Chrisjen Avasarala

Avasarala interrogates an OPA prisoner and concludes Mars didn't destroy the Canterbury: someone wants a war. The prisoner is sent to Luna and kills himself there. She visits Holden's family in Montana to understand who he is. In the end she realizes her colleague Errinwright is lying and working with Jules-Pierre Mao, and moves her own family to Luna.

Suspicious of Errinwright, Avasarala hires the spy Cotyar and ties the protomolecule to Mao. After the Ganymede disaster, she calls a peace summit, and Errinwright ends up admitting his part in the Eros incident to her. Marine Bobbie Draper seeks asylum with her, and the two agree to meet Mao away from the UN. Errinwright orders her killed, but Bobbie saves her in powered armor.

Avasarala, Bobbie and Cotyar escape Mao's yacht and are picked up by the Rocinante. She finally gets proof against Errinwright, who is exposed and arrested. When the Ring appears, the UN sends a fleet.

Now Secretary-General, Avasarala blockades the Ring and sends Holden to Ilus as her envoy. She runs for reelection against Gao, leaks footage of the Ilus crisis to save her campaign and clashes with her husband over it. She orders Marco Inaros captured, but the firefight destroys the Pizzouza and she's condemned for the attack. Bobbie turns down her first job offer and only accepts at the end. Avasarala loses to Gao and is sent to Luna.

On Luna, Avasarala gets a visit from Amos on his way to Earth and digs into Marco Inaros's role. His asteroids hit Earth, and Gao is killed. Avasarala opposes a revenge strike on Pallas, leads a mass cabinet resignation and makes her way back to the center of power.

With Earth devastated, Avasarala runs the war against the Free Navy and ends up allying with Drummer. After the victory, she's the one who builds the Transport Union, an independent body shared by Earth, Mars and the Belt. Avasarala sees it as a way to keep her influence through Holden. When he hands command to Drummer, she doesn't love where that leaves Earth, but she smiles for the cameras.

In the books, Avasarala doesn't debut until the second novel, Caliban's War (2012), as a narrator; the show brought her in from the first episode. She's played by Shohreh Aghdashloo.