William Adama

For information on William Adama's Original Series counterpart, see Adama (TOS).

For characters with the same name, see: William Adama (disambiguation).

For other people named the shortened version of William, see: Bill (disambiguation).

William Adama
William Adama as the commander of the last battlestar, Galactica.
Name	{{{name}}}
Age	61 (at the time when he reached New Earth)
Colony	Caprica, of Tauron descent
Birth place	{{{birthplace}}}
Birth Name	William Adama
Birth Date	{{{birthdate}}}
Callsign	Husker
Nickname	Bill (as a child and later in life) Billy (during the First Cylon War) The Old Man (later in life)
Introduced	Miniseries
Death	Presumably on Earth, c. 148,000 BCE
Parents	Joseph Adama † (father) Evelyn Adama † (mother)
Siblings	Tamara Adama † (half-sister) William "Willie" Adama † (half-brother)
Children	Leland J. Adama (son) Zak Adama † (son)
Marital Status	Divorced (Carolanne Adama †); Temporarily co-habitated with Laura Roslin aboard Galactica
Family Tree	View
Role	Commanding Officer, battlestar Galactica Military leader of the civilian Fleet
Rank	Admiral
Serial Number	204971
Portrayed by	Edward James Olmos Nico Cortez (TRS: "Razor") Markus Towfigh (CAP: "Apotheosis") Luke Pasqualino (Blood and Chrome)
William Adama is a Cylon
William Adama is a Final Five Cylon
William Adama is a Human/Cylon Hybrid
William Adama is an Original Series Cylon
Related Media
		@ BW Media
Additional Information
William Adama in the separate continuity
William Adama discovers the Cylons' experiments on humans during Operation Raptor Talon (TRS: "Razor").

Admiral William Adama, a veteran of the First Cylon War, is the commanding officer of the battlestar Galactica, and has the longest tenure as the highest ranking officer in the Colonial Fleet after the Fall of the Twelve Colonies.

Character History Pre RDM

Childhood

• William Adama was born in 57 BCH on Caprica, the son of Joseph and Evelyn Adama (TRS: "Hero") He was named after his deceased half-brother and their paternal grandfather (CAP: "Apotheosis"). His father was a criminal defense lawyer who later specialized in civil liberties cases, while his mother was an accountant (TRS: "Hero") and Joseph's personal legal assistant (CAP: "Reins of a Waterfall"). He was raised in Qualai, a small coastal community (TRS: "Hero").
• The extent of William Adama's knowledge regarding his half-siblings and his father's previous marriage, or his father's involvement with Daniel Graystone and the creation of the Cylons, is not known.
• He was still in school at the beginning of the Cylon War (TRS: "Razor Flashbacks," Episode 1). During his childhood, he was considered small for his age and would often be beaten by his peers (TRS: deleted scene, "Exodus, Part II").

First Cylon War

• Adama served late in the Cylon War as both a Raptor and Viper pilot, his first assignment being on Galactica. He was given the call sign "Husker" by his first co-pilot, Coker Fasjovik, who assumed Adama grew up on a farm due to his gung-ho enthusiasm for the service. Adama's first mission behind enemy lines was in a Raptor undergoing an unknown mission (TRS: "Razor Flashbacks," Episode 1; "Sine Qua Non," "Blood and Chrome"). During his time on Galactica, he had a romantic relationship with Jaycie McGavin (TRS: "Razor Flashbacks", Episode 1). He proved a gifted pilot, shooting down his first Cylon on his very first combat mission, for which he received a commendation (TRS: "Razor Flashbacks", Episode 3; "Hero").
• In the last week in the war, Adama served on Galactica when the battlestar was boarded by Cylon forces. He recalled to his friend Saul Tigh a dangerous Cylon tactic that tried to turn the battlestar's power against itself (TRS: "Valley of Darkness", deleted scene).

Post First Cylon war

• Furloughed by Colonial Fleet after the war's end, Adama found work as a deck hand on a merchant fleet civilian freighter, where he met Saul Tigh, who became a long-time friend (TRS: "Scattered", "Valley of Darkness").
• Adama married Carolanne Adama, whose family had political influence with the defense subcommittee and pulled to get Adama reinstated to the Colonial Fleet. Adama (now a major) himself arranged for Tigh's reinstatement two years later.
• William and Carolanne Adama had two sons, Lee and Zak, before the pressures of Adama's career and the time he spent away from home in active service began to place a strain on their marriage, and the two eventually divorced (TRS: Miniseries, "A Day in the Life").
• While elder son Lee showed promise as a Viper pilot, younger Zak Adama did not. Kara Thrace, Zak's flight instructor and lover, certified him for basic flight despite his poor flight skills. Later, Zak Adama was killed in an operational flight. Zak's death would cause a rift between Commander Adama and his older son for nearly three years until Thrace admits her error to both of them.
• Adama rose through the ranks of the peacetime fleet, becoming the executive officer of the battlestar Columbia, before becoming the commander of the battlestar Valkyrie. About six years prior to the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, he was ordered by Admiral Peter Corman to escort a stealth scout ship over the Armistice Line. The mission was a failure, and in an attempt to cover up, he ordered the ship and its pilot shot down. Ever since, he had felt guilt, both over shooting down his own pilot and over the possibility that his actions resulted in the holocaust. According to Tigh, this mission brought his star into descent, and he was given command of Galactica as a graceful way of easing into retirement.

Notable Assignments before the Second Cylon War

• Several notable assignments and reassignments during his 45-year career in the Colonial Fleet (TRS: "Hero"):
  • D6/21311 - First commission: battlestar Galactica fighter squadron
  • E4/21312 - Commendation for shooting down Cylon fighter in first combat mission
  • D5/21314 - Mustered out of service post-armistice
  • R6/21317 - Served as deckhand in merchant fleet and as common [...] aboard inter-colony tramp freighters
  • D1/21331 - Recommissioned to Fleet
  • D6/21337 - Major: battlestar Atlantia
  • R8/21341 - Executive Officer: battlestar Columbia
  • C2/21345 - Commander: battlestar Valkyrie
  • C2/21348 - Commander: battlestar Galactica

• 
  William Adama around the age of 4 (CAP: "Apotheosis")
• 
  Ensign William Adama at the beginning of his career]] (Blood and Chrome).
• 
  William Adama during the end of the first Cylon War (TRS: "Razor").
• 
  Adama silently screaming as he is informed of the bad bones in Galactica (TRS: "No Exit").
• 
  A somewhat older William Adama and his two sons.
• 
  Adama aboard an inter-colony tramp freighter (TRS: "Scattered").

Character History TDM

The Fall of the Twelve Colonies

Commander Adama and Colonel Tigh plot a course to Ragnar Anchorage in the Miniseries.

• At the time just prior to the Fall, William Adama serves out his final weeks as commander of the battlestar Galactica. After some 50 years of service, the historic warship is in the process of being decommissioned, and it is one of Adama's final duties to formally hand her over to the Colonial Ministry of Education, which would operate the ship as a living museum and educational center commemorating the original Cylon War.
• As a retirement gift, several members of Galen Tyrol's deck crew find and restore Adama's old Viper Mark II.
• On news of a renewed Cylon attack, Adama's first thoughts are, "Dead. We're all dead" (TRS: "Home, Part II"). Despite this, as well as the presumed loss of his ex-wife in Caprica City, he unhesitatingly takes control of the Colonial Fleet after Picon Fleet Headquarters is destroyed and Admiral Nagala is killed.
• At Ragnar Anchorage, Adama deduces that Leoben Conoy's "allergies" are really the effect of Ragnar's cloud's electro-magnetic radiation upon the silica pathways composing a Cylon brain, despite the fact that the existence of biological Cylons is presumably unknown to humans at that time.
• Once President Roslin convinces Adama the futility of fighting against overwhelming odds, and with what may be the last 50,000 humans who remain anywhere, he makes the switch to the more tactical thinking that keeps the Colonial Fleet at least one step ahead of their Cylon pursuers.
• From the outset, he is savvy enough to give every single survivor of the devastating attack on the Colonies a reason for hope for the future: the legend of Earth. This falsehood comes back to haunt him as the weeks continue, as Roslin is aware of this lie to the crew and states this privately to Adama.

From the Colonies to Kobol

• Adama continues to f

Commander William Adama's nickname, used by officers aboard Galactica ^(TRS: "33")

Re-imagined Series definition: denotes any time preceding the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, e.g. 40 BCH (see: Timeline (RDM))

Re-imagined Series definition: initial skills training; can refer to basic military indoctrination, and arms and ground training ^{(TRS: "Fragged")}; and basic flight training ^{(TRS: "Miniseries")}

Re-imagined Series definition: a nickname used as a substitute for an aviator's given name in wireless communications and in conversation