Season 1: "Signs and Portents"
Season 2: "The Coming of Shadows"
Season 3: "Point of No Return"
Season 4: "No Surrender, No Retreat"

Despite its fantastic setting, Babylon 5 is at its core a story about people, about the choices they make and the consequences of those choices. Babylon 5's characters are as interesting and varied as the situations they encounter.

Captain John Sheridan - Bruce Boxleitner

The commander of Babylon 5 and, with Delenn, leader of the Army of Light. Formerly an officer of the Earth Alliance military until Babylon 5's secession, Sheridan was a hero of the Earth-Minbari War. He now finds himself at the center of a storm that dwarfs anything in his experience. A visit to Z'ha'dum, the Shadow homeworld, resulted in his death, but he was revived by Lorien, one of the First Ones. His sacrifice resulted in the destruction of the Shadows' largest city and halted their advance. The experience lent him a heroic mystique in the eyes of many, a situation which doesn't entirely please him.

Commander Susan Ivanova - Claudia Christian

Second in command and in charge of the day-to-day operations of Babylon 5, Ivanova's responsibilities have only increased since the start of the Shadow War. A capable pilot and tactician, she can frequently be found in command of part of the White Star fleet. Ivanova's natural pessimism, bordering on fatalism, would be unbearable if not for her dry sense of humor. Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and raised abroad on Earth, Ivanova is a latent telepath, "not even a P1," and spent her life hiding her talent from Psi Corps after their legally-mandated drug treatments drove her mother to suicide.

Delenn - Mira Furlan

Officially, Delenn is the Minbari Ambassador, a former member of Minbar's ruling body, the Grey Council. The Shadow War splintered the Council and her people; now she leads the Religious and Worker Castes as co-commander of the Army of Light. Delenn's strong sense of destiny, her conviction that her role in the war is a matter of fate, led her to undergo a physical transformation that gave her human characteristics. At first, this made her an outcast, but as the ancient prophecies started coming true, she found her people rallying around her. Delenn and Sheridan are in love, but their relationship is largely on hold thanks to the demands of the war.

Security Chief Michael Garibaldi - Jerry Doyle

Formerly in charge of security on Babylon 5. Though he has a troubled past, bouncing from position to position and trying to overcome alcoholism, he seems to have found his home on Babylon 5. Garibaldi is something of a smart-aleck, always ready to crack a joke, but given to bouts of self-doubt and introspection when nobody's looking. While Sheridan was on Z'ha'dum, Garibaldi was abducted by the Shadows and brought to a Psi Corps facility; he has no idea what was done to him there, and only vaguely remembers the abduction itself. Since his return he has become short-tempered and skeptical of Sheridan and his other compatriots.

Dr. Stephen Franklin - Richard Biggs

Dedicated and assured, a specialist in xenobiology (alien biology), and in charge of Medlab on Babylon 5. His background is mainly in experimental medicine, so his bedside manner is occasionally not what it should be. His strong sense of personal morality is at times in conflict with his duties as the chief medical provider for aliens from hundreds of worlds and cultures, some of whom view his obligations rather differently. Dr. Franklin is known to operate outside the rules when he feels the issue is important. He runs a free clinic in the Downbelow section for those who cannot afford medical care; he also serves on an "underground railroad" for telepaths who do not want to be found by the Psi Corps. In his middle thirties now, he spent years hitchhiking through space, offering his medical services in exchange for the opportunity to examine new life forms.

Londo Mollari - Peter Jurasik

The former Centauri ambassador to Babylon 5, Londo was promoted to chief of planetary security and became a member of the Centauri Royal Court. Londo was once a minor figure, a decadent nobleman from an insignificant royal house. But his dealings with the Shadows, dealings whose price he didn't understand until too late, propelled him into the corridors of power and are likely to make him the next Emperor. World-weary and horrified by the events spinning out of control around him, Londo's sarcastic sense of humor has been all but smothered; he finds himself walking on eggshells, choosing his words carefully lest they cause even more damage.

G'Kar - Andreas Katsulas

The ambassador of the Narn Regime when there was a Narn Regime to represent, G'Kar is a fugitive, wanted by the Centauri Republic. Sheridan granted him asylum on Babylon 5, which G'Kar is using as a base of operations from which to organize a movement to retake his homeworld from the Centauri. Thanks to a Vorlon-induced revelation, G'Kar believes that his people must serve the role of sacrificial lambs, sacrificing themselves in the interest of the greater good. He is something of a spiritual leader among his people; his exile, now well over a year long, has given him a compelling serenity and sense of conviction.

Ambassador Kosh - animatronics

Native voice designed by Chris Franke.
English translation: Ardwight Chamberlain.

The station's second Vorlon Ambassador after the first was assassinated by the Shadows, Kosh is a reclusive, dark personality, who seems to hold the other beings on the station in low esteem, if not contempt. Like all Vorlons, in public he wears a bulky encounter suit to hide his true form. When he bothers to speak with others at all, he communicates through a complex sequence of musical tones, translated into English by a device on his encounter suit. The only person on the station who knows anything about Kosh is his aide Lyta Alexander, whose body he occasionally inhabits when he wants to travel incognito.

Character appearances, season four.

Next: Supporting Characters

Last update: April 28, 1997