Guide to ‘A Man on the Inside’ Cast & Characters (Season 1 & 2)

Charles Nieuwendyk is back for another undercover mission in Season 2 of the hit Netflix series A Man on the Inside. This time, he’ll be back in an element a bit more familiar to him than the Pacific View Retirement Community: a college campus.

Based on The Mole Agent, a 2020 documentary from Maite Alberdi, and created by Mike Schur, A Man on the Inside stars Ted Danson, who has been a household name since his breakout role as Sam Malone, the beloved former baseball star and bartender on NBC’s iconic 80’s sitcom, Cheers, and co-starred in the network’s more recent sitcom, The Good Place.

Looking to catch up on Season 1 and understand who’s who in the cast and characters of A Man on the Inside before the Season 2 premiere on Nov. 20, 2025? Here’s our complete guide to the cast of A Man on the Inside Seasons 1 and 2.

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‘A Man on the Inside’ Season 2: Cast & Characters

Main & Returning Cast of ‘A Man on the Inside’

Here’s a look at the main cast and characters on A Man on the Inside:

WARNING: Spoilers for A Man on the Inside Season 1 below!

Ted Danson as Charles Nieuwendyk

Known for: Cheers, The Good Place

The show’s lead character, Charles Nieuwendyk, is a retired college engineering professor who has become increasingly isolated and reclusive following the death of his wife. When his daughter urges him to venture out into the world more, he responds to a newspaper job ad from a private investigator, Lilah Richcreek Estrada’s Julie Kovalenko. She’s looking for someone to go undercover in a San Francisco retirement community called Pacific View to investigate the theft of a ruby necklace.

Charles takes the job and begins living at the community, where he makes friends with the residents and tries not to get his cover blown. As he works to uncover the culprit behind the theft, the show uses his character to explore issues around aging, memory loss and interpersonal connection. As it turns out, the thief was not a malicious actor at all, but a woman who has suffering from memory loss, just as Charles’ own wife had.

With the retirement community caper solved at the end of Season 1, Charles returns to his regularly scheduled programming — until he gets another call from the PI about a new case.

Mary Elizabeth Ellis as Emily Nieuwendyk (returning for Season 2)

Known for: Masterminds, Red One, Free State of Jones

Ellis plays Charles’ daughter, Emily, who is worried about her dad’s wellbeing after the loss of her mother. She’s the one who brings him Julie’s newspaper ad and gets the events of the first season rolling.

Initially, Emily is unaware of the true nature of Charles’ decision to move to the retirement community but acts as a supportive force in his life as he shares with her that he has met new people and joined community groups and classes at Pacific View. Eventually, she figures out what her dad’s new gig is all about (especially considering she has to assume the name Julie when she visits him, since the real Julie has been using her name!) and remains supportive after his cover is blown.

Emily and Charles’ character dynamic is used to explore her father’s past and emotional trauma, which leads to a strengthening of their relationship.

Lilah Richcreek Estrada as Julie Kovalenko (returning for Season 2)

Known for: Chicago Med, The Wonder Years (2022)

Estrada plays Julie, the private investigator who hires Charles and sends him on the covert mission into the Pacific View retirement community. Julie trains Charles in the arts of undercover work, then guides him as he seeks out the ruby necklace and its thief. Eventually, she decides to end the investigation and comes into conflict with the community director, Didi, but Charles is able to solve the case.

At the end of the season, Julie phones Charles with a new mission, which he accepts.

Stephanie Beatriz as Debra “Didi” Santos Cordero (returning for Season 2)

Known for :Encanto, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, In the Heights

Speaking of Didi, the community director who clashes with Julie in the end, she’s played by Stephanie Beatriz, who fans of Brooklyn Nine-Nine will recognize as the deadpan-serious New York police detective Rosa Diaz.

If Charles, Emily and Julie’s story is told from the side of being embedded in a retirement community, Didi’s is told from the institutional perspective of the people who are charged with managing and maintaining those communities. Eventually, Didi becomes suspicious of Charles’ and Julie’s motives and comes into conflict with Julie over the subterfuge being carried out under her watch. She ends up guilt-ridden about the impact the operation was having on the community’s real residents and considers quitting before deciding to stay on in the end.

Stephen McKinley Henderson as Calbert Graham (returning for Season 2)

Known for: Civil War, Fences, Beau is Afraid

Calbert is a warm-hearted and empathetic resident at Pacific View who has also lost his spouse. He, too, leads a bit of a reclusive existence, but befriends Charles shortly after he arrives in at Pacific View. That friendship evolves into one of the emotional cores of the series: Calbert offers Charles genuine companionship and emotional grounding as Charles navigates his undercover mission and his own grief over his wife’s death.

When Calbert discovers the truth about Charles’s secret assignment, he feels betrayed, highlighting the personal cost of Charles’s deception. Ultimately, he forgives him and will return for Season 2.

New Cast & Characters on ‘A Man on the Inside’

Those are the main characters on the show, but here are some of the other important, if peripheral, characters:

Mary Steenburgen as Mona Margadoff

Known for: Step Brothers, Back to the Future Part III

Mary Steenburgen, Ted Danson’s real-life wife, will join the cast of A Man on the Inside for Season 2, playing Mona, a former musician who became a professor at a liberal arts college, Wheeler College. She’ll be an important figure in Charles’ new investigation, which sees him go undercover at the college.

Max Greenfield as Jack Beringer

Known for: New Girl, The Big Short, Veronica Mars

Jack is the president of Wheeler College, who’s stolen laptop is the center of Charles and Julie’s new investigation.

Jill Talley as Holly Bodgemark

Known for: The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, Little Miss Sunshine

Played by the voice of Karen, Plankton’s iconic computer-wife on SpongeBob SquarePants, Holly is the provost of Wheeler College.

Gary Cole as Brad Vinick

Known for: Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Office Space, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story

Gary is a billionaire businessman and Wheeler College alum who makes a donation to the college that is used in part to hire Charles to investigate the theft of Beringer’s laptop.

Michaela Conlin as Andrea Yi

Known for: Yellowstone, Bones

A Wheeler College economics professor.

Sam Huntington as Max Griffin

Known for: Jungle 2 Jungle, Not Another Teen Movie

A journalism professor at Wheeler.

Constance Marie as Vanessa

Known for: Selena, George Lopez

A con artist who collects information about criminals for Julie’s private eye company.

David Strathairn as Dr. Cole

Known for: Lincoln, L.A. Confidential, Good Night, and Good Luck

A prominent professor and the head of Wheeler College’s English department.

Watch ‘A Man on the Inside’ on Netflix to Through DIRECTV

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