The Backdrop People
I first heard about the concept of the “backdrop” people through a Dolores Cannon video. I found this idea absolutely intriguing. If you haven’t heard of this theory before, Dolores explains that our life consists of mostly fill-in people or backdrop people. A simple way she explains this is the idea of comparing life to movie. In a movie you have a lot of extras, or people who basically fill in space to make the movie more realistic. These extras often don’t have any lines, or maybe just a small speaking part.
So in life, the backdrop people are basically soulless beings (extras) who fill in space and make life more realistic. Dolores believes that your consciousness is what “calls” in these backdrop people in when needed. In other words you create them and they vanish when they are no longer needed. You are the “living” consciousness and they are not.
The backdrop people tend to have less empathy, and do not even conceive any type of spiritual-awakening information. They tend to react with anger when you question their ideas or motives. They are not programmed to question anything out of the norm.
Now, when I dug deeper into this idea, I found many others talking about the same concept, with a few small differences. Some people call the backdrop people NPC’s (non-player characters), like in video games, and I have also heard the term “soulless” beings. I don’t like that one! I have also seen the term “AI robot”. Whatever you call them, they are biologically just like the living consciousness people, so you can’t tell the difference, but they are somehow “hooked” into the matrix and running on an extremely complex code.
Anyway, these other theories tend to use the matrix idea as their basis. They believe that the backdrop people are soulless beings who have been created by, and are a part of, the matrix. They cannot evolve, wake up, or escape from the matrix because they ARE the matrix. They are programmed by the matrix and this can’t be changed by you or anyone else.
I do find this interesting, and in a way it does make sense. Have you ever seen people who seem to be on autopilot? Eat, work, sleep, party on the weekend, and repeat. They never seek more. They never question reality or why they are here. Maybe they CAN’T seek more, it’s just not in their program. Could these be backdrop people? Maybe that question some of us ask, “why can’t everyone else see what’s going on?!” makes a bit more sense now.
As I learnt more about this theory, I struggled with the idea a bit. I honestly still have trouble with the idea that there could be soulless people. Anyway, when I sat down and pondered this a bit more I started thinking about dreams.
When you dream you create your own “backdrop people”. When you fall asleep, you are the “living consciousness” or the “game player”, and every other person in your dream is created by you. They are backdrop people or NPC’s.
I know there are people who believe that you travel out of your body at night and interact with other beings. And that could be true, but I think those are the dreams that you don’t necessarily remember. I’m just talking about your common dreams, the ones you have every night based on what happened during the day.
But back to my point. Those other people you create in your dreams are basically backdrop people. When you wake up, you continue to exist, you are the living consciousness and the backdrop people are not. They cease to exist.
But what could the purpose be for backdrop people? It could be to sustain the illusion of this world/matrix/dream, whatever you want to call it. Some say they are here to mirror the living consciousness. To show us what we are not. Or what we do not want. Another idea is that they are there to teach and support the “real” people. Maybe it’s all of the above and more.
A question that came up for me while learning about this is, “am I a backdrop person?” How would I know? I came to the conclusion that if I were a backdrop person, this information wouldn’t cross my path. I would assume the backdrop people have been “programmed” not to absorb this information and if you did mention this to one of them, they would laugh it off or call you crazy.
If backdrop people do exist, I think one very important thing would be to never assume anyone is a backdrop person. Keep a skeptical mind on something like this. It’s great to learn about these ideas, but I think it could be dangerous if some people start to devalue others because they believe they are backdrop people. Just remember, even if backdrop people exist, they are a part of you and really are you, just like when you dream. So the idea that we are all connected, really rings true.
It’s really an interesting theory to think about. Maybe some people just aren’t meant to wake up. Maybe they are simply there to fill in space, to teach us, or to help with the experience here. Maybe they can’t wake up because they are programmed to be part of the matrix.
I’m still on the fence about the backdrop people. But maybe it helps me to understand why some people just don’t see what others do. I find it super interesting to go to a shopping centre and watch people’s behaviour with this theory in mind. You start to notice the very robotic behaviour in many. They seem to be on autopilot.
Although we can’t prove or disprove Dolores Cannon’s theory, it’s definitely something to consider. Especially when you think about your dreams. We all create “backdrop” people in our dreams! Isn’t this life just a dream? Row, row, row your boat!


