Second Noah - Characters

Characters

Their oldest adopted child was Ricky (James Marsden). He had fathered a child, Ben (Gemini Barnett), when he was fourteen with his girlfriend Kaylie. Noah and Jesse adopted Ben. Kaylie, daughter of a wealthy family, left town during her pregnancy and did not return until after Ben's birth; Kaylie's own father is not aware that she has ever been pregnant or had a child. Ricky and Kaylie were not together for most of the series. Instead, Ricky was with Darby, played by Joey Lauren Adams.

The series pilot tells the story of how the Becketts came to adopt children #7 and 8, Roxanna and Luis. Starting with the first non-pilot episode of the show, Roxanna and Luis are played by different actors, Erika Page and Jeffrey Licon respectively. Roxanna is not immediately accepted at her new high school and she and Ricky develop a friendship as he tries to stand up for her. Luis is a chronic liar who tells everyone that Julio Iglesias is his father.

Ranny and Danny, played by Jon and Jeremy Torgerson, are twins a little younger than Ricky and Roxanna. They have also been adopted by the Becketts for the longest. Ranny is more of a "bad boy" who searches for his birth parents. Danny is quieter and shy.

Bethany (Zelda Harris - although RuDee Sade played the role of Bethany in the pilot episode) and Hannah (Ashley Gorrell) are the same age but Hannah was adopted later. They are very close to each other and this is highlighted by the fact that Hannah rarely speaks outside of the family and Bethany must speak for her in various situations. Hannah's mother kept her locked in a closet with little human contact prior to her adoption by the Becketts and she continues to seek comfort by hiding in closets during stressful situations. Later in the series, a man is introduced whom Bethany believes to be her father, though the show remains agnostic on the truth of that claim. It is worthwhile to note that Bethany is Black and Hannah is White and racial tensions are often explored around these characters.

In the pilot, the Becketts find a housekeeper, Shirley (Deidre O'Connell), who becomes part of the family. Her son, JoJo (Michael McLafferty), appears in town at some point and we learn that he used to be a drug addict and that Shirley blames him for the death of her other son, Robbie (Russell Breslow). Shirley believed that Robbie got the drugs that killed him from JoJo. There is a romance between Roxanna and Shirley's son in four episodes, "The Big Hurt"; "Faith Hope and Charity"; "Slings and Arrows"; and "The Choice".