Arthur is a highly successful Hollywood actor originally from a small Canadian island. He struggles to maintain genuine connections and often treats his real life as a performance. His personal history and sudden death serve as the central connecting point for a widespread web of survivors in the post-collapse world.

Kirsten is an actor who survives the global pandemic as an eight-year-old child. Twenty years later, she travels the Great Lakes region as a knife-thrower and performer with the Traveling Symphony. She carries a set of rare comic books and searches for fragments of information about the old world, specifically celebrity gossip related to her former co-star. She is fiercely protective of her troupe members and deeply values art in a harsh reality.

Miranda is an artist and shipping logistics executive from Delano Island. She spends years quietly crafting an elaborate, self-published science fiction graphic novel series called *Dr. Eleven*, which heavily mirrors her own feelings of isolation and longing. She views her artistic work as a personal constant rather than a commercial endeavor, maintaining her poise and self-reliance in the face of marital difficulties and global disaster.

Tyler is the son of Arthur Leander and Elizabeth Colton. Stranded at the Severn City Airport as a child during the initial outbreak, he spends his time reading his mother's copy of the New Testament alongside science fiction comics. He eventually grows into a charismatic and authoritarian religious leader who rules a settlement with heavily armed followers, adopting a fatalistic theology that justifies extreme control.

Jeevan is a former paparazzo and entertainment journalist who recently decided to train as a paramedic. He is reflective, occasionally burdened by guilt over his past career choices, and highly proactive when the pandemic strikes. He works hard to protect his brother in the early days of the crisis and eventually dedicates himself to providing medical care for other survivors.

Clark is an English management consultant who met Arthur in a Toronto acting class during their youth. Experiencing a crisis of meaning in his corporate career shortly before the pandemic, he finds himself stranded at the Severn City Airport. He eventually discovers a new sense of purpose by founding the Museum of Civilization to preserve artifacts from the old world.

Elizabeth is a film actor and Arthur's second wife. She possesses a stubborn optimism and relies on a fatalistic belief that everything happens for a specific reason. This ideology deeply influences her son as they wait out the pandemic at the Severn City Airport.

Frank is Jeevan's brother, a paraplegic man who works from home ghostwriting a philanthropist's memoir. He is thoughtful and realistic about his survival chances in a world without electricity or running water, offering quiet support to his brother during the early days of the crisis.

Charlie is a cellist in the Traveling Symphony and a dear friend of Kirsten. She chooses to stay in a settled town with her husband to safely give birth, inadvertently placing her family in the path of a hostile religious takeover.

August is the second violinist for the Traveling Symphony and a loyal companion to Kirsten. He originally intended to study physics before the pandemic. He handles the trauma of the new world by quietly saying prayers for the dead and entertaining theories about parallel universes.

Dieter is an actor in the Traveling Symphony. He shares a platonic tent with Kirsten and often reflects on his dreams of the old world, such as the sight of airplanes flying overhead.

Sayid is an actor in the troupe and Kirsten's ex-boyfriend. Their shared history occasionally creates friction during their performances, though they rely heavily on each other for survival in dangerous territories.

The unnamed female leader of the Traveling Symphony. She coordinates the troupe's travel routes, manages internal disputes among the artists, and makes tough tactical decisions to protect her people from emerging threats.

Tanya works as the child wrangler for the Toronto production of *King Lear*. She engages in a secret affair with Arthur Leander, who promises to pay off her student debt shortly before his sudden death.

Eleanor is a young girl from a town recently taken over by an extremist religious faction. Slated to become the faction leader's fourth wife, she stows away in the Traveling Symphony's caravans in a desperate bid for freedom.

François manages an archive and publishing operation out of New Petoskey. He dedicates his life to recording the history of the collapse by interviewing traveling survivors and maintaining a record of their experiences.

Jeremy plays the sixth guitar in the Traveling Symphony. He agrees to leave the wandering troupe to settle down and support his pregnant wife, though this decision quickly places them in danger.

Sidney is the clarinetist for the Traveling Symphony. A former college student of modern German drama, she harbors ambitions of writing original plays for the post-pandemic world, chafing slightly against the troupe's strict diet of Shakespeare.

Peter is Kirsten's older brother. Following the collapse of the city's infrastructure, he leads his young sister out of Toronto and on a brutal, year-long walk into the United States, doing his best to shield her from the horrors of the road.

Laura is Jeevan's girlfriend at the time of the outbreak. She dismisses his urgent phone calls warning her to leave the city, believing he is overreacting to the initial news of the flu.

Hua is a doctor and a close friend of Jeevan. He provides the critical, early warning about the high mortality rate of the Georgia Flu, allowing Jeevan time to purchase essential supplies.

Victoria is Arthur's childhood friend from Delano Island. She serves as a distant confidante for him as his fame grows, eventually publishing his private letters in an unauthorized biographical book.

Pablo is an artist and Miranda's boyfriend during her early years working in shipping logistics. He is dismissive of her private graphic novel project, prompting a rift in their relationship.