What makes television villains great? Is it the charisma or the wanting to see him or her get theirs in the end? Or the unbelievable acts of violence they caused on their victims? The ability to mesmerize viewers so they cannot turn away.
Whether it is imaginative catchphrases or monologues ingrained in the brains of TV generations, who are the greatest villains ever to grace our screens? So many to choose from, too hard to narrow it down. So, what about the top television villains over the past 20 years. Here is a list of the 1op 10 television villains of the 2000s:
10 Eli Rowa Pope (Joe Morton) – Scandal
As his legs danced as if they had a mind of their own or maybe he cannot contain himself as he offered this when he thought that the government was spying on him. With saliva building in his mouth like that of a wild animal ready to feast, Eli Rowan Pope (Joe Morton) shouted, “Recognize and respect. Command ain’t nothing but a title. Father is who I am."
The leader of Command was as ruthless as any villain on television. The father of Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington), Eli was the commanding officer of the CIA’s division of B613 who had the President’s son killed because of his jealousy between the President (Anthony Howard Goldwyn) and his daughter. As he so eloquently stated, “He took my child, so I had to take his.”
9 Al Swearengen (Ian McShane)– Deadwood
Some villains you love to hate, but others, deep down, have a heart of gold. Yes, they do awful things, but their intentions are virtuous. Deadwood’s Al Swearengen (Ian McShane) was one such villain.
Owner of the Cricket and Gem Theater in Deadwood. Swearengen was a murderer (many times over), a pimp and a gangster, the protagonist of the small city in South Dakota. He intimidated young women into prostitution with threats and physical harm.
But Deadwood was his town to use for however he wanted. And if someone challenged that, especially the rich, along with is fear of the Pinkertons, they felt his veracity, protecting the town’s citizens as his own sheep to the slaughter.
8 Sylar (Zachary Quinto) – Heroes
Self-named after his favorite brand of a wristwatch, Zachary Quinto’s Gabriel Gray was his most famous role before his role as James T. Kirk’s right-hand man, Spock of J.J. Abraham’s Star Trek.
A lover of clocks, Sylar had the curious nature to take them apart to see how they work. Ironically, this is what he would do to humans to discover how they work. Sylar, a serial killer with super-powers who hunted other superheroes to absorb their capabilities, would study the brains of other humans with exceptional abilities to duplicate their powers.
7 Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) – Hannibal
The calm, cool, debonair, handsome forensic psychiatrist with a foreign accent played by Mads Mikkelsen was hard to see to the average eye as a cannibalistic serial killer.
Tormenting FBI profiler Will Graham (Hugh Dancy), Lecter did not value the life of other humans. Physically, he dissected others, but mentally the disassembling of the mind of Graham was just as malicious and purposeful. The intellectual game of cat and mouse with the only person he felt that truly understood him was the key to the show's success.
6 Ben Linus (Michael Emerson) – Lost
Oceanic Flight 815 passenger Henry Gale, or as Lost’s fan know him, Ben Linus (Michael Emerson) was the textbook definition of do not judge a book by its cover. He was extremely well-mannered but had the faultless ability to lie and the power of manipulation.
Born in the woods outside Portland, Oregon and moving to the island with his father after his mother died while giving birth, Ben Linus, the leader of “The Others”, would become the island's greatest protector and ultimate bad guy.
Linus would do anything to protect the island including sacrificing his own daughter, killing his father and the Darhma initiative with poisonous gas and kidnapping the baby of a scientist, threatening to kill the infant if she ever returned.
5 The Governor (David Morrissey) – The Walking Dead
With an eye patch on his left eye and a country accent to match, Brian Blake otherwise known as The Governor (David Morrissey) has been one of the best villains to grace the television screen over the past twenty years.
The town of Woodbury was his haven and he killed any intruders to save his sanctuary. And if anyone impeded his vision, then their demise was inevitable.
After the fall of Woodbury, the war between him and Rick Grimes brought out the worst in him including tying Glenn (Steven Yeun) to a chair and locking him in a room with a walker.
4 Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon) – Games of Thrones
The bastard son of Roose Bolton. Sadistic in nature, short in stature with boyish looks and a smile to match, Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon) was both merciless and cunning.
He epitomizes one of his famous quotes, “if you think this has a happy ending, you haven’t been paying attention” as he continued to torture Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen). From filling his head with hope as he took Theon on a fictitious escape route only to find out the one who was leading him through this hopeless endless maze was his capture. Ramsay continued to torture him, dismembered him until finally he broke him treating like one of his proud pets in a dog cage and convinced him that this was a favorable outcome and renamed him, Reek.
3 Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) – The Walking Dead
Dressed in a black leather jacket with a burgundy scarf and a blood-stained bat wrapped in barbed wire named Lucille, Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) became the most well-liked notorious villain in modern television history.
With a memorable whistle and unforgettable monologues to match as witnessed in the Season 6 Finale of The Walking Dead. “Anybody moves, anybody says anything cut the other boy’s eye out and feed it to his father. And then we’ll stop. You can breathe, you can blink. You can cry. Hell, you all going to be doing that.”
2 Gustavo “Gus” Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) – Breaking Bad
The “Chicken Man," one of the coolest, calmest villains ever witnessed, Gustavo “Gus” Fring (Giancarlo Esposito), the owner of Los Pollos Hermanos franchise, was a crime boss of epic proportions. The loss of his brother Max fueled his drive as a drug lord and the killing of his rival’s entire family.
Although Gus was composed and well-mannered, he was a sociopath, a psychopathic personality with antisocial behavior. As demonstrated when he cuts his associates, Victor’s throat in front of Walter (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse (Aaron Paul) making them watch as he bled out. Victor struggled for his life while Gus holds him not saying a word. Then throwing the dead body at the feet of Breaking Bad’s two main characters.
1 Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) – Games of Thrones
Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) the member of the House Lannister, Queen of the Seven Kingdoms Westereos top the list as television’s best villain of the 2000s. Having an incestuous affair with her twin brother that resulted in the birth of her children enforced her behavior of loving nothing more than her offspring, except power. And she would do anything, yes anything, to keep and protect the two.
Cersei, after being punished, stripped naked and forced to walk in shame through the capital with everyone to see, vowed to take vengeance by blowing up the Sept during a trial, killing the High Sparrow, Margaery, Loras and the rest of the Small Council. Her youngest son who was the king, killed himself leaving Cersei to rain as the first-ever Queen Regent of the Seven Kingdoms.
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