Sweet Tooth, an original Netflix show based on a comic book of the same name by Jeff Lemire, is off to a great start in Season 1. This wonderful and inspiring story follows the life of Gus, a half-human, half-deer child who was born from an experiment on chicken eggs involving genetic material found in an iceberg in Alaska while trying to come up with an anti-disease injectable agent. Gus was the first of his kind. Following the experiment, Birdie, his “mama,” for all intents and purposes, must run from the people trying to kill Gus and cover up all the evidence that he existed in the first place.
Meanwhile, a horrific virus called the Sick is quickly taking down the human population. The symptoms begin with the faint twitching of a pinky finger and amplify from there. However, the end is always the same; a horrible and painful death. This pandemic is referred to as The Great Crumble. A substantial portion of the human race dies, and small groups of healthy people band together and try to survive.
The cast and characters of this brilliant and original show are a huge part of its success. It is hard to imagine any other person playing Gus or Big Man. They are perfect for their roles and make the show work perfectly. In this list, we’ll look at the cast and the characters that star in this brilliant show’s season one, Sweet Tooth.
12 James Brolin as Narrator
Throughout this delightful series, the narrator, James Brolin, frequently fills in the gaps in parts of the extreme tale. His soothing tone gives the series a storybook sound.
11 Christian Convery as Gus
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When we first meet Gus (Christian Convery), he is in an experimental room in Fort Smith Labs. He is created from a chicken egg and grows into a baby with tiny antlers and nubs. Birdie created him and loved him dearly. The government gets wind of Gus and the experiments happening in the hospital wing and goes in to take him. The Sick has just begun, and there is a big concern that the Sick came from the hybrids. People blame them and are highly prejudiced against the small children for no other reason than ignorance.
Birdie begs a man she went on one date with that works as a janitor at the hospital to take Gus and not to look back or try to find her — that she will find them once it is safe. She knows no one will ever suspect that she gave Gus to Richard. The last time Richard and Birdie see each other is when Gus is frantically handed over to him before Birdie disappears back into the lab to get her research before it ends up in the wrong hands. They take off and happily live in a cabin in Yellowstone for seven years before everything falls apart.
The story follows Gus through life, adventures, and disappointments. He wants to see the world, but mostly he wants to find Birdie, his mama. He finds many people that he has no idea how badly he needs, and their journey continues together.
10 Will Forte as Richard “Pubba” Fox
Richard Fox (Will Forte) plays a fantastic man who suddenly finds himself a single parent on the run with a lab-created hybrid baby with antlers. He was a janitor at Fort Smith Labs and had a crush on Birdie, a geneticist in the same lab. Their lives are forever changed upon them bumping into each other at a bar and realizing how much they like each other. Birdie turns to him with baby Gus and begs him to take him and go as far away as possible, somewhere Gus will never be found. Pubba single-handly cares for Gus while Birdie runs from the government and does everything she can to lead them far from Gus.
Sadly, Pubba contracts the Sick when intruders find their cabin after Gus disobeys the only rule and goes beyond the fence at Yellowstone. The Last Men see him and follow him into the woods. Pubba fights them and kills them but not before catching the virus. As time passes, Pubba becomes sicker and sicker until he cannot care for himself and passes away, leaving poor little nine-year-old Gus to fend for himself.
He was a great father who made a stuffed dog named Dog out of his own socks for Gus’ birthday and wrote classic children’s stories for Gus to read. Their cabin was beautiful, and Pubba grew everything they needed for food, even ensuring Gus had plenty of maple syrup.
9 Nonso Anozie as Tommy “Big Man” Jepperd
Big Man/Tommy Jepperd (Nonso Anozie) is vital to this moving story. Jepperd was becoming a father for the first time when the Sick broke out. His wife had a hybrid baby in the hospital, and Jepperd was terrified and ran. As soon as he left the hospital, he knew he had to return and ran to their hospital room only to find it empty. The government had taken them.
For several years, Jepperd hunted hybrids for a section of what was left of the government. Finally, he worked with a group called The Last Men with the promise that they would save his family and hybrid child and return them to him unharmed. He does a lot of terrible things just to be let down. Then he meets Gus. He helps him out, feeds him, learns his story, and though he is a bit rough around the edges, loves Gus and will do anything to protect him. Gus needed someone, and Big Man was the perfect person. Together they try to find answers.
8 Stefania LaVie Owen as Becky “Bear” Walker
Becky/Bear (Stefania LaVie Owen) is a young girl who first created the Animal Army. She has a handful of other kids who follow her, such as her best friend, Tiger. They defend hybrids and help them as much as they can. The Animal Army stands up to the government and The Last Men like no other group. They are strong, deadly, and secretive and wear animal skins and skulls as clothing. To say the bare minimum, they are scary kids that you do not want to cross.
However, each kid has a skill, and they are amazing together. Becky is on the search for her hybrid pig sister and will stop at nothing to find her. On the way, she meets Gus and immediately bonds with him. She has no idea how important their friendship will be down the road.
7 Adeel Akhtar as Dr. Aditya Singh
Dr. Aditya Singh (Adeel Akhtar) is a remarkable doctor and scientist. He goes from your average doctor to a husband determined to save his wife Rani when she contracts the Sick. Singh is a kind, gentle man who only wants to cure his wife. He meets with another scientist when he finds out what injections he must give his wife so that he can buy some time to find the cure. These injections go against everything they believe in, and lives are lost because of it.
Nevertheless, he will stop at nothing to find the cure so that he may save her. He becomes obsessed with this and, much to his demise, does find what he is looking for, but it costs him.
6 Aliza Vellani as Rani Singh
Rani (Dania Ramirez) is the sweet wife of Dr. Singh. She is very supportive and loving. They live in an HOA neighborhood, and their friends like to come over to play games. One of them contracts the Sick, and they kill him in front of everyone, which terrifies her. Sadly, she has also caught the virus and must make many sacrifices and difficult choices. She is sympathetic to the hybrids and does not believe they deserve to be oppressed because they are innocent children.
5 Amy Seimetz as Gertrude “Birdie” Miller
Gertrude Miller, also known as Birdie (Amy Seimetz), was a geneticist at Fort Smith Labs when we first met her. She is responsible for creating Gus in a genetic experiment. At the same time, the lab is working on a cure for all diseases and comes up with a rough copy of the final result. Unfortunately, the injectable is not disease-curing but changes because of the rapidly spreading virus.
The hybrids are blamed for it, and with Gus being the first of his kind, Birdie knows she must get him to safety before the government takes him. Earlier, Birdie bumps into Richard Fox at a bar, and they hit it off after shooting pool and kissing goodnight. When Birdie receives word that a military raid is about to occur at the lab, they go together since Fox has the janitorial keys to the building to let her in. He sits outside and waits for her to return. Birdie knows that the janitor is her only hope of saving Gus. She begs Richard to take baby Gus as far away as possible and not to reach out. He does so, and Birdie disappears to hide from the government and find a cure for the awful virus.
4 Naledi Murray as Wendy
Wendy (Naledi Murray) is a wonderful, intelligent little girl around Gus’ age. She is also the sister of Bear, though that comes a bit later. Gus makes contact with the Preserve from a downed plane’s radio. The Preserve is helping hybrid children by giving them somewhere to call home. It is actually the old zoo, and the previous psychologist, Aimee Eden, is the human who has organized the Preserve and kept it safe all of these years. It all began when Wendy was dropped off in a basket in front of the zoo’s entrance, and Aimee found her and raised her as her own child. After that, they found other hybrid children and formed a safe house for them.
Wendy is brilliant and has an excellent sense of smell. She is the most like Gus out of the group and is close with the others like they are brothers and sisters. When Gus is taken to the Preserve, he realizes the Last Men have taken it over. This is where he meets Wendy and the others and becomes part of their family.
3 Neil Sandilands as General Abbot
General Abbot (Neil Sandilands) is one evil guy set on finding a cure to The Sick by experimenting on hybrids. He forces Dr. Signh and his wife, Rani, to travel to the Preserve, where he forces the doctor to begin working on a cure. He imprisons the hybrid children and has one of the Last Men feed them dry kibble daily.
His brother, Johnny Abbot, is close with him though they believe different things regarding the hybrids, leading to severe tension. General Abbot is set on winning and forcing everyone else to follow his rules, or they will not receive a vaccine when it is ready. His story continues in Season 2.
2 Marlon Williams as Johnny Abbot
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Johnny Abbot (Marlon Williams) is a musician, dreamer, and the unfortunate brother of General Abbot. He has compassion for the hybrids and believes it to be wrong to treat them the way General Abbot does and stands up for them, though it does not go without punishment.
Johnny Abbot becomes friends with Rani, and he allows her to leave her room and walk around to see the hybrids with him. She even enters their prison and gives them some chalk to draw with. Johnny understands that his brother has been driven mad with power and greed but still tries to talk sense into him, even when all hope is lost. He fears his brother very much and spends his time doing what he’s ordered to do.
1 Aimee Eden (Dania Ramirez)
Aimee Eden (Dania Ramirez) is the proprietor of the Preserve. Before the Sick, she was a counselor and knew her time was limited. So she goes to the zoo and makes it a safe place. A baby greets her in a basket, which she adopts as her child and the first hybrid in the Preserve.
Wendy and Aimee are very close and spend all of their time together. Shortly after meeting Wendy, Aimee meets other hybrids and provides shelter for them. She is a kind and compassionate woman and does everything she can to protect the hybrid children from General Abbot.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
