Designated Survivor (TV series)

Premise

Episodes

Cast and characters

Main

• Kiefer Sutherland as Thomas Adam "Tom" Kirkman, the President of the United States, sworn in following an unprecedented attack on the Capitol Building which killed the entire government. He formerly held the office of Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. After successfully proving his competency as the head of government, Kirkman is elected for a second term at the end of the third season.
• Natascha McElhone as Alexandra Jane "Alex" Kirkman, the First Lady of the United States. Prior to becoming First Lady, Alex was an immigration attorney in private practice. In season two, Alex was killed after a truck crashed into the motorcade she was traveling in.
• Adan Canto as Aaron Shore, the Vice President-elect of the United States. Before being put on President Kirkman's ticket in his re-election campaign in the last season, Aaron worked as Kirkman's first Chief of Staff until resigning after being interrogated about the terrorist attack on the Capitol in the first season. During that time, he worked as a senior aide to the Speaker of the House Kimble Hookstraten, before returning to the White House as Kirkman's National Security Advisor.
• Italia Ricci as Emily Rhodes, the spokesperson of Kirkman's presidential campaign. Since his days as HUD Secretary, she has worked for Tom, where she was his chief of staff. After Kirkman became president, she was appointed Special Advisor, and, following Aaron's resignation, his Chief of Staff until resigning from the White House to live in Florida with her mother. She later returned and was reinstated as Special Advisor.
• Tanner Buchanan as Leo Kirkman, Tom and Alex's son and Penny's older brother. Leo is tasked with supporting his sister Penny while his parents are busy in their new jobs. Later Leo leaves the White House for his freshman year at Stanford University.
• LaMonica Garrett as Mike Ritter, a Secret Service agent, assigned to President Kirkman's personal protection detail. Ritter was responsible for the safety of the entire Kirkman family following the Capitol attack. His character is written off the series without an explanation after season two.
• Kal Penn as Seth Wright, the White House Communications Director. He initially doubts Tom's abilities as President but quickly becomes one of his closest advisors. He was named Press Secretary due to his strong social skills. He was Press Secretary until his promotion to Communications Director in Season 3 by Chief of Staff Mars Harper.
• Maggie Q as Hannah Wells, a CIA Case Officer. Formerly an FBI Special Agent, she is assigned to investigate the Capitol attack, eventually solving the case and bringing those responsible to justice. In season three, after being fired from the Bureau, Hannah investigates a possible threat of bioterrorism for the CIA, ultimately leading to her death.
• Jake Epstein as Chuck Russink, an FBI analyst. Chuck regularly assists Wells in her investigations, becoming one of her most trusted allies.
• Paulo Costanzo as Lyor Boone, the White House Political Director. Lyor is a highly skilled, yet socially inept political consultant who is hired to help develop the political strategy of Kirkman's administration.
• Zoe McLellan as Kendra Daynes, a White House Counsel. Kendra is a no-nonsense attorney who previously served as counsel for the Senate Homeland Security sub-committee.
• Ben Lawson as Damian Rennett, an MI6 agent. He is assigned to assist Wells in finding the Capitol attack perpetrator. He is shot multiple times and killed by a Russian intelligence agent in a drive-by-shooting.

  Recurring

• Mckenna Grace as Penny Kirkman, Tom and Alex’s daughter and Leo’s younger sister.
• Peter Outerbridge as Charles Langdon, former Chief of Staff in the Richmond administration. Charles is one of the survivors of the Capitol attack who later provides Wells and the FBI with information about the conspiracy.
• Malik Yoba as Jason Atwood, former Deputy Director of the FBI. Jason leads the FBI investigation into the Capitol attack alongside Wells, becoming one of Wells’ most trusted allies. Jason is eventually shot and killed by Nestor Lozano, who catches him spying on Jay Whitaker, who is revealed to be conspiring with the perpetrator of the Capitol bombing.
• Kevin McNally as Harris Cochrane, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Harris initially refuses to accept Kirkman as the new commander-in-chief and attempts to have him removed from office. Kirkman fires him after he disobeys a direct order.
• Virginia Madsen as Kimble Hookstraten, the Speaker of the House. Kimble is a Republican from Missouri, who is selected as the designated survivor for the party. She supports Kirkman’s authority while secretly harbouring her own agenda. Kimble later becomes the United States Secretary of Education after an investigation that forces her to resign from the United States House of Representatives.
• Ashley Zukerman as Peter MacLeish, former Congressman from Oregon and later Vice President of the United States. Peter is initially established as the sole survivor of the Capitol bombing and hailed a national hero. MacLeish eventually becomes Vice President. After investigating him for months, Hannah Wells concludes that he was involved in the preparation of the Capitol attack, leading to MacLeish being shot and killed by his wife before taking her own life so that the FBI could not gather any more information on the conspiracy.
• George Tchortov as Nestor Lozano, a former CIA agent. The FBI wants Lozano due to him being heavily involved in the Capitol attack conspiracy. He operates under the name "Catalan". At the end of Season One, he is killed by FBI Agent Hannah Wells.
• Reed Diamond as John Foerstel, former Director of the FBI. Foerstel occasionally assists Wells with her investigations into the Capitol attack while continuously establishing that he is in charge, not her. In season two, Foerstel is killed in a subway station bombing after running inside to alert his agents and evacuate them.
• Mykelti Williamson as Admiral Chernow, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Chernow becomes one of Kirkman’s most trusted advisors after succeeding Cochrane as Chairman after he is fired for disobedience.
• Michael Gaston as James Royce, former Governor of Michigan. Royce openly and repeatedly defies the Kirkman administration while trying to establish his own supreme authority. After Royce begins to violently detain protestors for going against his own beliefs, he is arrested for committing treason against the United States.
• Mariana Klaveno as Brooke Mathison, a self-claimed contractor. Brooke abducts Luke, Atwood’s son, and blackmails Jason into falsely confessing to the murder of Majid Nassar in exchange for his safety. She fails to hold up her end of the deal, and Luke is later found dead on a riverbank. Atwood later kills her after she pulls out a gun to kill either Hannah Wells or Atwood.
• Lara Jean Chorostecki as Beth MacLeish, the wife of Peter MacLeish. Beth, alongside her husband, is a part of the Capitol attack conspiracy. She goads Peter into following through with their premeditated agenda. Whenever her husband feels upset, she always tells him that they'll be okay and that nothing bad will happen to them. She eventually shoots and kills Peter before committing suicide after learning that Wells had uncovered their plan and involvement.
• Rob Morrow as Abe Leonard, a newspaper journalist. Abe is an old friend of Kimble Hookstraten who harbors some hatred toward Seth. He is determined to find something to incriminate the Kirkman family.
• Geoff Pierson as Cornelius Moss, former 44th President of the United States. He decided not to seek re-election due to the death of his wife and comes out of retirement to give President Kirkman a list of candidates for the empty Cabinet positions. President Kirkman brings Moss back into the spotlight, appointing him to be his Secretary of State. Moss is later removed from this position after working covertly in opposition to Kirkman. He develops a hatred for Kirkman and becomes the Republican nominee for President in the third season.
• Mark Deklin as Jack Bowman, a Republican senator from Montana. Senator Bowman is one of President Kirkman's most reviled members of Congress. Bowman seeks to raise his profile by continuously opposing Kirkman’s legislative agenda, especially his stance on gun control.
• Kearran Giovanni as Diane Hunter, a Democratic senator from Massachusetts. She is also the Senate Minority Leader, who has a habit of sparring with Bowman.
• Terry Serpico as Patrick Lloyd, former CEO of Browning Reed. Lloyd is the founder and leader of True Believers, the organization responsible for the Capitol attack. Wells uncovers Lloyd as the mastermind behind the attack, subsequently leading to Kirkman ordering a drone strike on his bunker, killing him because of the threat of him carrying sarin gas that can kill thousands.
• Richard Waugh as Jay Whitaker, former Homeland Security Advisor. While working at the White House, Whitaker hacks into the computers and downloads a file containing a false confession to the bombing of the Capitol by Majid Nassar, also deleting files that could compromise his secret. Whitaker is the person responsible for Kirkman becoming a designated survivor. After receiving images and an audio file sent by Atwood before his death, Hannah discovers Whitaker’s secrets, leading to his arrest in the West Wing. He was considered the traitor in the White House for a large portion of Season 1.
• Breckin Meyer as Trey Kirkman, Tom’s estranged younger brother. Trey is a financial expert, and after reconciling their relationship, he becomes a confidant and advisor to the President.
• Kim Raver as Andrea Frost, the CEO of Apache Aerospace. Andrea is an aerospace engineer and a colleague of Kirkman. She becomes Wells’ prime suspect in her investigation into Gamine’s identity. President Kirkman and Agent Wells eventually find that she is not the perpetrator. Since most of her time on the show was after the death of First Lady Alexandra Kirkman, there were rumors that Kirkman would develop a romantic relationship with Dr. Frost.
• Michael J. Fox as Ethan West, an attorney. Ethan is hired by Kirkman’s administration to oversee an inquiry investigating Kirkman’s fitness to serve as president.
• Nora Zehetner as Valeria Poriskova, a Russian intelligence agent. Valeria is assigned to become an undercover Russian Embassy cultural attaché; she is Damian Rennett’s handler. In season two, Valeria attempts to kill Hannah in a drive-by-shooting instead of Rennett, who shielded Wells. She is later killed in the United Kingdom after being shot by Hannah.
• Aunjanue Ellis as Ellenor Darby, former Vice President of the United States. Ellenor previously served as the Mayor of Washington D.C. until being nominated by Kirkman as the next Vice President, following their successful collaboration and response to the power failure caused by a cyberattack. Vice President Darby leads an investigation with the Cabinet into President Kirkman's mental health after the death of his wife, Alex. After the investigation, Darby resigns intending to seek the Democratic presidential nomination, which proves unsuccessful.
• Anthony Edwards as Mars Harper, the White House Chief of Staff. Mars is appointed after Emily’s resignation. He is known for his strict policies with the White House staff, including his rule about standing in meetings. He spends much of his time dealing with his wife Lynn's opiate addiction problem.
• Julie White as Lorraine Zimmer, the campaign manager for Kirkman’s presidential campaign. She has a raunchy, no-nonsense attitude that is contrary to President Kirkman.
• Elena Tovar as Isabel Pardo, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff. Before being promoted, Isabel held White House Director of Social Innovation. She is Aaron Shore's girlfriend for a lot of Season 3 but breaks up with him after she finds out Shore slept with Emily Rhodes during Shore and Pardo's relationship.
• Lauren Holly as Lynn Harper, the daughter of a renowned Virginia senator and the wife of Mars Harper. She is known for her addiction to opiates that lands her in rehabilitation thrice.
• Ben Watson as Dontae Evans, the White House Digital Officer. He had previously worked in the White House as a digital team member but was promoted by Seth Wright. He identifies as gay and strikes a relationship with Aaron Shore's personal detail, Troy.
• Chukwudi Iwuji as Dr. Eli Mays, a DIY biohacker and geneticist. He works closely with Hannah to thwart an expected bioterrorist attack before she is killed.
• Jamie Clayton as Sasha Booker, Alex’s sister and Tom's sister-in-law. She lived in Paris, France for most of Kirkman's presidency but moves back to the United States when Kirkman comes under fire for hiding Sasha for most of his presidency. She does not like the spotlight, but as Kirkman's presidential campaign goes on, she becomes more used to it after a push from Seth Wright and Dontae Evans.
• Jennifer Wigmore as Dianne Lewis is the deputy director of the CIA. Lewis was originally a CIA analyst and worked her way up through the ranks. She is responsible for re-recruiting Hannah Wells to the CIA after she was fired from the FBI. President Kirkman has her transferred to the White House during the bioterror threat so she could advise him and help prevent the attack.
• Nick Boraine as Dr. Wouter Momberg was a South African scientist who worked to develop racially-targeted bioweapons.
• Eltony Williams as Agent Troy Baye, He is Aaron's new security agent and Dontae's boyfriend.
• Wendy Lyon as Carrie Rhodes, Emily's mother, who suffered ovarian cancer.