Main cast
- Kevin Bacon as Ryan Hardy, a former FBI agent who, in 2003, led the FBI team that captured serial killer Joe Carroll. Although placed on disability after being stabbed in the heart by Carroll, requiring him to use a pacemaker, Hardy is called back to service as a consultant after Carroll escapes from prison. Hardy has also written a true crime book on the Joe Carroll case entitled "The Poetry of a Killer".
- James Purefoy as Dr. Joe Carroll, an ex-professor of English literature with a focus on the romantic period at Winslow University, and a budding novelist. Believing, like his hero Edgar Allan Poe, in the "insanity of art", he initially began to make "art" by eviscerating 14 female students. In prison (Virginia Central Penitentiary, Waverly, Virgina), Carroll gathers a cult-like collection of followers, who are willing to murder, kidnap, and even sacrifice themselves in order to execute his plan of revenge focused on Ryan Hardy.
- Natalie Zea as Dr. Claire Matthews, Joe Carroll's ex-wife, who also had a relationship with Ryan Hardy. Like her ex-husband, she is a college professor.
- Annie Parisse as Debra Parker, an FBI specialist on cult behavior, and head of the Bureau's Alternative Religion Unit. Parker is called in to head the investigation of Carroll and his followers.
- Shawn Ashmore as Mike Weston, a young FBI agent. Weston wrote his thesis on Joe Carroll while in training and sees Ryan Hardy as a hero. He is considered the team's expert on Joe Carroll.
- Valorie Curry as Emma Hill/Denise Harris, a fan of Joe Carroll. Emma Hill meets Dr. Carroll at a book reading in 2003, and ends up becoming one of his first followers. She later, at his direction, takes the position as the Nanny, Denise Harris, in Carroll's ex-wife's household, caring for Carroll's only son, Joey Matthews.
- Nico Tortorella as Jacob Wells/Will Wilson. Jacob Wells is Emma Hill's lover and another of Carroll's followers. As Will Wilson he and Billy Thomas lived next door to Sarah Fuller (the woman who got away from Carroll) as a gay couple as part of their cult activities.
- Adan Canto as Paul Torres/Billy Thomas. As Billy Thomas (with Will Wilson) he lived next door to Sarah Fuller. As Paul Torres he has to share Jacob with Emma, and is unhappy with the relationship, often referred to as a "third wheel."
- Kyle Catlett as Joey Matthews, Joe Carroll and Claire Matthews' son.
For more information go to wikipedia
