Meet Netflix’s ‘Daybreak’ Cast And Characters Before Series Premiere

What happens when a group of Glendale, California high school students survive a nuclear blast on the night of Homecoming, only to discover their fight to live is just getting started? Everyone will just have to watch Netflix’s new series, “Daybreak,” when it releases on Thursday to find out.

In the meantime, get to know the characters at the center of the part-mystery, part-coming-of-age, part-fantasy Netflix show right here.

During New York Comic Con earlier this month, the cast shared with a small group of reporters all about their characters, including what they were like before the blast and what they’re like post-apocalypse.

Colin Ford (Josh Wheeler)

“Josh is an average guy. He’s got nothing really going for him. He doesn’t really have too many friends when he moves to Glendale — he’s Canadian — and one of the first people Josh meets in Glendale is Sam. But Josh in the apocalypse is a whole different version of himself. When the apocalypse happens, Josh becomes the best version of himself, he’s living his best life.”

Alyvia Alyn Lind (Angelica Green)

“Angelica Green is a 10-year-old pyromaniac rebel who does not take anything from anybody. Josh used to babysit her, and she was very annoying. She was not nice to him. She lit his stuff on fire all the time. He hated her basically… [but] throughout the season, you get to see not only her crazy and fighting off Ghoulies and wheeling through the mall... [but also as] this vulnerable little girl that misses her parents.”

Gregory Kasyan (Eli Cardashyan)

“I play Eli Cardashyan. Eli, before the bombs exploded, back in high school, his parents were from a different country. They came here, they couldn’t afford anything… So, he’s been kind of bullied throughout high school, also because he’s small... [But] after the bombs explode, that’s the best thing that’s pretty much ever happened to him. He gets the mall to himself. It’s a nice shelter, and he gets all of the clothes and everything that he basically could’ve ever dreamed of.”

Sophie Simnett (Sam Dean)

“I play Sam, she’s the sort of — they describe her as the Queen of Glendale, at one point. She’s the popular girl at school, but she’s a real, authentic character. She isn’t the cliché mean girl. People want to be friends with her because she’s kind; she has this nice vibe about her in that she’s real, and she helps people, and she wants to make people feel good.”

Matthew Broderick (Michael Burr)

“I’m the principal of the school, been there a long time, and you get the sense that he’s maybe been there too long, not enjoying it anymore... [that] the difficulties that come with administrating this place have gotten to him a bit.”

Krysta Rodriguez (Biology Teacher)

“My character is, in the pre-apocalypse, she is a disillusioned biology teacher who wants to save the world through educating, especially young women, teaching them they can be scientists. And then the apocalypse happens and she becomes a witch with a traumatic brain injury. She’s surviving on her own, living in the mall and eating anything she can. But she’s part Ghoulie and wants to eat children. But she encounters this group of kids who are really inspiring and doing what she wanted kids to do, which is take up the mantle and own their own lives.”

Austin Crute (Wesley Fists)

“Wesley Fists is a football star bully turned pacifist samurai in the apocalypse. He has basically decided that the people he was running with pre-apocalypse have all turned into criminal, crazy people in the post-apocalypse, and he wants to denounce that whole lifestyle and follow the Bushido code and really commit himself to peace, tranquility, self-regulation and emotional regulation.”

Jeanté Godlock (Mona Lisa)

“I play Mona Lisa. She is nicknamed Mona Lisa because she never smiles. So, that’s fun. [She] is an athlete, she’s a jock, she’s played three sports at school. She’s the only girl on the football team. So, she runs with the boys. She is just a super strong character. [When] we have an apocalypse… she steps into a leadership role.”

See all of these characters come alive onscreen when “Daybreak” Season 1 releases on Netflix on Thursday.