The Night at the Museum franchise has frequented many different museums across its many movies. These movies explore the idea of a night guard getting to watch the museum come to life at night, much like how Toy Story shows us the life of toys when the kids aren’t around. Of course, when these figures are all historical replicas and are often dangerous, it definitely doesn’t make the job easy.
From the original American Museum of Natural History all the way across the ocean to London, each museum brings a slew of new characters to enjoy on top of the usual cast of main characters. With a mix of historical figures, a couple of original characters, and even some animals, it can get confusing to remember who is who. Luckily, we’ve put together a list to help you keep the characters straight.
20 Ben Stiller as Larry Daley
Larry Daley is the main character throughout the first three movies. There he’s played by Ben Stiller, who brings out the role of the divorced single dad struggling to find a job. He gets a lucky break when the museum gives him a chance when their current night guards are retiring, and he quickly learns it looks like a lot more than he bargained for.
However he persists for the sake of his son, and he learns to befriend the museum exhibits and helps keep them and the museum safe from those who would rather use the magic that brings the museum to life for nefarious reasons. In the most recent animated film, Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again, he is voiced by Zachary Levi and takes on a smaller role, leaving the night shift to his son as he goes to guard a museum in Japan.
19 Jake Cherry/Skyler Gisondo as Nick Daley
Played by Jake Cherry and Skyler Gisondo, and voiced by Joshua Bassett, Nick Daley is also a driving force across all the movies. Initially, as a kid, he’s the reason Larry even takes the museum job in the first place, as he needs a job for the custody agreement put in place if he wants to continue to see Nick. He’s glad to see his dad finally stepping up and looking for a job so that he can actually take care of Nick.
In the second movie, he doesn’t make the trip to Washington, D.C. with Larry, but he still does help with maps over the phone until there’s no longer a signal. Then, in the third movie, he travels with Larry to London and gets an entire coming-of-age character arc for himself as a teenager, who finally ends up responsible enough to take over the New York night guard position in the fourth animated movie. If it wasn’t for Nick, Larry probably never would have taken the night guard job in the first place.
18 Robin Williams as Teddy Roosevelt
The wax figure of Teddy Roosevelt that comes to life every night in the museum is played by Robin Williams and voiced by Thomas Lennon. He’s an important figure in the museum and is very important to the plot. Essentially, he takes up the role of the main supporting character, giving Larry advice, inspiration, and helping him find his role within the museum. He also helps save Larry from a couple of tight spots.
Roosevelt has his own character arcs as well, coming to terms with the fact that he is only wax and not the actual president, and even falling in love with the museum’s Sacagawea figure. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Robin Williams role without some comedy and humor in it as well, so Roosevelt is often seen as some of the comic relief as well.
17 Mizuo Peck as Sacagawea
Though initially trapped behind soundproof glass and unable to contribute much to the story, Sacagawea is another driving force of the original story. Played by Mizuo Peck and voiced by Kieran Sequoia, Sacagawea was the love interest for Teddy Roosevelt, as he fell in love with her beauty even through the glass she was trapped behind.
She helped save the museum in the first movie as she helped track where the antagonists went and saved Teddy Roosevelt’s life too after he was run over. Then, it seemed like the two of them would never be parted, as they stayed by each other’s side throughout the rest of the movies. Sacagawea was also important in other movies as her tracking skills continued to help the motley group of protagonists achieve their goals.
16 Patrick Gallagher as Attila the Hun
Attila the Hun is played by Patrick Gallagher and voiced by Alexander Salamat. This historical figure acts as a minor antagonist at first, his history taking over as he believes Larry to be the enemy and begins to chase him around the museum. He also serves as one of the moments that prove Larry has what it takes and actually cares about the museum, as Larry does his research into Attila and his Huns and surprises them with magic, and even learns a couple of phrases in their language.
After calming him down and managing to befriend him, Attila becomes an important force throughout the movies, as he’s typically the muscle of the group and can help them through many of the tougher, more dangerous situations they might find themselves in.
15 Owen Wilson as Jedediah
One of the smallest characters in the cast is Jedediah, played by Owen Wilson and voiced by Steve Zahn. He’s the leader of the mini figures in the wild west diorama and is another one of the minor antagonists that Larry has to learn how to befriend. The first time they meet, Jedediah and his cowboys lasso and wrestle Larry down onto their railroad tracks and run a model train right into him. However, with some negotiation, Jedediah ultimately decides to be nice rather than see himself locked up in the diorama all night, and this leads to their eventual friendship.
As one of the smallest members, he can go in places and interact with things in ways many of the other characters can’t, often bringing comedic relief even through acts of heroism. Jedediah is then brought to all the other museums, playing important roles in keeping the plot moving often by getting lost or captured.
14 Steve Coogan as Octavius
The other small member of the museum, Octavius, is played by Steve Coogan and voiced by Jack Whitehall. He’s a Roman general in the Roman diorama, and initially meets Larry after he escapes from Jedediah, his soldiers armed with flaming catapults ready to launch at Larry. Similar to Jedediah, he too decides to play nice in order to remain free, and though the two initially fight each other instead and get Larry into trouble, the two do eventually manage to make a truce between each other.
Afterward, he and Jedediah manage to become fast friends and are nearly inseparable. On top of becoming part of the comedic relief with Jedediah, he tends to be the one driving the charge to rescue Jedediah when captured or is with him when he’s lost.
13 Dexter the Monkey
The museum isn’t complete without mentioning its animal exhibit, which means the animals there come to life and even act like they normally would too. This is how we get Dexter the Monkey, played by Crystal the Monkey and voiced by Dee Bradley Baker. Dexter doesn’t really have a specific side he’s on other than his own, as he just likes to cause mischief and doesn’t care who he inflicts it on. This takes the form of stealing Larry’s keys when he needs them or ripping up his instructions, so he no longer has a guide to keep the museum together.
Despite everything he did to get Larry into trouble, they still manage a tentative alliance to save the museum in the first movie. Even so, he still won’t miss an opportunity to mess with Larry, even if he’s brought along for all the other movies. He’s also the main reason the second movie even happens, as his mischief means he stole the tablet that brings everyone to life, and it was shipped with them to D.C.
12 Rami Malek as Ahkmenrah
Though Ahkmenrah himself isn’t very present at the beginning of the first movie, everything kind of revolves around him. Played by Rami Malek, and not seen in the animated film, this mummified prince has a magical tablet that is the sole reason the museum keeps coming to life at night. His wing of the museum seems scary at first, both due to the towering living Anubis statues and Ahkmenrah himself stuck rattling his sarcophagus to try and get out.
However, when Larry is trapped in there and frees Ahkmenrah in a desperate attempt to find someone that can help him escape, he’s revealed to be a rather nice guy who immediately jumps to their aid to return his tablet to the museum and keep everyone alive. His tablet is also a driving force in the other movies, being something his brother Kahmunrah is after to use for evil in the second and fourth movies, and its corruption and fading magic are the reason they travel to London in the third.
11 Rocky Gervais as Dr. Leslie McPhee
Dr. Leslie McPhee might not be the main character, but as the owner of the museum, he’s still very important. Played by Ricky Gervais and voiced by Jamie Demetriou, McPhee seems to never be on Larry’s side, even if he’s not one of the antagonists trying to bring down the museum. Though he hired Larry, he has no idea that the museum comes to life at night. This is why everything that goes wrong, such as the mini Western and Roman figures still out of their displays and fighting each other during the day, is blamed on Larry. In fact, McPhee was close to firing Larry several times over everything he did.
Ultimately his first and only care is about the museum and keeping it running, as is evident in many events such as when he lets Larry keep his job in the first movie because of the sudden increase of visitors that was a result of the wild night before.
10 Cecil, Reginald, and Gus
Before Larry became the night guard, Cecil, Reginald, and Gus held that position. Played by Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, and Bill Cobbs, respectively, and not present in the animated film, these three are going into retirement and seem friendly enough. They try to help Larry adjust to his new position by giving him a checklist of all the important things they’ve figured out they need to do over the years of working at the museum at night.
However, Gus secretly makes an impression of the keys to be copied later, and the trio sneaks back in one night to steal from the museum. Their main focus is on the tablet that continuously makes them feel like they’re young again. They also have a cameo in the second film and appear for a scene in the third, where it’s revealed that Cecil was a young boy that happened to be at the archeological dig that originally found Ahkmenrah’s family tomb and the tablet.
9 Amy Adams as Amelia Earhart
The second movie takes place at the Smithsonian, and this is where we meet Amelia Earhart. Played by Amy Adams, Earhart shows up as Larry tries to run from Kahmunrah, and is quick to take his side and help him throughout his stay at the museum.
As they try to stop Kahmunrah from enacting his evil plans as well as helping save all of Larry’s friends, she bonds with Larry and even develops a crush on him. Her sharp wits and smart thinking helps Larry get out of quite a few tight spots that he ends up in due to the forces under Kahmunrah’s order chasing after him. She even gets to fly a plane out of the Air and Space Museum, showing how even just a model of the actual historical figure can have the same skills and knowledge as their real counterpart.
8 Hank Azaria as Kahmunrah
Kahmunrah is the main antagonist of the second and fourth movies. Played by Hank Azaria and voiced by Joseph Kamal, Kahmunrah is the brother of Ahkmenrah who wanted all the power their parents gave his brother for himself. When the tablet was brought to the Smithsonian, he immediately hunted it down, hoping to use it to bring an army of jackals to life to help him take over the world. Of course, he can’t do this alone, and he enlists the help of several other antagonistic historical figures to try and stop Larry and his friends.
Even so, he still didn’t know how to use it once the tablet was in his possession, so he had to capture and threaten Jedediah to make Larry solve the code for him to use it. Then, in the fourth animated movie, Kahmunrah returns to once again steal the tablet and attempt to take over the world.
7 Bill Hader as General Custer
Another ally gained in the Smithsonian is General Custer, played by Bill Hader. Custer was a cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars and is most known for his failure at the Battle of Little Bighorn, where he and all five companies he led died to the Native Americans. Like Earhart, Larry ran into him while running away from Kahmunrah, and he was quick to join Larry’s side of the fight as well.
However, his failure at Little Bighorn was still present in his mind and he was scared that he would fail again and Kahmunrah would just destroy all the other museum figures against him. With some encouragement, he ultimately led Larry’s friends and allies into battle against Kahmunrah’s forces near the end to try and win the day and redeem his past failures.
6 Able
Crystal the Monkey returns in another role on this list, this time being Able the space monkey. While we were figuring out space travel, animals were launched into space before humans were to test the biological effects of spaceflight. Able is part of a display in the Air and Space Museum that honored the many monkeys that traveled up into space before humans did.
Much like Crystal’s other role, Able is ready to cause mischief for whoever is around, unfortunately including Larry. Though he tries to befriend Able in the same way he did Dexter, Able still gets them into a lot of trouble while they are in the Air and Space Museum. When Able later meets Dexter too, the pair are an unstoppable force to be reckoned with.
5 Dan Stevens as Lancelot
The third movie takes place in London, and the British Museum has a lot of interesting new displays to interact with. Most notable is Lancelot, played by Dan Stevens, who finds the group’s quest to find Ahkmenrah’s parents noble and sees fit to join them across the museum. Things take a turn later too when he thinks the tablet is the holy grail he spent his life searching for and tries to steal it from the group before they can restore its magic.
He’s also important for helping the crew get past a triceratops skeleton, as well as a snake-like creature with many heads. Nick’s coming-of-age story would also be impossible without Lancelot there to try and get Nick to be a real man.
4 Rebel Wilson as Tilly
Tilly, played by Rebel Wilson, is the night guard at the British Museum. Luckily for Larry and his friends, she doesn’t normally walk around the museum but instead sits in the parking lot booth keeping an eye on the entrance to the building. Of course, they don’t get to stay out of sight for long, and she soon discovers for herself that the whole museum has come to life.
Still skeptical and not certain whose side to take, Larry and the others end up leaving Laa to keep her trapped in her booth while they go chase after Lancelot to get the tablet back. Surprisingly, she and Laa become fast friends during this moment and maybe even develop crushes on each other.
3 Ben Stiller as Laa
Laa is definitely made for comic relief in the third movie. Played by Ben Stiller, he’s a new member of the Neanderthal exhibit that the museum had commissioned specifically to look like Larry. Because of their similarity, Laa names himself after Larry in their introduction, believes Larry is his father, and often tries to copy his movements.
Still, he’s not very smart since he’s a model caveman, and gets himself into trouble very easily. To Larry’s surprise, he ended up in the box they brought to London and struggled to get Laa to stay out of their way as well as stop eating the packing peanuts. While not a main focus in the movie, it definitely helps lighten the more serious tone some of the other characters can take as they think this could be the last night the magic will ever work.
2 Alice Isaaz as Joan of Arc
The fourth movie is set back in the American Museum of Natural History, where they bring a new character in to join the main crew. Joan of Arc, voiced by Alice Isaaz, helps the other main characters we all know from the museum with an interesting new skill set. She gets visions sometimes, and these visions help them find Kamunrah as he runs away from one museum straight to the Museum of Natural Art.
Though she and Nick never knew each other before, and therefore Nick and the story tend to favor the other, more well-known characters over her, there’s still plenty of character growth that she helps out with, along with fighting back against Kahmunrah again, just like Amelia Earhart did.
1 Akmal Saleh as Seth
Seth, voiced by Akmal Saleh, is brought to life by Kahmunrah and the tablet in the fourth movie to help aid him in his quest to conquer the world. Seth is the Egyptian God of Chaos and is often depicted as the evil one in their religion, so it made sense that he would be there to help aid the antagonist, who is also Egyptian.
He uses his powers to try and keep Nick and his friends at bay as they chase Kahmunrah through the Museum of Natural Art, proving to be one of the most formidable, and maybe even one of the most dangerous, enemies the group has ever had to face throughout their times trying to save the museum and stop the bad guys.