The Pilot

Lore & Background

Gary's story begins in the most grounded, almost mundane way possible: a pilot in a cockpit, a ship that goes wrong, a crash. What follows is the slow, disorienting realization that he is not where he was supposed to be. The planet he lands on is populated by beings whose biology, culture, and logic operate on principles a human brain simply cannot parse. Gary's initial response is the one every human would have—confusion, irritation, a desperate need to fix the ship and go home. The show uses that very human stubbornness as a comedic engine, but it also uses it as a thematic one: Gary keeps trying to impose order on a universe that runs on chaos, and the friction between those two impulses drives much of the narrative. His relationship with Kory, a small, cat-like alien who becomes his reluctant companion, is the emotional spine of the series. Kory is sardonic, independent, and often openly exasperated by Gary's very human need to narrate, explain, and feel things out loud. Their dynamic mirrors the broader theme of the show: two beings from completely different worlds learning that companionship doesn't require shared biology, only shared willingness to keep showing up. Gary's arc across the seasons is one of gradual expansion—he goes from a man trying to fix a broken ship to a man trying to fix a broken sense of self, and the show is generous enough to let that process be messy, funny, and occasionally genuinely painful. What elevates Gary beyond a standard sci-fi protagonist is the show's refusal to make him special in a power-fantasy sense. He has no superhuman abilities, no chosen-one destiny, no secret lineage. He is a pilot. He flies things. He talks too much. He gets scared. And in a universe of beings who can reshape matter or speak in frequencies, that ordinariness is his superpower. The show argues, gently and repeatedly, that being an ordinary person in an extraordinary place is its own kind of heroism.

In Their Own Story

The cockpit smelled like burnt wiring and old coffee. Gary blinked through the haze, one hand still gripping the yoke, the other pressed flat against the cracked windshield. Outside, the sky was the wrong color—not blue, not even close, but a deep arterial violet streaked with something that might have been clouds or might have been a very large, very slow animal drifting overhead. His instruments were dead. Every one. The nav computer displayed a single, unhelpful error code that looked like a smiley face made of exclamation points. "Okay," he muttered, the word feeling absurdly small against the vast, humming silence of the alien horizon. "Okay. So. New plan."

Behind him, a small shape shifted in the passenger seat. Two large, luminous eyes opened. A low, irritated chirp rattled through the cabin. Gary turned. "You're a cat. You're a cat and you're angry."

The cat-alien blinked, yawned, and settled back down, clearly deciding that Gary's commentary was below the threshold of worth responding to. Gary stared at the violet sky for a long time, then picked up a dead radio, turned it on, and said, "Hello? Is anyone—" into the static. The static, he would later swear, said something back. He chose not to think about it. Not yet.

Reader's Guide

Name: Gary Goodwin Species: Human First appearance: Season 1, Episode 1 (2018, Netflix) Role: Protagonist; the sole human in an alien universe, stranded after a ship crash. Gary is the audience's entry point into Final Space's sprawling, tonally unpredictable world. He is a pilot by trade and temperament—practical, talkative, stubbornly optimistic in a way that borders on denial. His defining trait is ordinariness: in a cast of shape-shifting, multi-limbed, and deeply weird extraterrestrials, he is the one who still needs to drink coffee and sleep in a bed. The show leans into this contrast for both comedy and genuine pathos. Key relationships: Kory, a small cat-like alien who becomes his companion and emotional counterweight, is the central bond of the series. Their dynamic—Gary's need to verbalize everything against Kory's sardonic silence—anchors nearly every episode. Gary also forms bonds with a rotating cast of alien allies, each relationship pushing him further from the man who just wanted to fix his ship and go home. Arc across seasons: Gary begins as a man in crisis, defined by what he has lost (his ship, his world, his sense of direction). Over the course of the series, he becomes a man in community, defined by who he has chosen to stay with. The show's humor never fully leaves, but the emotional stakes sharpen. Gary's journey is ultimately about learning that you do not need to be the most capable person in the room to be essential to it. Tone note: The show is unapologetically funny, often absurd, and occasionally deeply sad, all within the same scene. Gary is the character who holds all three tones at once without flinching.

Did You Know?

• Gary Goodwin is the only confirmed human character in a universe populated almost entirely by aliens, making his presence a deliberate narrative choice to ground the audience in a relatable perspective.
• Kory, Gary's cat-like companion, is voiced with a deliberately deadpan, sardonic delivery that contrasts sharply with Gary's more exuberant and anxious energy, creating one of the show's most consistent comedic rhythms.
• The series blends sci-fi worldbuilding with the pacing and tonal shifts of a comedy, meaning a single episode can move from a slapstick misunderstanding to a genuinely emotional character beat within minutes.