Re: Dawn - to be fair, not counting the children (i.e. the first Dawn we meet in the show’s pilot, the later Cleon XIII, and later child!Cleon I in Demerzel’s big flashback episode, the actor playing late teen/young adult Dawn plays less complicated characters than his older selves, and he did pull off four distinctly different versions so far. (Cleon XIV, the Dawn who is colourblind, the Dawn clone the rebels produced who was supposed to infiltrate the Dynasty, the Dawn in s2 who falls in love with Queen Sarbeth, and in the flashback sequence young Cleon I (who comes across as both more selfish and smarter than the later Dawn clones

(Btw, I was going to write that the various Dawns aren’t yet displaying Cleon’s capacity for cruelty which would imply this something coming out only once he has power, but that’s not strictly true - the rebel clone Dawn behaves cruellly towards colorblind Dawn, mocking him in a situation where they both think colorblind Dawn is about to die, and it’s Dawn-age Cleon I who tells the imprisoned Demerzel when she asks him to free her that since he’s about to become Emperor and thus won’t be free again for the rest of his life, it doesn’t feel right for that she should be free, and that she won’t see him again (which he sticks to until he’s Lee Pace shaped and returns to her). So the Dawns do have it in them to be cruel as well, it’s just that the ones we see the most of so far - colorblind Dawn in s1 and Falls-for-Sarbeth Dawn in s2 - don’t act this way but display more Cleon’s capacity for vulnerability and attachment.