Rona Lisa Piretti - Adult
This former Spelling Bee champ is not only the county's top realtor, she also runs a highly lucrative e-Bay business, selling sensible pumps at sensible prices. She is incredibly kind to the spellers, having been in their shoes many years earlier. She is a sweet woman who loves children, but she can be very stern when it comes to dealing with Vice Principal Panch and his feelings for her. Her interest in the competition is unflagging and drives it forward.

Douglas Panch - Adult
The Vice Principal. Frustrated with his life, he finds the drive of the young spellers alien to him. He was involved in an "incident" at the Twentieth Annual Bee that got him removed from the judging panel. After five years' absence from the Bee, Panch returns as judge, in "a better place,” thanks to a high-fiber diet and therapy. He is infatuated with Rona Lisa Peretti, but she does not return his affections.

Mitch / Meg Mahoney - Adult
The Official Comfort Counselor. This former felon is fulfilling his court ordered community service at the bee and acting as the bee’s “comfort counselor,” handing our juice boxes and a dose of reality to the losers. He comes across as scary and tough but is really a big softy deep down. He has no idea how to offer comfort, but does find himself wishing he could find a way to make the kids feel better.

Chip Tolentino - Speller
Speller #21. Last Year's champion of the Twenty-Fourth Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, he returns to defend his title, but he finds puberty hitting at an inopportune moment. He is strong willed, competitive and ambitious. An athletic, social, boy scout, he returns to defend his title, but he finds puberty hitting at an inopportune moment.

Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre - Speller
Speller #1. Logainne is the youngest and most politically aware speller, often making comments about current political figures and her mature world views. She has two overbearing gay dads who have turned her neurotic and self-conscious.

She speaks with a lisp though has a real confidence about her at times.

Leaf Coneybear - Speller
Speller #17. As just the second runner-up in his district's bee, he really shouldn't be competing here. He finds everything about the bee incredibly amusing. He is home-schooled and comes from a large family of former hippies. He makes his own clothes, is home schooled and lacks social skills. He’s strange but very sweet, loving and kindhearted but distracted. He has severe Attention Deficit Disorder and spells words correctly while in a trance.

This role allows a ton of personal interpretation and requires physical comedy.

William Barfee - Speller
Speller #13. A Putnam County Spelling Bee finalist last year, he was eliminated because of an allergic reaction to peanuts and is back for vindication. He has no interest in making friends at the bee. His famous "Magic Foot" method of spelling has boosted him to spelling glory, even though he only has one working nostril and a touchy, bullying personality. He develops a crush on Olive.

Marcy Park - Speller
Speller #7. Marcy is the most feared and practiced competitor in the bee. She made it all the way to ninth place in Nationals last year and is back to win again. She speaks six languages, is a member of all-American hockey, a championship rugby player, plays Chopin and Mozart on multiple instruments, sleeps only three hours a night, hides in the bathroom cabinet, and is getting very tired of always winning. She does not recognize her own lack of humor. She is incredibly intense. She is the poster child for the Over-Achieving Asian, and attends a Catholic school called "Our Lady of Intermittent Sorrows." She is also not allowed to cry.

Olive Ostrovsky - Speller
Speller #11. A young newcomer to competitive spelling. The heart of the show, Olive is basically deserted at the bee. Her mom is in ashram in India and her dad never shows up, even after promising that, this time, he'll try to make it. Her best friend is a dictionary. She starts enormously shy, and shyly blossoms.