10 Most Irredeemably Evil Villains In TV History
The bad, the worse, and the downright reprehensible .
It's been said that all heroes are only as good as their villains, and it's hard to argue with that. A protagonist can be as noble and interesting as you like, but without a worthy adversary lurking in the shadows ready to bring out the conflict, what's the point?
Over the last few years we've seen a massive spike in the quality of TV shows, with bigger budgets, higher production values and an abundance of big-name talent looking to fill the roles. This has led to some brilliant stories being told on the small screen, exploring and developing characters in a way that just isn't possible in a 2-hour movie.
Because of this, shows like The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, and The Shield have been able to present their main characters as the bad guy, but give them enough layers so that we still find ourselves rooting for them in some way. Yes, everyone loves the ambiguous villain, the tragic villain, the anti-villain - but what about the straight up evil bastard villain?
We don't always have to understand the motivations of our antagonists... in fact it's often best if they can't be related to in any way, and exist only to fuel the audience's hatred.
Let's take a look at 10 of the most vile, miserable, amoral, contemptible, despicable baddies in TV history. Spoilers ahead...
10. The Governor - The Walking Dead
Though not quite the monster his comic book counterpart was, AMC's small screen take on the Governor (David Morrissey) still stands out as a particularly nasty piece of work.
Initially charming when first encountered by Andrea and Michonne, as we get to know the leader of Woodbury a bit better the cracks begin to show; and pretty soon it's all heads in jars and zombified daughters. Before the walker apocalypse there's a chance Brian Blake was a decent bloke, but honestly, when you take his actions in the show into account it's just as likely he was always at least a few sandwiches short of a picnic. After various beatings, murders, attempted rapes and biting off of fingers; the Governor's tour of evil culminates with the massacre of his own people.
Then, some redemption for the character is actually teased when the Gov gets himself a new family - but it's not long until his desire for revenge costs him, and more importantly most of their lives.
A heinous villain for sure, but you ain't seen nothing yet...