Persuasion is a story about the one who got away. Eight years after breaking off her engagement with Captain Frederick Wentworth, protagonist Anne Elliot still isn’t over him. As the middle of three sisters, the 27-year-old is isolated and lonely in a family that doesn’t understand her. But when the dashing blast from her past suddenly crashes back into her life, she must choose between real closure or a second chance. Can she stop self-sabotaging long enough to take it?  Based on Jane Austen’s final novel, Persuasion is full of quirky, endearing characters that make up Anne’s social circle. Get to know some of them below.

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Dakota Johnson as Anne Elliot

Sarcastic and witty, 27-year-old Anne is the sometimes flawed narrator who takes the audience through the colorful cast of characters that populate her world. When we first meet her, she’s living with her father and older sister, having turned down her big chance at love and happiness almost a decade earlier.  Why does she look familiar? Johnson has been stealing scenes since her short but memorable appearance in David Fincher’s The Social Network in 2010. Catapulted into superstardom after being cast as Anastasia Steele in the Fifty Shades of Grey franchise, the actor has since starred in more than 25 films. She’s played an eager ingenue thrown into the New York City dating pool (How To Be Single); a dancer training at an academy run by witches (Suspiria) and recently, an overwhelmed mother vacationing in Greece in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut, The Lost Daughter. Plus, she’s making moves behind the camera: In 2019, Dakota co-founded a production company, TeaTime Pictures, with Ro Donnelly. 

You can follow Johnson on Instagram. 

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Cosmo Jarvis as Captain Frederick Wentworth After being rejected by Anne on the advice of Lady Russell, Wentworth sought a life of adventure in the British Navy. He returns to England as a rich man with far better marriage prospects. But has he forgotten the woman who broke his heart? Why does he look familiar? The American-born British actor — whose full name is actually Harrison Cosmo Krikoryan Jarvis— broke out alongside Florence Pugh in 2016’s Lady Macbeth and has appeared in Peaky Blinders and Raised by Wolves. He’s also a musician who has written hundreds of original songs and released several albums.  You can follow Jarvis’s music career on Spotify. 

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Nikki Amuka-Bird as Lady Russell

Lady Russell was best friends with Anne Elliot’s late mother, and in her absence acts as a role model, mentor, and confidant. She feels guilty for having pushed Anne away from Wentworth all those years ago, and is constantly trying to make up for it. A widow, she has little desire to remarry, instead taking extended trips to Europe, where she can have sexy continental affairs with no judgment from others, thank you very much.  Why does she look familiar? Amuka-Bird appears in Old and The Personal History of David Copperfield. She was nominated for a BAFTA for her performance as Natalie in the BBC adaptation of Zadie Smith’s novel NW in 2016. A staple of the London theater, she also previously worked with director Carrie Cracknell on the 2014 production of Birdland.

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Henry Golding as William Elliot

Anne’s rich and eligible cousin who once snubbed her sister Elizabeth by — gasp — marrying an American is what the mothers of Bridgerton would call a “capital-R Rake.” Now, he’s back in England, single once more, and on the prowl for a new wife. Wentworth better watch his back.  Why does he look familiar? Golding is rom-com royalty, having famously starred as Nick Young in Crazy Rich Asians and opposite Emilia Clarke in Paul Feig’s Last Christmas. The holiday romance, co-written by Emma Thompson, marks Golding’s second collaboration with Feig after A Simple Favor, in which he plays Blake Lively’s seemingly perfect husband. Spoiler: No one’s that perfect. You can follow Golding on Instagram.

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Mia McKenna-Bruce as Mary Musgrove

Anne’s spoiled, selfish younger sister has a single priority: herself. Married to Charles Musgrove, she treats her husband and children much as she does Anne — as disposable creatures blessed with the opportunity to add to her own comfort and happiness.  Why does she look familiar? McKenna-Bruce is best known for her role as Tee Taylor in the coming-of-age series Tracy Beaker Returns and its spinoff, The Dumping Ground. In 2020, she played Bree Deringer in British teen thriller series Get Even.  You can follow McKenna-Bruce on Instagram. 

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Yolanda Kettle as Elizabeth Elliot

Elizabeth is widely known as the beauty of the Elliot clan — although it’s entirely possible she started that rumor herself. Vain and haughty, she’s her father Walter’s pride and joy, and the only one who travels with him to Bath in an effort to escape bankruptcy. 

Why does she look familiar? You may have caught Kettle as Tony Armstrong-Jones’ (Matthew Goode) lover Camilla Fry in Season 2 of The Crown, or alongside Matthew Macfadyen, Hayley Atwell and Alex Lawther in Howards End.  You can follow Kettle on Instagram.

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Richard E. Grant as Sir Walter Elliot

“My father. He’s never met a reflective surface he didn’t like,” Anne says early on in Persuasion. That pretty much sums up Sir Walter, a spendthrift dandy whose only fatherly instinct is to instruct his children on how to be more like him.  Why does he look familiar? An acclaimed character actor, Grant earned an Academy Award nomination in 2018 for his performance in Marielle Heller’s Can You Ever Forgive Me? — but you may also have spotted him in The Age of Innocence, Gosford Park, Girls, Game of Thrones, Downton Abbey or Loki. It’s called range. 

You can follow Grant on Twitter.