"how many characters" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use this phrase to ask for a numerical answer to a question. For example, "How many characters are in the book?".
Even so, how many characters can one show bring back?
Finally figures out how many characters there are in it.
"You get to see how many characters there are in this film.
"I was totally baffled by how many characters we were looking at who are playing the buffoon.
How many characters from a Thomas Perry book would it take to screw in a light bulb?
The first clue that this is a play from another era — other than the suspenders and the old-fashioned telephones — is how many characters there are.
…that you're approaching kind of a critical mass of how many viable characters you can include?
I just want you all to think really hard about how many disabled characters you can name off the top of your head.
The premise is this: a hard-working cop moves his family to a posh California gated community called The Gates (warning: do not play a drinking game based on how many times characters speak the words "the gates" in the first 20 minutes; you'll die), where everything is perfect.
But queer cinema can be about how many different characters relate to the protagonist's experience.
Until either of those things happen, watch this trailer again and marvel at how many licensed characters from your childhood it crams into a single, cluttered shot.
