List of The Game characters
This is a list of the characters and plot points from the American comedy-drama television series The Game.
Characters
Main
Recurring
Series cast main character format
Legacy Characters of the series appeared throughout the various seasons through its different iterations. Though seen as an ensemble cast of leads, the original characters of Melanie and Derwin was most known as the leads of the CW series. Organically the show centered and surrounded the life of Melanie Barnett, a pre-med student who struggled to keep a relationship with a pro-football player while the rest of the cast storylines were supported dealing with the life and experiences dating football players as well as the athletes highs and lows of their careers and also raising one while representing athletes. During the changes of the BET revival and re-casting of season 6, new characters were brought in to fill the main cast, hoping that Keira and Bryce/'Blue' would make up for the main characters but ultimately resulting in the ensemble becoming collectively as leads as their storylines were equally displayed. Subsequently with the Paramount+ revival series, Tasha Mack and Malik Wright became the longest running characters of the series with Tasha Mack becoming lead character as the storyline centers more about her struggles to run her sports agency.| Series | Main Characters | Original supporting cast guest appearances |
| CW series ' | Original legacy cast
| Recurring series supporting key characters |
| BET revival series' | Legacy cast
| Recurring series supporting key characters |
| BET revival series' | New cast
| Recurring series supporting key characters |
| Paramount+ revival series' also known as season 10–11 | Legacy cast
| Original series legacy supporting characters in sequel revival |
| Paramount+ revival series' also known as season 10–11'' | New cast
| Original series legacy supporting characters in sequel revival |
Legacy main characters
Melanie Barnett-Davis
- Dr. Melanie Barnett Davis, M.D., played by Tia Mowry, is a third-year medical school student from Connecticut who has given up an offer of admission to Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore to follow her boyfriend, Sabers rising star receiver Derwin Davis, to San Diego against the advice of her parents and her cousin Joan Clayton, the lead character from the UPN/CW sitcom Girlfriends.
Melanie began her relationship with Derwin in college. At the end of Season 1, Derwin cheats on Melanie with Drew Sidora, and Melanie finds out. At the start of Season 2, Melanie leaves Derwin. After she breaks up with Derwin, she confides in her old friend Trey Wiggs. She eventually has a one-night stand with Trey. In the middle of Season 3, Derwin is seeing Janay and Melanie begins dating Jerome Rice. At the end of Season 2, Derwin reveals his love for Melanie and forces her to choose. Melanie turns Derwin down but then realizes that she is still in love with him. She returns to Derwin's apartment only to find out that Janay is pregnant with Derwin's child. After they break up once more in the middle of season 3, this time due to her infidelity with Dr. Buriss/Dr. McHottie, Derwin and Janay try to work things out while Melanie has a fling with her boss, Dr. Buriss. Melanie and Derwin eventually get back together, even though Janay is pregnant, and they have a wedding planned; but just as the ceremony is about to start, Derwin receives word that Janay has gone into labor. Derwin and Melanie eventually get married, after the baby is born, in the hospital chapel.
Two years later in Season 4, Melanie has decided to put her residency on hold and is focusing more on being the wife of a now famous and wealthy athlete Derwin and a stepmother to his son Derwin Junior, as the couple has now moved into a brand-new mansion and has even done a photo shoot for Essence magazine. Having insecurities about whether Derwin is the father of DJ, Melanie swabs a DNA sample of DJ while babysitting him, with the initial test revealing Derwin is not DJ's father. However, a later test reveals that Derwin indeed is the father, leaving Melanie with the task of telling Derwin about the test. Melanie and Derwin go see a fertility doctor about why they're having problems conceiving, and Melanie is asked if she has ever had an abortion. She says no; Derwin, recognizing that she lied, questions Melanie about the abortion and asks if it was his or not. In the premiere episode of Season 5, Melanie admits that she had an abortion. Derwin originally believes that it was when he and Melanie were in college; however, she tells him that it was actually from her affair with Trey Wiggs. She confesses that the reason she had the abortion was to spare Derwin from living with a reminder of her affair, which is the way she feels about DJ. Even though she makes it seem as though the abortion has not affected her, she seems to show feelings of guilt when she is alone. Feeling a void in her life, Melanie opts to continue trying to have a child, and later finds a surrogate in Tasha. Tasha eventually reneges on their arrangement to be with Pookie. Melanie later realizes that having a baby is not what she wants and leaves to attend Johns Hopkins on the day of the Championship Game, much to Derwin's dismay. At the end of the episode, however, he surprises her at the airport, telling her that he is flying there, with her.
Derwin Davis
- Derwin Davis is a star wide receiver with the San Diego Sabers and the husband of Melanie Barnett. Aldis Hodge portrayed the original Derwin in the Girlfriends pilot. Hodge was replaced by Pooch Hall for the TV series.
Derwin tries to reuniting with Melanie but Melanie shows up with football player and Derwin's rival Trey Wiggs to move her stuff from Derwin's apartment. Derwin's standout performance in training camp earned Derwin a starting spot with the Sabers. In season 2, Derwin starts becoming more of a playboy jock rather than his humble church ways. After a few "hookups" Derwin starts dating Janay. Although Melanie begins dating Jerome, she is jealous of Derwin and Janay. Janay finds "Dr. Grizzly", the stuffed bear Derwin bought Melanie, and Derwin throws the bear into a waste basket, but later recovers it and hides it in a drawer. Derwin hurts his knee in a Sabers' playoff game and can not play in the Super Bowl, so he decides not to go to Miami with the team. Melanie misses Derwin and decides to pay him a visit, and they share a passionate kiss, but Melanie goes to L.A. with her boyfriend, Jerome. An intoxicated Derwin goes with Malik to L.A. to seek out Melanie. Derwin tells her, "You look me in my eyes and you tell me you don't love me?" Jerome and Derwin fight and Melanie confesses to Jerome that she loves Derwin. Melanie goes to Derwin's apartment, but Derwin finds out that Janay is pregnant with his baby.
In season 3, Derwin and Melanie get back together, but Melanie is jealous when Derwin goes with Janay to her first pregnancy appointment. After Melanie and Derwin break up again, Derwin decides to get back together with Janay since he is the father of her baby. Janay discovers that Derwin is still in love with Melanie after she finds the bear she thought had been thrown away. Melanie and Derwin get back together and Derwin proposes again, and Melanie accepts, and decides she wants to marry Derwin before the baby arrives. The baby comes when Derwin and Melanie are at the altar. Derwin rushes to the hospital, leaving Melanie at the altar. Later that night Derwin and Melanie get married in a private ceremony. In the fourth season premiere, there are some questions regarding the true paternity of Derwin's son. Derwin also emerges as a superstar player in season 4, getting numerous endorsement deals, including Nike, and becomes the new face of the Sabers organization.
In season 5 premiere he asks Melanie if she had an abortion and she eventually admits that she did. He does not like the fact but thinks it was while the couple were in college. When she tells him it was Trey Wiggs' he is mad that she aborted a child even if not his. Since firing Tasha as his manager Derwin has been in the need of a new representation and hires his old agent Irv Smith to manage him prompting Tasha to take legal action as a way to get her money back for a Verizon sponsorship she had recently set up for him. Later Derwin attempts to build a friendship with Kwan off the field with the hope that it will build more chemistry on the field, but Kwan is non receptive and he soon learns that his friendship with Malik has been destroyed because of the Kwan situation. After fixing his relationship with Malik, Derwin attempts to get Malik back on the field with a campaign called "WMD", Derwin admits that he has ulterior motives but he believes this is the only way him and Malik can get back to real friendship. After the owner tells Derwin that Kwan is the starter this adds further contentiousness to their relationship. Derwin finds out that Melanie is unable to have children because of a medical condition and takes it hard, handling it by having a party with Malik and Jason and getting drunk. In the episode "Derwin about to go ham", Kwan and Derwin's animosity reaches the critical level after Kwan refuses to throw Derwin the ball in the first half of a crucial game. In the locker room they engage in a small altercation. Back on the field Kwan is told to call a pass play but at the last minute audibles out for a run, Derwin going into motion "misses" a block and Kwan's knee is brutally hurt and he is lost for the game and possibly the season. Malik comes in to fill in for Kwan and the dream team of Malik + Derwin is back together and they lead a comeback victory. At the press conference Derwin is bombarded with questions about the play that Kwan got hurt with members of the media insinuating that Derwin missed it on purpose, Derwin leaves the press conferences without answering further questions. Back at home Derwin becomes a shell of himself isolating himself off from everyone else because of the pain knowing that everyone is blaming him for what happened. Melanie soon convinces him to leave the house and while at the gas station a fan approaches him, blaming him for the injury and spitting on his car. Later Derwin visits Malik and gets advice about how to get through this and how to not stress so much about his image and focus more on football and his career. After returning home Derwin and Melanie have a truth moment and he reveals that he missed it on purpose because of Kwan's attempt to threaten the legacy. He tells her that there are two Derwins: regular Derwin, and Der win at any means necessary. In the final episode of Season 5, he leaves with Melanie for Baltimore so she can pursue her dream of being a doctor after he lived his of being a champion football player. In Season 6 Derwin is traded to Baltimore in exchange for Bryce "The Blueprint" Westbrook, much to his chagrin. He returned in season 9 finale with Melanie to share the news with everyone that they are having twins.
In Season 10 , Derwin is revealed to be the number 1 popular sports podcaster with a show called "Derwin Talks"''. He pays a visit to Las Vegas to take on Tasha Mack's new Caucasian client Keith Kincaid who in the past made racist remarks over twitter, which forces Tasha to defend him. This creates friction between the two. He also was there to ask Tasha Mack a favor for his support to manage him once more to get back on the field, expressing his past knee injury has healed. But she denies he had what it took to continue after his retirement and injury. He make attempts to practice alone on the field, but realizes his dream may never come into fruition, because his knee is still not healed as he thought.