Harris and Tipper Sinclair
Every branch of the cast of We Were Liars TV series family tree starts with one couple. Harris Sinclair owns Beechwood Island, a private island near Martha’s Vineyard, and its main house, Clairmont.12 The novel calls him a controlling tycoon who enjoys watching his children fight to please him.2 David Morse plays him.3
His wife is Tipper Sinclair, the matriarch of the family, played by Wendy Crewson.31 Her death sets the plot moving in both versions. In the series she dies in her sleep after a Father’s Day gathering, in the flashbacks of episode 2, and in episode 3 her daughters fight over her black pearl necklace at the funeral.1
Harris holds the money, and the money holds the family. In episode 6 he turns the yearly lemon hunt into a contest for the family’s Boston house and for the island itself, and in episode 7 he leaves Beechwood Island to Cadence without telling anyone.1 The gold arrow from Harris to Cadence marks that choice.
Carrie, Penny and Bess and their children
Harris and Tipper have three daughters, and the Elle guide and the novel agree on their order.42 Carrie, the eldest, is divorced and lives with Ed Patil, played by Rahul Kohli. Her sons are Johnny and Will.41 Mamie Gummer plays Carrie, and Joseph Zada plays Johnny.3 The chart draws Carrie’s former husband as Mr Dennis, from the surname his sons carry, since neither version brings him on screen.2
Penny, the middle sister, is played by Caitlin FitzGerald. Her only child is Cadence Sinclair Eastman, the eldest grandchild and the narrator, played by Emily Alyn Lind.31 Cadence’s father left the family after an affair.2 The Elle guide names him Sam Eastman in one place and Sam Easton in another, so the chart calls him only Mr Eastman.4
Bess, the youngest, is played by Candice King and married to Brody Sheffield, played by Dylan Bruce.31 Her eldest daughter is Mirren, played by Esther McGregor, and her younger daughters are Liberty and Bonnie, twins in the novel.32
The fourth Liar is not a Sinclair. Gat Patil, played by Shubham Maheshwari, is the nephew of Ed and comes to the island with him.3 His mother, Maya, visits in episode 6.1 Harris will not accept Ed as a husband for Carrie, and in episode 4 Carrie turns down Ed’s proposal to keep her father happy.1 The dashed red arrows from Harris to Ed and to Gat carry that hostility.
The cast on the family tree
The table of characters below gives each Sinclair with the actor the series credits, so the chart and the cast can be read together. The main cast of the first season is Emily Alyn Lind, Esther McGregor, Joseph Zada, Shubham Maheshwari, Caitlin FitzGerald, Candice King, Mamie Gummer, Rahul Kohli and David Morse, with Wendy Crewson as Tipper.31
Not every family member has an actor in the cast lists consulted. Will and Maya appear in the episode summaries, and Liberty and Bonnie in the Elle guide, but the lists give no actor for them, so the page names none. Dylan Bruce as Brody is a recurring role.1 The series was developed by Julie Plec and Carina Adly MacKenzie for Amazon MGM Studios and Universal Television.1
The second season, ordered in September 2025, adds younger actors for the sisters and for Harris and Tipper in their middle years.1 Those roles belong to an earlier time in the family and stay off this chart.
Where the novel and the series differ
The bones of the family are the same in both versions. The three sisters, their children and Gat stand where the novel put them, and in both the Liars burn Clairmont to end the fighting over the inheritance, and Johnny, Mirren and Gat die in the fire.21
The summers are numbered differently. In the novel the fire happens in summer fifteen and Cadence comes back in summer seventeen. The series calls the summer of the accident summer sixteen and brings Cadence back the following summer.21
Tipper dies at a different point. In the novel she dies between summers fourteen and fifteen, before the summer of the fire. The series shows her death inside that summer, in the flashbacks of episode 2.21
Harris changes too. In the novel he has dementia when Cadence returns. In the series he falls and hits his head during a family dinner in episode 7, and in the finale he admits that he lied about the cause of the fire to protect the family.21
Bess has one child fewer on screen. The novel gives her a son, Taft, after Mirren and the twins.2 Neither cast list consulted includes him, and the Elle guide lists Bess’s children as Mirren, Liberty and Bonnie, using Taft only as Tipper’s maiden name.43 The chart keeps Taft in grey with the mark N, for the novel only.
Ed’s years with Carrie differ slightly. The novel says almost nine years, and TheWrap describes him as part of the family for about a decade.23
The Sinclair family tree episode by episode
Each card gives the changes to the chart at one story point. Read each card after its episodes, since the last card gives away the ending.
Episodes 1 and 2
Summer sixteen
Spoiler note. Nothing beyond episode 2.
- The four cousins and Gat form the Liars, and Cadence and Gat kiss.
- Cadence is found on a beach with no memory, and Tipper dies in her sleep.
Sources1
Episodes 3 to 5
The pearls and the storm
Spoiler note. Family secrets come out.
- The sisters fight over Tipper’s pearls, and Carrie turns down Ed.
- Will goes missing in a storm, and Ed rescues Johnny and Gat at sea.
Sources1
Episodes 6 and 7
The lemon hunt and the will
Spoiler note. The fire is planned.
- Maya visits, Gat finds the lime, and Harris keeps him off the island the next summer.
- Harris leaves the island to Cadence, and she rallies the Liars to burn Clairmont.
Sources1
Episode 8
The truth about the fire
Spoiler note. The ending is told in full.
- Johnny, Mirren and Gat reveal that they died in the fire.
- Cadence refuses to help Harris cover it up and leaves.
How to read this Sinclair family tree
A square is a man and a circle is a woman. A double line is a marriage, a line with a break is a divorce, and a dashed couple line is a partnership without marriage, here Carrie and Ed. Harris and Tipper stand at the top. Carrie, the eldest daughter, stands on the left and Bess, the youngest, in the middle, so that Penny and her daughter Cadence stand on the right beside Gat.
Read this way, the Sinclair family tree has three branches and one outsider. The blue letter L at the corner of a symbol marks the four Liars, three cousins and Gat. A cross appears on Johnny, Mirren and Gat only at the last story point, because the series keeps their deaths from Cadence and from the viewer until the finale.
Each coloured line carries words at both ends. The line from Harris to Cadence reads “leaves her Beechwood Island” in episode 7 and “gives her the pearls” in the finale. To build a family tree of your own book or series, open this chart in the editor or start from the story charts. The symbols are set out in the genogram symbols.
Questions about the Sinclair family tree
Who are the Liars in We Were Liars
Cadence, her cousins Johnny and Mirren, and Gat, the nephew of Carrie’s partner Ed.23
How is Gat related to the Sinclairs
He is not a Sinclair by blood. He is the nephew of Ed Patil, who has lived with Carrie for years.32
Is Taft in the We Were Liars series
The cast lists consulted give no actor for Taft, Bess’s son in the novel, and the Elle guide to the series lists only three children for Bess.43
Who plays Cadence in the series
Emily Alyn Lind plays Cadence Sinclair Eastman.3
People and sources
A page of its own lists all 18 characters on the chart, each with a short note and the sources for it, and the four numbered sources this article cites. It also gives this page as a reference in the APA, MLA, Chicago and Harvard styles, ready to copy.