Abstract : We will overview some conjectures on the mixed Hodge structure of character varieties in the framework of non-abelian Hodge theory on a Riemann surface. Then we introduce and study toric analogues of these spaces, in particular we prove that the toric character variety retracts to its core, the zero fiber of the toric Hitchin map, that its cohomology is Hodge-Tate and satisfies curious Hard Lefschetz, as well as the purity conjecture. We will indicate how these shed light on the $P=W$ conjecture in the toric case as well as for general character varieties. This is based on joint work with Nick Proudfoot.