Hamm is an elderly, blind man who cannot stand up and is permanently confined to a wheelchair. He acts as the domineering central figure of the household, entirely reliant on others for his physical survival in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Despite his weakness, he dictates the rigorous, pointless routines that govern the lives of his parents and his servant.

Clov is Hamm's younger servant, taken in by Hamm when he was a child. He suffers from chronic physical pain and is entirely unable to sit down, contrasting directly with Hamm's inability to stand. Though he frequently expresses a desire to leave the repetitive misery of the household, his limited capacity to imagine a life outside keeps him trapped in servitude.

Nagg is Hamm’s father, who lost his legs in an accident and now lives in a sand-lined garbage can in the corner of the room. He is a talkative storyteller who repeatedly shares nostalgic memories to cope with his bleak existence. He frequently begs for food, trading his attention as an audience for his son's stories in exchange for meager treats like biscuits and sugarplums.

Nell is Hamm’s mother and Nagg's wife, who also lost her legs in an accident and resides in a separate garbage can beside her husband. She is a quiet, weary woman who finds the daily routines and her husband's repeated stories exhausting, yet she humors his need for social interaction. She views their shared unhappiness with a bleak sense of irony.

Mother Pegg is an elderly lady from the characters' past who died before the events of the play. She is remembered as a neighbor who tragically succumbed to the darkness of the post-apocalyptic world. Her fate serves as a lingering source of contention in the household.

The pale man is a bedraggled figure from a story Hamm frequently retells to pass the time. He is a desperate survivor who crawled to Hamm's home begging for food for his child, eventually agreeing to work as a gardener in exchange for a chance at survival.