This article contains spoilers for The Time Traveler's Wife episode 5.
HBO's The Time Traveler's Wife makes passing mention of Clare and Henry's friend Charisse in 2022—but where is she? Finally introduced in episode 4 of the series, Charisse (Natasha Lopez) and Gomez (Desmond Borges) are Clare's (Rose Leslie) best friends and play significant roles in Audrey Niffenegger's 2003 novel. The Time Traveler's Wife episode 5 uses a conversation between a younger Henry (Theo James) and an older Gomez to hint at Charisse's fate as of 2022.
The Time Traveler's Wife sets off at a slow pace, introducing viewers first to Clare and Henry and their dynamic and then delving into the people around them that make up their lives. It's revealed in The Time Traveler's Wife episode 4 that Henry eventually puts his differences with Gomez aside and Gomez becomes his best friend. InThe Time Traveler's Wife episode 5, Henry time travels to 2022 where he gets into a fight with a gang of bikers and it goes poorly for him. 2022 Gomez shows up and saves him, then brings him into a local bar and the two have a discussion where Henry asks Gomez about Charisse in 2022.
The Time Traveler's Wife explains its rules and philosophy of time travel with some frequency. It's suggested that foreknowledge of someone's fate wouldn't change that fate. Time is set. Still, Henry says on more than one occasion that knowing one's future is a bad idea because all futures end in a wall. Essentially, everyone dies. Gomez seems to agree with this take. When asked about Charisse, he gets cagey and doesn't answer the question, instead looking and sounding sad. In the novel, Charisse has no tragic ending. She stays with Gomez, the two marry, and they have three children. The HBO series might well be changing this outcome. Gomez's response could be due to the tenor of their conversation—they're discussing Henry's potential death, after all—but it could also allude to Charisse leaving him due to his lingering feelings for Clare or Charisse meeting some tragic end before 2022.
When Henry dies is established Time Traveler's Wife canon in both the book and the 2009 film. Charisse has never suffered such a fate in any iteration of the story and showing her to do so would not only be a large departure but an odd choice given her significant-but-supporting role in the story. Her death wouldn't add much. If her fate has changed from the source, it's more likely that she's left Gomez due to his pining over Clare. Even with this possibility, older Henry mentions in episode 4 that both Gomez and Charisse are his friends. Given that conversation, the source material, and Gomez's comment that losing Henry would tear his heart out, it's likely that Charisse is alive and well in 2022, possibly with 3 kids.
It's possible that Charisse's fate has changed in The Time Traveler's Wife on HBO, but it feels unlikely. Given all that is known about this adaptation of The Time Traveler's Wife and its loyalty to its source, the possibility that Charisse will suffer some gruesome fate feels thin. Episode 6 of The Time Traveler's Wife airs June 19 on HBO and may offer answers to this and other questions about the fate of its characters.
HBO's The Time Traveler's Wife introduces the possibility that something sinister or sad happened to Clare and Henry's friend Charisse before 2022.Ray Eckman