Deadwood: Ranking 15 Cast Members Worst To Best
9. Joanie Stubbs
Joanie had been many things over the course of the show. Madam of the Bella Union, brothel owner, schoolhouse proprietor and the owner of the Bella Union. She had taken on many roles with the hope of achieving some independence, but that had always proved difficult.
She seemed to be the only person that Cy Tolliver cared for other than himself and she always appeared kind and caring towards others. However, Joanie's life was plagued by tragedy, from her horrible childhood to her close friends being murdered in Deadwood camp by Francis Wolcott.
That is why Joanie's arc is one of the most satisfying in the show as we started to see her acquire some of the happiness, she had long been without, in her developing romantic relationship with Jane Canary. Joanie and Jane found each other at a time when they both needed companionship and their dynamic felt both genuine and tender hearted. Their reunion and subsequent rekindling in Deadwood: The Movie is one of the highlights of the whole series.