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"Job isn’t what it was ten years ago. We’re supposed to protect the world, where one breath of the wrong air can incinerate you from the inside out. I mean, how do we protect people, when corporations have higher security clearances than we do? When we’re not fully briefed on half the things that we’re investigating. You know, when the truth, the truth is - we’re obsolete."
―Charlie to Olivia Dunham amid the Flight 627 investigation.[src]

Charlie Francis was an FBI agent and a close friend and confidant of Olivia Dunham.

He worked alongside Olivia and members of Fringe Division on seemingly inexplicable cases, risking his own credibility to support their intel leads in solving a number of Pattern-related crimes.

Biography[]

Original Timeline[]

Background Information[]

Born on June 22nd 1976, Charlie worked for the New York Police Department prior to joining the FBI. Prior to the events of the series, he also married a woman named Sonia.

Charlie and Sonia Francis in 116 Unleashed

Charlie and his wife.

On his second year with NYPD a domestic disturbance case was tasked to Charlie and his partner. His partner discovers the brutalized girlfriend, prompting Charlie to handcuff her boyfriend.

Then, the bloodied girl appeared at the door with a gun. The girl had shot and killed Charlie's partner and proceeded to point the gun at him. Charlie was shot and ended up in the ICU for six days, followed by a two-week hospital stay, where he claimed he kept a gun underneath his pillow.

Season 1[]

Charlie is called in to investigate Flight 627 along with Olivia Dunham and John Scott. He is one of the first agents selected to enter the plane. He aids the investigation, gathering information and assisting Olivia.

He attempts to set up a meeting with William Bell of Massive Dynamic at her request; arriving at the lab to inform her Bell is absent, he warns her to be careful with the investigation (after being surprised by the appearance of a cow).

After Scott's death, Charlie comforts Olivia and remarks upon the diminishing status of the FBI, pointing out how corporations now have clearance to know more than they do about classified events. ("Pilot")

Broyles declares Charlie his second-in-command. ("Bound")

Charlie Francis in Unleashed 116

Charlie gets infected by a bug.

Charlie becomes the lone survivor of an attack by a genetically manufactured hybrid beast in a remote forest park.

His blood is impregnated with larvae when the beast slashed him with its barbed tail. Walter poisons Charlie's blood to stop the larvae from developing further. ("Unleashed")

In a season one stand-alone "Unearthed", Charlie assists Olivia in the case of a possessed Lisa Donovan.

Season 2[]

Charlieolivia

Charlie visits Olivia in the hospital.

Following her injuries sustained at the car collision in Manhattan, Charlie visits a recovering Olivia at the hospital, recalling the story of his second year at Brooklyn P.D.

Charlie's Corpse 201

Charlie's corpse before it is cremated.

Later on, Charlie was dispatched by the FBI to Olivia's hospital after Peter Bishop and Amy Jessup discovered that the shapeshifter who crashed into Olivia's car had not only changed its appearance again but was determined to stay on mission and kill Olivia.

Charlie was cornered by the shapeshifter in the boiler room of the hospital. It dropped down from the ceiling. Off-screen, the shapeshifter shot him, took his form, and hid his body in the dumpster, substituting his body for the body of the nurse that it had killed earlier, thus seemingly killing itself.

The shapeshifter returned later on, disposing of Charlie's body in the furnace to complete its infiltration of the FBI. ("A New Day In The Old Town")

After discovering Charlie had actually been murdered and replicated, Olivia killed his imposter and grieved the loss of her dear friend. ("Dream Logic")

Season 3[]

During a psych evaluation, Olivia makes mention of Charlie. She informs Dr. Anderson (Alternate Universe) that the Charlie Francis she knew was murdered. ("Olivia")

Alternate Timeline[]

Season 4[]

408 Amberlivia Never Crossed Over

Olivia had never crossed over before.

Charlie's ultimate fate is unknown. Due to many butterfly effect changes, his original death could not have happened.

With neither of these events occurring, the shapeshifter targeting Olivia to prevent her meeting and killing and replacing Charlie's identity shortly afterwards, also never happened. Thus, Prime Charlie's ultimate fate is uncertain.

Nina Describes Bell's Faux-Death

Bell faked his death in 2005.

It is also possible Charlie died similarly (being replaced by a shapeshifter to infiltrate the FBI) under different circumstances, as he is completely absent in the Alternate Timeline storyline. He may also be alive and retired, however; it is never directly stated either way.

Alternate Universes[]

The Road Not Taken[]

Alternate Charlie Francis 119

The earliest iteration of Charlie Francis in an alternate reality occurs in the episode "The Road Not Taken". He has a scar on his face, and works for the FBI. This version of Charlie is the one to tell Olivia that Susan Pratt has a twin, Nancy Lewis. Both twins died in a spontaneous human combustion Cortexiphan-experiment-gone-wrong.

This version of the alternate universe is inconsistent with later depictions of the Parallel Universe that becomes the main focus.

Alternate Bell died young according to Bell himself in "Over There: Part 2", and Walternate never experimented on children. Colonel Broyles also tells Olivia that the FBI ceased to exist in 2000.

Thus, it is largely considered by fans to be a third, unexplored universe. This is because the idea of the parallel universe was underdeveloped by the writers at the time of the episode's writing.

The Redverse[]

Alternate Charlie Francis in Over There- Part 1

In a later, more prominent iteration, Charlie Francis is an agent of a more powerful Fringe division in the Parallel Universe, working with Fauxlivia in a team led by Lincoln Lee. This Charlie was unmarried, though later went on a date with Mona Foster. ("Bloodline")

Similar to his appearance in "The Road Not Taken", he also has a scar.

In the Alternate Timeline, he was on an extended honeymoon with Mona Foster, whom he married. ("One Night in October")

Trivia[]

  • Due to Fox's decision to cut the episode order of season one to only twenty episodes, one episode, Unearthed, was left unaired during that time slot. It aired in the middle of season two on January 11, 2010, in a special Monday night timeslot. Because Charlie Francis was alive during this episode, but not the series chronology, he appeared here after his death, albeit to the confusion of fans that weren't aware that this episode was a holdover, namely all of them. Because the season one DVD collection had already been released by the time it aired, Unearthed was placed in with the season two collection as an un-numbered "missing" episode.

Quotes[]

  • "How are we supposed to protect people when corporations have higher security clearances than we do?" - Charlie ("Pilot")
Prime Universe Characters
Olivia DunhamWalter BishopPhillip BroylesAstrid FarnsworthNina SharpLincoln LeeJohn ScottCharlie FrancisDavid Robert JonesWilliam BellRachel BlakeElla BlakeNick LaneSally ClarkHenrietta Bishop
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