Det. Roland West

Roland West is a state police detective in rural Arkansas, brought in on the disappearance of two children in 1980. Brusque, dry-witted, and pragmatic, he partners with Wayne Hays and treats the case with a cop's flat professionalism, more comfortable with procedure than with the town's grief.

Stephen Dorff plays him as the steady, unglamorous counterweight to Mahershala Ali's more haunted Hays, all clipped exchanges and weary competence. The show tracks Roland across decades, and Dorff lets the years sit differently on him each time — a career cop whose plainness turns out to hide real depth.