10 TV Shows Where The Hero Became A Villain

2. Walter White - Breaking Bad

It'd be impossible to talk about TV heroes who became villains without discussing the case of Walter Hartwell White, who in the past decade or so has become the archetype for this trope. I mean, the show IS called Breaking Bad, after all.

When the series kicks off, Walt is a very likeable, sympathetic figure. It's not just that he's cruelly diagnosed with cancer - something that the vast majority of viewers will have had contact with in one way or another, and can at least empathise with on a basic, human level - but that his goal is to simply pay his medical bills. Sure, he's making drugs, but it's only because there's no other option available, and he's doing it for the right seasons. Or so he tells himself, and we tell ourselves.

Over the next few years, there are a number of potential breaking points for when Walt fully breaks bad. It might be when he kills Krazy-8. Or how about when he lets Jane die? Or that he continues long after he's made enough money? Or orchestrating the removal of Gus, and then the murder of his entire crew?

Ok yeah, it's the Jane thing, but the point is that almost the entire way through, the show makes it possible to find excuses for Walt's actions for so long, until eventually it just straight up reveals the truth: he enjoys it. He loves being Heisenberg, and is so far past the point of doing this for medical bills or his family. He's doing it for him. Mr Chips has become Scarface. He's broken bad.