Scott is a 46-year-old painter and former champion swimmer who survives a devastating plane crash. He lives a mostly off-the-grid lifestyle without a cell phone or internet access. After recovering from a past alcohol use disorder, he maintains his sobriety through routine and physical discipline. His sudden thrust into the media spotlight forces him to handle intense public scrutiny and survivor's guilt while figuring out his connection to the young boy he saved.

David is the imposing architect and head of the ALC News network. A former political consultant, he pioneered a highly profitable television model built on shaping opinions rather than neutrally reporting facts. He runs on the adrenaline of breaking news and managing crises. Despite a grueling work schedule that keeps him away from home, he loves his family and wishes to shield his children from the hardships he experienced in his own youth.

Maggie is a former preschool teacher who married into extreme wealth. She feels highly uncomfortable with her upper-class status and the isolation that comes with her family's required security detail. She dedicates her time to charitable causes and raising her children, finding relief from her privileged bubble by supporting artists.

Bill is the top-rated on-air personality for the ALC News network. He built his brand as an angry champion of the working class, though his television salary has made him exceedingly wealthy. He ignores standard journalistic ethics, favoring provocation, moral bullying, and conspiracy theories to keep his audience engaged.

Gus is a seasoned investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board. Raised in a working-class family in Manhattan, he is an engineer trained to view the world logically. Recent personal losses have eroded his emotional distance, making him uniquely empathetic toward the survivors he interviews while he sifts through physical wreckage.

Ben is a highly successful lawyer who manages overseas funds. Unbeknownst to the public, he is facing imminent federal indictment for laundering money. He enjoys the power that wealth brings and plans to use the flight as a chance to ask David Bateman for high-level legal assistance.

Charlie is a GullWing Airlines pilot who trades routes to get onto the Martha's Vineyard flight. Having lost his father at a young age, he advanced in life largely through the political influence of his uncle. He masks a deep-seated inferiority complex with aggressive bravado and entitlement, particularly regarding women.

Emma is a 25-year-old flight attendant working for a luxury charter service. The daughter of a military pilot, she maintains high professional standards while working long, exhausting shifts. She feels increasingly frustrated by wealthy passengers who treat her as mere scenery and is trying to firmly separate her work from her personal life.

JJ is the four-year-old son of David and Maggie Bateman. Pulled from the ocean wreckage by Scott, he becomes the sole heir to a vast corporate fortune overnight. Severely traumatized by the event, he completely stops speaking and reacts only to the presence of his rescuer.

Eleanor is Maggie's younger sister. Married for less than three months, she is unexpectedly appointed as executor of the Bateman estate and guardian to JJ. She pushes aside her own grief to provide stability for the boy, fighting to protect his financial trust from her own husband's greed.

Doug is Eleanor's new husband, a man who claims to want a simple, artisanal life. Once he learns the size of the Bateman trust fund, he becomes obsessed with the money. His escalating alcohol use and lack of personal boundaries cause a rapid deterioration in his relationship with Eleanor.

Sarah is Ben Kipling's wife. She feels burdened by their extreme wealth, viewing it as an arbitrary stroke of luck rather than an achievement. She spends her idle hours volunteering and donating to charity, trying to offset the guilt she feels about their lavish lifestyle.

Layla is a 29-year-old billionaire heiress and owner of a prestigious gallery. With a personal fortune that dwarfs the other characters, she holds the power to make or break artists in New York. She offers Scott a temporary sanctuary from the media, viewing him with a mix of artistic fascination and romantic interest.

Gil is an Israeli expat and the highly trained head of the Bateman family's private security detail. A man carrying a legendary reputation for surviving assassinations, he evaluates daily threat assessments and personally inspects the flight crew before clearing the plane for departure.

James is the primary pilot of the GullWing charter. Having spent his early childhood in a doomsday cult with his mother, he now reads philosophy and science journals to find a logical balance to spirituality. He demands professionalism in his cockpit and tries to manage the tensions among his crew.

Rachel is the nine-year-old daughter of David and Maggie. At the age of two, she was kidnapped and held for days, leading her parents to surround her with armed guards for the rest of her life. She loves reading books about strong, surviving heroines.

O’Brien is an aggressive FBI agent assigned to investigate the crash. He operates under the assumption that Scott is a criminal mastermind, pushing a witch-hunt mentality and confiscating the artist's paintings as evidence.

Magnus is a friend of Scott who helps him sneak out of the hospital dressed in medical scrubs. He connects Scott with a wealthy gallery owner to secure a safe place to hide from the media.

Namor is a long-time contact and fixer for Bill Cunningham. Operating in the shadows, he illegally taps phone lines and gathers digital information to fuel the ALC network's conspiracy theories.

Darla is James Melody's mother. Having spent a significant portion of her life in a doomsday cult and later joining Scientology, she relies on a constantly shifting spiritual belief system to make sense of the world.

Senator Birch is a powerful US politician and the uncle of Charlie Busch. He has used his political influence to smooth out his nephew's career path and now pressures federal investigators for advance notice of any findings.