10 Scariest Characters In Non-Horror TV Shows
1. Marlo Stanfield (The Wire)
David Simon and Ed Burns’ Baltimore masterpiece is filled with outsized characters - loquacious kingpins, colourful gangsters, killers with scores of bodies to their resume. But the show’s most terrifying character across all five seasons is a young man operating under his real name who barely twitches a muscle.
Marlo Stanfield appears in season three after we’ve established that the Barksdale crew has West Baltimore’s drug market locked down. That doesn’t last long. The younger Stanfield quickly takes over the scene through a combination of smarts and ruthlessness, and by the time we get to season five, the city is his.
Jamie Hector’s performance is mesmerising, with Marlo almost a completely blank slate. It’s never clear why he wants to rule the Baltimore drug game so much; the man is simply addicted to the power, and willing to do anything he has to in order to maintain it. He’s an unassuming figure to look at, but when he rolls up on a block, far larger men run in fear.
His lack of obvious depth is indeed the most intriguing thing about him. We know so little about Marlo, where he comes from, what he wants. But we absolutely believe in his ability to seize power, and to wield it mercilessly.