Jakob Resh

Jakob Resh is a character on Shadows. His first appearance was in 2002 in the episode "Vanished". His last appearance was in the episode "Terminus".

Three actors have portrayed the character: Justin K. Rivers, Garytt Poirier, and Quinn Donnelly.

Original Jakob
In the first four episodes in which he appeared, Jakob is a freshman roommate of Paul Bennett, whose girlfriend Jillian Owens was roommates with Lainey Callahan. When Lainey disappears, Jillian and Paul begin searching for her, and Jakob becomes involved as well. Jakob's work-study at the Dean's office and his deftness with computers helps them to get access to information from the university's computer system.

When Jakob witnesses President Hawthorn killing his friend Sam, Hawthorn sends his henchmen after him, but they kill Paul instead. This experience solidifies Jakob's desire to fight Hawthorn, leading to a climactic battle with the evil President in "Apocalypse". During this episode, Jakob meets Jack Flynn, a member of The Agency. In the aftermath, with Jakob the lone surviving member from the original group of friends, Flynn offers to give him a job at The Agency. Jakob declines.

Jakob's last name, Resh, was not revealed until "Kshama", but was referred to by the production team earlier than that.

Jakob at The Agency
As part of the "Agency re-boot" for Episode 36, the production team decided to pay respects to the original series plot lines by using the character of Jakob as a bridge between the two eras. In part, this was because the actor Justin K. Rivers was also a member of the production team and was consistently available. The original conception was to have Jakob act as a Bosley-like character, who could dispatch the agents at the beginning of each episode on various cases.

Jakob was given a deeper backstory. According to the Shadows Writing Guidelines, after Jakob leaves the university, he travels the world for a time. He then becomes a host body for an alien Parasite, a powerful, long-lived creature who occupies human bodies. This particular parasite (established onscreen in "Trust of the Fallen") is a renegade from another world, a traitor to its own kind, working against a group of Parasites intent on conquering the planet. When the parasite takes over a new body, it absorbs the personality and memories and experiences of the original person. In this way, the original Jakob lives on within the parasite creature.

At some point, Jakob comes to work for The Agency, and becomes its leader. He answers only to the mysterious Board of Directors.

Regeneration
In "Salesman", Jakob's body dies, and a replacement is found in the person of Joe Barron, played by Garytt Poirier. The parasite transitions into Joe's body, and continues to live. This is the first instance of Jakob's regeneration.

The production team conceived of the regeneration process, inspired by the British scifi series Doctor Who, as a way to work around a chronic problem of the series - that of actor availability. If "Jakob" could hop from body to body as needed, then the character could remain consistent while the actor playing him could change as was necessary.

Jakob, suffering and in conflict with the personality of Joe Barron, kills himself at the end of "Siren's Song", before returning in a new body (played by Quinn Donnelly) in the unaired episode "Reanimate". His first official appearance onscreen is "Liability". Resh then appears to die at the end of "Terminus".

In total, three actors have played Jakob:
 * Justin K. Rivers:
 * "Vanished"
 * "Gone"
 * "Kshama"
 * "Apocalypse"
 * "The Agency"
 * "Trust of the Fallen"
 * "Salesman"
 * Garytt Poirier:
 * "Salesman"
 * "Pest Control"
 * "The Prisoner's Dilemma"
 * "Private Paranormal Investigator"
 * "The Captives"
 * "The Grundel"
 * "The Brotherhood"
 * "The Demons Within" (unaired)
 * "Siren's Song"
 * Quinn Donnelly:
 * "Reanimate" (unaired)
 * "Wendigo" (unaired)
 * "Haunting" (unaired)
 * "Liability"
 * "The Letter" (webisode)
 * "Wendigo" (webisode)
 * "Terminus"