10 TV Performances Way Better Than Anyone Expected

9. Aubrey Plaza - Legion

Prior to Legion (and still after it, to many people) Aubrey Plaza was best known for her role in Parks & Recreation, where she played April Ludgate across all seven seasons.

In Parks & Rec, Plaza is really great, but she's very much the dry as a desert, side-eye-giving, sarcastic comic character. It's an excellent role within the ensemble that Plaza fills brilliantly, and there is a slight oddness to her there too, but in that and most of what else she was in, it felt like you knew what you were going to get.

Then Legion rolled around, and at first, it again seemed like Plaza wasn't going to be pushed too much in her role as Lenny, best friend of protagonist David Haller. Until, that is, we learned of Plaza's true role, with the reveal Lenny was the demon The Shadow King. And that's where Plaza gets to cut loose. Her performance is completely unhinged: she's demonic, manic, utterly terrifying and yet completely captivating. It transforms into the kind of physical performance you might expect from a Doug Jones type, with Plaza disturbingly dancing her way into your nightmares.