Content Warning: The following article contains plot spoilers about the Netflix show Midnight Mass.
All of Mike Flanagan's Netflix shows have been filled with richly defined and beloved characters, but Midnight Mass might include some of his strongest, most heartbreaking, and most human characters to date. In seven densely populated episodes, Midnight Mass builds out a world that feels better defined than most long-running series, with a cast of characters it's impossible to not get invested in.
While there are some characters the series clearly never intends the viewers to root for (the villainous Bev Keane, for one), most of Midnight Mass's characters are allowed the time and space to develop into incredibly nuanced, lovable characters who deserve so much more than what their world gives them.
Joe Collie
Joe Collie is one of the series' most difficult characters. As the island's pariah, he is initially particularly loathsome as he is shown calling the island's Muslim sheriff, "Sharif." But when the tragic incident is revealed that caused him to be this way, the series shifts its portrayal of his character.
It would have been easy for Joe to remain a one-note character driven only by bitterness. But in the episodes leading up to his ultimately tragic death, the series reveals a man profoundly terrified of being alone, and of what he has been capable of. In his scenes with Riley after their AA meetings, there is a real lightness to his character that Robert Longstreet's nuanced portrayal carefully reveals.
Annie Flynn
Annie Flynn is many things: a good mother, a loving wife, and above all, a true believer. In a series concerned with faith in all its forms, Annie is a woman who has devoted herself to her faith and finds meaning in it but never once weaponizes her faith to suit her purposes in the ways that her foil character, Bev Keane, does.
Her closest counterpart in Flanagan's other Netflix work is likely Clara Dudley in The Haunting of Hill House, one of Hill House's characters who lived and died by her faith and her motherhood. As Annie learns the truth of what is going on, she becomes a stronger, sharper personality, too, playing a selflessly heroic role in the island's burning end.
Ed Flynn
Ed Flynn is hard to interpret when he is first introduced. He seems initially to be nothing more than a grouchy father type, a man not gifted with either feelings or words. But when his prodigal son Riley returns, the long-simmering rage and disappointment Ed has felt all these years come seeping through.
Once again, Ed is a character who could easily have remained relatively static. But as the world of Crockett Island changes, so, too, does Ed's character, and Henry Thomas's portrayal of him in turn. As the series progresses, Ed becomes lighter, more emotive, more self-reflective, and more forgiving, too.
Father Paul Hill
Father Paul Hill, otherwise known as Monsignor John Michael Pruitt, is one of the most enigmatic characters in Midnight Mass. Very little is known about him when he arrives on Crockett Island, but when his true identity is revealed, suddenly everything snaps into focus about his character's motivations.
Relatively straightforward and villainous priest characters have featured in many works of horror over the years. But Father Paul is far from simple and is perhaps the most complex character in the entire miniseries. A man motivated by love, loss, and the desire to have a second chance and a second life, Father Paul does many terrible things, but is never easy to hate, thanks in large part to Hamish Linklater's career-best work.
Mildred Gunning
When she is first introduced as a feeble elderly woman, no one could ever imagine the importance that Mildred Gunning will have. Even in her weakest state, Mildred is clearly an incredible mother, both dependent upon and immensely protective of her daughter, Sarah, and the life they have led together.
But Mildred also conceals a secret life she never got to live, via her hidden romance with Father Paul himself. As Mildred de-ages and regains her faculties, Alex Essoe's performance shows more and more of the incredible, vibrant, self-sacrificing woman that Mildred once was, making it just as easy for viewers to fall in love with her as Father Paul did.
Sarah Gunning
A woman of science, Dr. Sarah Gunning is prone to question everything around her, particularly as she watches her mother grow younger and the island on which they live descend into chaos. But unlike the many mad scientists and doctors that populate horror, Sarah winds up playing a key role in saving Crockett Island from itself, as best as she can.
There is more to Sarah than just her role as a doctor, however. She is an out and proud lesbian, even on an island filled with bigots. She is a fiercely protective daughter, too, but as she learns the truth of her origins, and that Father Paul is her real father, Annabeth Gish imbues her portrayal of Sarah with an almost childlike vulnerability that is never once seen in her moments of true medical heroics.
Sheriff Hassan Shabazz
The character of the outsider is a familiar conceit in the world of horror, and the character of the sheriff is an even more familiar trope. But Sheriff Hassan Shabazz, as artfully portrayed by Rahul Kohli, defies all of these familiar tropes, and becomes one of Midnight Mass's most masterful characters in the process.
Hassan is a character whose life has been defined by the prejudice and bigotry of others. After the tragic loss of his wife, he clings tighter than ever to his stubborn teenage son, even when doing so only pushes his son further away. But in the face of every painful experience he has endured, and every hateful person who distrusts him, Hassan remains strong, assured of his beliefs, and undeniably heroic.
Riley Flynn
Of all of Midnight Mass's most devastating characters, Riley Flynn might just be the series' most tragic. When Riley returns to his childhood home, he does so against his will. Even as he embarks on a journey of rehabilitation and penance, it is clear that he never believes he deserves any part of it.
Zach Gilford plays Riley as a man with the weight of multiple worlds on his shoulders, a performance that rivals Victoria Pedretti's in Hill House, which is regarded as one of the Haunting anthology's best performances. The lightness in Riley's character can only be seen in two instances: his scenes with his former love, Erin, and the scene in which he accepts his own death, which is perhaps the most tragic thing of all.
Leeza Scarborough
When Leeza Scarborough is first introduced, she is defined as one of the island's most devout parishioners. She is loved by the entire congregation, and the entire island's population, too. But she becomes incredibly complex following the incident in which she regains her ability to walk.
In a series about religion, Leeza is the closest the series comes to finding a character truly filled with grace. She forgives the man who paralyzed her, an act that requires unthinkable strength. As Crockett Island descends into apocalyptic chaos, Leeza is fittingly one of the only characters spared, because she is perhaps the most inherently good character to emerge from the darkness of that world.
Erin Greene
While Midnight Mass may begin as Riley Flynn's story, it absolutely ends as Erin Greene's. Erin is a woman who has been hurt time and again, both by her abusive mother and her abusive husband. But she has never once allowed her trauma to turn her into someone jaded or bitter.
Instead, Erin's years of suffering inform her development as one of the series' kindest characters. She sees the good in all people, even as they give into their murderous impulses. She is also the only one with the knowledge needed to overpower the series' vampiric monster, thanks to a traumatic experience in her youth. When Erin dies, she is the only character the series never shows burning alive, which likewise elevates her to another level of emotional significance and quasi-angelic importance.