Halloween Characters Movie Guide: Who Is Who in Every Timeline

The main Halloween characters in the movies are Michael Myers, Laurie Strode, Dr. Samuel Loomis, Jamie Lloyd, Tommy Doyle, Karen and Allyson, although the same name can describe a different person depending on the timeline. The franchise has thirteen theatrical releases across five separate continuities (a bit like a long running TV series that keeps getting a new writers' room), which is why the characters only make sense when sorted by timeline first. If you want the full film list, the halloween movies hub has it.

Each character belongs to one of five timelines, and a few names (Michael, Laurie and Loomis) turn up in several of them with different histories.

• Original series: Halloween 1978, directed by John Carpenter, then Halloween II 1981 (Rick Rosenthal), Halloween 4 (1988, Dwight H. Little), Halloween 5 (1989, Dominique Othenin-Girard) and Halloween The Curse of Michael Myers (1995, Joe Chappelle).
• Standalone: Halloween 3 Season of the Witch (1982, Tommy Lee Wallace), which has no Michael Myers at all.
• H20 and Resurrection: Halloween H20 (1998, Steve Miner) and Halloween Resurrection (2002, Rick Rosenthal), which follow Laurie Strode as Keri Tate in California and then in a psychiatric facility.
• Rob Zombie's remakes: Halloween 2007 Rob Zombie and Halloween 2 2009, both directed by Rob Zombie.
• The 2018 trilogy: Halloween 2018 (David Gordon Green), Halloween Kills (2021) and Halloween Ends (2022). Universal describes the 2018 film as a sequel to the 1978 original that departs from its sequels.

The halloween timeline page lays out the order of events, and halloween timelines explained covers why the series keeps resetting.

Michael Myers is the masked killer at the center of twelve of the thirteen films, and he is credited both as Michael Myers and as The Shape. In Halloween (1978) he is six years old when he stabs his older sister on Halloween night in 1963, and fifteen years later he steals a car, escapes the sanitarium and follows Laurie Strode around Haddonfield. The role has passed through many performers: Tony Moran as the 23 year old Michael in 1978, Dick Warlock in 1981, George P. Wilbur in Halloween 4 and The Curse of Michael Myers, Don Shanks in Halloween 5, Brad Loree in Resurrection, and Tyler Mane in both Zombie films (with Daeg Faerch as the ten year old in 2007). In the trilogy James Jude Courtney plays him in all three films, with Nick Castle also credited in Halloween (2018) and Halloween Kills.

How he ends depends entirely on the timeline. In 1978 he falls from a balcony and the body is gone, in 1981 a gas explosion apparently kills him, and in Halloween 4 he drops into a mine shaft. H20 has Laurie finish him with an axe, while Zombie's 2009 sequel has her stab him with his own knife. In Halloween Ends he finally bleeds out, and Laurie destroys the body in an industrial shredder at a salvage yard. The full profile is on the michael myers character page, and the person behind the mask is covered under michael myers.

Laurie Strode is the high schooler Michael targets in 1978, and she is the character the series has reinvented the most. Jamie Lee Curtis plays her in the 1978 film, Halloween II, H20, Resurrection and all three trilogy films, while Scout Taylor-Compton plays her in Rob Zombie's two films. In the original she is babysitting Tommy when she finds her friends' bodies, wounds Michael several times and gets the children to safety.

Halloween II (1981) adds the twist that shaped the later sequels: Marion tells Loomis that Laurie is Michael's younger sister, adopted after the family's deaths, and the film ends with Laurie blinding him inside Haddonfield Memorial Hospital. H20 moves her to California, where she lives as Keri Tate, headmistress of Hillcrest Academy, with a teenage son named John. Curtis agreed to return only if the film did not hint at a sequel, so Laurie ends Michael there. Resurrection then undoes it, with Laurie in a psychiatric facility and not surviving his visit. Zombie's version makes her the baby sister Michael spared as a child, and the 2009 sequel gives her birth name as Angel Myers. In the trilogy she has spent four decades preparing for his return and is estranged from her daughter Karen, and in Halloween Ends she writes a memoir and helps destroy him. More detail sits on the laurie strode page.

Dr. Samuel Loomis is Michael's psychiatrist and the one person who treats the threat as real from the start. Donald Pleasence plays him from Halloween (1978) through The Curse of Michael Myers, and Malcolm McDowell takes over in Rob Zombie's films. In 1978 he shoots Michael off a balcony and looks down to find the body gone, and in 1981 he ignites leaking gas in an operating room, sacrificing himself in the explosion. Halloween 4 has him fighting Michael at a gas station before the chase on foot, and Halloween 5 ends with him collapsing from a stroke after beating Michael unconscious. His fate in the theatrical cut of The Curse of Michael Myers is left unclear. In Zombie's 2009 sequel he is a celebrity author with a book about the events, and Michael stabs him in the shack at the climax. See dr loomis for the full run.

Jamie Lloyd is the orphaned daughter of Laurie Strode and Michael's niece, and she carries the original series for three films. Danielle Harris plays her in Halloween 4 and Halloween 5, and J.C. Brandy takes over in The Curse of Michael Myers. In Halloween 4 she goes trick or treating in a clown costume and is found at the end holding bloody scissors, which is how Loomis realizes Michael's evil has passed to her. Halloween 5 leaves her mute and mentally linked to Michael, and in the attic she calls him her uncle, which makes him briefly remove his mask. In The Curse of Michael Myers she gives birth to a son named Steven and escapes with him, but Michael tracks her down and kills her. Her page is jamie lloyd halloween.

Tommy Doyle is the child Laurie babysits in 1978, and he returns as an adult in two different timelines. Brian Andrews plays the boy in the original, Paul Rudd plays the reclusive adult in The Curse of Michael Myers, Skyler Gisondo plays him in Zombie's 2007 film, and Anthony Michael Hall plays him in Halloween Kills. In The Curse of Michael Myers he has spent years trying to understand Michael, finds baby Steven and helps Kara Strode get the children out of Smith's Grove. In Halloween Kills he rallies survivors at a local bar and leads an angry crowd through town, and Michael kills him in the Myers house. The profile is at tommy doyle halloween.

Karen and Allyson are the daughter and granddaughter of Laurie Strode in the 2018 trilogy, played by Judy Greer and Andi Matichak. Karen was taken from Laurie as a child, while Allyson is the family member who stays close. In Halloween (2018) all three women trap Michael in a hidden basement room and set the house on fire. In Halloween Kills Karen stabs Michael with a pitchfork and takes his mask, then goes alone to the Myers house and does not survive. In Halloween Ends Allyson is a nurse who begins dating Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell), and after the final fight she leaves Haddonfield for a fresh start. Officer Hawkins, played by Will Patton, is the other trilogy regular. Read more on karen halloween 2018 and allyson halloween.

The main female Halloween characters are Laurie Strode, Jamie Lloyd, Karen and Allyson, with a supporting line of babysitters and friends. Among the others:

• Annie (Nancy Kyes in 1978; Danielle Harris plays Annie Brackett in Zombie's films) and Lynda (P. J. Soles) are Laurie's friends in the 1978 film.
• Lindsey, the child Annie minds in 1978, is played by Kyle Richards, who returns in Halloween Ends.
• Rachel Carruthers (Ellie Cornell) is Jamie's foster sister in Halloween 4 and 5.
• Kara Strode (Marianne Hagan) protects the children in The Curse of Michael Myers.
• Ellie Grimbridge (Stacey Nelkin) helps trace the Silver Shamrock masks in Season of the Witch.
• Sara Moyer (Bianca Kajlich) is the lead student in Resurrection.
• Deborah Myers (Sheri Moon Zombie) is Michael's mother in Zombie's films.

The main male Halloween characters are Michael Myers, Dr. Loomis and Tommy Doyle, joined by several lawmen and a few villains who are not Michael. Among the others:

• Sheriff Leigh Brackett is played by Charles Cyphers in the original series and Halloween Kills, and by Brad Dourif in Zombie's films.
• Daniel Challis (Tom Atkins) is the surgeon who investigates the masks in Season of the Witch, and Conal Cochran (Dan O'Herlihy) is the factory owner behind them.
• Freddie Harris (Busta Rhymes) runs the internet show in Resurrection.
• John (Josh Hartnett) is Laurie's son in H20.
• Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell) is the young man Haddonfield shuns in Halloween Ends, and he becomes a killer himself.

No studio has announced a title or release date for a new halloween movie, so this cast list stands as it is for now. If you are new to the series, start with Halloween (1978), then follow one timeline using halloween movies in order, and check halloween cast to see which actor plays which role.