Madam Secretary is an American political drama television series. It aired on CBS from 2014 to 2019 and stars Téa Leoni, Tim Daly, Keith Carradine, Erich Bergen, Patina Miller, Geoffrey Arend, Sebastian Arcelus, Željko Ivanek, Bebe Neuwirth, Sara Ramirez, Wallis Currie-Wood, Kathrine Herzer, and Evan Roe.
| Character | Portrayed by | Appearances | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3 | Season 4 | Season 5 | Season 6 | ||
| Main characters | |||||||
| Elizabeth "Bess" Adams McCord | Téa Leoni | colspan="6" | |||||
| Henry McCord | Tim Daly | colspan="6" | |||||
| Nadine Tolliver | Bebe Neuwirth | colspan="2" | |||||
| Russell Jackson | Željko Ivanek | colspan="6" | |||||
| Blake Moran | Erich Bergen | colspan="6" | |||||
| Daisy Grant | Patina Miller | colspan="6" | |||||
| Matt Mahoney | Geoffrey Arend | colspan="6" | |||||
| Stevie McCord | Wallis Currie-Wood | colspan="6" | |||||
| Alison McCord | Kathrine Herzer | colspan="6" | |||||
| Jason McCord | Evan Roe | colspan="6" | |||||
| Conrad Dalton | Keith Carradine | colspan="5" | |||||
| Jay Whitman | Sebastian Arcelus | colspan="4" | |||||
| Kat Sandoval | Sara Ramirez | ||||||
| Michael "Mike B." Barnow | Kevin Rahm | ||||||
| Recurring characters | |||||||
| Ellen Hill | Johanna Day | colspan="6" | |||||
| Ed Parker | Tony Plana | colspan="6" | |||||
| Ming Chen | Francis Jue | colspan="6" | |||||
| Lucy Knox | Mandy Gonzalez | ||||||
| Gordon Becker | Mike Pniewski | ||||||
| Harrison Dalton | Jason Ralph | colspan="4" | |||||
| Darren Harn | Cotter Smith | colspan="4" | |||||
| Andrew Munsey | Patrick Breen | colspan="5" | |||||
| Juliet Humphrey | Nilaja Sun | colspan="3" | |||||
| Zahed Javani | Usman Ally | colspan="5" | |||||
| Fred Cole | Dion Graham | colspan="5" | |||||
| Arthur Gilroy | Josh Hamilton | colspan="5" | |||||
| Mary Campbell | Anna Deavere Smith | colspan="5" | |||||
| Isabelle Barnes | Marin Hinkle | colspan="5" | |||||
| Anton Gorev | Yorgo Constantine | colspan="4" | |||||
| Ephraim Ware | Clifton Davis | colspan="5" | |||||
| Craig Sterling | Julian Acosta | colspan="4" | |||||
| Mark Delgado | Alex Fernandez | colspan="4" | |||||
| Maria Ostrova | Angela Gots | colspan="4" | |||||
| Louise Cronenberg | Leslie Hendrix | colspan="4" | |||||
| Jane Fellows | Jill Hennessy | colspan="4" | |||||
| Oliver Shaw | Kobi Libii | colspan="3" | |||||
| Dmitri Petrov | Chris Petrovski | colspan="1" | |||||
| Jose Campos | Carlos Gómez | colspan="3" | |||||
| Walter Novack | René Auberjonois | colspan="1" | |||||
| Jareth Glover | Christopher O'Shea | colspan="2" | |||||
| Sam Evans | J. C. MacKenzie | colspan="3" | |||||
| Ronnie Baker | Justine Lupe | colspan="1" | |||||
| Susan Thompson | Tonya Pinkins | colspan="4" | |||||
| Peter Harriman | Skipp Sudduth | ||||||
| Mark Hanson | Wentworth Miller | ||||||
See main article: Elizabeth McCord (character).
Professor (Dr.) Henry McCord is the husband of United States Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord and the father of Stevie, Alison, and Jason McCord. Upon his wife's election as President of the United States, Henry becomes the First Gentleman of the United States. He is portrayed by Tim Daly.
Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Henry is the son of Patrick McCord (Tom Skerritt), a steel worker, and an unnamed mother. He has three siblings: Maureen, Shane, and Erin. Henry is Catholic, and was an altar boy in his youth.
After graduating from high school, Henry attended the University of Virginia on a scholarship, where he met his future wife, Elizabeth Adams, and was a member of the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps.[1] He was commissioned in the United States Marine Corps after graduation and served five years on active duty. He was assigned to the 3rd Marine Air Wing out of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, and he flew F-18 Hornets during Operation Desert Storm. Henry mustered out of the Corps with the rank of Captain.
After leaving the Marines, Henry returned to academia, where he earned his Ph.D. in Philosophy and became a world-renowned religious scholar. He has published eight books (as of the first season). He has worked as a professor at the University of Virginia, Georgetown University, and the National War College, where he serves as chairman of the newly created Military Ethics Department.
Not long after his wife was appointed Secretary of State, Henry found himself back in government service, working for, among others, the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Central Intelligence Agency as both a consultant and an operative. At the end of the third season, Henry was named head of the CIA's Special Activities Division. He resigned in "Reading the Signs" after failing to receive Congressional support for his operations in Afghanistan, and upon taking his leave, Henry and his team were awarded the National Intelligence Meritorious Unit Citation (having turned down the individual National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal believing he wasn't in service long enough to qualify for such an award).
In the fifth season, Henry is hired by President Dalton as his personal Ethics Advisor, which requires him to step down as Chairman of the National War College's Military Ethics Department.
Conrad Joseph Dalton is the President of the United States. He is portrayed by Keith Carradine.
A Marine Corps veteran, Conrad serves as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Vietnam War, where he earns a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. Before entering politics, Conrad is the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, where he serves as the mentor and boss of then-CIA Analyst Elizabeth McCord. After the death of Secretary of State Vincent Marsh, President Dalton appoints Elizabeth to succeed Marsh.[2]
In 2008, Conrad runs an unsuccessful campaign to become Governor of California; after the loss, he meets his future White House Chief of Staff Russell Jackson (Željko Ivanek).[3]
In the third season, Conrad fails to receive his party's nomination for a second term as president, losing to Pennsylvania governor Sam Evans, after revamping the United States' entire foreign policy for military base locations. Nevertheless, Dalton remains popular enough with certain parts of the population that Elizabeth convinces him to run as an independent. After a hard campaign, Dalton narrowly wins the swing state of Ohio, deadlocking the Electoral College and staging a contingent election in the House of Representatives. He eventually wins the election after defusing a military confrontation between Iran and Israel, and negotiating a framework for peace between the two countries.
In "Sound and Fury", Conrad takes a medical leave of absence under Section 3 of the 25th Amendment, leaving Vice President Teresa Hurst serving as acting president. He returned to the Presidency after two months.[3]
Between the fifth and sixth seasons, Conrad completed his term in office and has been succeeded as president by Elizabeth.
Conrad is married to Lydia Dalton, with whom he has a son, Harrison, who struggles with drug addiction. He also has a brother, John Dalton.
Blake Moran is the personal assistant to United States Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord. He is portrayed by Erich Bergen.
In the fifth season, Blake is fired as Secretary McCord's personal assistant—per an agreement between the two that he would seek career advancement within a year—and then rehired as her assistant policy advisor.
In the sixth season, Blake has become the Personal Secretary to President McCord.
Daisy Grant is the press coordinator for United States Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord. She is portrayed by Patina Miller.
During the first season, Daisy dates fellow State Department staffer Matt Mahoney. In the third season, she dates "Kevin" from Budget and Planning, who turns out to be an undercover operative for the CIA investigating the State Department. He is killed in a weapons-trafficking conspiracy, and Daisy subsequently finds herself pregnant with his child. In the fourth season, Daisy gives birth to a daughter, Joanna Grant. (The character's pregnancy was written into the series to accommodate the actress' real-life pregnancy.)
In the sixth season, Daisy has become President McCord's White House Press Secretary.
Matthew Asad "Matt" Mahoney is the speechwriter for United States Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord. He is portrayed by Geoffrey Arend.
Born to an Irish-American Catholic father and a Pakistani-American Muslim mother in Illinois, Matt describes himself as agnostic, but is routinely profiled as a Muslim.
Jay Whitman is the senior policy advisor to United States Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord. After the retirement of Nadine Tolliver in the fourth season, Jay becomes the new Chief of Staff.[4] He is portrayed by Sebastian Arcelus.
Originally from Connecticut, Jay and his family moved to Dallas when he was a child. His first work in politics came when he helped future Texas Governor Lockwood run for Mayor of Galveston, Texas as a college student.[5]
Like most of Elizabeth's senior staff, Jay worked for her predecessor, Vincent Marsh, as his senior policy advisor, and remained with the State Department after his death. Jay was initially reluctant to work for Elizabeth, particularly as he had been preparing to accompany Secretary Marsh on a potential White House bid when he challenged President Conrad Dalton in the 2016 primaries. Jay's displeasure at working for a woman who lacked such ambition and the loss of the possibility of working in the White House was something he eventually expressed to Elizabeth. Jay's apparent displeasure is seemingly expressed in the first-season episode "Whisper of the Ax": after Elizabeth is humiliated before Congress while defending the State Department's micro-loan program, she angrily berates her inherited staff and she seemingly fires Jay as the first sign of staff re-organization. A disgruntled Jay is approached at a bar by one of her political enemies, seeking information in return for employment. At the next hearing, Jay's information is used by the Secretary's enemies to further humiliate her and gut the State Department's budget. However, the ploy backfires and the micro-loans program is saved. At the end of the episode, Jay is revealed to have been working for Elizabeth the whole time, his firing having been organized between them so he could leak false information and outflank her opponents.
At the start of the series, Jay was married to Abby Whitman, who gave birth to a daughter, Chloe Elizabeth Whitman, in the first season. In the third season, Abby leaves him. When he comes back from being kidnapped, Abby wants to work on things but they ultimately do not reconcile. They now share custody of Chloe.
In the fifth season, Jay meets a world-famous Dutch chess player named Annalies De Runnow while stuck in an Irish airport. They are instantly attracted to one another and, over the course of several hours stuck in transit and many chess games (which Jay loses), they decide to start a long-distance relationship. Although Jay originally joins Elizabeth's presidential campaign at the end of the fifth season, it is revealed at the beginning of the sixth season that he opted to leave politics and start a life in Amsterdam with Annalies.
Jay returns in the sixth-season finale for Stevie McCord and Dmitri Petrov's wedding at the White House, where he is warmly embraced by Elizabeth. After teasing her about getting impeached the second he left her staff, he tells her that he and Annalies are returning to DC, and that they are expecting a baby. After Russell Jackson's resignation, Jay becomes Elizabeth's third White House Chief of Staff.
Stephanie "Stevie" McCord is Henry and Elizabeth's oldest child. She is portrayed by Wallis Currie-Wood.
Stevie briefly attended Lovell University. Upon dropping out, she moved back with her parents and two younger siblings. After working for some time, she resumed her studies at Georgetown University. At one point, she applied to Harvard Law school but didn't follow through.
In the third season, Stevie begins serving as an intern to Russell Jackson; when Jackson suffers a heart attack, Stevie saves his life by performing CPR on him.
The show explores Stevie's challenges with her romantic partners, Arthur Gilroy, her 39-year-old boss while working at Microloan; her childhood friend Harrison Dalton, who was newly out of rehab and still struggling with addiction; Jareth Glover, a British astrophysicist to whom she was engaged for over a year before calling it off; and Alexander Mehranov, who turns out to be Henry's CIA asset/analyst Dmitri Petrov; she eventually reconciles with Dmitri and they marry in the sixth-season finale.
Alison McCord is Henry and Elizabeth's middle child. She and Stevie do not get along well, though as the series progresses the sisters form a closer relationship. She is portrayed by Kathrine Herzer.
Jason McCord is Henry and Elizabeth's youngest child and only son. He is an outspoken leftist and anarchist who often gets himself into trouble for his political views and short temper. He is portrayed by Evan Roe.
Russell Jackson is the White House Chief of Staff and right-hand man to President Conrad Dalton. He is portrayed by Željko Ivanek.
Early into Elizabeth's term as Secretary of State, Russell frequently clashed with her due to her unorthodox diplomatic style and lack of political experience. However, they eventually grew to trust each other, as they worked together to oust Dalton's National Security Advisor Craig Sterling (Julian Acosta) and eventually Russell admitted that he'd like to see her succeed Dalton as president.
In "The Unnamed", it is revealed that Russell met Dalton just after the latter's unsuccessful run for Governor of California.[3]
Russell retired after the end of President Dalton's term, but was rehired by President McCord after her acting Chief of Staff Mike B refused to take the job full-time. His political career has taken a toll on his long-standing marriage, which nearly ends in the sixth season.
Nadine Tolliver is the Chief of Staff to the United States Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord. She is portrayed by Bebe Neuwirth.
A law school graduate, Nadine is a veteran politician who worked for Secretary of State Vincent Marsh since he was a Senator, and the two of them carried on a six-year affair that ended with his death. Due to her closeness with Marsh, it took Nadine a while to warm up to his replacement, but Elizabeth eventually won her over. Nadine also served as an unofficial den-mother to the employees of the Seventh Floor.
In the fourth season, Nadine retired from the State Department and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to be closer to her son and his girlfriend, who were expecting their first child.[6]
Katelyn "Kat" Sandoval is the policy advisor to Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord. She once served as the Chief of Staff to the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, but left politics to become an avocado farmer in California after allegedly throwing a chair at a difficult diplomat. She is bisexual, divorced, and has a child named Desi. She is portrayed by Sara Ramirez.
Mike Barnow (Kevin Rahm) is a political official who is said to drift between the United States Cabinet departments. He is a Rhodes Scholar who turned his brilliant legal career into a promising political career that was cut short by a scandalous divorce six years prior to his first appearance in the series. He is often seen assisting Secretary McCord.
During the fifth season, Mike runs Elizabeth's campaign for president and, after her election, he serves as her interim White House Chief of Staff (a job he did not want) for her first 100 days in office, until Elizabeth convinces Russell Jackson to come out of retirement; Mike subsequently becomes counselor to the President (the position he originally wanted in her administration).
The first United States Secretary of State in the Dalton administration, Vincent Marsh (portrayed by Brian Stokes Mitchell) is a former Senator who had ambitions of being President. He was killed in a plane crash over the Atlantic Ocean in 2014. He was succeeded by Elizabeth McCord, who investigated his death and learned that he was part of an attempted coup d'état against Iran, but was killed by his co-conspirators when he began having doubts about the plan.
The first female Chairwoman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Ellen Hill, USN (portrayed by Johanna Day) established a strong working friendship with the newly appointed United States Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord, often bonding over the difficulties of being a woman in such high political positions. She retired from the Navy in 2015, and was succeeded as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs by Gen. Kelsey Reeves.[7]
Since "On the Clock", Ret. Adm. Hill has been serving as the National Security Advisor, taking over for Craig Sterling.[8]
Adm. Hill's son, 1st Lieutenant Andrew Hill, USAF, is an Air Force Academy graduate who Prof. McCord helped file for conscientious objector status after he realized that he would never be able to take a life, no matter how justified the action or noble the cause.[9]
A flag officer in the United States Navy, Admiral Ed Parker (Tony Plana) is often found running military operations in the White House Situation Room.
In the sixth season, ADM Parker was relieved of duty and taken into custody for leaking a story about President McCord sending in United States Navy SEALs on a dangerous mission (during which they endured casualties) instead of automated unmanned ground vehicles, telling her that a commander's duty was to the safety of his or her men.
Elizabeth's Chinese counterpart, Ming Chen (Chinese: 陈明; Francis Jue), serves as the Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of China. He and Elizabeth are frequently on opposite sides and consider each other worthy adversaries. As they are both courting African countries for economic partnerships, Chen and Elizabeth have a more in-depth conversation about their motivations and he tells her that his father was killed during the Cultural Revolution. Following this conversation, the two adversaries lament that they will now have to see each other as friends as well.
In the fifth season, Chen is considered one of the potential successors to Chinese President Li and began amassing support from the National People's Congress delegates to secure his accession. However, when a fire breaks out in an Italian sweatshop owned by a Chinese company, the US files a complaint against China's labor conditions in order to draw it into an agreement on improving labor rights. China retaliates by imposing tariffs on US goods, and Chen also insists to Elizabeth that the US needs to stand down, leading her to conclude that he is hoping to become China's next president, a situation that would improve relations between their two countries considerably. However, Chen soon receives word that President Li, breaking the precedents set by his predecessors, will reappoint himself for a five-year term. In defiance of his superiors, Chen, his daughter and his top aide visit the location of the fire and lay a wreath before it.
The friendship between the two comes to the fore in the penultimate episode of the series, when a confrontation between Chinese and American vessels in the South China Sea results in the deaths of 24 American sailors. President Li refuses to back down in front of Elizabeth, who is now President of the United States. Eager to prevent the crisis from escalating, Elizabeth secretly meets Chen in New York to broker a deal. During a conversation similar to many they have had in the past, Elizabeth tells Chen about her daughter's upcoming wedding to Dmitri Petrov and her hope that they will be able see their children grow up. Chen congratulates her and they successfully negotiate a compromise to end to the crisis.
Chen is seen one last time, in a non-speaking role, as a guest at Stevie McCord and Dmitri Petrov's White House wedding in the final episode.
The new National Security Advisor in the second season, Craig Sterling (Julian Acosta) is a former United States Department of Defense official and a former, bitter rival of Secretary McCord, who considered Sterling to be a self-serving, arrogant, and overly-ambitious. Following his appointment into his office, Sterling behaves sycophantically towards President Dalton and antagonistically towards McCord and Russell Jackson. Eventually, McCord and Jackson realize that Sterling had been working to sabotage them in order to influence Dalton unhindered, as well as escalate tensions with Russia into warfare. Afterwards the two to conspire to force Sterling to resign.
Originally a captain in the Russian Army, Dmitri Petrov (Chris Petrovski) is attending the National War College when his ethics professor, Henry McCord, recruits him on behalf of the Defense Intelligence Agency to become an American spy in exchange for getting his sick sister medical care in Stockholm, Sweden.
During the Russian conflict with the Ukraine, Petrov serves on the staff of General Vladimir Doroshevich, Russia's ranking officer, while spying for the Americans. As part of the peace negotiations, the United States agrees to give up the identity of their spy in the Russian Army in exchange for Russian withdrawal from the Ukraine theater, leaving Petrov captured and imprisoned for treason and espionage by his native Russia. Eventually, as a result of this betrayal, and after much agonizing on the realpolitik and ethics of the decision by Elizabeth and Henry McCord, at the end of the second season, Petrov is sent to America in a prisoner exchange and subsequently given a new identity in witness protection.
During the fourth season, Petrov begins working for the Central Intelligence Agency as an analyst under Henry McCord, who is now the head of the Special Activities Division; Petrov also starts secretly dating Stevie McCord after a chance meeting. When Petrov's identity is compromised to Russian intelligence after a failed operation under Henry McCord's supervision and an assassination attempt on Petrov ensues, Petrov is reassigned to Alaska for his safety, after an assassination attempt by Russian-inspired elements.
In the sixth season, Petrov returns to Washington after Elizabeth McCord has attained the presidency, after she arranges an amnesty for past spies between the United States and Russia. Petrov reconciles with and marries Stevie.
The junior (senior as of the fifth season) Senator from Arizona, Carlos Morejon (José Zúñiga) is a political rival of both Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord and President Dalton, although he has been known to work with them on certain issues. In the fourth season, Senator Morejon begins serving as the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. In the fifth season, he also sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
In the sixth season, after hearing a rumour that he is being considered as a vice presidential candidate by her Republican opponent, Elizabeth approaches Morejon and asks him to be her running mate. Morejon at first refuses, arguing that while he respects her and acknowledging the fact that they like each other personally, they remain rivals on almost every single issue. However, Elizabeth tells him that it was this difference of opinions that makes them perfect for each other, that no matter how much they have fought each other in the past, they have also known when to come together and compromise if it was necessary. Despite his initial reluctance, Morejon eventually agrees, and he is announced as Elizabeth's running mate.
The McCord-Morejon ticket eventually defeats both the Republican and Democratic candidates and Carlos Morejon becomes Vice President of the United States.
As vice president, Morejon stirs up controversy when he prevents a Marine who has recently been decorated with the Medal of Honor by President McCord from testifying before a House committee in favour of veterans' care reform, a cause supported by Henry McCord. When the Marine dies publicly as a result of his PTSD, Morejon accompanies the McCords to the funeral. In a private conversation between himself and Elizabeth, he expresses regret that he did not let the Marine testify and reveals that he still has doubts about his presence in the McCord administration, doubts that Elizabeth guarantees to him that she does not share. He nevertheless remains steadfastly loyal to her when Republicans led by Senator Hanson try to impeach her, and breaks a tie in the Senate to confirm Elizabeth's nominee to the Federal Trade Commission in a larger bid to regulate Big Tech companies.
Conrad Dalton's Vice President of the United States during his second term, Teresa Hurst (portrayed by Jan Maxwell in the third season and by Jayne Atkinson in the fourth season) is the former senior Senator of Pennsylvania whose strong politically moderate stances helped President Dalton win the election as an independent. It is also mentioned in "Mitya" that she served at least two terms as a Pennsylvania State Senator.
In "Sound and Fury", Vice President Hurst becomes acting president of the United States for 2 months under Section 3 of the 25th Amendment when President Dalton takes a medical leave of absence. The longevity of her career is also hinted at as when President Dalton addresses the nation about the invocation of the 25th Amendment, he says that Hurst has been in politics and public life for 30 years.
A veteran of the United States Department of State, Ambassador Peter "Pete" Harriman (Skipp Sudduth) served as the United States Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan until his resignation in the fourth season. He was later appointed United States Ambassador to the United Nations, which he held throughout the fifth season. In 1998, Ambassador Harriman was serving at the United States Embassy in Kampala, Uganda, during the 1998 United States embassy bombings, during which he was cited for saving lives but lost his girlfriend.
Known as a cantankerous old man, Ambassador Harriman had a reputation as a man who inspired either "grudging respect" or "outright hostility" in others.