hannah and becomes obsessed with finding out what drove her to end her life. At the end of the second season, he successfully talks Tyler out of committing a school shooting at the end-of-year dance and helps him escape the police. He is also the primary suspect in Bryce Walker's murder in the third season. His deteriorating mental health and subsequent recovery are a pivotal storyline in the fourth season.
• Katherine Langford as Hannah Baker, a new student at Liberty High who leaves behind a set of tapes detailing thirteen reasons why she killed herself.
• Christian Navarro as Tony Padilla, Clay's best friend at Liberty High who tries to help him deal with Hannah's death. Before her death, Hannah gives Tony the audio cassettes and holds him responsible for making sure everyone on the cassettes hears them. His family is deported in the third season after Bryce's father reports them to I.C.E.
• Alisha Boe as Jessica Davis, a student who starts attending Liberty High at the same time as Hannah. She is raped by Bryce before the events of the first season, which leads her to start a sexual assault survivors club on campus. She is elected student body president in the third season. Throughout the series, she is in an on-again, off-again relationship with Justin Foley. In season four, she has a final reconciliation with Justin, which lasts until his death later that season.
• Brandon Flynn as Justin Foley, a popular student at Liberty High who comes from an abusive family and is in a relationship with Jessica. He is responsible for setting the events of the series in motion by being the first person to humiliate Hannah, after their first date. He is initially Bryce's best friend and Clay's enemy until Justin breaks off his friendship with Bryce once he discovers Bryce sexually assaulted Jessica. At the end of the second season, Justin is adopted by Clay's parents and lives with Clay as his adoptive brother.
• Justin Prentice as Bryce Walker, a popular student from a rich family and the captain of the football team and pitcher on the baseball team at Liberty High. He is friends with Justin, Zach, and Monty but is revealed to be a serial rapist who sexually assaulted Jessica and Hannah, among others. He is killed by Alex who pushes him from a bridge after he is already severely injured from a brutal assault by Zach.
• Miles Heizer as Alex Standall, a student at Liberty High, who forms a close friendship with Jessica and Hannah, which ends when he and Jessica start dating. Alex is sarcastic and tends to be blunt but also cares about others. He kills Bryce in the third season by pushing him into the river after Zach leaves Bryce incapacitated. In the fourth season, he dates Winston Williams and Charlie St. George.
• Ross Butler as Zach Dempsey, a kindhearted friend of Justin and Bryce at Liberty High. After Bryce breaks his knee at the homecoming game and causes him to lose his college scholarships, Zach assaults Bryce at the river pier, breaking one of his legs and an arm.
• Devin Druid as Tyler Down, a shy, severely bullied student at Liberty High. He is an avid photographer, which often gets him into trouble, especially when he is caught taking stalker-like photos of female classmates, including Hannah. At the end of the second season, he is sexually assaulted by Monty while in the boys' bathroom of Liberty High, which leads to him attempting a school shooting at the Spring Fling before being talked out of it by Clay. His emotional recovery is a storyline in the third and fourth seasons.
• Amy Hargreaves as Lainie Jensen, Clay's attorney mother who works for the firm representing Liberty High in the Baker's lawsuit before she starts her own firm.
• Derek Luke as Kevin Porter, the guidance counselor at Liberty High. He is fired after giving his testimony in Hannah's trial in the second season. He is brought back in the third season to help the police interrogate the students in Bryce's murder investigation.
• Kate Walsh as Olivia Baker, Hannah's mother who runs a local pharmacy with her husband. Olivia is determined to uncover the truth about the events leading to her daughter's suicide. She divorces Andy and moves to New York between the second and third seasons.
• Brian d'Arcy James as Andy Baker, Hannah's father who is the pharmacist in the pharmacy run by him and his wife. During Hannah's trial in the second season, he reveals that he had been cheating on Olivia when Hannah was alive, which Hannah discovered.
• Grace Saif as Ani Achola, a new Kenyan-British student at Liberty who lives in Bryce's house, due to her mother being his grandfather's caretaker. The third season is narrated through her conversation with Deputy Standall. Tensions rise when Clay and Jessica find out that Ani slept with Bryce, but she is nonetheless Jessica's best friend and Clay's girlfriend until the end of the fourth season.
• Brenda Strong as Nora Walker, Bryce's mother. Although initially distant from her son, she takes a firmer stance with Bryce when he transfers schools to prevent him from repeating his mistakes. She pushes the police to investigate Clay in relation to Bryce's murder.
• Timothy Granaderos as Monty de la Cruz, a vicious bully from an abusive family who is a student at Liberty High. He is friends with Bryce and is quick to anger. He is secretly gay and violently assaults Winston Williams, who is openly gay, after he kisses him at one of Bryce's parties, only to have sex with him later. He is killed in jail after being arrested for sexually assaulting Tyler. His father is homophobic and disowns him after learning that he is gay.
• Mark Pellegrino as Bill Standall, a Crestmont deputy sheriff and Alex's father.
• Tyler Barnhardt as Charlie St. George, a popular student at Liberty High who is friends with Monty but is kind at heart. During the fourth season, Charlie is revealed to be bisexual when he spends time with Clay's friends and develops feelings for Alex. He is the starting quarterback for Liberty in season four.
• Deaken Bluman as Winston Williams, a former Hillcrest student who hooks up with Monty and is furious when Monty is posthumously accused of Bryce's murder, knowing Monty was not guilty because Winston was with him the night Bryce was murdered. He transfers to Liberty to investigate the case and get information for the police while dating Alex and falling in love with him. He drops the case after Alex tells him that he was the one who killed Bryce.
• Jan Luis Castellanos as Diego Torres, a charismatic, aggressive, and fiercely loyal leader of a divided football team struggling to understand the loss of one of their own.
• Gary Sinise as Dr. Robert Ellman, a compassionate, incisive, no-nonsense adolescent and family therapist who works to help Clay Jensen battle anxiety, depression and grief.