Profile: Brilliant French engineer, born under the shadow of dubious parentage. Ambitious, restless, and driven by a desperate need to prove himself.

Motivation: To achieve a monumental success that forces Parisian society to accept him, erasing the stigma of illegitimacy.

SERIES ARC

Early: Bright prodigy, promoted young, fueled by patriotism and insecurity.

Middle: Humiliated by De Lesseps, saved by Pauline, torn between love and ambition. Chooses ambition, sacrificing personal happiness.

Late: Becomes master manipulator in the U.S. debate, using propaganda to turn the Senate.

Endgame: Orchestrates Panamanian independence and secures U.S. treaty, gaining global fame but questionable honor. In the final episode, finds personal redemption through reunion with Pauline.

Profile: Frenchwoman, beautiful and resilient, widowed early by Panama’s brutal toll. At first practical and desperate, later a grounding presence in Philippe’s life.

Motivation: To survive, protect her child in France, and find stability in a world of chaos.

SERIES ARC

Early: Vulnerable widow, rescued by Philippe, becomes his secretary.

Middle: Develops mutual affection with Philippe, saved by him in riots, later nurses him back from yellow fever. Falls in love.

Conflict: When Philippe chooses to return to Panama, she cannot forgive his obsession with the canal. Burns his letters.

Endgame: Years later, reunited with Philippe in Paris market. Her arc reflects the personal cost of empire-building.

Profile: Philippe’s elder brother, a banker at Crédit Lyonnais, pragmatic and conservative. Philippe’s opposite: cautious, risk-averse, a man of order and financial discipline.

Motivation: To maintain wealth, stability, and social standing. Reluctantly tied to Philippe’s risky ventures.

SERIES ARC

Early: Promoted in the bank, helps distribute canal stock.

Middle: Furious when Philippe forces him into buying the contractor company, but profits nonetheless.

Late: Runs the family’s newspaper empire, distancing himself from Philippe’s reckless ambition.

Endgame: Wealthy but tainted by scandal, he represents the “safe” path Philippe never chose.

Profile: Aged French hero, builder of the Suez Canal. Vain, proud, increasingly detached from Panama’s realities.

Motivation: To maintain his legend and bask in adoration, regardless of consequences.

SERIES ARC

Early: Idolized by Philippe.

Middle: Grows jealous, humiliates Philippe.

Late: His name becomes synonymous with failure as the French company collapses.

Endgame: Symbol of misplaced glory.

Profile: Former U.S. ambassador to France, pragmatic, insightful, mentor-like figure.

Motivation: To push American strategic interests, favoring Panama over Nicaragua.

SERIES ARC

Early: Plants the seed in Philippe’s mind about American free enterprise.

Middle: Supports Philippe’s U.S. lobbying, orchestrates propaganda campaign.

Endgame: Helps Philippe engineer Panama’s independence but remains morally ambiguous.

Profile: Southern U.S. senator, former Confederate, ruthless political schemer. Racist, manipulative, utterly opposed to Panama.

Motivation: To push the canal through Nicaragua, empowering Southern ports and restoring regional influence.

SERIES ARC

Early: Commissions Admiral Walker’s biased report, manipulates hearings.

Middle: Ambushes Philippe, humiliates him publicly.

Late: Sees his Nicaragua campaign collapse after Philippe’s volcano scare tactics.

Endgame: Humiliated, left behind by history.

Profile: U.S. President, larger-than-life, dynamic, and pragmatic. Publicly cautious, privately supportive of Panama.

Motivation: To cement America’s role as a global power, using the canal as his legacy project.

SERIES ARC

Middle: Hints at support for Philippe’s revolutionary schemes, carefully balancing risk.

Late: Secures canal through the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, defining U.S. imperialism.

Endgame: Celebrated as visionary but shadowed by controversy over Panama’s “stolen” independence.

Profile: African-American emigrant fleeing Jim Crow in the U.S., lured by promises of a new life in Panama.

Motivation: With her husband Isaac, to build a better life for their children.

SERIES ARC

Early: Optimistic but shocked by disease and poverty. Her child dies.

Middle: Her husband Isaac is injured and later succumbs to illness, and is buried in an unmarked grave.

Endgame: Works as a maid in Philippe’s house, eventually escapes and returns to Paris with her teenage children. She ultimately survives great hardship but her arc exposes the brutal cost of empire-building on ordinary people, and especially people of colour.

Profile: Compassionate Panamanian doctor, committed to treating the sick despite limited resources. Husband to nurse Maria, later a leader of independence.

Motivation: To free Panama from Colombian neglect and see his nation thrive.

SERIES ARC

Early: Introduced in Colón hospital, allies with Philippe in both health and politics.

Middle: Struggles against death and despair in the wards, grows radical alongside Maria.

Late: Co-conspires with Philippe to orchestrate the independence revolution.

Endgame: Sidelined when Philippe pre-empts him with the U.S. treaty, but remembered as a national hero.

Profile: Fiery, principled nurse. Political radical, deeply humane, passionate about independence and social justice.

Motivation: To alleviate suffering and fight for Panama’s freedom.

SERIES ARC

Early: Introduced tending to sick laborers, impresses Philippe with her courage.

Middle: Marries Amador, supports the independence cause.

Late: Sees the cost of revolution firsthand, skeptical of Philippe’s opportunism.

Endgame: Represents the betrayed idealism of Panama when the U.S. treaty reduces her country’s sovereignty.

Profile: Officious General in the Columbian army.

Motivation: To crush the rebellion, on command of Bogoto.

SERIES ARC

Early: A brutal man with little empathy.

Late: Pulled into the Columbian revolution stoked by the Americans.

Profile: Tough Lieutenant in the Columbian army.

Motivation: Under General Torbar’s command, he is committed to putting down the rebellion.

SERIES ARC

Early: A man who follows orders.

Late: Left in charge of the Columbian troops in Colon.

Profile: African-American emigrant fleeing Jim Crow in the U.S., lured by promises of work in Panama.

Motivation: Together with his wife, Rebecca, to build a better life for their family.

SERIES ARC

Early: Optimistic but shocked by disease and poverty. His child dies.

Middle: He is injured by the gruelling work conditions.

Rebecca: Works as a maid in Philippe’s house, survives to return to Paris with her teenage children.

Endgame: He later succumbs to illness and is buried in an unmarked grave. His arc exposes the brutal cost of empire-building on ordinary workers and people of colour.

Profile: Hard-headed American railway manager in Panama. Practical, cynical, and protective of U.S. assets.

Motivation: To safeguard the Panama Railroad and American interests.

SERIES ARC

Middle: Respects Philippe grudgingly, joins him in moments of crisis.

Endgame: Captured with Philippe during the revolution, nearly executed. Survives, a reminder of U.S. leverage in Panama.

Profile: Legendary engineer whose tower was to make him world famous, but which was not built at the beginning of this story.

Motivation: To make his name as an engineer.

SERIES ARC

Early: He begins building what will become the Eiffel tower.

Middle: He is drawn into the Panama project, creating the designs of the huge lock gates.

Endgame: Ultimately pulled into his own projects, such as his tower in Paris, which is completed by the time the series ends.

Profile: Ground-breaking US banker who founded the JP Morgan bank.

Motivation: To push American strategic interests, favouring the Nicaraguan route through the Isthmus.

SERIES ARC

Early: Petitions for the US to be involved in the Panama project.

Middle: Puts his weight and influence behind the Nicaraguan route.

Endgame: Ultimately fails in making the Nicaraguan route the favoured choice, but neverthless becomes a world renowned banker, whose name still resonates today.