There were several recurring characters in the 1985 television series MacGyver and its 2016 reboot.
MacGyvers producers had a tendency to use an actor in multiple roles throughout the series. Several recurring characters were added throughout the series run, appearing as guest-stars in the opening credits.
Overview Character Portrayed by Seasons Original Reboot 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 TV films 1 2 3 4 5 Angus MacGyver Richard Dean Anderson colspan="8" colspan="5" Lucas Till colspan="8" colspan="5" Jack Dalton Bruce McGill colspan="4" colspan="5" George Eads colspan="8" colspan="3" colspan="2" Riley Davis Tristin Mays colspan="8" colspan="5" Wilt Bozer Robin Mossely colspan="4" colspan="2" colspan="2" colspan="5" Justin Hires colspan="8" colspan="5" Matty Webber Meredith Eaton colspan="8" colspan="5" Peter Thornton /Patricia Thornton Dana Elcar colspan="6" colspan="5" Sandrine Holt colspan="8" colspan="4" Samantha Cage Isabel Lucas colspan="8" colspan="3" Levy Tran colspan="8" colspan="2" colspan="2" Henry Ian Cusick colspan="8" colspan="3" colspan="2" Recurring cast Elyssa Davalos colspan="2" colspan="5" colspan="5" Tracy Spiridakos colspan="8" colspan="4" Michael Des Barres colspan="6" colspan="5" David Dastmalchian colspan="8" colspan="3" Kate Bond colspan="8" colspan="2" Cuba Gooding Jr. colspan="4" colspan="5" Lance Gross colspan="8" colspan="2" colspan="2" Lauren Vélez colspan="8" colspan="3" Reign Edwards colspan="8" colspan="2" colspan="2" William Baldwin colspan="8" colspan="2" Martin Milner colspan="4" colspan="3" colspan="5" Tate Donovan colspan="8" colspan="2" Alexandra Grey colspan="8" colspan="4"
Main characters MacGyver
Portrayed by Richard Dean Anderson in original, Lucas Till in 2016 reboot
MacGyver is a troubleshooter who prefers non-violent conflict resolution wherever possible. He refuses to carry or use a gun due to a childhood accident with a revolver that resulted in the death of a friend.Season 4, episode 2 - "Blood Brothers" (1988). MacGyver goes back to his home town and meets two childhood friends and in flashbacks we see the accidental death of friend Jesse by a bullet from a falling gun. MacGyver is an outspoken advocate of gun control, as well as a supporter of environmental preservation, racial equality, and assisting the poor. Even in cases where his improvised devices are used to attack hostile opponents, he is always doing so in self-defense and, if possible, subduing or disabling rather than killing. He is often suspicious of militaristic attitudes within the government; he sees his Phoenix Foundation employer as an alternative to the more conventional (and violent) means of law enforcement.
In the 2016 reboot, MacGyver is a U.S. operative who works for the Phoenix Foundation, a covert agency operating under the guise of a think tank. Trained as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal technician for the Army, he prefers to use non-lethal means to stop his enemies. Mac spends the majority of the first and second seasons searching for his father James, who abandoned him as a child shortly after losing his mother. He eventually finds him in the season 2 finale, where he learns James has been watching over him all his life, and is now his boss codenamed 'Oversight'. Unable to work for people he doesn't trust, Mac quits the Phoenix and refuses to rejoin as he cannot trust his father. Maddy convinces James to quit, which leads Mac to rejoin.
/ Peter Thornton portrayed by Dana Elcar in original; Patricia Thornton portrayed by Sandrine Holt in 2016 reboot
Peter ThorntonSeason 1, episode 11 - "Nightmares". (portrayed by Dana Elcar) is MacGyver's boss and best friend. Pete is divorced from Connie Thornton (portrayed by Linda Darlow).Season 6, episode 21 - "Hind-Sight" Pete is an operative at the Department of External Services (DXS) which is where he is impressed by Mac's ingenuity while tracking down Murdoc, an international assassin.Season 2, episode 18 - "Partners" When Pete takes the position of Director of Operations at the Phoenix Foundation several years later, he brings MacGyver into the program. In addition to sending Mac out on various tasks for the Foundation, Pete is many times forced to bail MacGyver out of the trouble he gets into. Pete has a son, Michael, who has always been resentful that he was never around when he was growing up. In the sixth season Thorton begins going blind as a result of glaucoma. (Elcar was diagnosed with glaucoma.)
In 2016 reboot, Patricia Thornton is an ex-field agent & director of operations for the Department of External Services and Phoenix Foundation. In the 12th episode, "Screwdriver", she is discovered to be a mole working for the Organization and arrested.
Jack Dalton Portrayed by Bruce McGill in original as recurring, by George Eads in 2016 reboot as main
In the original series, Jack is an aviator and old friend of MacGyver's with a weakness for get-rich-quick schemes that invariably get both of them into trouble. He always wears a peaked cap and his left eye twitches when he is lying.
In the 2016 reboot, Jack Dalton (played by former CSI star George Eads) is Mac's partner in the field and a former Delta Force soldier and CIA operative. Jack's history with Mac goes back to his days in the Army and unlike Mac, he is not afraid to use guns in the field. He also has history with Riley, because he was once in a relationship with her mother and had an altercation with her abusive father. While mostly easy-going and laid-back, Jack can get serious when the situation calls for it and often calls upon his special forces training to help the team get out of a tight spot. Actor Bruce McGill guested in the reboot series as Detective Greer in episode 2x11 "Bullet + Pen".
Wilt Bozer Portrayed by Robin Mossley in original as recurring, by Justin Hires in 2016 reboot as main
In the original series, Wilt Bozer appears in a handful of episodes of Season 5 and 6: "Serenity", "The Lost Amadeus", "Hearts of Steel", and "MacGyver's Women".
In the 2016 reboot, Wilt Bozer is an aspiring filmmaker, prosthetic makeup artist, and MacGyver's best friend and roommate. At first, he doesn't know about MacGyver's real job. Bozer later joins the Phoenix Foundation after discovering MacGyver's secret, and uses his talents to create lifelike masks and facial prosthetics as well as a humanoid robot.
Riley Davis Portrayed by Tristin Mays in 2016 reboot as main
A computer systems expert and skilled hacker recruited by Phoenix Foundation. She was in a Super Max prison for hacking the National Security Agency. Davis was recommended to Director Thorton by Jack Dalton, one of her mother's boyfriends due to Nikki Carpenter being allegedly killed in action. Her sentence was cut short by request of the DXS and continued working with the Phoenix.
Matt Webber/Matilda Webber Portrayed by Madison Mason in original (one episode), by Meredith Eaton in 2016 reboot as main
Matt Webber was a field operative who replaced Pete in "Early Retirement". At the end of the episode it was revealed that he was working against Pete.
Matilda "Matty" Webber is the new Director of Operations at Phoenix Foundation and Jack's ex-boss at the CIA. She takes over after Patricia Thornton is outed and arrested.
Samantha Cage Portrayed by Isabel Lucas in 2016 reboot as main Samantha Cage is a CIA officer and formerly SASR 4th Squadron. After she is discharged from the CIA for her unsanctioned actions to save a MIA SEAL, in the second-season premiere, Matty recruits her into the Phoenix Foundation.
Desiree "Desi" Nguyen Portrayed by Levy Tran in 2016 reboot as recurring (season 3) and main (seasons 4 and 5) Desi Nguyen is the Phoenix Foundation's newest agent, who uses her skills to protect MacGyver and his team on their global missions. She replaced Jack Dalton as the team's muscle.
Russell "Russ" Taylor Portrayed by Henry Ian Cusick in 2016 reboot as main Russ Taylor is an Ex-MI6 Agent-Turned-Private Military Contractor described as a master manipulator and salesman, Russ is skilled in propaganda and lie detection, and boasts an extremely high emotional intelligence. He is also very wealthy, and thus is used to both getting his way and enjoying the spoils of war (including expensive suits, fast cars, private jets and a house in Monte Carlo).
Recurring characters in both series Murdoc
Murdoc (portrayed by Michael Des Barres) is MacGyver's most frequent opponent. He is a master assassin who never fails—except when MacGyver gets involved. Murdoc is a master of disguise, as well as highly skilled and creative in the use of booby traps. Murdoc's signature for each hit is to take photographs of his victims at the moment of their deaths. His first appearance in the series is presented as his second run-in with MacGyver. Murdoc returns for revenge for their first encounter—to the surprise of MacGyver, as Murdoc had apparently been killed. Murdoc's revenge scheme not only fails, but results in him apparently being killed again. This became a recurring theme: each of Murdoc's subsequent appearances ends in another apparently certain "death", which he incredibly survives, to return in a later episode.
In the 2016 reboot, Murdoc (played by David Dastmalchian) is a hired hitman known as Suspect 218 to the CIA whose targets are enemies and MacGyver. After being captured by the Phoenix Foundation in season 1, in season 2 he escapes and becomes obsessed in finding his lost son, Casian. Michael Des Barres, who played Murdoc in the original series, plays Murdoc's mentor, Nicholas Helman, in the reboot.
Nikki Carpenter Nikki Carpenter (portrayed by Elyssa Davalos) joins the Phoenix Foundation in the third season. She often has differences of opinion with MacGyver, although the two eventually come to respect each other as professionals.
In the 2016 reboot, the character (played by Tracy Spiridakos) is a former agent for the DXS and MacGyver's former girlfriend who went rogue but later revealed to be an undercover agent for the CIA.
Harry Jackson Harry Jackson (portrayed by John Anderson) is MacGyver's grandfather, who helped raise MacGyver after his grandmother and father were killed in a car accident when MacGyver was aged nine. Seven years later, Harry left MacGyver to work in Alaska, sending money to MacGyver and his mother. At this time, MacGyver and Harry lost contact, but beginning in season one, MacGyver and Harry meet again, after eighteen years without contact,Stated by MacGyver as "it's been six..seven...eighteen years" in the episode "Target MacGyver", in which MacGyver and his grandfather work together to defeat an assassin named Axminster (D'Mitch Davis). Harry appears in the five episodes "Target MacGyver" (season 1), "Phoenix Under Siege", "Friends" (both season 2) "Passages" (season 5) and "Harry's Will" (season 6). Harry dies of a heart attack in the fifth-season finale episode "Passages".
In the 2016 reboot, the character (played by Michael O'Keefe) first appears in a flashback in the fourth episode of season 2.
Coltons The Coltons(via Archives & Research Center) (portrayed by Della Reese, Cleavon Little, Richard Lawson, and Cuba Gooding Jr.) are a family of bounty hunters (Mama Colton, Frank, Jesse and Billy), introduced one at a time—the only episode in which more than one appears is their collective final appearance in the final season, on which occasion they (and their bulldog, Frog) took over the episode entirely, relegating MacGyver to a cameo appearance. This episode, called "The Coltons", was actually intended as a backdoor pilot for a spin-off starring the Coltons, but ABC network officials decided that series would not be picked up.