Dr. Gaius Baltar

Gaius Baltar is Caprica's most celebrated scientist, all charm and vanity, forever positioning himself for advantage. He talks fast, panics quietly, and cannot resist a beautiful woman's attention — a weakness that has just helped bring civilization to ruin, though he insists, to himself as much as anyone, that none of it is his fault.

James Callis plays cowardice as high comedy and creeping horror in the same breath, twitching between genius and dread while a voice only he can hear needles him toward self-justification. The writing refuses to let him off the hook or damn him outright, and Callis makes every flinch and flattering lie feel painfully, recognizably human.