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Sarah Paulson as Mildred Ratched

Paulson plays the series's title character, a woman with a dark past who finds a job in Northern California as a nurse—for reasons that might be less than entirely pure. We all know the way Nurse Ratched turns out, but Paulson gives a brilliant turn in showing us how she got there.

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Jon Jon Briones as Dr. Richard Hanover

As the head of Lucia State Hospital, Dr. Hanover's responsible for the wellbeing of a building full of patients—but he's also driven by a desire to try new and unproven techniques. It's a combination that makes him dangerous well before the truth about his past comes to light. American Horror Story alum Briones plays him as equal parts charming, brilliant, and deadly.

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Sharon Stone as Lenore Osgood

There's nobody having more fun on Ratched than Sharon Stone—T&C's October cover star. Her character is a deranged mother set on revenge and living a life of incredible privilege. Not only does the character use Dawnridge (the L.A. mansion that was home to late designer Tony Duquette) as the set for her own house, but she tears across the series in glamorous outfits, often with a pet monkey on her shoulder.

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Finn Wittrock as Edmund Tolleson

Edmund Tolleson is a killer whose gruesome recent crime has made him Saint Lucia's most high-profile patient, and also set him on a path toward the death penalty. But there's more to the charming, deranged character that Wittrock (a Ryan Murphy regular) plays than meets the eye.

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Sophie Okonedo as Charlotte Wells

Charlotte Wells is a patient at the hospital where Nurse Ratched works, and finds herself involved with the staff in ways that go far beyond just treatment. Okonedo, a beloved British star of stage and screen, gives a powerhouse performance as one of the series's most memorable characters.

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Cynthia Nixon as Gwendolyn Briggs

As the press secretary to Governor George Wilburn, Gwendolyn Briggs has access to any number of powerful people. But when she crosses paths with Nurse Ratched and Dr. Richard Hanover, she might be in over her head.

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Charlie Carver as Huck Finnigan

You might not recognize Teen Wolf star Charlie Carver immediately in Ratched. His character, an orderly at the psychiatric hospital, has survived a fire and bears facial scars accordingly. Huck seems to be one of the show's few true good guys, though a conscious can be a dangerous thing to have in a world like this.

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Judy Davis as Betsy Bucket

If anyone's a match for Nurse Ratched, it's Nurse Betsy Bucket. Judy Davis's character is running the show at the psychiatric hospital when Ratched arrives, and will do anything in her power to keep her new rival from stepping into her place. The question, of course, is whether anything can really stop her.

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Corey Stoll as Charles Wainwright

It's seemingly no accident that Charles Wainwright and Mildred Ratched end up at the same Northern California motel. Corey Stoll's character is an investigator on a mission—but things get complicated as his life and Ratched's become intertwined and increasingly complicated.

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Annie Starke as Lily Cartwright

Some patients at Saint Lucia are unlucky enough to receive Dr. Hanover's personal attention, and Lily Cartwright is one of them. An attempt to"cure" her of an antiquated notion of an ailment makes for one of Ratched's most gruesome and memorable scenes—something Starke pulls off in true scream-queen style.

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Vincent D'Onofrio as Governor George Wilburn

George Wilburn is counting on the work being done at Dr. Hanover's hospital to help win him votes in an upcoming election. What he doesn't count on, however, is how easily his plan can go awry when Hanover and his employees turn out to be not quite what they seem.

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Michael Benjamin Washington as Trevor Briggs

Trevor Briggs is married to Cynthia Nixon's Gwendolyn Briggs, but the two share a secret that binds them closer together than any vows, and could be almost as torturous to keep as it would be to reveal.

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