The Whale - Characters & Cast

To ensure his daughter Ellie knows she is a "good person" and to leave her with a financial and emotional foundation before he dies.

Begins as a man who has surrendered to his own slow suicide, hiding from the world. His arc culminates in a final, agonizing stand—both physical and moral—where he finally faces his daughter with total honesty and achieves a state of grace.

To punish her father for abandoning her and to navigate the intense anger she feels toward a world that has failed her.

Ellie shifts from a place of unmitigated cruelty and lashing out toward a moment of raw connection. By reading her essay at the end, she acknowledges her father's love and her own buried capacity for empathy.

To protect Charlie as the last link to her deceased brother, Alan, even if it means helping him eat himself to death.

Liz struggles between her professional duty as a nurse and her personal loyalty to Charlie. Her arc reveals the complexity of love that is both supportive and destructive.