Alex Carnahan

**Alex "Lex" Carnahan** is a main character in Season 1 of Containment.

## Biography

Alex "Lex" Carnahan is 35-year-old Major with the Atlanta Police Department. He is tough but has a big-heart and is known for being resolute and loyal. Lex is extremely devoted to his girlfriend, Jana Mayfield, but struggles to balance his sense of compassion with his duty to uphold the law.

Lex is close friends with fellow Atlanta police officer Jake Riley and is responsible for Jake being caught in the cordoned area during the outbreak. He is a natural born leader and is selected by Sabine Lommers to be the liaison between the CDC and the public in efforts to control the spread of panic and fear outside the cordoned area.

## Season 1

### Pilot

Day 1 of the outbreak, Lex visits his girlfriend for 3 years Jana Mayfield at her apartment. She is in the process of packing boxes to move in with him, after two failed attempts due to Jana's fear of commitment. Lex notices Jana is anxious and realises she is having doubts about the big move. Angrily, he leaves informing Jake Riley, who is waiting outside to help, that the move is no longer happening.

Lex then attends a briefing concerning a possible outbreak of unknown cause and origin; he is then tasked with bringing Patient Zero (Sayid Nassir) into isolation, a task he first delegates to Walden and then to Jake Riley.

Shortly after, Sabine Lommers approaches him with a proposition. She wants him to be the face of the outbreak, the spokesperson liaising between the government and the community, in exchange for access; which he refuses.

After 10 missed calls to Jana he manages to join her and keeps her posted on the possible flu outbreak; she agrees to move in with him. After a meeting at the CDC in which Lommers makes him leave along with non-essentials, he unsuccessfully tries to join Jana to tell her that it would be safer for her to go directly to his place. He gets a call from Jake who is stuck at the hospital and who blames him. Lex then goes to Lommers to say he has changed his mind.

In the evening, he supervises the placement of the fences and tries to reason people. He then sees Jana inside the cordon and screams for her but she doesn't see or hear him. He then stops Walden  from violently arresting a young black man (Xander) who wants to get inside the cordon. Lex tells Xander that he too has a girl inside and he cannot risk everyone's life by letting anyone in or out.

### I To Die, You To Live

Leo Greene, a blogger for Intheperimeter.com, approaches Lex with a video he just recorded showing Lex interrupting a cop (Walden) and a young, black man (Xander). Lex brushes Leo off, stating his priority is the safety of the public. He receives a phone call moments later from Jana where he tells her about the cordon. Lex then speaks with Sabine Lommers about his personal attachments to Jana and Jake who are trapped inside and whether it will affect his ability to stay on task. After stating his duty is to the city he is introduced to Doctor Victor Cannerts via video chat who provides him with information on the virus.

Receiving a phone call from Jake, Lex finds out that Sayid's teenager cousin has a girlfriend, who is infected and has not been accounted for. Lex relays the information to the APD and works alongside them to try and locate the girl. While waiting for information, Lex is approached by Leo Greene who accuses him of being a mouthpiece. Officer Pete Walden interrupts, advising they have the home address of the missing girl. Lex and Pete visit the address, however, the parents advise their daughter, Elizabeth Franklin, didn't come home. Lex returns to the station where they begin to trace Lizzie's steps and find she is inside the Cordon. Lex calls Jake, advising he needs to locate Lizzie and find out if she is symptomatic. Jake returns his call, telling him Lizzie is infected and that she was at a party with Aimee, Toby and dozens of other teens. Lommers then informs Lex they cannot lift the quarantine as the virus is no longer contained within the walls of the hospital. Lex questions how they will get the healthy people out before realising they won't.

He feels torn between his desire to keep Jana informed and his duty to keep information confidential. At the end of the episode, he is seen supervising the setup of the containers around the Cordon.

### Be Angry At the Sun

Lommers puts him on the stand to ensure the safety of the Cordon. He apologizes to Jana for not telling her about the containers, and says he doesn't know how long this will go so she needs to stay safe.

He asks Lommers to send more cops in but she refuses and tells him to deal with the real threat, Leo Greene. Lex then goes to Greene's apartment, interrupting his communication with Allie and Melinda and doesn't manage to convince Greene to stop scaring people. He accidentally reveals that the cops are outnumbered 400 to 1 on the inside.

Lex later tells Jake there are only 10 other cops in the Cordon and orders him to run point on this and to get cops anywhere people gather. Lex then patrols outside the Cordon and texts Jana about what is happening.

He gets back to the CDC and asks Lommers to use the containers as a sluice, in which reinforcements could be quarantined before going outside. Lommers answers by questioning the number of volunteers he would get and by ordering him to drop the idea.

Lex decides to meet Jake in a container and brings him guns, ammo, gloves and gear. However Jake wants reinforcements which Lex can't give him. He then learns that Leo Greene gave news about a breach in the Cordon. He gets to the breach as Lommers says he is empowered to defend the Cordon with deadly force. When a man reaches the fire exit and gets to the top of the container, Lex gives him final warnings, and is
ready to shoot him but Officer Baker, who is on the inside, is the first to shoot.

The line cuts while he's on the phone with Jana, complaining about Leo Greene and telling each other they never want to leave each other. He then hears Lommers explain to Cannerts that the cut is Cordon-wide; afterwards she tells Lex that he is the one to blame because he didn't stop Leo Greene.

### With Silence and Tears

He explains on TV why communication was shut down within the Cordon and says that just 36 hours after this, panic has subsided. He assures that the virus is under control.

Later he asks to speak to Lommers but speaks to Chief Besser instead, telling him he feels bad about lying to everyone, and feels like the solution to keep everyone calm is not to lie but to let people talk to their families.

As he is looking at Jana's picture, Leo comes to the station to ask for information about his friends Melinda and Allie whom he thinks are sick. Lex is irritated at first, he then tells him he understand but his hands are tied; when Leo says it's because he lets Lommers tie them, Lex tells Leo to leave.

At night, he gets food to Meese and Walden who are on watch duty; he tells Walden to go home for his daughter's birthday and Lex takes his place.

He and Meese spot someone trying to get inside the Cordon. He keeps Meese from shooting when he recognizes Xander, so he warns him several times. When Xander successfully climbs the ladder, Lex shoots him with a beanbag.

In the morning of Day 6 he visits Xander at the hospital. He comes across Leo who is looking for Xander too and orders him to leave the kid alone. He then tries to rehearse his speech but tells Chief Besser that he can't do it; he warns him that there will be consequences and Lommers will cut his access but Lex says it is her choice to make.

When going back to the hospital for Xander, he finds him missing. A nurse says that Leo Greene came back with lawyers and legal threats. He issues an APB on Xander, who is spotted on foot after Leo took him to the Cordon by car. Meese later says that it was all set up for Xander and he succeeded to enter the Cordon.

He is very shocked when Jana succeeds to call him, but the line cuts. He then listens several times to the message she left him before; it is playing when Leo comes to the station, which piques his curiosity. Lex punches Leo in the face but Leo justifies himself for Xander and tells him to log onto the drone footage at sunset. He does so, and sees Jana looking at the drone, with an "I love you Lex" sign.

### Like A Sheep Among Wolves

Lommers realizes that the PR task was not for him and apologizes; she then asks him to get a 50,000-meal food drop delivered; he agrees but realizes it is impossible to get it delivered by the next day. Lommers doesn't change her mind.

Lex then meets Jake in the container to tell him about the food drop. Both agree that the delay is impossible but Lex says they have to do it anyway and decides that it will be in Linden Train Station, that his team delivers the food and Jake's team controls distribution. He also tells Jake about Xander breaking in. When Jake says he will bring food to Jana if he doesn't see her at the drop, Lex asks him to give her a key to his house.

Lex later organizes the food drop; Meese volunteers to get on crane duty. Walden then tells him that the crane got jammed and Meese walked out on the pallet but fell down the Cordon. Lex sees him gets pushed by someone and notices he is bleeding; he then says he can't let him out; he apologizes to Meese and asks him to help Jake. Lex then faces Walden's anger, who says to him and another black cop that "the color
blue doesn't matter to some of you". He then sees the footage of Trey's gang robbing people; an officer asks if they can get shooters on the bridge but Lex says that too many citizens would be caught in the crossfire.

Later, he gets back to the CDC where he blames Lommers; she answers that waiting would not have made anything different and considers it a win.

He tells Besser the Feds think their people are statistics and he suggests to get over their head; Besser feels the same way but tells him that the only thing it would do is endanger both of their jobs.

He then sees Jake, and tells him about his frustration. Jake tells him he likes Katie and that Jana is fine. They both decide to go look for the truth; Lex also mentions Meese but Jake says he never saw him.

### He Stilled The Rising Tumult

Chief Besser tells him that most of his team, including Walden, called in sick, and Lex understands that it is because of the situation with Meese. He says he will find a way to cover them.

Later, he goes to Leo's house, because he is ready for the truth but finds a very drunk Leo mourning Mel and Allie's death. He explains that he needs him because he doesn't want Lommers to know. He tries to motivate Leo, telling him he can honor his friends and maybe get a Pulitzer. Leo then gets ready and tells him they have 20 minutes before his guy at the data recovery center leaves. However he receives a call and decides to respond.

After he gets there, he tries to get Hank to leave quickly but the man refuses and draws a gun. Lex then sits down and talks to him, ignoring Leo. This angers Leo because the time is up and he leaves the building. Lex tries to talk Hank out of that situation and deduces that his apartment is inside the Cordon; Hank explains that his daughter is inside and he hasn't seen her in two days, he assumes it is because she's dead.

Later, Leo texts him he found a backup plan; Lex leaves Hank's side to talk to him. Leo gives him a fake warrant and Lex decides to go for it. After the video is in Leo's possession, he realizes that it is corrupted, and Lex decides to take the video to Jana for her to uncorrupt it.

Later he phones Jake to ask him to look for Hank's daughter. In the evening he gets to the Cordon but Chief Besser is hostile to him, especially when seeing him with Leo Greene. He lets Lex enter the sluice when he sees that Lex does have the ammo he is supposed to bring to Jake, and orders to search Lex when he gets out.

He gives Jake his ammo and the USB key for Jana; Jake gives him another USB key, which he says is good news. Jake also tells him about his day and confesses that he loves Katie.

When leaving the sluice, he gets searched; the soldier finds the USB key, which he searches as well and gives him back. Lex then goes to the abandoned building to show Hank the video of his daughter that is on the key. Hank thanks him, unchains himself and they leave the building together.

## Physical Appearance

Lex is handsome with a strong, rugged appearance. He is tall with a muscular build, dark skin and a shaved head.

## Appearances

### Season 1

* Pilot
* I To Die, You To Live
* Be Angry At the Sun
* With Silence and Tears
* Like A Sheep Among Wolves
* He Stilled The Rising Tumult
* Inferno
* There's a Crack in Everything
* A Kingdom Divided Amongst Itself
* A Time to Be Born
* Nothing Gold Can Stay
* Yes Is The Only Living Thing
* Path to Paradise

## Media

### Images

1/12
### Videos

Containment - Season 1 - David Gyasi Interview
## Trivia

* Lex is located **outside the Cordon** when the outbreak occurs.
* Thom Gossom Jr will play Lex's father.
* Lex has been working for the Atlanta Police Department for 12 years.
* In the beginning of Ep 5 Jana mentions that he once brought her to a restaurant in Sea Island which was the first time she told Lex she loved him. Jana's key to Lex's house has a St. Simons Seafoods Shack keychain, which is from that restaurant.

## References

1. ↑ **Alabamanewscenter.com:**Actor, former Auburn football player Thom Gossom Jr. tackles something new: Fiction (Retrived December 4, 2015)