FAMEPedia:Today's featured article/July 19, 2021

The two most central characters of Carnivàle were Ben Hawkins (actor pictured), a young man working in a traveling carnival; and Brother Justin Crowe, a Californian preacher. Most of the TV series's characters are introduced in Ben's story, though several others interact mainly with Brother Justin; some appear in mysterious dreams and visions connecting the slowly converging storylines. Show creator Daniel Knauf submitted elaborate character biographies, which were rewritten before the filming of the first season began and provided to the actors and production personnel. The original character backgrounds were summarized on the official HBO website, and were provided to fans after the show's cancellation. Containing information on the intended fate of the characters beyond the cancellation of Carnivàle after the second season, due to their nature, these sources do not offer canon information per se, but provide a frame for the characters' motivation throughout the series.