Top 30 villains in television history

Photo Credit: NBC

14. Hannibal 

Is it shocking that Hannibal Lecter gets a place on the top television villains list? He’s one of the most notorious bad guys in film history so it shouldn’t be a surprise that this carried over onto the silver screen. Portrayed with a captivating brilliance by Mads Mikkelsen, the series Hannibal acts as almost an origin story to the renowned serial killer. Now a psychiatrist, he spends most of the first season acting as an ally to Agent Will Graham.

He’s a brilliant strategist, who manages to fool almost everyone around him. Casually driving Will crazy through their therapy sessions, he hopes to turn the agent into a killer. He’s a psychological mastermind, and it’s terrifying to think just how easily he can manipulate the human mind. This isn’t just a man who’s toying with a trained officer’s mind, but he also commits murders right under their noses.

Actually, he turns out the be the serial killer that Graham is so desperate to find, and once Will finally figures this out he lands in an insane asylum. That’s right, Hannibal even manages to get the FBI to believe one of their top profilers has gone insane even though he’s the only one to discover just how dangerous their psychiatrist is. Hannibal Lecter has long been a character who has fueled many nightmares since coming to life in Silence of the Lambs and giving him his own television show was bound to scare more than just a few viewers.

Exploring the psyche of this serial killer is both fascinating and creepy, which is why the series has established such a passionate fan base.