Editing 2010: Odyssey Two (section)

===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.