List of Six Feet Under characters

The following is a list of descriptions for characters on the HBO television series Six Feet Under, which aired for five seasons, from 2001 to 2005.

Nathaniel Samuel "Nate" Fisher, Jr. (1965–2005), played by Peter Krause, is the oldest of the three Fisher siblings. In the first episode, Nate is returning to Los Angeles on Christmas Eve only to learn that his father has died.

A recurring theme throughout the series is Nate searching for the ideal life. In the pilot episode, he meets Brenda Chenowith on an airplane and has sex with her upon landing. Brenda becomes his on-again/off-again lover throughout the series. Upon learning of his father's death, his mother asks him to stay, despite Nate wanting to return to Seattle. Displeased with the direction his life is going, Nate agrees to stay and become business partners with his brother in the funeral home. Nate becomes diagnosed with an arteriovenous malformation (AVM) and becomes engaged to Brenda around the same time. During their engagement, Brenda sleeps with others, claiming a sex addiction which Nate does not believe. Nate began having seizures and seeks treatment for his AVM. Nate marries his former girlfriend Lisa, after discovering that Lisa is pregnant (between seasons 2 and 3). When their daughter Maya is still very young, Lisa disappears and is eventually discovered to have drowned. It's later implied that she was murdered by her brother-in-law when she tried to end their affair. Nate conspired to fulfill Lisa's wishes for a "green" burial. Nate reconciles with Brenda and they move in together. He agrees to marry her and have a child but Brenda miscarries on the eve of their wedding. Nate doesn't want Brenda's next pregnancy. He develops feeling for his stepfather's daughter, Maggie, a Quaker. After Nate and Maggie have sex, he collapses and is rushed to a hospital. Although it appears he will recover, he dies in his sleep with David by his side.

Following his death, the series spends the last three episodes addressing the other characters' lives as they attempt to cope with his absence. Nate - like his father - continues to appear in these episodes as a mental manifestation of his surviving family.

David James Fisher (1969–2044), played by Michael C. Hall, is the middle child in the Fisher family. Prior to the start of the series, David was engaged to a woman named Jennifer Mason, but broke the engagement because he was unsure of his sexuality. David is gay but no one knows except his boyfriend, Keith Charles, a police officer, whom he met at a church social function. Keith has come out to his family and friends and quickly loses patience with David hiding his own sexuality. David joined the family business in 1989 at the age of 20 and was upset that his brother Nate did not do the same. After his father's death and Nate's return, David holds resentment towards Nate, which is resolved when Nate agrees to help with the family funeral business. At the same time, David is offered his father's old position as deacon at their local church, which frowns upon homosexuality. After breaking up with Keith over continuing sexuality issues, David briefly engages in some anonymous sex, for which he suffered ongoing legal issues. After arranging a funeral for a young gay man who was brutally murdered for his sexual orientation, David comes out to his family and resigns his post as deacon. David and Keith eventually reconcile and start planning a family together. Soon after, David is carjacked. The experience leaves him extremely traumatized and he remains so for the rest of the series. They later adopt two young boys (brothers) Anthony and Durrell.

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