Elizabeth Shaw
The main protagonist is a seasoned archaeologist and devout Christian. She and her boyfriend, Charlie Holloway, discover a series of cave paintings detailing a type of intergalactic map and together they manage to convince Peter Weyland, billionaire founder of the notorious Weyland Corporation to sponsor a mission trip to moon LV-223, the probable source of the of the cryptic paintings. Elizabeth’s religious commitments color her decisions and serves as her primary motivation. She is driven by the need to answer the deep and grand questions: “where have we come from?”, “what is humanity’s purpose?” , and as a result of her discovery of our progenitors, the enigmatic Engineers, “who is God if we were created by someone else?” Her search for answers to these existential questions initiates a disastrous chain of events.
Charlie Holloway
Charlie Holloway is an archaeologist like his lover Elizabeth Shaw, and this is pretty much the only convergence point of their characters. Holloway is Shaw’s opposite in many ways. Unlike his more cautious and reserved partner, is more of a maverick scientist who is driven by the thrill of discovery, unmindful of potential danger. He is also highly critical and skeptical of Shaw’s beliefs being an atheist. He chooses to immolate himself upon discovering that an alien organism has infected him.
David 8
David 8 is an android designed and created by the Weyland Corporation. He accompanies the crew of the Prometheus in order to fulfill a three-fold mission: first, is to maintain the ship’s course and crucial functions while the human team members are in cryo-stasis. Second, is to learn as much as he can of the Engineer’s language and culture. Thirdly, he is to carry out Peter Weyland’s agenda upon their arrival at moon LV-223. The nature of Peter Weyland’s agenda is intentionally kept from the rest of the crew. David is the 8th in a series of androids designed to be an ersatz son for Peter Weyland, a fact that galls Meredith Vickers, Weyland’s estranged daughter, to no end. Being a fully sentient synthetic being David also functions as the in-film criticism of humanity. David looks down upon humanity seeing their limited lifespans, biological aging processes, and existential searching for their creator(s) to be as weaknesses. The irony of his human creators searching for their creators is not lost on him and this only serves to deepen his disdain for humanity.
Meredith Vickers
Meredith Vickers is a member of the Weyland Corporation’s top-tier management and the expeditionary team’s corporate overseer. She is also the disgruntled and disowned daughter of Peter Weyland. She is skeptical of the mission’s objectives and doesn’t hesitate voice out her doubts to the expedition leads. Physically, Meredith is a tall, striking blonde with icy-blue eyes. She deals with everyone with a cold, mechanical, distant demeanor and even the sexual advances of Capt. Janek are met with the same transactional, impersonal manner.
Captain Janek
The stalwart captain of the Prometheus, he provides the necessary counterbalance for the ship’s colorful and eclectic crew. Capt. Janek is primarily motivated by his desire to keep his crew safe and to maintain homeostasis aboard his ship. His calm, level-headed demeanor is precisely what is needed to keep the peace aboard the Prometheus, especially knowing that he carries a couple of volatile personalities.
Peter Weyland
Centenarian founder and owner of the Weyland Corporation, emotionally distant father of Meredith Vickers, and creator of David 8, and benefactor of the Prometheus mission to LV-223, he orchestrates a secret mission to meet the alien Engineers in person in the hopes that they would restore his youth. Despite his age and physical frailty Peter Weyland is a man of immense ambition and hubris. He is completely unafraid to face the rigors of long-term space travel in order to bargain for something that even their level of medical technology cannot provide from an inscrutable alien race, which he has no real means of communicating with and no bargaining chip that he can claim to provide himself leverage with.
Fifield
Resident geologist of the Prometheus and all-around skeptic and cynic, he rebuffs offers of friendship from other crewmembers upon waking up from stasis sleep. He is also quick to question the nature of their mission and the presence of the Engineers. Fifield was selected to serve as a mapmaker and navigator, plotting out the intricacies of the fallen alien ship, the Juggernaut’s, internal layout; a mission he promptly abandons when their group discovers the headless corpse of an Engineer. His abandonment of his duty to map out the area results in a the unfolding of a series of disasters.
Millburn
A biologist selected to participate in the Prometheus mission to LV-223, he is a genuinely friendly man who initially tries to reach out and befriend the curmudgeonly geologist Fifield. His efforts at establishing a new friendship with Fifield are promptly rebuffed though. He joins the first trip into to the Engineers' edifice following closely after Fifield after having been frightened by the sight of a pile of alien carcasses. Despite his scientific training and the unfamiliarity of the alien organisms they encounter Milburn displays a recklessness that is completely baffling. He unwisely decides to reach out to pet the alien organism, despite already having shown aggression. He is swiftly rewarded with the creature attacking him, breaking his arm and invading his body, turning him into an incubation chamber.
