Three twenty-something people living under the same roof struggling with the prospects of that journey from who they are now to who they ultimately want to become. It sounds like good fodder for a network drama and while it is good drama, ‘Being Human’ adds a little more to the mix. Our twenty-somethings are Aidan, Josh, and Sally and they walk the streets as a vampire, werewolf, and ghost, respectively. But who are they really and will their bond and shared goal keep them on the right path of their journey or will the differences in their nature cause impediments they are unable to overcome?

Aidan McCollin

Turned by Bishop during the Revolutionary War, Aidan has spanned the entire gamut of vampire personas. He’s been the loyal childe to his maker, the fierce warrior, the sadistic monster, and the disgusted cynic towards his maker’s flirtation with love and humans. Over the years though, Aidan has found himself a loner from the vampire community, a “heretic” shunning the ways of vampirism as he tries to best the violent beast clamoring for blood. He wants to be free from the bonds of his fellow brethren in an attempt to reconnect with the man he was before death took him. But it’s an arduous task as, on several occasions his bloodlust gets the better of him. In a rare occurrence in a television show, we see the protagonist at his weakest, a slave to the very nature he is fighting against when he kills Rebecca in the series premiere. While Aidan knows right from wrong, his true conscience is his best friend, Josh. It’s only through Josh that Aidan stay on the path to maintaining his humanity.

Played by: Sam Witwer

Only a decade into his career, Sam has graced both small and big screen in a myriad of roles. To the sci-fi geeks, he may be best known for his role as Darth Vader’s apprentice Starkiller in ‘Star Wars: The Force Unleashed’ and it’s sequel as well as Raptor crewman Crashdown from the ‘Battlestar Galactica’ remake. With appearances in ‘Dexter’, ‘Angel’, ‘CSI’ as well as the Stephen King adaptation of ‘The Mist’ novella, Witwer has dipped his talents in pretty much every genre out there. As Aidan, he’s shown both a lightness and darkness that reside within the character with equal flair.  For Sam ‘Being Human’ – aside from his gig as Starkiller – represents his first true starring role and if the first season is any indication, he’s well on his way to showing the world his potential as a leading man.

Josh Radcliff

As much as Angel (from ‘Buffy’ fame and later his own series) relished in a personal self-flagellation for his deeds, he’s got nothing on Josh, the resident werewolf of ‘Being Human’. Turned after being attacked on a camping trip, once Josh realized his condition, he shunned all society. Leaving family and fiancée with nary a word on why, Josh lived on the fringes. A former applicant to MIT Med he became a transient, working at a diner until Aidan came along. Saving Josh from perhaps more than a beating from two of his vampire family members, Aidan pulls the slightly neurotic Josh back into society. Josh’s kind heart and natural pacifist nature is diametrically opposite Aidan’s own predatory nature. It’s not until the full moon is near that the baser instincts of the wolf take hold of Josh and this is where he is most dangerous, not just to others when he transforms, but to himself as it exacerbates his own disgust at something he has no control over. Only when Nora enters his life does Josh start to suspect there can be something more for him than his self-inflicted prison of loneliness.

Played by: Sam Huntington

With his boyish looks and easy going nature, Sam is perfectly cast as Josh. Though he’s had guest stints on ‘Veronica Mars’, ‘CSI’, and the less than stellar ‘Cavemen’ television series, his biggest role to date was as Daily Planet photographer Jimmy Olsen in Bryan Singer’s ‘Superman Returns’. His frenetic energy is apropos to the quiet man wanting to keep the beast tamed and as he continues to mature, it will be interesting to see where he can go as a supporting star.

Sally Malik

Intelligent, driven, sassy, and quite the looker, Sally is the ghost haunting Aidan and Josh’s new home. Initially unable to recount her death, Sally joyfully welcomes the two supernatural men to her life as she can finally interact with someone. As the season progresses, Sally not only discovers that she’s not relegated to staying in the house and can interact with the real world (like ghosts tend to do) but her death was at the hands of Danny, her abusive fiancé. The anger from his betrayal is understandable and she seeks the vengeance of a woman scorned. But more than this, Sally is the glue that holds Aidan and Sam together. While they look out for one another, helps keep them grounded, so to speak, with a woman’s charm and her warmth. They become her family and it’s only emphasized by her choice to remain in our world instead of moving on when her chance comes because Aidan is seriously wounded. She has no idea if she’ll ever get that chance again but as long as she has Aidan and Josh, Sally will be okay.

Played by: Meaghan Rath

A native of Canada, the young and vivacious Meaghan has had few roles in the United States. She was a main character in the ’15/Love’ Canadian series that aired from 2004-2006. ‘Being Human’ provides Meaghan with a chance to show her acting chops as a ghost getting the hang of the afterlife and the pitfalls that come with it. While her upbeat persona is hard to look away from, she possesses a subtlety that, once further cultivated, can make her quite the supporting actress.

Nora

A nurse at the hospital where both Aidan and Josh work, Nora’s strong personality is shown in her first appearance. She and Josh don’t quite hit it off when the latter proposes they have sex after following the idiotic advice of Ray, the werewolf that turned him. Her opinion changes when she sees Josh in action, cheering up a patient. As they start to hang out, both open up about their pasts though Josh still tries to keep her at arms length. It’s during this back and forth that, when Nora confronts Josh, they have sex before he runs off. She’s thrown by his inability to make a decision and it’s further tested by his reaction when she tells him she’s pregnant. But as chance would have it, she finally sees the second side of Josh as the werewolf and much to Josh’s surprise, Nora is okay with it though she is fearful from the scratches received by Josh during his transformation at the end of season one. Those fears are realized when, at the end of the season two premiere, Nora begins her own painful transformation into a werewolf.

Played by: Kristen Hagerman

Another native Canadian, Kristen has appeared in several movies and shows ranging from ‘Aliens vs Predator: Requiem’ and ‘Wanted’ to ‘Wild Roses’, ‘NCIS’, ‘CSI’, and ‘Valemont’. Her inner strength is initially on display when we first meet her Nora but there’s also that hidden softness that is slowly peeled away as she opens up to Josh. With a bit more exposure, her range, beauty, and wit could make Kristen a face to show up in more big budget films and American dramas.

And don’t miss the new episode of ‘Being Human’ called ‘All Out of Blood’ tonight at 9/8c on Syfy.