Antagonist

Character Role Analysis

Isaac Lakin

The antagonist is the character who stands in opposition to the protagonist, and Lakin clearly fits this bill when it comes to Gordon. He constantly blocks Gordon's efforts to determine the true origins of the odd resonance, even going so far as to fail Cooper and publicly condemn Gordon's efforts at the colloquium. Dude is just the worst.

Ian Peterson

Peterson is a bit more difficult to label as antagonist to Renfrew. They aren't in direct conflict beyond personality clashes, and he is the one who gets funding for the experiment and supports Renfrew's efforts. But unlike Renfrew and Markham, Peterson is simply interested in the experiment for his own curiosity—he even suggests attempting to create a paradox for chuckles despite the potential consequences. As such, they do seem to conflict over the experiment's purpose.

With that said, one could make the argument that Peterson is more a foil than an antagonist to Renfrew, and we think there is merit to that line of thought. For example, Peterson bugs out when it becomes clear that the world has gone to hell in a climate-changed hand basket, whereas Renfrew sticks it out and performs his job until the very end.