Olivia Dunham

Lore & Background

Olivia is a Harvard University-educated FBI Special Agent assigned to a multi-agency task force of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security called the Fringe Division, after her partner and lover, John Scott, is exposed to a biological weapon that causes his skin to become transparent and leaves him in a coma (he later dies). Both Agent Broyles and Nina Sharp consider her to have much potential and talent, the latter even hoping to bring her on as an employee of Massive Dynamic. An experiment by Dr. Bishop to link her to the dying John Scott's mind to learn what he knew about his condition results in Olivia gaining part of his consciousness, causing her mind to begin integrating and purging the foreign consciousness. Olivia is revealed to be linked to the drug Cortexiphan, a chemical developed by William Bell, which was designed to unlock latent psychic abilities in children. Olivia was one of a group of preschool-age children who served as subjects of the experiment in her childhood home of Jacksonville, Florida. As a result, Olivia is capable of unspecified psychic abilities, as demonstrated when she shuts off a series of lights in a hallway simply by thinking of it. Walter has a video of Olivia as a child, ostensibly recorded during the drug trials, which shows her curled up in the corner of the room next to a badly charred bed with Walter saying: "It's all right, you didn't mean it." We later learn that Olivia started the fire with her mind. Olivia also could discern if an object originated in the alternate dimension due to a "glimmer" that only she could see. When trying to reawaken this ability in her as an adult, Dr. Bishop hypothesized that this ability was partially derived from Olivia's fear of seeing into the alternate dimension. When Olivia regains part of her memories of her meeting with Bell, she is told that she is the most successful subject suitable to pass through dimensions without many known negative side-effects, though other subjects (such as Nick Lane) have also crossed over with side effects. She has been called the guardian of the gateway by Bell, who will prevent the invasion by the alternate dimension. Note: The alternate-universe doppelgänger is sometimes referred to by fans as 'Fauxlivia,' but this nickname is not used in the series itself.

In Their Own Story

Olivia is given permission by Nina Sharp to meet William Bell, who currently resides in another dimension, with his office in the World Trade Center's South Tower. Having left her universe moving at a high speed, she returns at the same speed, crashing through the windshield of her now stationary car, leaving her in an almost fatal condition. She ends up in a short coma and wakes up in an incoherent state and in shock. Olivia apparently loses her memories of her meeting with Bell and whatever information he may have told her. She regains part of those memories and learns more about the invasion between dimensions. Following the transition to an alternate reality, Olivia meets her doppelganger "Fauxlivia", and ultimately shares a kiss with Peter Bishop. She is trapped in the alternate universe by Walternate, Walter's alternative self, while Fauxlivia replaces her in the prime universe. She is captured and drugged, brainwashed into believing that she is the alternate Olivia, complete with traits such as superb marksmanship skills which prime-universe Olivia did not possess. Olivia tries to escape her imprisonment and travel back to her own universe, but in doing so, she inadvertently goes to Fauxlivia's mother's house where she finally accepts the new memories as her own. It is revealed that the alternate Walter plans to use Olivia's Cortexiphan-derived abilities to find a way to safely cross universes, for which he needs her willing assistance. However, Olivia begins to regain her past memories after she has hallucinations of Peter Bishop, who comes to her in a vision and tells her that she doesn't belong there before kissing her. With the help of the alternate universe's Agent Broyles, she is able to escape from custody and make it to alternate Walter's Harvard lab, where she uses the tank to return to her own universe. Meanwhile, Peter realizes that he is with alternate Olivia, causing her to flee and return to her own universe as well. After returning to work, Olivia is dismayed to discover that Peter had become intimate with her doppelganger. After Olivia tells Peter she no longer wants to be with him, even though that's not what her heart wants, she tries to remain distant and impassive. However, they continue to work together and her time with Peter reminds her why she fell in love with him, and she tells him she wants to see him happy with her. They begin dating and their relationship is progressing when Walter realizes he has brought back William Bell, who died in the alternate universe, by using soul magnets and he now resides in Olivia's mind. Initially, Bell and Walter think Olivia will just be a host for Bell while they find a way to move his consciousness to another entity, but they find that Olivia is losing herself and her personality will soon be gone. Peter, Walter and Bell use LSD to go into Olivia's mind to locate and save her, but Bell is lost forever when he helps Olivia come to grips with her hidden fears and she regains consciousness. Olivia and Peter are soon caught up in Walternate's scheme to destroy their world using the doomsday machine and Olivia tells Peter she loves him before he steps into the machine to stop it. By the 4th season of the show Peter is erased from both universes. Olivia in the Peter-less universe was adopted as a child along with her sister by Nina Sharp whom she considers a surrogate mother. Though she has a working relationship with Walter and Astrid she retains no memories of Peter though she begins to develop visions of him. When Peter resurfaces Olivia is surprised to see him but believes he comes from a parallel universe. As they spend more time together Olivia begins to remember her time with Peter and gradually comes to realize that she is "his" Olivia while her memories from the readjusted timeline begin to slip. Olivia later learns that she is pregnant with a daughter, Henrietta "Etta" Bishop (Georgina Haig). In 2015 when Olivia is at a park with Etta and Peter they are caught up in a global attack by observers and she and Peter are separated from their daughter. As part of a plan to defeat the now hostile observers, Olivia and the rest of the Fringe team purposefully trap themselves in amber. They are rescued by Etta in 2036. Olivia learns that while Etta poses as an enforcer for the observers she is actually resistant to their telepathy and is a key figure in the human resistance movement against them. She works with Etta until Etta is murdered. After Etta's death Olivia is mournful and grows apart from Peter, however after he tries to harness observer technology to avenge Etta's death Olivia talks him into abandoning his plan and the two becomes close again. Once Walter is able to accompany the child observer, Michael, to the future, he erases the time in which the observers are able to travel back and take over in 2015, and Olivia and Peter are once again in the park with Etta as a child. They look around at the same time in which the observers initially appeared and seeing nothing, go back to playing with Etta.

Reader's Guide

After looking at many auditions "well past the 12th hour" for the role of Olivia Dunham, Australian actress Anna Torv was selected for the part. Casting director April Webster commented, "What we were looking for in Olivia was a woman who was believable as an FBI agent but yet had some vulnerability. And definitely had depth and a history behind her eyes." Not having seen Torv before, they came across an audition tape of hers for another movie, and were "immediately intrigued". Executive producer Bryan Burk later said "there was just something really special about her and really smart". Webster called a friend in Australia, and were able to arrange an audition with Torv, who was camping in the Outback at the time she received the call from her agent. Torv read for a few scenes over the Internet, and was told the following day that she had won the role, embarking for Toronto soon after to begin shooting. One later called her casting "the miracle of the whole thing".

Did You Know?

• Olivia was one of a group of preschool-age children who served as subjects of the Cortexiphan experiment in her childhood home of Jacksonville, Florida. Her age is never explicitly stated in the series; she is generally