There’s nothing more satisfying than a glorious baddie. Dominic Corry looks at ten of the most watchable villains to stream on Neon today.
The secret linchpin to any tale worth telling, baddies drive the stakes, and a story often lives or dies on the strength of its baddie.
Since the TV revolution amped up the nuance present in popular storytelling, the term isn’t as binary as it used to be, but the appeal of badness, even in an ostensible protagonist, remains as delectable as ever. Here are ten of the best baddies currently on Neon.
Aemond Tagaryan (Ewan Mitchell)
House of the Dragon
Watch on Neon
Like all good George R.R. Martin baddies, Aemond’s awfulness has a sympathetic motivation—his nephew/cousin Lucerys (accidentally?) stabbed his eye out when he was a child, and he’s been festering with vengeful resentment ever since. Having since bonded with Vhagar, the largest dragon still alive, he is well-equipped to acquire his revenge.
Few creators enjoy texturing their baddies as much as Martin, and there’s an equal case for Aemond’s uncle Daemon Tagaryan (Matt Smith) or older brother/King Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney) being the worst baddie in this show, but Aemond’s simmering sadism makes him the baddest of these bads.
Tony Soprano (James Gondolfini)
The Sopranos
Watch on Neon
Usually the first name cited when discussing the rise of complicated men/antihero leading characters, Tony Soprano was ultimately neither. He was a straight-up murderer and sociopath. Who just happened to have extremely relatable personal problems. Popular storytelling is still processing the nuances of that duality, and a character simultaneously so captivating and so evil hasn’t been achieved since. No, the chemist and the ad guy were never as enthralling.
Sopranos creator David Chase was clearly bothered by how much everyone embraced Tony, and he went out of his way in the latter seasons to explicity express how awful he was. Such is the power of rich storytelling—we can’t help but love the characters if they are rendered authentically.
Chucky (voiced by Brad Dourif)
Chucky
Watch on Neon
Although he is the titular protagonist of this surprisingly gnarly series follow-up to the venerable Child’s Play horror film franchise, nobody is describing killer doll Chucky as an antihero. He’s a complete psycho who loves murder and then some.
The show—which comes from original Child’s Play screenwriter Don Mancini, making it one of the few legacy sequels with a consistent authorship—has arguably gone even further than the movies in terms of just how evil Chucky is. Even for a child’s doll inhabited by the spirit of a deceased serial killer. They really scaled up—season three takes place in the White House. Despite occasionally almost reaching Saw-like levels of gore, it’s all couched in a delightful camp self-awareness than maintains a smile on your face.
Sheriff Roy Tillman (Jon Hamm)
Fargo – Season 5
Watch on Neon
Post-Mad Men, Jon Hamm has not lacked for work (2022’s Confess, Fletch is very much worth checking out), but there’s generally been a sense that he hasn’t been getting material as good as what he was working with on the show that made him a star. It’s a high bar, granted, but now that we know what he can really do, he’s felt a tad underutilised.
Hamm’s performance as “Constitutional Sheriff” Roy Tillman, the main baddie of season five of Fargo, put and end to that sense of underutilisation—nipple rings and all.
Joe Middleton (Cohen Holloway)
Dark City: The Cleaner
Watch on Neon
Very much a baddie in the modern television sense of the word, as in, we follow this character’s perspective, so we’re more on their side than we usually would be. Cohen Holloway’s titular serial killer is definitely a baddie—most serial killers are—but his function in this Christchurch-set show is root out a copycat killer (at somebody else’s….urging), so we’re able to overlook that for now.
It’s not quite a Dexter dynamic, but some of those elements are in play.
Quentin (Tom Hollander)
The White Lotus – Season 2
Watch on Neon
Yes we know, the true baddie of the second season of The White Lotus is horniness, but the plot thread involving Jennifer Coolidge hanging out with a bunch of (seemingly) delightful gays headed by Hollander’s Quentin gives us the closest thing we have to an actual antagonist in this show.
I don’t wanna get into specifics here in case you haven’t watched yet, but the slightly off kilter vibes Quentin gives off throughout hint towards a particular kind of badness specialised in by White Lotus creator Mike White.
Kathleen Coghlan (Melanie Lynskey)
The Last of Us
Watch on Neon
Arguably representing the most significant expansion on the game the show is based on (so far), the multi-episode thread involving various factions in Kansas City gave Lynskey the opportunity to deliver yet another devastating performance as a “freedom fighter” whose unthreatening demeanour hides a scary ruthlessness.
Like Martin’s villains, this one’s motivations are entirely understandable. But she still bad.
The Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger)
The Terminator
Watch on Neon
Having committed an extremely well-received face turn in the larger-scaled sequel, it’s easy to forget just how imposing and sinister Arnie was in the original Terminator, which is newly available to stream on Neon.
The Terminator’s deadly unstoppability makes James Cameron’s 1984 classic almost a horror film. Plus he swears.
Jigsaw (Tobin Bell)
Saw X
Watch on Neon
It feels crazy to say it, but the latest Saw film (a prequel—sorry, interquel—that takes place between the first and second film, back when Jiggy was still alive), sort of seems to be turning Jigsaw into a good guy.
It’s the most well-received Saw movie since the first one, and positions Jigsaw as a vigilante more than ever before, with his victims here kind of deserving what they get. But come on. He’s still very bad.
The Mummy (Arnold Vosloo)
The Mummy, The Mummy Returns
Watch on Neon
When Stephen Sommers’ first Mummy film came out in 1999, it was a time when almost all baddies in big movies needed to be stunt casting. High profile actors hamming it up as a bad guy “for a change”.
Vosloo’s performance here makes a strong case for what can be gained when you cast an unknown and they step up and deliver. It was just one of the many delightful surprises to be found in the enduringly entertaining action adventure.
