Editing 2010: Odyssey Two (section)

==Characters==
===Main characters===

In the novel, the ''Leonov'' is staffed by three Americans, and seven Soviets. HAL also re-appears as a major character.

* Dr. Heywood Floyd: The protagonist, Floyd must embark on an odyssey to Jupiter with American colleagues aboard a Soviet ship, the ''Leonov'', to revive ''Discovery''. The character was played by [[Roy Scheider]] in the 1984 film, replacing [[William Sylvester]] who portrayed the same character in 1968's ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey]]''. 
* Dr. Walter Curnow: gregarious American engineer and expert on ''Discovery's'' systems. 
* Dr. Sivasubramanian Chandrasegarampillai, or "Dr. Chandra": HAL's inventor. Quiet and reserved, Dr. Chandra, who is Indian, is the third member of the American team, charged with re-activating HAL. For the 1984 film, the character was changed to a white American played by [[Bob Balaban]].
* Captain Tatiana "Tanya" Orlova: Soviet captain of the ''Leonov''. The character's last name in the film was changed to Kirbuk and was played by British actress [[Helen Mirren]].
* Dr. Vasili Orlov: the ''Leonov's'' chief scientist, and husband of Orlova.
* Dr. Maxim (Max) Brailovsky: Spacewalker and Curnow's Soviet counterpart. He and Curnow are both bisexual and enjoy a romantic relationship during the mission, though Max eventually becomes engaged to Zenia Marchenko.
* Surgeon Commander Katerina Rudenko: The ''Leonov's'' matronly medical doctor. In the film, this character is recast as a man.
* Dr. Alexander "Sasha" Kovalev: Communications officer of the ''Leonov'', Sasha states basic science information at certain points.
* Dr. Nikolai Ternovsky: The computational expert for the ''Leonov'' crew, Ternovsky works with Dr. Chandra to reactivate HAL upon the ''Discovery'' rendezvous.
* Zenia Marchenko: an understudy for Dr. Irina Yakunina, ship's nutritionist. In the book, Marchenko shelters with Floyd while the ''Leonov'' executes a dangerous and dramatic maneuver. The film's equivalent character, who likewise shelters with Floyd, is there named as ''Irina Yakunina'', the same namesake as the book's replaced character, who in the book does not actually join the ''Leonov's'' voyage, due to a hang gliding accident.
* HAL 9000: the ''Discovery's'' on board ship's computer, HAL is held suspect by most other characters for having caused the deaths of the ''Discovery's'' crew except Bowman, despite the explanation that HAL was given conflicting orders regarding secrecy and deception, which HAL is manifestly not designed to carry out.

===Minor characters===

* The Floyd family: Floyd is described as having had two families. Floyd's deceased first wife, Marion, is said to have borne him two daughters. At the time of the novel's events, Floyd is living with his second wife, Caroline, and their son Christopher, a toddler. A male dolphin named Scarback, together with its mate, routinely visit the Floyd household, and communicates with Christopher in a language dubbed Dolphin.
* The Bowman family: In a series of flashbacks and literal movements through space and time, the newly-ascended character of David Bowman remembers, interacts with, and makes some peace with his old human life. Bowman remembers his brother Robert "Bobby" Bowman, who died while the two used an improvised scuba device to explore an underwater cave as children, and Bowman visits his elderly mother Jessie Bowman in her hospital room at the moment of her death. Later, Bowman also visits his ex-girlfriend Betty Fernandez (née Schultz). In youth, Betty had originally been Robert's girlfriend, and after Robert's death, Betty took up with Bowman. Following Bowman's disappearance and presumptive death, Betty married Jose Fernandez, and bore him a son, Carlos. In their final interaction, Betty lies to Bowman that Carlos is his son.
* Professor Chang: One of five Chinese ''Tsien'' crew members (alongside one Dr. Lee, mentioned in passing), Chang relays a poignant farewell message to the ''Leonov'' from the surface of Europa, addressed especially to Floyd. In it, Chang reports the destruction of the ''Tsien'', his own imminent death, and the existence of life on Europa. The novel's early ''Tsien'' story arc, continued in ''2061'', in which Chinese astronauts compete with Americans and Soviets to be the first to rendezvous with ''Discovery'', is completely absent from the film.
* Dr. Dimitri Moisevitch: Floyd's Soviet friend and counterpart from the 2001 novel returns to correspond during the novel and give worldly "spy-ripostes" from one bureaucrat to another. In the novel's opening scene, Moisevitch and Floyd present the exposition of the joint Soviet–American mission, against the backdrop of the Arecibo telescope; the film approximates this opening scene, instead using the [[Very Large Array]] as its setting.
* Victor Millson: Floyd's bureaucratic successor, rival and contact for official Earth/American business.
* SAL 9000: HAL's earthbound counterpart. An early scene shows Dr. Chandra discussing HAL with SAL, which is faithfully reproduced in the film. In the film, actress [[Candice Bergen]] provided the voice of SAL, which was credited to her as "Olga Mallsnerd".