James Royce

Evil-doer
Full Name	James Royce
Alias	John Royce
Origin	Designated Survivor
Occupation	Governor of Michigan
Powers / Skills	Leadership
Goals	Overthrow the United States Government (failed). Destroy Tom Kirkman's life (partially succeeded, albeit posthumously).
Crimes	Civil rights violations Conspiracy Treason
Type of Villain	Power Hungry

“	Reasonable and thoughtful, huh?	„
	~ Royce upon being arrested.

James Royce was an antagonist in the first season of the ABC/Netflix series Designated Survivor. He was portrayed by Michael Gaston.

In 2017 Royce was serving as the Governor of Michigan when the United States Capitol was destroyed during the State of the Union Address in a terrorist bombing perpertrated by the True Believers. This act killed the President, the Vice President, almost all of Congress, nearly the entire cabinet, and all of the Supreme Court. Being the designated survivor Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Tom Kirkman was named President.

Royce decided to take advantage of the situation in order to pull Michigan out of the Union and establish his own personal fiefdom in the state. He ordered the rounding up of all Muslims in Michigan on the theory that the bombing was the work of Muslim terrorists and this would help uncover the terrorists responsible for the bombing. Turning a blind eye to the brutality of the police conducting the round up, this act violated the civil rights of the Michigan residents, many of whom were lifelong US Citizens. Royce also refused to acknowledge that Kirkman was the lawful President of the United States. Working with members of his state's national guard, Royce defied lawful orders from the President to cease his unconstitutional activities in Michigan.

Kirkman sent his aide Emily Rhodes to Michigan to talk to the governor and convince him to come to Washington, supposedly to iron out their disagreements. Arriving in Washington Royce was greeted by Kirkman who told him that he believed that all Americans had rights regardless of race or creed. Kirkman then told Royce that he had violated the rights of Michigan's citizens and defied a lawful order from the President before ordering the US Marshals to take Royce into custody on charges of treason. The arrest left Rhodes fuming at the President that he lied to her. Kirkman explained that he arrested Royce to send a clear signal to all other state leaders that the Federal government still existed, he was still the lawful President, and that there would be consequences for state officials who defied lawful orders from him or other Federal officials.

Presumably, Royce was convicted and sent to prison or executed. However his ultimate fate was not revealed in the course of the series. The next Governor of Michigan was far more cooperative with the Federal government as Kirkman worked to rebuild all three branches of government from the ground up and stabilize the situation.

Trivia

• The IMDB page for Designated Survivor has the character listed as John Royce, however President Kirman can be clearly heard calling him James Royce when having him arrested. [1]
• Royce's party affiliation is not stated in the course of the series so it is unknown if he was a Republican or a member of the Democratic party. However dialog regarding Royce from the Republican Congresswoman Hookstraten, Royce's frequent quoting of Reagan, and his placing state authority ahead of Federal authority indicates he was a Republican.