List of American Horror Story: Roanoke characters

American Horror Story: Roanoke is the sixth season of the FX horror anthology series American Horror Story. The story takes place in 2015 and focuses on the testimonies of married couple Matt and Shelby Miller, and Matt's sister Lee Harris, as they recount a series of paranormal experiences they have on their property on a documentary titled, My Roanoke Nightmare. Actors reenact a dramatized version of the events. Audrey Tindall, Dominic Banks and Monet Tumusiime portray Shelby, Matt and Lee, respectively, as well as Agnes Mary Winstead, Rory Monahan, William van Henderson and Dylan portray Thomasin White, Edward Philippe Mott, Elias Cunningham and Ambrose White, respectively. In the later half of the season, set in 2016, the actors, as well as the real people, join the production of Return to Roanoke: 3 Days in Hell a year later as apart of a reality TV series for three days in the house. During these days all the people day in mysterious circumstances, except one.

Veteran cast members include Kathy Bates, Sarah Paulson, Lily Rabe, Denis O'Hare, Evan Peters, Wes Bentley, Cheyenne Jackson, and Angela Bassett, with Cuba Gooding Jr. and André Holland making their debut. Veteran cast members with recurring appearances include Adina Porter, Lady Gaga, Leslie Jordan, Frances Conroy, Finn Wittrock, Taissa Farmiga and Robin Weigert. This is the third season that is not strictly anthological, with Sarah Paulson reprising her previous role as Lana Winters from Asylum.

Cast members

Main cast

Supporting cast

^1 These actors play in the season some actors and actresses, whose name are unknown, who appear solely in the My Roanoke Nightmare reenactment, playing the characters described by the Millers.

Characters

Main characters

• Agnes Mary Winstead (Kathy Bates) is the actress who portrayed Thomasin White, otherwise known as The Butcher, in My Roanoke Nightmare. Following the production of the show, she became infatuated with her character and convinced herself that she was the Butcher, leading to a psychotic break down, where she assaulted Los Angeles tourists with a cleaver while claiming that the area they were all walking on was her's. After being released for a psychiatric ward after regaining sanity, she is served a restraining order from Sidney prior to the production of the sequel of My Roanoke Nightmare due to Sidney suspecting she underwent another breakdown and was the culprit of vandalism on the set of the sequel, Return to Roanoke: 3 Days in Hell. She violates the restraining order and returns to the house during the production of Return to Roanoke during a mental relapse and assaults Shelby with a cleaver, as well as killing Sidney and the rest of the production team. While Monet, Lee, and Audrey are out in the wood, Lee shoots her after she attempts to kill Audrey, but she survives and is able to seal her wounds in the bunker where Elias had been living. As she approaches the house to further her reign of terror upon the cast, the spirit of the real Butcher confronts her. Agnes is broken from her trance immediately and begs for her life as she proclaims her admiration for her before she is killed by the Butcher.
• Audrey Tindall (Sarah Paulson) is the British actress who played Shelby Miller in My Roanoke Nightmare. She begins a relationship with fellow actor Rory Monahan during production, and later gets engaged to, and marries, Rory. She returns alongside her husband for the production of Return to Roanoke: 3 Days in Hell, only for Rory to be killed inside the home then hung in a symbolic display outside the house to be found by Audrey. When Shelby is assaulted by Agnes; Audrey, Monet, and Lee go out in the woods to search for help. While searching, she finds the production team killed and eviscerated, followed shortly by Agnes emerging from the woods and is almost killed by her. Lee fends her off and they flee deeper into the woods, fleeing both Agnes and the tormenting paranormal entities. She, with Lee and Monet, are kidnapped by the Polks, who are acting in retribution for their pejorative portrayal in My Roanoke Nightmare and the loss of their feral sons. Monet abandons Audrey and escapes the Polk compound, while Ishmael and Lot Polk pursue her, leaving Audrey left to be tortured by the real Mama Polk. A freed Lee knocks her unconscious and frees Audrey, who bludgeons Mama Polk. Shelby and Lee escape the compound and return to the house. They discover Shelby's dead body and believe that Dominic killed her rather than accept that she committed suicide. Lee leaves him in the hallway to die. Knowing there is evidence to convict Lee for murder, she persuades Aubrey to return to the Polk compound to retrieve the tape. A reluctant Audrey agrees with Lee to return to the Polk compound to erase the recordings of them killing several members of the Polk family in fear of going to jail. Before attempting to escape from Roanoke, Lee, Dylan and herself begin to search the woods for Monet but were unsuccessful. As suggested by Lee, Audrey searched the Polk compound, eventually finding Monet to be hidden, bound and gagged in a back room. She releases Monet, killing Ishmael Polk upon their escape from the compound, and return to the house to wait out the remaining hours of the Blood Moon. She and Monet watched the tapes that Lee insisted on acquiring, only to find Lee's confession to the murder of Mason. While still in the house, Lee returns to the house, under the influence of Scáthach, and proceeds to chase Audrey from the house. She, injured from inflicted assaults, takes refuge in the bunker, but while descending down the ladder, Lee strikes her with a cleaver. Despite this, she survives the final Blood Moon night of the year and is able to remove herself from the bunker and get assistance by the police officers the next morning to the ambulance. Upon seeing Lee, out of rage for killing Monet and trying to kill her, she pulls one of the officer's gun on her, prompting the officers to shoot her, killing her.
• Dominic Banks (Cuba Gooding Jr.) is the actor who played Matt Miller in My Roanoke Nightmare. Prior to the production of Return to Roanoke: 3 Days in Hell, he had an extramarital affair with Shelby. Upon returning to the house for the production of Return to Roanoke, he immediately gets into a physical confrontation with Matt, which he engages in the fight due to his agreement with Sidney for a spinoff. Dominic remains in the house with Matt to care for an injured Shelby. He witnesses Shelby murder Matt for cheating on her again to which he consoles her and explains that there is no way to divert the blame from her because everything has been recorded. A calmer Shelby and Matt devise a plan to escape the house through the passageway in the basement. Upon executing their plan, they are ambushed by the spirits of the Chen family and the retreat to the basement. In another attempt to escape, they are ambushed by the spirits of the Roanoke colonists and the Piggy Man, where they retreat back into the house. Dominic begins to devise another escape plan before Shelby commits suicide. By the time Lee and Audrey return the house, they assumed Dominic killed Shelby, and Lee leaves him to be killed by the Piggy Man in the hallway.
• Shelby Miller (Lily Rabe) is the former housewife of Matt Miller and previous occupant of the house. She and Matt got married and took a couples class on yoga, which both claimed "changed their lives". They moved to San Francisco, which Shelby claimed was the "yoga capital of the world". Upon first moving there, Shelby miscarriages their child due to stress when Matt was put into a coma after being assaulted in a gang initiation ceremony. Upon the trauma they endured in the city, Shelby and Matt relocate to North Carolina, where Matt grew up. They purchase a house on Roanoke Island in a bidding auction against the redneck Polk's. While home alone, bathing in her hot tub outside, a torch-wielding clan attempts to drown her. She calls the police, but they rebuff this claim in lieu of evidence, despite Shelby's insistence to the contrary. Days later, her house is broken into and totems are hung around her house. While her and Lee seek refuge in the basement, they find a video of a man- who is later revealed by Dr. Elias Cunningham- who is an enthusiast of the paranormal activity in the house and was being attacked by the Piggy Man. She flees the house, but crashes into a mysterious woman, who is able to pick herself up and walk into the woods. Shelby insists on bringing her to the hospital and pursues her in the woods, but gets lost. After walking around, she encounters a ritualistic sacrificial ceremony, where the head of a pig is put over a man's head and is burned alive. Traumatized, she runs and wakes up in the hospital, where she scapegoats the Polks as having orchestrated an elaborate setup to scare them away from the house. Her theory is debunked upon seeing visions of a girl dressed in sixteenth century attire, who guides her to the bunker where Elias had been living, where she finds his catalog of murders conducted by two nurses who previously owned the house. She later encounters Elias when he fends off the Piggy Man. He introduces her more documents of people who have gone missing in the house within the same five days every year. Meanwhile, her relationship with Matt is strained when she catches him cheating on her with a feral woman. While he claims no memory of this, Shelby also takes issue with a deal he had made with The Butcher, where he promised to burn the house down in return for the safety and return of Flora, of whom she kidnapped. Infuriated, she reports Lee to the police for the suspected murder of her husband, both due to her hatred of Lee and out of spite for her husband. She, along with Flora, and Matt flee the house with the help of Edward Philipe Mott, a previous resident in the house, upon an attack by the spirits of the Roanoke colonists, but are captured by the Polks, who have promised to bring the Butcher a sacrifice so they may remain on their land, as well as revenge for the loss of their two feral children, who were turned over to child services. Before being sacrificed by the Butcher, her son sacrifices her as penance for the sins of the colonists. Lee returns from interrogation and reduces them, and they return to Los Angeles, but Shelby continues to be haunted by memories of the Butcher. After the production of My Roanoke Nightmare, she has an extramarital affair with Dominic Banks, the actor who portrayed Matt in the documentary. In the time following, Shelby and Matt divorce. Shelby only agrees to take part in the sequel, Return to Roanoke, so that she will be able to make amends with Matt. While initially rebuffed by Matt, he saves her from being killed by Agnes during one of her relapses. She bludgeons Matt when she learns that he only returned so he could reunite with Scáthach, the feral woman of whom he cheated on Shelby with while he was living there. She attempts to convince Dominic to conspire with her to claim it wasn't her, but is rebuffed when Dominic informs her that it was all recorded. Being unable to escape the house after her escape plan is thwarted by the Roanoke colonists and the Chen family, she commits suicide out of guilt for killing Matt.
• Matt Miller (André Holland) is the former husband of Shelby Miller, with whom her had previously lived in the house with. He married Shelby and moved with her to San Francisco so Shelby could pursue her interest in yoga, but is assaulted and put into a coma during a gang initiation ceremony. Unable to be taken out of the coma, he awakes upon contact with Shelby, but Shelby miscarriages due to stress. Upon the trauma endured in the city, he and Shelby move to North Carolina, where he had been raised with his sister Lee, and buys a house on Roanoke Island, outbidding the redneck Polks. After being out of town on business, Shelby claims to have almost been killed by a torch-wielding clan while bathing in their hot tub. Wanting to believe her, Matt is unable to bring himself to believe Shelby's story. Later that night, a trashcan is thrown at him while he is outside. Upon these incidents, Matt installs home security cameras throughout the house and intercepts footage of a torch-wielding clan entering the house. When he returns, he is shown the video of Elias Cunningham encountering the Piggy Man. He accused the Polk family of racism, and taunting them in order to scare them from the house, as well as for being an interracial couple. He witnesses a pair of nurses kill a patient in a hospital bed and both laughing about it, but believes to be a hallucination upon their disappearance moments later. He is guided to an underground bunker by a little girl dressed in outdated attire, where he and Shelby find a video of Elias Cunningham documenting the story of two nurses who killed their patients in the house, and wrote the word "MURDE" on the wall. Matt begins to believe there are paranormal entities in the house upon remembering the nurses saying "M is for Margaret". He soon finds that the word "MURDE" has been written in blood on the wall under the wallpaper. He later encounters Elias in his house, who saves him from being attacked by the Piggy Man, and convinces Matt that paranormal entities do, in fact, reside in the house, providing documentation of various disappearances in the house during the same five days each year. Unable to leave the house, both due to financial shortcomings as well as the search for Flora, he remains in the house. While searching for Flora, he is seduced by Scáthach, a feral witch, and is caught cheating on Shelby, but he has no recollection of any such encounter. Further straining their relationship, he makes a deal with the Butcher to burn down the house and leave contingent upon the safe return of Flora. He is seduced by Scáthach again, and she informs him of her journey to Roanoke Island. Upon calls from help from Shelby, Matt is broken from his trance and returns to Shelby, where her and Flora are about to suffer an impending attack from the spirits of the Roanoke colonists. However, previous owner of the house, Edward Philipe Mott rescues them and guides them through a secret passageway under the house out into the woods, but they are kidnapped by the Polks. They deliver Flora, Shelby, and Matt to the Butcher as a part of an agreement, where their peaceful occupation of the land is contingent upon their delivery, as well as revenge for Matt, Shelby, and Lee turning over their feral children to child services. Before they can be killed, the Butcher's son stops the ceremony and kills his mother as penance for the sins of the colonies. Lee arrives back at the house after interrogation, and rescues them as they all return to Los Angeles. He and Shelby divorce after Shelby has an extramarital affair with Dominic Banks, the actor who portrayed him in My Roanoke Nightmare. He returns for Return to Roanoke, initially for unknown reasons, and immediately gets into a confrontation with Shelby, and then a physical fight with Dominic. He informs a disbelieving Rory, Monet, and Audrey that their stories are an accurate description of the events they suffered in the house, but is laughed off. The next day, he rescues Shelby from being killed by Agnes, who has gone through a mental relapse and believes herself to be the Butcher. He rebuffs attempts of reconciliation with Shelby, and is revealed that he returned to reunite with Scáthach. Upon hearing this, Shelby bludgeons him to death.
• William van Henderson (Denis O'Hare) is the actor who portrayed Dr. Elias Cunningham, the true-crime documentary maker, aspiring author, and enthusiast in the killings that took place in the house Shelby and Matt moved into, investigating the Jane sisters before learning the bloodied history resolving around the property. After living in the house for a few months, he seeks refuge in a nearby bunker due to his inability to sleep in the house and the paranormal events that have taken place and oversaw the property until he was unable to pay the taxes and the property was reposted, and eventually purchased by the Millers. He saves Matt and Shelby from being attacked by the Piggy Man by shouting "Croatoan" at him, and explains to the two of them the story of Roanoke colony, and extrapolates on the significance of the work "Croatoan", a word that possessed sinister meaning, but can be used to repel the spirits of Roanoke colony. He presents them with his documentations of the several disappearances that occurred in the house over the years, all taking place within the span of the same five days in October. He joins Matt and Shelby in an effort to help rescue Flora from the Roanoke colonists, but while negotiating with the Butcher for her release, he is shot and thought to have been killed by an arrow from one of the spirits of the Roanoke colony. He is later found to be alive in the Polk compound, where they had amputated his leg and consumed him. He is later bludgeoned by the Polks. William was offered to return for Return to Roanoke, but declined. William is last seen being interviewed on a news program over the hostage situation at the house, leaving him the only major cast member of My Roanoke Nightmare to survive.
• Dylan (Wes Bentley) is an actor who portrayed Ambrose White in My Roanoke Nightmare, who was previously a member of the US military, serving two tours in Afghanistan. Dylan returned for Return to Roanoke, where he dressed up the Piggy Man as apart of pre-planned stunt orchestrated by Sidney to scare the participants, with strict instructions not to bring his cellphone. Upon arriving, he learns of the carnage that has ensued in the previous two days. He surveys the forest in a search for Monet, but upon finding nothing, he dispatches Lee and Audrey to search the Polk compound while he hotwires one of the Polk's trucks. Upon starting the ignition, he is found by Lot Polk, and his mortally wounded, only managing to survive when Lee fends him off. The Roanoke colonists eventually capture, kill, and eviscerate him in a ritualistic murder.
• Rory Monahan (Evan Peters) is the actor who portrayed Edward Phillipe Mott in My Roanoke Nightmare. During the production, he begins a relationship with Audrey Tindall, the actress who portrayed Shelby Miller. Prior to the production of Return to Roanoke, he and Shelby get engaged, and then later get married. He returns with his wife to Return to Roanoke, and, like his wife, does not believe the accounts of Shelby, Matt, and Lee. Just after production begins, he is killed by the spirits of the Jane sisters, and is hung outside the house in a symbolic display where he is impaled.
• Sidney Aaron James (Cheyenne Jackson) is the immoral lead producer of "My Roanoke Nightmare". He subjected Lee, Matt, and Shelby to an extensive background check, exposing the unflattering past of Lee, and causing extreme distress to Lee, Shelby, and Matt. He often continues to film the participants against their will, recording Lee and Shelby crying, and incorporating these recordings in the final version of the television. He cites the show's success surpassing those of other widely popular shows in his pitch for a sequel to My Roanoke Nightmare, which would feature the actors who portrayed Shelby, Matt, Lee, and Edward, as well as the real Shelby, Matt, and Lee, staying in the house for three days in a special called Return to Roanoke: 3 Days in Hell. His ambitions come to fruition and is granted his special. In pre-production, he rigs the house with several gag-scares, including turning the TV one and playing a haunting video and opening the cupboards and drawers remotely. He is infuriated at an act of vandalism where the set is littered with the corpses of pig feces. Accusing Agnes of the vandalism, he serves her a restraining order and bars her from returning to Return to Roanoke. He makes the set look authentic, locating all trailers several miles out from the house, and hiding the cameras to refrain from them being noticed. While watching the happenings in the house from his trailer, he and his camera team are killed by Agnes, and discovered later by Audrey, Lee, and Monet.
• Monet Tumusiime (Angela Bassett) is the actress who portrayed Lee Harris in My Roanoke Nightmare. Monet fully immersed herself in the character, which led her to become an alcoholic, similar to the actual Lee Harris. Monet joins Audrey and Lee in searching for help after Lee is assaulted by Agnes. She, Audrey, and Lee encounter the corpses of Sidney and other members of the production, shortly followed by Agnes emerging from the woods and attempting to kill Audrey. After Lee shoots Agnes, they flee the scene, as well as paranormal entities that begin pursuing them, but end up being kidnapped by the Polks. She and Audrey are tortured by Lot, Ishmael, and Mama Polk as retribution for their pejorative portrayal in My Roanoke Nightmare, as well as for the loss of their feral children, who had been turned over to child services by Shelby, Matt, and Lee. Monet scapegoats the Shelby, Matt, and Lee, and claims no responsibility for the loss of their children. She is able to break free, and abandons Shelby in exchange for her escape, but Lot and Ishmael managed to catch her, and bound and gag her in a backroom in their compound. She is eventually rescued by Audrey the following day, and they flee back the house to wait out the remaining hours of the Blood Moon night. While there, skeptical of Lee's motive of acquiring the footage from the Polk compound, she plays it and watched it with Audrey, only to find Lee having confessed to them murder of Mason. Having already disliked Lee, blaming her for her alcoholism, an intoxicated Monet taunts Lee when she returns to the house. Under the influence of Scáthach, Lee throws Monet off the landing onto a pillar, which impaled, and killed her.

Supporting characters

• Lee Harris (née Miller) (Adina Porter) is the sister of Matt Miller who was raised with him in North Carolina. She had a daughter at seventeen, but she was kidnapped when she was four. Formerly a police officers, she became addicted to prescription pain killers after being shot on the job when she was responding to a drug bust. She broke protocol when she blacked out, which led to a suspect committing suicide to evade being prosecuted. She was subsequently fired and spiraled into alcoholism, resulting in her neglecting her responsibility to her child, frequently forgetting to pick her daughter, Flora, up from school, and withdrawing from her husband, Mason. When Mason files for divorce, she is given visitation rights, and she moves in with Matt and Shelby. During the first night, an empty alcoholic bottle is rolled into her room. Enraged, Lee accuses of Shelby of tempting her out of spite, with Shelby vehemently denying it. Lee harbors intense disdain from Shelby and constantly fights with her. During one of their fights, with Lee accusing Shelby of being paranoia and involving Matt in her delusions. However, the same torch-wielding clan that Shelby alleged tried to kill her returns to the house. Lee and Shelby take refuge in the basement. When the intruders leave, they find strange totems hung around the house, and a strange video playing in the basement of a man being attacked by the Piggy Man. The next day, Flora is dropped off at the house, but when she tells stories of a girl threatening to kill her, Mason takes her home, vowing to get full custody of Flora, causing Lee to relapse into alcoholism. In response to Mason's threat, she kidnaps Flora, enraging Mason, who threatens to involve the police until Shelby is able to deescalate the situation to a point where Mason decides against involving child services or the authorities. While Mason is driving to the house, Flora goes missing in the woods. An enraged Mason accuses Lee of orchestrating a fake kidnapping so that she may flee the country with Flora with full custody. Upset, Mason leaves the house in the middle of the night, with Lee following behind him, and returning several houses later without Mason. The next day, the police find Mason hung in a symbolic display, killed and burned to the point of being unrecognizable. Upon viewing footage of Lee's venture out into the woods after Mason, and the returning after the approximate time of death, Shelby accuses Lee of murdering Mason, to which she vehemently denies. Continuing in her search for Flora, she seeks the help of Cricket Marlowe, a psychic, who informs her that Flora is in possession of a spirit of a Roanoke colonist, Priscilla. Lee admits that she was skeptical and only sought Marlowe's expertise out of desperation, but began to believe him when he mentioned Priscilla, a person who Flora was talking about, who she thought was an imaginary friend conjured up by Flora to deal with the stress of her parents' divorce. Ensuring that Flora is safe, Cricket offers to take Lee to her for $25,000, to which Lee denies. Cricket pursues the case alone, and conveys Lee's concern to the Butcher, the leader of the colony that Priscilla is apart of, who is open to negotiation. In desperation, Matt and Lee offer to burn down the house if Flora is returned safely to her. Angered at Matt's betrayal, Shelby calls the police and implicates Lee in the murder of Mason. She undergoes two days of interrogation, but is released due to insufficient evidence. She returns to see Flora, Matt, and Shelby escaping a human sacrifice ceremony, whom she rescues and they flee Roanoke Island. She returned for Return to Roanoke, with almost everybody believing that she murdered Mason. When Shelby is nearly killed by Agnes, Lee joins Audrey and Monet in a search for help, venturing out into the woods, taking a gun with her. Upon finding the dead bodies of Sidney and other members of the production team, Agnes attempts to kill Audrey. In defense, Lee shoots Agnes, and the three of them flee into the woods. While fleeing both Agnes and paranormal entities that were chasing them, Lee, along with Audrey and Monet, is kidnapped by the Polk's. At the Polk compound, Mama Polk sharpens a knife while recounting her family's origin history. Jether Polk used the knife to cut part of Lee's leg off, which he eats, as well as removes her ear. Lee bargains with Jether to release her, promising he will become famous, and promises him a spot on further installations of Roanoke productions. Jether confides more family history in her, such as the creation of the Piggy Man and familial traditions. Lee seduces Jether into untying her, killing him and then saving Audrey from Mama Polk, knocking her unconscious and letting Audrey bludgeon her. Upon returning to the house to find Matt and Shelby dead, Lee assumed Dominic killed the latter and leaves him to be killed by the Piggy Man. Lee than convinces Audrey to get the footage them killing two of the Polks, using it as a cover to find and destroy the footage of her confession of murdering Mason. While looking for Monet, she directs their search toward the Polk compound so she can retrieve her confession tape. She successfully fends off Lot Polk just before he is able to kill Dylan, but flees herself from the colonists. Similar to Thomasin, she is about to be attacked by a wild boar, but is spared by Scáthach and fed the boar's heart in return for her loyalty to Scáthach. Lee assumes the role of the Butcher and kills Todd, Monet, and chases Audrey into the bunker, in order to evict them from her land. She similarly assists the colonists in sacrificing Milo and Sophie. She is found by police unconscious outside the house with no memory of the actions she has committed. Following the production of Return to Roanoke, she stands trial and becomes a polarizing figure in America. She is interviewed by Lana Winters on The Lana Winters Special following her trial.
• Thomasin White (Susan Berger), otherwise known as The Butcher, was an English colonist and member of an aristocratic family who lived during the sixteenth century. She was the wife of John White, with whom she had a son with, named Ambrose. In 1590, John White was the de facto leader of Roanoke colony, but was succeeded by his wife when he left for England to collect supplies. Despite demands from her starving colonists, as well as her son, Thomasin refused to move the colonists inland for the winter. A dissenting colonist, Cage recruited a reluctant Ambrose and orchestrated a coup d'etat to displace Thomasin as the colony's leader. Cage shackled her wrists and encased her head in a Scold's bridle and exiled her from the colony into the woods. While dying of hunger, Thomasin is saved from being attacked by a wild boar by Scáthach, who harvests the boar's heart for a meal for Thomasin. In return for this, Thomasin swears loyalty to Scáthach. Returning to the colony, Thomasin kills the conspirators in the coup, including Cage, but spares her son out of mercy, with a warning to not defy her again. She resumes power and ultimately decides to move inland. From then on, Scáthach provides food for the colonists in return for an annual human sacrifices. Ambrose disapproves of these practices, and leads another coup d'etat to oust his mother from power. In response, Thomasin poisons her colonists, forever binding them this land, and sacrifices herself to Scáthach. For every year since, Thomasin has performed human sacrifices for Scáthach, performed during the blood-moon period in October, where any occupants of the land, save the Polks due to an agreement that they will supply people in return for their peaceful occupation, are killed, both for sacrificial purposes, as well for the defense of her land against intruders. She killed Edward Phillipe Mott, Cricket Marlowe, and the Jane sisters for their intrusion on their land, and taunts Shelby, Matt, and Lee as well. In a confrontation with Agnes, Thomasin kills her for her impersonator, and proceeds to lead an attack on Matt, Shelby, and Dominic during the production of Return to Roanoke.
• Ambrose White (Jesse La Flair) is the son of Thomasin and John White, the aristocrats of Roanoke colony. He is a reluctant belligerent in the coup d'etat orchestrated by Cage to replace Thomasin, as a result of her poor governing decisions made while the colony's leader in the absence of her husband. When Thomasin returns, she spares Ambrose out of love her son, but with the warning that should he betray her again, she won't be so merciful. However, Ambrose, as well as the rest of the colonists, are all killed by poisonous food presented to them at a feast for their concerns of the colony practicing human sacrifice, believing that Thomasin has turned her back on the Christian God by sacrificing to Pagan and Celtic Gods. In the afterlife, Ambrose is a willing participant in the annual human sacrifices, participating in them up until 2015, where he has a change of heart, and stops the sacrifice of Flora, Matt, and Shelby, and instead kills his mother by throwing her into the fire as penance for the sins of the colony, allowing them to be rescued by Lee and escape.
• Scáthach (portrayed by Lady Gaga in My Roanoke Nightmare) is an immortal English woman descending from the Druids and their Roman conqueror, and a practitioner of prehistoric Celtic religion and worshipper of Old Gods. She was a stowaway on a British voyage destined for the colonies, but the ships occupants all died. The colonists discovered her upon landfall and blames her presence for enraging the sea gods. She was subsequently imprisoned and sentenced to be burned at the stake for witchcraft. Using her darker powers, she massacred the soldiers. This was later blamed on Natives, and Scáthach escaped into the wild. In 1590, she encounters a dying Thomasin and saves her from a wild boar attacks. In return, Thomasin swears allegiance to her and becomes her holy figure. She requires a human sacrifice annually, and in return for Thomasin carrying this out, she provides her with food. When colonists begin rejecting the practice of human sacrifice, thereby negating Scáthach's flow of human sacrifice, so Scáthach assists Thomasin in poisoning the Roanoke colonists, thereby binding all of them to the land. Scáthach is also infatuated with Matt, using her powers to place him in a trance so he will commit himself to her. She rescues Lee in a similar fashion to her rescue of Thomasin, both falling victim to a wild boar. She asserts Lee as her thrall, again, presenting her subject with a heart to be consumed. It has also been confirmed by creator Ryan Murphy that Scáthach is the first Supreme of the line of witches who appear in American Horror Story: Coven,^[1] which means she possesses unlimited powers, and is the ancestor of the witches featured in Coven.
• Cricket Marlowe (portrayed by Leslie Jordan in My Roanoke Nightmare) is a famous medium who assists Lee in finding her lost daughter, Flora. Hailing from New Orleans, Cricket has assisted on several missing persons cases with the FBI who first discovered his gift when he was nine and found keys for his grandmother. After intercepting that there was a lost child on Roanoke Island, Cricket arrives at Shelby, Lee, and Matt's home, offering his assistance in the search for Flora. While Lee initially wasn't convinced Cricket could be of any use, she is persuaded of his abilities when he correctly identifies the place in her her and Lee found Flora when she was hiding, as well as identifying Priscilla, an entity in which Flora had been in contact with, of which nobody knew what it was. He summons the Butcher to learn of Flora's whereabouts, and is informed that she is being hidden by Priscilla so the Butcher won't kill her. He offers to bring Lee to her daughter, but only for $25,000, causing an enraged Matt evicts him from their property, accusing him of being a fraud. In an attempt to prove he isn't, he displays knowledge of Lee's oldest daughter, Emily. Lee continues to seek his services, and has him negotiate the return of Flora. He makes a deal with the Butcher that Flora will be returned if they move out of the house. While taking an Uber back to his hotel, he sees Flora run across the road. He abandons the Uber and pursues her in the woods, but is captured by the Butcher and her acolytes, and is killed and disemboweled for their first sacrifice.
• Ashley Gilbert (Leslie Jordan) is the actor who portrayed Cricket Marlowe on My Roanoke Nightmare. He didn't return for Return to Roanoke upon no invitation from Sidney. He does, however, return to the house for Spirit Chasers, where he finds Priscilla's bonnet on the floor, claiming he can sense the pain in it, concluding that it must be real. Upon encountering the Piggy Man, Ashley unsuccessfully attempts to repel him by shouting "Croatoan". Moments later, he is killed.
• The Polk family are an inbred, redneck, cannibalistic family who reside in a compound on Roanoke Island, living descendants of the Roanoke colonists. They first resorted to cannibalism during the Great Depression when a group of thieves stole their pigs, their primary source of food. In need of a food supply, they resorted to cannibalism. Following the family's tendency of cannibalism, it is family tradition for them to give each other "pickled ears" on Christmas. The Polk family has had a mutual agreement with the Butcher for two centuries. In exchange for the Butcher allowing them to reside peacefully on Roanoke Island, they must provide her with people who she may sacrifice to Scáthach. Despite their various crimes, including murder, kidnapping, and being complacent in the murders of many people, the Polks don't face legal consequences due their involvement in a bribery ring the sheriff. According to the Polks, their in My Roanoke Nightmare was pejorative, and they harbor disdain for those involved in the production. After Mama Polk was killed, the Polk family's pact with Thomasin died with her.
  • Mama Polk (Robin Weigert, portrayed by Frances Conroy in My Roanoke Nightmare) is the matriarch of the Polk family. She is very maternal and cares very much for her children, going to great, often objectively immoral, lengths to protect them. She rescued Elias from the Roanoke colonists and kept him alive, seemingly good-heartedly, but the extraneous amputation of Elias' leg reveals that she kept him alive so she may eat him. After eating a piece of jerky, which turned out to be a piece of skin from Elias' leg, she claimed that he was rotten, and had him killed. After Flora, Shelby, and Matt escape the house through a secret passageway, Mama Polk orchestrates their kidnapping, and plans on delivering them to the Butcher so they can be sacrificed as apart of the Polks family's agreement with the Butcher. During the production of Return to Roanoke, she orchestrates another kidnapping, and tortures Lee, Audrey, and Monet in retribution for their perceived role in the loss of her grandchildren, who were turned over to child services during the search for Flora. An escaped Lee knocks her unconscious, and is subsequently bludgeoned by Audrey.
  • Jether Polk (Finn Wittrock) is one of Mama Polk's children. Like the rest of his family, he is feral, a cannibal, and the offspring of incest. However, unlike his relatives, he hasn't killed anybody and has the capability of empathy for other people. He is also more sympathetic than the rest of his family, struggling with his maturing, and self-esteem. He and Mama Polk torture Lee in retribution for her part in the pejorative portrayal of the Polks, as well as the role she was accused of playing in the loss of his relatives. She consumes part of her leg, as well as takes off her ear. He has dreams of becoming famous, which Lee promises she can do, should she be released. He is killed by Lee when she seduces him and escape.
  • The Piggy Man (Marti Matulis) is a member of the Polk family who lived during the sixteenth century. The human who would eventually become the Piggy Man was an English colonist who deserted Roanoke colony after stealing provisions from the storehouse. As punishment, Scáchath scalped him, and left him in the woods. He was later found Roanoke colonists, who returned him to civilization. As penance for his betrayal to Roanoke colony, the Butcher forced him to wear a pig's head, nailed a pig's tail to his tailbone, and tied pigs feet to his hands and feet. He was subsequently tied to a spick and roasted like a pig. His ghost continues to haunt Roanoke Island, and is seen taunting the residents of the house. He can be temporarily repelled by shouting "Croatoan". The Piggy Man inspired the actions of Kincaid Polk centuries later, which would serve as inspiration for the Piggy Man urban legend featured in "Piggy Piggy".
  • Kincaid Polk is an ancestor of the Polk family. He would transport hogs to Chicago where they'd be slaughtered. During the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893, Kincaid put on a pig mask and would slaughter fair-goers, inspired by his ancestor, the Piggy Man. His actions provided inspiration for the urban legend of Piggy Piggy, as referred to in "Piggy Piggy" in the first season. The urban legend differs from the actual actions of Kincaid, in that Piggy Man was a Chicago butcher who would wear a pig mask and slaughter actual pigs, until the pigs killed him and dismembered his customers.
  • The Polk grandchildren (portrayed by Dustin Jones and Connor Rosen in My Roanoke Nightmare) were the two feral grandchildren, likely produced from incest, of Mama Polk. While searching for Flora, they are found to be abandoned in a dilapidated farmhouse, consuming a dead cow, repeatedly yelling "Flora". They are taken to a hospital and interrogated, asked if they have any knowledge to the whereabouts of Flora, but neither of them are able to say anything but "Croatoan". They are subsequently taken into the custody of child services and confiscated from the Polks, angering them greatly.
  • Ishmael Polk (Frank Collison, portrayed by Grady Lee Richmond in My Roanoke Nightmare) is the husband of Mama Polk and the patriarch of the Polk family. He has tense encounter with Matt and Shelby when they outbid him for the Roanoke farmhouse, where he tells them that "they don't want this house". When they lose at the auction, he drives away, but is assigned blame for many of the paranormal occurrences in the house by Matt and Shelby out of jealousy for losing the house, and is frequently accused of racism by Matt, who believes he is taunting them because they are an interracial couple, but is later revealed that he had nothing to do with the paranormal events. He is seemingly difficult to find and secluded, as one the cops informs Matt that he is often unable to track him down and that "keeps to his own". During the production of Return to Roanoke, Ishmael ends up being killed by Audrey.
  • Cain Polk (portrayed by Orson Chaplin in My Roanoke Nightmare) is one of the children of Ishmael and Mama Polk. He was killed by Matt during his occupation of the Roanoke house.
  • Lot Polk (Frederick Koehler, portrayed by Brian Wells (Chaz Bono) in My Roanoke Nightmare) is the son of Ishmael and Mama Polk. He attempts to kill Dylan when he hotwires his pick up truck, but is fended off by Lee before he can kill Dylan. He flees Roanoke upon his parent's death, who had previously protected him against the colonists during the Blood Moon period. He later hunts after Lee upon her acquittal in her trials, assaulting her live TV interview, killing much of the crew and knocking out Lana Winters, only to be shot and killed before he could kill Lee.
• Edward Philipe Mott (Elliott Ehlers) was a previous owner of the Roanoke farmhouse and the ancestor of Dandy and Gloria Mott, featured in American Horror Story: Freak Show. Previously married with an heir, Edward moved to North Carolina with Guinness, his slave as well as his lover. Edward has a deep commitment to art, loving his art more than his family and Guinness as he sees it to be encapsulate life's beauty. He had the Roanoke farmhouse built so he would to live in solitude, living there for only a couple days before the blood moon occurs. After locking her servants in the root cellar on the assumption that one of them destroyed all of his beloved art, Edward ends up being killed sacrificed by the Roanoke colonists. In 2015, acting on his desire to maintain as much solitude as he can, Edward's ghost assists Shelby, Matt and Flora escape the house.
• The Roanoke Police Officer (portrayed by Colby French in My Roanoke Nightmare) is a police officer apart of the local Roanoke police department. He and his department are initially unhelpful and dismissive of Shelby's allegations of being drown by a torch-wielding, and expresses no expectations of locating the Polks, of whom is accused of attempting to drown Shelby. After several more occurrences, including an attempted assault on Matt, the immolation of another person on their property, the same torch-wielding clan breaking into the house, and the burning of a totem in effigy, he agrees to deploy a police officer outside the household indefinitely after accusations of apathy to their safety.
• Sophie Green (Taissa Farmiga) is a blogger and My Roanoke Nightmare enthusiast who visits the set during the Blood Moon to create an internet documentary series about their experiences with her friends Milo and Todd. She and her friends discover a badly injured Diana Cross, who had just suffered a car accident, wandering the woods. Sophie and her acquaintances pursue a fleeing Diana in an attempt to find her help, only to arrive at the scene of the crash, where Diana is dead, still lodged in the car. The police accuse her of fabricating the report as a publicity stunt, which she vehemently denies. Despite being given strict instructions not to return to the Roanoke house, she is determined to establish her credibility, and resumes her expedition to the house. On the way, Lee kills her friend, Todd, prompting her and Milo to flee to the nearest shelter. They takes refuge inside Sidney's trailer, where they sees Lee returning the house. Fearing for the lives of Audrey and Monet, she and Milo arrive at the house to warn them, but end up being captured by the colonists and Lee, and are sacrificed and burned.

Minor characters

• Mason Harris (portrayed by Charles Malik Whitfield in My Roanoke Nightmare) is the protective father of Flora, and the former husband of Lee. While married to Lee for several years, they raised their daughter Flora together, until Lee got fired from her job due to her painkiller addiction, causing her to spiral in alcoholism, withdraw from Mason, and neglect her responsibilities to her children. Due to Lee's behavior, Mason was able to get primary custody, but granted Lee three days of visitation for every two weeks Flora spends with Mason. When he hears Flora speaking about a paranormal entity massacring her, he accuses Lee of deliberately putting Flora in an unsafe environment in order to keep her visitation rights. He immediately takes her home, but has to return to the house when Lee kidnaps Flora, but returns to find Flora has been kidnapped. He and Lee assemble and dispatch a search party to find Flora, but upon no progress, a frustrated Mason accuses Lee of orchestrating a fake kidnapping so that she may flee to another country with Flora and retain full custody. Unable to relax, Mason pushes Lee in a fit of rage and takes a walk in the woods, but is found the next day to have been killed and burned beyond recognition, and post humorously hung in a symbolic display. Both the police and Shelby believe Lee to have killed him, but a lack of evidence bars charges being pressed. During the filming of Return to Roanoke, Lee confesses to murdering Mason, but it has been implicated than somebody helped her, which remains unsolved. His ghost remains on Roanoke Island.
• Flora Harris (Simone Baker, portrayed by Saniyya Sidney in My Roanoke Nightmare) is the daughter of Lee and Mason Harris. While being raised by both her parents for the first fews years of her life, her father, won primary custody when Lee began forgetting to pick Flora up for school, but is allowed three days of custody for every two weeks in Mason's custody. Flora visits her mother at the Roanoke farmhouse, and comes in contact with Priscilla. While Lee believes this to be an imaginary friend fabricated by Flora to cope with the divorce, but in actuality, she is communicating with a spirit of a sixteenth century Roanoke colonist. Priscilla promises to make Flora a bonet if she can "make the blood stop". Moments later, a vase falls and breaks on the floor. In pile of debris is an old-style bonnet. Later, Flora bargains with her so Priscilla will allow of them to live, but when she relays this to her father, Mason takes her home, vowing to get full custody rights. In response, Lee kidnaps her. An enraged Mason returns to take her home, but Flora was lured outside and kidnapped by Priscilla by the time he arrives. A search party is dispatched to retrieve Flora, and with the assistance of Cricket, it is found that Priscilla has been hiding Flora so the Butcher wouldn't kill her. She is found to be playing with the ghosts of the Butcher's victims, but Lee is hampered by the ghosts of the colonists before she is able to retrieve her daughter. Flora executes an unsuccessful escape, and an enraged Butcher returns to the farmhouse, threatening to kill her. Priscilla ultimately distracts her and allows Flora to return to her family. She then joins Shelby, Lee, and Matt in their escape from Roanoke. She withdraws from her mother when she learns that her mother killed her father, and testifies against against her mother in court, recounting viewing Lee bludgeon Mason. An hour before Lee began her interview with Lana, Flora is reported missing. Flora is found at the Roanoke house during the Blood Moon period, trying to reconnect with Priscilla. While staking out in the house while the police try to negotiate Flora's release, believing it to be a hostage situation, Flora insists on staying in the house and protecting Flora from the Butcher.
• Nurse Miranda Jane (Jenna Doolittle, portrayed by Maya Berko in My Roanoke Nightmare) and Nurse Bridget Jane (Areana Cirina, portrayed by Kirsten Rakes in My Roanoke Nightmare) were nurses who previously worked at an assisted living facility in Rochester, New York in 1988, but resigned among suspicions that they were responsible for the deaths of several patients in the facility. The two fled to North Carolina to escape a possible investigation, and converted the Roanoke farmhouse into their own assisted living facility, attracting applications due to the inexpensiveness. However, their acceptance hinged on the beginning letter of the patient's first name. Once they accepted the patients, they would torture and kill the patients. When a patient was killed, they would write the letter of their first name on the wall in an attempt to construct their favorite word: Murder. They were killed by the Butcher due to their lingering on her land, and they continue to reside in the house as ghosts. The word "MURDER" went unfinished, instead only writing "MURDE", but was resistant to any attempts to cover up, always returning when painted over. Instead, it was covered by wall paper. Matt seems them in what he believes to be a hallucination, but are instead found to be the spirits of the nurses. They finish writing the word "MURDER" just prior to filming Return to Roanoke, when they kill Rory Monahan and write the final letter on the wall, "R".
• Rhett Snow (Billy Snow) is an uber driver who was driving Cricket back to his hotel from the Roanoke farmhouse. He nearly hits Flora when she runs out into the road. Immediately after, Cricket abandons his ride in pursuit of Flora. He leaves after Cricket doesn't return for an extended period of time. He also drives Dylan to the Roanoke house for his scene.
• Priscilla (portrayed by Estelle Hermansen in My Roanoke Nightmare), otherwise referred to by Flora as The Girl with the Funny Clothes, is a young girl who was sacrificed by the Roanoke colonists to the ancient Gods, as per the requirement of Scáthach's deal with the Butcher, who continues to travel with the spirits of the Roanoke colonists as a ghost. She communicates with Flora while she is visiting her mother, and makes a deal with her that she will make her a Bonet if Flora is able to "make the blood stop". Moments later, Flora breaks a vase in the house and leaves a bonnet in the debris, engendering unease in the house. Later, Priscilla informs Flora that her entire family is going to be killed, likely by the Butcher, and is offered Flora's doll in exchange for their safety. To protect Flora, Priscilla lures her into the woods and hides her new friend from the Butcher. When she is found after a failed escape execution, Flora distracts the Butcher and releases Flora to her family, much to the dismay of Thomasin.
• Doris Kearns Goodwin is a historian who was featured in My Roanoke Nightmare who explained the significance of Edward Philipe Mott to the Roanoke farmhouse. She rejects the notion that Edward assisted Shelby and Matt escape the house, unconvinced that ghosts exists.
• Guinness (portrayed by Henderson Wade in My Roanoke Nightmare) is a slave owned by and the lover of Edward Philipe Mott. He causes Edward to leave his wife and child and abandon his old life so he may live in North Carolina with him. Neither are shy about displaying their affection for each other publicly, but Edward is open that he loves his art more than his lover. When his art is destroyed by the Butcher, he rejects the notion that it would be Guiness, but he is reminded that he is still a slave when he begin to grow prideful, due to this idea that he is superior to his fellow servants. Upon the sacrifice of Edward, he flees and informs the police of ceremony. In lieu of evidence of Guinness' version of events, he is arrested for the murder of Edward, as well as for the hiding of the body.
• The Chen family is a family of Chinese immigrants who have dedicated themselves to assimilating into American society. They moved into the house in 1973 and continued to live there, despite several encounters with the Piggy Man. Their attempts to protect themselves with Chinese folk magic ultimately fails and are killed by the Butcher. They continue to reside in the house as ghost, more malicious in nature as spirits. Daisy attempts to kidnap Flora, and all four of them collaborate in an effort to refrain Dominic and Shelby from escaping the house. In death, their skin has paled significantly to resemble a porcelain white, and have acquired the ability to move their body in a contortionist fashion, as well as climb on walls and ceilings.
  • Gary Chen (portrayed by Hahn Cho in My Roanoke Nightmare) is the patriarch of the Chen family, and does not allow his family to speak Chinese in the house.
  • Daisy Chen (portrayed by Becky Wu in My Roanoke Nightmare) is the matriarch of the Chen family, who is resistant to the adoption of American culture.
  • Grace Chen (portrayed by Megan Truong in My Roanoke Nightmare) is the oldest daughter of the Chen family.
  • Amy Chen (portrayed by Miya Chech in My Roanoke Nightmare) is the youngest daughter of the Chen family.
• Diana Cross (Shannon Lucio) is the skeptical assistant to Sidney hired prior to the pre-production of Return to Roanoke. While initially supportive of Sidney and his endeavor for the My Roanoke Nightmare sequel, continued developments feed into her skepticism. She criticizes the use of gag-scares during Return to Roanoke, including the remote opening of drawers and cupboards and the remote screening of a haunting video. She continues to challenge all of Sidney's demands, including his erratic obsession with the placement of trailers and hidden cameras. She is showed the several pig fetuses arranged in a circle on set, and becomes uneasy, as compared to a relatively calm Sidney, who accuses Agnes. Later, upon seeing footage of a man getting decapitated in a malfunction with a chainsaw, she demands that he cancel work for the rest of the day and suspend production. When Sidney refuses, she flees the production scene and records an affidavit where with a testimony of her side of the story. While driving, she encounters a mysterious figure dressed in old fashioned attire. Expressing no interest in learning the identity of the woman, she drive away. Seconds later, the Piggy Man rises from the floor in the back seat and is stabbed to death. Sophie, Milo, and Todd find her, badly injured from a car crash, wandering through the woods. She flees from Sophie, who pursues her to help her get assistance to her wounds. Sophie finds her dead, still lodged in the car. The police never recover the body and her recorded footage is only found months after her death.
• Alissa (Chelsea Alden) is a member of the production crew who was killed alongside Sidney by Agnes.
• Lana Winters (Sarah Paulson) is the famous journalist featured in American Horror Story: Asylum. She interviews Lee on The Lana Winters Special after coming out of retirement, specifically for this interview. She inquires about Lee's state of mind, and quickly shifts to interrogating Lee about the murder of Mason. Lee rebuffs her and brings up Lana's killing of her son, Johnny Morgan. Her interview is cut short by Lot Polk, who kills many of the production crew and knocks Lana unconscious in his quest for vengeance against Lee for her crimes against the Polks. She takes a hiatus after the assault while staying in the hospital, but agrees to an interview when she returns home. In the interview, she expresses a connection with Lee, comparing their determination in both of their plights, her's being the story at the Briarcliff Asylum, and Lee being the custody of her daughter.
• Todd Connors (Jacob Artist) is an amateur documentary maker and a My Roanoke Nightmare enthusiast who travels to Roanoke Island during the Blood Moon period. He is skittish, and quickly abandons his expedition upon seeing a dead Diana Cross, but manages to relax prior to his police interview, and resumes his expedition to the house, against the demands of the Roanoke police department, who accuse him of engendering the story as apart of a publicity stunt. On the way to the house, he encounters Lee who, under the influence of Scáthach kills him.
• Milo (Jon Bass) is an amateur documentary maker and a My Roanoke Nightmare enthusiast who travels to Roanoke Island during the Blood Moon period. He, Sophie, and Todd defy the orders of the Roanoke Police Department, who accuse him of fabricating the story for publicity, and return to their trek to the Roanoke house. He and Sophie abandon their expedition after Todd is killed by Lee and take refuge in Sidney's trailer. Persuaded by Sophie, they resume their trek to the house to save Monet and Audrey from being killed by Lee. However, they are captured by the colonists before they can reach the house and are impaled, sacrificed, and burned by Lee and the colonists.

References