Some villains are great, but others are the best TV villains ever.
If you love villains as much as I do and have been looking to watch a show that has some amazing villains that will make you either cringe in fear, curse in anger, or cheer when they are inevitably foiled (or are they?), you're in luck! I
I picked four of the greatest TV villains of all time and shared where you can watch them.
Gus Fring (Breaking Bad)
Of all the villains in TV history, no one made an impression on me as quickly as Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) in Breaking Bad. Plenty of villains have come and gone in the Breaking Bad universe, but Gus Fring is on another level.
For those unfamiliar with Breaking Bad, the series is about a chemistry professor who finds out he has cancer and turns to the drug industry to cook the purest meth out there to get money for his family after his death. His path crosses with Gus for the first time in season 2.
Gus isn’t scary because he’s violent, or gets angry, or has powers. He’s a great villain because he is calculated. Every move and decision he makes is so well thought out and planned so far ahead that nothing can go wrong for him. It’s like he can see inside people's minds to figure out what they are thinking. He is an expert at his craft and knows what he is doing.
What also builds on his intellect is that, beneath it all, he has a menacing nature. He is a vengeful man with scores to settle; he doesn’t always act on his instincts. It is what makes him so simultaneously interesting and terrifying. But when he does use that threat of violence, it sticks with you and makes you never want to cross him. It’s a fantastic crime drama.
You can watch Gus Fring in Breaking Bad on Netflix.
Joffrey Baratheon and Cersei Lannister
I went back and forth for half an hour trying to figure out which of these two Game of Thrones characters to pick. But it turns out, I want to use both of them.
Of course, Game of Thrones follows several potential leaders fighting for the right to rule the Seven Kingdoms after the current king dies, while a descendant of the former ruling family builds an army across the sea. However, the story begins with these two taking the reins once the king dies.
Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson) and Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) are two of the most vile villains on television, for two very different reasons. While you might expect me to pick the White Walkers or the Night King, these two are honestly worse because they’re humans and are actively making choices to destroy other humans' lives.
As king of the Seven Kingdoms, Joffrey has used and abused unprecedented power time and time again, making him even more sadistic than he was when we first met him in the premiere of Game of Thrones. To be honest, he’s like the worst in all of the Game of Thrones universe.
Cersei’s villainy builds over time, starting as resentment toward her husband and turning into an inferno that costs hundreds of lives. Both are equally horrible in many different ways. I suppose the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree, considering Joffrey is Cersei’s son.
You can check out all eight seasons of Game of Thrones on HBO Max.
Negan
The Walking Dead is a famous show. It’s all about a group of survivors trying to live in a world where walkers (zombies) take over. Because of that, the group often runs into specific villains. One of them is Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and his group of Saviors.
Negan lasts a long time in this series after his first appearance at the end of season 6, but he's a great villain. At first he’s just scary and impulsive, but over time you really start to see beneath the layers and learn much more about him. Morgan’s easy charisma as the iconic villain also makes him easy to love. He became so popular that he even got a spinoff, but if you want to check out the first episodes he was featured in, you should watch the show.
You can see all 11 seasons of The Walking Dead on Netflix.
The Trinity Killer
Lastly, I have to mention Dexter's Trinity Killer. While many fans say Dexter dipped in quality later on, I still love the show and enjoy rewatching it. One of my favorite seasons is season 4, during the Trinity Killer phase, with the character played by actor John Lithgow.
The Dexter universe is about a serial killer who works as a blood spatter analyst by day and kills bad people at night to satisfy his “dark passenger” urges, meaning his need to kill people. The Trinity Killer is one of the many horrible people he comes across, and we meet him in season 4.
He is expertly written. He seems so innocent, kind, and sweet, but so much more depth lies beneath who he is and what he does, which makes him an interesting character to learn more about. His interactions with Dexter (Michael C. Hall) make the show, and honestly, I would have loved to see another season dedicated to him.
You can watch all of Dexter on Paramount+.
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