My Life with the Walter Boys has an incredible cast of characters that lends itself well to the Netflix show’s drama. Based on Ali Novack’s novel of the same name and with Nikki Rodrigue playing the main character in My Life with the Walter Boys’ cast, the coming-of-age teenage show follows Jackie and her complicated love triangle between her, Cole and Alex.

While My Life with the Walter Boys made some changes to the book when it comes to how some of its characters are presented, the show did its best to keep their personalities as close to the source material as possible. Of course, the show’s main focus is Jackie, but there are also characters in My Life with the Walter Boys’ ensemble that leave an impression. What made the characters in the Netflix series so intriguing is that most of them did not remain stagnant but evolved as the show went on.

10George Walter

Portrayed By Marc Blucas

Along with his wife Catherine, George is Jackie’s other guardian Angelica chose to take care of her daughter after she died. Compared to his wife, George doesn’t spend as much time with Jackie, but he goes to great lengths, even reprimanding his sons in order to make Jackie’s stay in his home as comfortable as possible. As Jackie spent more time around her new family, she began to trust that her guardians had her best interest at heart.

In Ali Novack’s novel, George Walter doesn’t really appear as much as he did in the series. The change was made by My Life with the Walter Boys’ showrunner Melaine Halsall who wanted the show to have a character who could appeal to an older audience. Having George be a larger part of the story made the series better because he is one of the most earnest and non-problematic characters in the show. Although George could never replace Jackie’s father, the effort he put into their relationship is commendable.

9Skylar Summerhill

Portrayed By Jaylan Evans

After Jackie’s parents died, she gave up on her friends because most of them didn’t know how to relate to her anymore. But when she moved to Colorado, she struck up a friendship with Skylar Summerhill, one of the few people who talked to her on her first day of school. Skylar goes out of his way to be a good friend to Jackie and helps make the transition into her new life as easy as possible.

While there are other characters in My Life with the Walter Boys who want to leave their small-town life behind, Skylar is the only one shown to have as much ambition as Jackie. Skylar wants to go to Georgetown and become a political journalist in order to have the power to fight for his people. His banter with his best friend Grace is one of the best things about the series and his relationship with Nathan Walter creates an interesting subplot.

8Hayley Young

Portrayed By Zoë Soul

Hayley, Will Walter’s fiancée, is a grad student working at a café in order to pay for her education. Hayley and Will had fallen in love with each other when they were teenagers, but as their wedding day grew close, the couple started having several disagreements due to their financial status. Hayley doesn’t get a lot of screen time in the series, but when she does, her bubbliness makes her stand out.

In a series filled with teenage drama, Hayley’s steadfastness and calm personality is refreshing. She not only handles her fights with Will gracefully, but she is a decent friend to his little brothers. Despite her relationship with Will not being perfect, they are probably the most mature couple in My Life with the Walter Boys, aside from George and Katherine.

7Alex Walter

Portrayed By Ashby Gentry

Alex is easily one of the most likeable characters in My Life With the Walter Boys. From the moment he met Jackie, he tried to make sure that she felt welcomed into their home. While he is shy and a bit nerdy, Alex had moments where he was sweet and romantic, which ultimately led Jackie to fall for him.

Alex is undoubtedly a good person, as seen by how kind he is to Jackie and his family, but his inability to move on from a past grievance between him and Cole makes him unlikeable. Before My Life with the Walter Boys’ season finale, Alex did seem to come to terms with why he acted the way he did when it came to Cole. However, the question still remains if he really liked Jackie, or whether he was simply being possessive because he didn’t want his brother to have her.

6Will Walker

Portrayed By Johnny Link

As the oldest of the Walter children, Will left home and began to live with his fiancée, Hayley. In the show’s first few episodes, it’s clear to see that Will is a kindhearted man who is just not particularly sure about what he wants. He struggles with the trajectory of his career, but he eventually begins to find what he is actually good at.

One of the best things about Will is his ability to recognize when he is wrong and make amends. When he lied to Hayley about the café being opened on Thanksgiving wasn’t his idea, he realized he had made a mistake and promised to do better. Of all Katherine and George’s kids, Will is the most well-adjusted. The amount of love and care he puts into his relationship with Hayley is what makes him such a great character.

5Nathan Walter

Portrayed By Corey Fogelmanis

Like Alex, Nathan is more on the shy side. However, that doesn’t mean he shies away from standing up to his brothers or doing what is right when the time calls for it. Nathan doesn’t necessarily have a lot of interactions with Jackie, but when he does, he is always kind and ready to lend a helping hand. Compared to his older brothers, Nathan always obeyed his parents and didn’t get into trouble.

Nathan’s crush on Skylar was one of the highlights of My Life with the Walter Boys. The fact that he put so much effort into showing Skylar how he felt painted him as the most romantic Walter. While Skylar didn’t initially show that he was interested in Nathan, the two did end up together, and are probably the most interesting couple in the show.

4Erin

Portrayed By Ashley Newton

Erin is a complex character that has a lot more going on than she lets on. When Jackie started attending Silver Falls High School, Erin took an immediate dislike to her because she noticed that Cole was falling for the new girl. Erin took every opportunity she had to be mean to Jackie and made her school life as miserable as possible. While it’s easy to dismiss Erin as just another mean girl, there was actually more to her than met the eye.

When she was 10 years old, Erin lost her father and had a complicated relationship with her mother. Although she had let Cole mislead her and treat her whichever way he liked, she eventually came to the realization that she deserved better. At her core, Erin is a character who loved her community and her family, although she didn’t always know how to show it.

3Cole Walter

Portrayed By Noah LaLonde

Every coming-of-age teen drama needs a bad boy, and Cole was that in My Life with the Walter Boys. The good-looking and popular Walter was a former quarterback with dreams of getting a scholarship to the University of Alabama, which was unfortunately shuttered when he broke his leg. Initially, Cole is rude and selfish and is seemingly on a path to ruin his life. His woe-is-me outlook on life and how he treated Erin was one of the worst things about him.

Despite his bad behavior, Cole was actually sweet and had great chemistry with Jackie. He was a good brother to his little sister and a supportive friend. As the series came to a conclusion, Cole turned his life around and actually began to grow. He apologized to Erin for how he treated her and began to care about his grades. Cole did kiss his brother’s girlfriend, but that just speaks to how he is meant to be seen as the self-tortured guy that the good girl falls for.

2Katherine Walter

Portrayed By Sarah Rafferty

Katherine, who is portrayed by Suit’s Sarah Rafferty, is Angelica’s best friend and the person she chose as Jackie’s guardian. As a mother of 7 boys and 1 girl, Katherine doesn’t really know how to relate to a teenager from New York whose world just blew apart. Her ability to handle chaotic situations with a firm hand while showing love when doing so is what made her one of the best characters in the show.

Raising 10 kids clearly means she has her hands full, but Katherine does her best to ensure that each person under care has everything they need. She is selfless and always puts her family and clients first, even when doing so doesn’t always benefit her. The fact that she didn’t leave Jackie with her uncle Richard and instead decided to honor her best friend’s wish is a testament to how much she believes in putting family above all else.

1Jackie Howard

Portrayed By Nikki Rodriguez

As the primary protagonist in the teen drama, Jackie is a sweet and lovable character. From the time she moved to Colorado, Jackie was kind and always put her best foot forward. Granted, it took her a moment for her to adjust to her new life and family, but she eventually started figuring it out and found her footing. Although she lost her father, mother, and sister in a tragic accident, Jackie handled her new life with grace. She rarely acted out and was never rude to her guardians.

In the season finale, she did something out of character and cheated on Alex. While it wasn’t her best moment, it actually added a little depth to her personality because she was beginning to seem like a one-dimensional character, which could quickly get boring. Given that My Life with the Walter Boys will be returning for season 2, the show has a chance to give Jackie a storyline that doesn’t revolve solely on her love triangle with the Walter boys. There’s so much more to her character, thus providing My Life with the Walter Boys all sorts of storytelling potential for Jackie when the series returns.