When a sinkhole opens up beneath the La Brea tarpits in Los Angeles, dozens of people find themselves trapped in another world, their loved ones left behind to desperately hope for news of their survival. As the survivors search for answers in a strange, hostile environment, they find that their wits are one of the only weapons they have against wolves, sabertooth tigers, and even each other.
The intelligence expressed by the characters in La Brea comes in different forms, from the field training of former Navy SEAL and surgeon Dr. Sam Velez to the scrappy resourcefulness gained from a life of crime by Lucas Hayes, and the can-do attitude of Montana-raised mother-of-two Eve Harris. Without knowing what each new day brings, their smarts could be the only thing that keeps them alive until they find a way to the surface.
Josh Harris
Josh comes across as a typical TV high school student. Yet after dropping into the sinkhole at the La Brea tarpits, he's out of his element and frightened. Compared to everyone else around him, including the people just a few years older than him, he doesn’t have a lot to contribute.
Because Josh wants to hold his own as he teeters on the cusp of adulthood, he tries to come up with his own original ideas. When he uses Riley’s phone to create a distraction at the indigenous village, he's able to free his friends after they’ve been captured, and later he raids an abandoned wardrobe truck for winter clothes as a snowstorm looms.
Lucas Hayes
A secretive loner like Lost's Jack (although sharing none of his worst traits), Lucas Hayes appears at the sinkhole survivor encampment under mysterious circumstances. Things are made contentious when it becomes known that his mother is Marybeth Hayes, a Baton Rouge police officer who’d been trying to prevent him from making a drug deal when the disaster occurred.
Lucas doesn’t respond well to Scott’s theories about the sinkhole and decides to seek out answers himself by waiting for the hunter who set a sabertooth tiger trap. Later, when he’s tied up with Scott in the indigenous village, he uses a lighter to burn through his ropes, highlighting his adaptability and quick thinking.
Riley Velez
A pre-med student and the daughter of surgeon Dr. Sam Velez, Riley is a capable young woman who, despite having doubts about herself, always comes through for people in their darkest hour. After Josh suffers a bad wound during the wolf attack, she provides him medical care while her father searches for an abandoned ambulance, using her medical knowledge to disinfect his wound.
When her father suffers a horrible injury, she has to drain the fluid along his spinal column to relieve the pressure and prevent him from being permanently paralyzed. Once Riley overcomes her self-doubt, she learns to trust her instincts and her intelligence.
Marybeth Hayes
A police officer from Baton Rouge, Marybeth Hayes comes from a family of law enforcement, but that doesn't mean she's righteous all the time. No sooner has she found herself in the same situation as everyone else than she's stealing rations and placing her own interests above those of the group.
There's no doubt Marybeth has survival skills and is resourceful, and she can be helpful in de-escalating a situation (like when Scott starts having a panic attack), but she can also be the cause of a violent altercation (like wounding the only person who can fly survivors up to the surface). Her ends often justify her means, though not everyone accepts them.
Levi Delgado
An Air Force pilot similar to Top Gun's Maverick with a sterling record, Captain Levi Delgado is the pilot who makes the first attempt to rescue the survivors of the sinkhole disaster. His plane crash lands once he’s through the portal, but he manages to track down a survivor who can help him repair it, increasing the chances of getting a few people back to the surface.
A shrewd military man, Captain Delgado considers different perspectives until he arrives at a decision, and knows the importance of assembling a good team to have around him. Unfortunately, because he has a hard time accepting the fantastical elements of what’s going on around him, he isn’t as open-minded as he should be, but his skepticism helps root out Silas's plan for Isaiah among the indigenous population.
Scott Israni
With his knowledge of anthropology and the La Brea tarpits, Scott Israni is often the first point of reference for anything about the sinkhole. Survivors turn to him for information about the world below Los Angeles. When he sees a herd of camels alive and well in the sinkhole that was excavated a year prior to the sinkhole disaster, he identifies that everyone is stuck in the past, somewhere around 10,000 BC.
Though some people in camp initially view Scott as a useless stoner who does nothing but make pop culture references, his mention of a plot point everyone saw coming on Lost ends up saving Marybeth and Lucas Hayes, and a YouTube video he watched helps the camp build a greenhouse. Where present social interactions are concerned, Scott might not always have the answer, but when it comes to the past, he's never stumped.
Ty Coleman
A quiet psychiatrist with a tragic secret, Ty Coleman is trepidatious about opening up to others when he finds himself in the sinkhole, but his knowledge of human behavior becomes invaluable. Without his help, no one would have been able to break through to Lilly and ascertain the truth about Eddie's death and the presence of indigenous people watching the survivor camp from the woods.
Ty often combines intellect with brawn and knows how to be calm and collected during chaotic events rather than give in to anxiety. Next to Eve and Dr. Sam Velez, he's a voice of reason within the group of survivors and a reluctant leader.
Gavin Harris
While many people dismiss Gavin’s visions as symptomatic of a concussion he suffered in a plane crash in the Mojave Desert three years before the sinkhole disaster, he knows there’s more to them. Flashes of Eve and Josh alive force him to connect the dots, and he realizes that the Mojave Desert and the sinkhole share a connection to a world from the past.
When Gavin focuses on the task at hand, he's incredibly determined. He uses clues from his visions to lead him to corporeal objects that provide hard evidence of the world within the sinkhole. His tireless investigations eventually help him learn he's more connected to the sinkhole than just receiving visions.
Eve Harris
Eve may not always feel she makes the best choices as a mother, but her actions reveal a cunning, quick-thinking protector whose mind is always on survival in the sinkhole, making her one of the best TV moms of recent years. Eve knows enough to know when she’s out of her element, trusting the experts around her (Dr. Velez, Scott Israni) when it comes to medical or anthropological elements.
Eve often couples her smarts with action, preferring any plan to simply sitting around debating about one. She’s one of the first to recommend finding supplies, and when the food rations get raided by a giant creature, she’s the one who suggests everyone hunt. Thanks to her experience being raised on a farm, she’s able to build successful rabbit traps and identify non-poisonous mushrooms. She also knows she can leave clues for Gavin to follow between their time periods.
Dr. Sam Velez
A natural leader, Doctor Sam Velez rallies everyone to spread out and gather supplies. At different points in his exploration of the sinkhole, he employs both his SEAL training and his expertise as a surgeon to save lives, and when he becomes injured, he talks his daughter Riley through rendering aid while half-delirious.
Sam's military and medical training make him an authority figure in the group, and because of this interdisciplinary knowledge, he's consulted on major decisions the camp makes. For being highly intelligent, he rarely talks down to anyone and recognizes that everyone has their strengths. He's also able to communicate what he knows in ways that are accessible to everyone, ensuring the dissemination of vital information.