John Blackthorne

An English navigator, John Blackthorne washes ashore in Japan after his ship is wrecked, one of the only survivors of a brutal voyage. Sharp, proud, and out of his depth, he sizes up captors and allies alike, desperate to understand a world that owes him nothing and wants him even less.

Cosmo Jarvis plays him raw and unpolished, all jutting stubbornness and flashes of real fear, which keeps the fish-out-of-water setup from ever feeling quaint. The writing resists making him a conquering outsider hero; he's constantly outmaneuvered, forced to actually listen, and that humility is what makes his slow adaptation so absorbing to watch.