Bill Richardson

William (Bill) Richardson is one of the main characters in Little Fires Everywhere. He is portrayed by Joshua Jackson and a younger version by Matthew Barnes. He lives with his wife, Elena Richardson, and their four children, Lexie, Trip, Moody and Izzy.

History
Bill Richardson is a lawyer, so it is assumed he went to law school as one does. It is not mentioned when he met Elena, but they would have had to have been married some time as their eldest child (Lexie) is 17 years old, as she has just started her senior year.

Throughout the Series
In the first episode "The Spark" we see that there has been a fire that burnt down the Richardson house and when a police officer, Lou, is inquiring about who started the fire to their home. Lou starts asking about Izzy insinuating that Izzy may have been the one to start the fire. Bill is protective and says that Izzy had nothing to do with it.

Flashback to four months earlier we can see the Richardson house still standing and the family getting ready for the day. Elena is cooking breakfast and getting the kids ready while Bill grabs coffee and when Elena asks about Izzy getting down for breakfast he is seen defending her still. Later in the episode he expresses concerns about renting to Mia Warren. We can also see that Elena and Bills relationship is ruled by Elena's calendar and planning and that every attempt that Bill tries to have sex with his wife Elena uses her schedule to get out of it. Mentioning that they can have sex on days that aren't Wednesday or Saturday. Throughout the episode you can see Bill defending Izzy once when she doesn't go to her Youth Orchestra and again when she burns her hair, telling Elena that she shouldn't let Izzy 'get a rise out of her'. Bill insinuates that maybe Elena should see a therapist instead of Izzy.

Relationships
At the start of the show, he is happily married and has a somewhat perfect life. He is married to his wife, Elena Richardson, and they have four children together.

He is portrayed as the typical family man who works at a high paying job to provide for his family. It is shown that he spends a lot of time at work and leaves a lot of the actual ‘house work’ to Elena. But he is an active parent to his kids even if he has a more hands off approach to try and balance his wife’s controlling nature when it comes to their children.

Bill also has a particularly close relationship with Izzy. Bill is often seen defending a lot of Izzy’s actions to Elena. And it is clear that due to Elena’s disapproval of Izzy actions and choices Bill is parent Izzy is more comfortable with. This is shown when Izzy is more comfortable talking to her father about her relationship with April Jarvis. Similarly, Bill is protective of Izzy and seems to accept her. But it is clear that despite this Bill does stay silent through Elena’s treatment to Izzy.

Bill clearly relies on Elena heavily which can be seen when Elena goes off to New York during which time Bill is clearly struggling. And again shown in a flashback episode “The Uncanny” when’s Elena leaves Bill calls her best friend Linda McCullough to help with the kids.

In Episode 8 “Find A Way” he describes his life as giving up everything so that his wife could have ‘the perfect picture’.

Appearances

 * "The Spark"
 * "Seeds and All"
 * "Seventy Cents"
 * "The Spider Web"