List of Timeless characters
Timeless is an American television series created by Eric Kripke and Shawn Ryan. The following is a list of characters from the series.
Main characters
Lucy Preston
Lucy Preston is a history professor trying to follow her mother's footsteps. She suffers from claustrophobia after having nearly drowned in a car accident while she was in college. Aside from history, Lucy is fluent in French. One night, she is recruited by Homeland Security and Mason Industries to the "Lifeboat" team with Wyatt and Rufus as a history advisor to stop Garcia Flynn and recover the "Mothership". Throughout the team's adventures, Lucy personally encounters Flynn, who reveals that he possesses a journal she will write in the future. Following the Hindenburg mission, Lucy is left reeling over her mother no longer dying of cancer, her sister never being born, and being engaged to a man who is a complete stranger. In addition, she finds out that her mother lied about who her biological father is. After several arguments, Carol reveals her biological father is Benjamin Cahill, whom Lucy discovers is part of Rittenhouse. Since Rittenhouse members are all descendants, Cahill tells Lucy that she's also a part of Rittenhouse. Lucy refuses to be a part of Rittenhouse, aiming to stop them. When the team travels back to 1954, Lucy gets the help of her grandfather to help bring Rittenhouse down. The plan works, and they get enough evidence to arrest Rittenhouse members. Just as Lucy gets permission to get Amy back using the time machine, she discovers that Carol is also part of Rittenhouse.In season two, Lucy is kidnapped by Rittenhouse but later joins Carol and Emma in 1918 France to save Nicholas Keynes. She reunites with Wyatt and Rufus, who were led to believe she was dead, and reveals her plan to stop Rittenhouse, even if it meant killing herself. Emma discovers her plan, but Wyatt shows up and saves Lucy. Carol and Emma escape with Nicholas, while Lucy returns with Wyatt and Rufus. Lucy starts a romantic relationship with Wyatt, but when he discovers his wife, Jessica, is alive again, Lucy backs off. When Jessica realizes Lucy loves Wyatt, Lucy convinces her to stay and give Wyatt a second chance. Lucy befriends Flynn while dealing with her heartbreak, and finds out that a future version of herself gave Flynn the journal. While dealing with Rufus' death, Lucy is shocked when a second Lifeboat appears with Lucy and Wyatt from the future, offering to help the team save Rufus.
Lucy Preston is named after Bill S. Preston, Esquire, the first main protagonist of the Bill & Ted franchise.
Wyatt Logan
Wyatt Logan is a U.S. Army Delta Force operative assigned to the Lifeboat team. As an elite soldier, he has expertise in weapons, picking locks, and is fluent in four languages. He constantly tries to cope with the loss of his wife Jessica, who was murdered in 2012. Because of this, he often wishes to use the time machine to prevent her death. While in 1962 Las Vegas, he takes a cue from Back to the Future Part II and has Western Union write a telegram for Jessica in 2012, but it doesn't work. After returning from 1893 Chicago, Flynn calls Wyatt, tells him who killed his wife, and suggests what he should do to reverse it. Wyatt also suffers from PTSD after being the lone survivor of a failed operation. With the help of Rufus, Wyatt steals the Lifeboat and travels to 1983 to prevent the birth of Wes Gilliam, the serial killer who murdered Jessica. While he succeeds in erasing Gilliam from existence, he is arrested by Homeland Security and discovers that Jessica remains dead. He promptly escapes with the help of Agent Christopher, and reunites with the team to continue chasing after Flynn. After the team's 1954 mission, Wyatt decides to stick around with the team.In season two, Wyatt develops a romantic relationship with Lucy, but after the team's 1941 Hollywood mission, he discovers that Jessica is alive. When Jessica threatens to divorce him, Wyatt reveals the existence of the time machine, and her original fate so she will give him a second chance. Despite choosing his wife, Wyatt still has feelings for Lucy, and is jealous when she hangs out more with Flynn. Though Wyatt becomes suspicious of Jessica, he refuses to let Agent Christopher move her out after he discovers Jessica is pregnant. When Jessica later reveals herself to be a Rittenhouse member, Wyatt admits his suspicions to the team. After returning from 1888 Chinatown, Wyatt admits to Lucy that he loves her just as a second Lifeboat shows up with Wyatt and Lucy from the future.
Wyatt Logan is named after Ted "Theodore" Logan, the second main protagonist of the Bill & Ted franchise.
Rufus Carlin
Rufus Carlin is a programmer at Mason Industries assigned as the pilot of the prototype time machine "Lifeboat." He is initially uncomfortable with the idea of traveling with the team due to the unkind history of African-Americans over the centuries. During their adventures, Rufus sometimes uses names of famous black celebrities as his alias. He often asks historical figures why they do what they do. Rufus also has a complicated relationship with his co-worker Jiya, as they are both sci-fi fans. Though he bonds well with his teammates, he is revealed to be recording their activities under Mason's orders. When Rufus threatens to quit, he is threatened by an agent of Rittenhouse to stay with the team in order to assure the safety of his family. Rufus later records a threatening message and hands it to Mason to give to Rittenhouse. Mason responds by giving Rufus only six months in the company before eventually replacing him with Jiya, reminding him that he is expendable. During the team's 1931 Chicago mission, Rufus is shot by Al Capone, and he loses consciousness as he prepares the Lifeboat to jump back to the present. He recovers from his wound and has Jiya assist him in the team's 1954 mission.In season two, Rufus becomes more concerned about Jiya's condition, as she sees premonitions of him in danger. He does not take this well, and asks Jiya to not tell him about her visions. Jiya later admits that she had another vision of Rufus dying, which Rufus has a hard time dealing with, acting recklessly, then distant from Jiya. When the team heads to 1888 Chinatown to rescue Jiya, she tells Rufus that her vision shows him dying trying to get her home and refuses to return to protect him. Despite Jiya saving Rufus from the death her vision saw, he still ends up getting shot dead by Emma Whitmore.
In "The Miracle of Christmas," the future Wyatt and Lucy reveal that saving Rufus is the key to defeating Rittenhouse and the answer lies in the future Lucy's journal. Wyatt eventually realizes that Jessica's presence in the timeline is what led to Rufus' death and she has to be removed to undo all that she caused. Flynn travels back 2012, sacrificing himself to kill Jessica on the night that she originally died. Rufus is restored to life and rescues his friends in 1848 but is left with the memories of a whole different time line since their mission in Hollywood. After the death of Emma and the defeat of Rittenhouse, Rufus and Jiya marry and by 2023 run RIYA Industries together.
Rufus Carlin is named after actor George Carlin and his character Rufus in the Bill & Ted franchise.
Garcia Flynn
Garcia Flynn is the series' antihero. A former NSA agent stationed in Eastern Europe, Flynn steals the Mothership with the intent of changing American history. While still with the NSA, Flynn intercepted a series of wire transfers between Mason and Rittenhouse. When he reported this to his superiors, Rittenhouse murdered his wife and daughter, but he escaped and was framed for the crime; since then, he swore to destroy Rittenhouse from its foundations. Flynn also possesses a journal written by Lucy sometime in the future, which he uses as a road map to his time travels. Despite his ruthlessness, Flynn shows guilt, telling Lucy that the atrocities he's committed make him unable to stay with his family, even if they do come back. Despite killing David Rittenhouse in 1780, Flynn discovers that history does not change at all. As he attempts to kill several Rittenhouse members in 1954, Lucy stops him and convinces him of another way to take down the organization. In the present day, as Rittenhouse members are being arrested with evidence collected on the organization, Lucy gives Flynn the name of the person who ordered the hit on his family, but Flynn is immediately arrested by Agent Christopher.In season two, Flynn is in prison, but still provides the Lifeboat team with clues after Rittenhouse acquires the Mothership. While in 1941 Hollywood, the team helps Flynn escape from prison. He joins them in their hideout, and also starts traveling back with the Lifeboat team on their missions. Flynn later tells Lucy that a future version of her gave him the diary, suggesting that it will be possible one day to travel back into their own timeline.
In "The Miracle of Christmas", Lucy discovers from the journal that she and Flynn end up together, but he tells her that it does not last as she loves Wyatt more. After Wyatt realizes that removing Jessica from the timeline will save Rufus, Flynn slips off and takes the Lifeboat to 2012. He murders Jessica on the night that she originally died, saving Rufus. Suffering from the side effects of traveling back to his own timeline, Flynn returns the Lifeboat to the team, and stays back, seeing his family one last time before dying in 2012. The team mourns his death. After defeating Rittenhouse, Lucy and Wyatt name one of their daughters after Flynn. In 2023, the team makes one last trip to 2014 in São Paulo, where Lucy meets with the grief-stricken Flynn and sets him on his path.
Connor Mason
Connor Mason is the CEO of Mason Industries in San Francisco and the inventor of the two time machines. Of Black British descent, Mason is a father figure to Rufus, having taken him off the streets of Chicago and providing him with an education at MIT. It is later revealed by Flynn that Rittenhouse had secretly funded Mason's time machine project. While they have mutual understandings with each other about the project, Mason questions Rittenhouse's decisions such as recruiting Lucy when there are hundreds of history professors in the country with actual tenure. Agent Christopher discovers that Mason went bankrupt and he was suddenly given $2.5 billion to fund the time machine project. Connor has Rufus secretly record the missions for Rittenhouse, but Rufus eventually gets fed up and refuses to spy on his friends. Rittenhouse then orders Mason to train Jiya to become the Lifeboat pilot, replacing Rufus in six months. Though Mason goes along with Rittenhouse after they take over the Lifeboat missions, he later reveals to Agent Christopher that he was actually playing along, and has now got access to NSA servers to help her convict the Rittenhouse members. He admits that after Rittenhouse wanted to replace Rufus, he felt guilty, and wanted to save him by helping Agent Christopher. His software helps Christopher expose and arrest the Rittenhouse agents.In season two, Mason Industries is in shambles after Rittenhouse bombs the company headquarters. While the Lifeboat team is relocated to a secret bunker by Agent Christopher, Mason faces bankruptcy and goes on a drinking binge, but he restores his faith in himself after saving blues musician Robert Johnson from Rittenhouse in 1936. In 2023, after the defeat of Rittenhouse, its shown that Mason chose to continue working with the government rather than rebuilding his business.