Legion Season 2: Ranking Every Character From Worst To Best
2. The Shadow King
After Plaza's performance as the Shadow King in season 1, it was going to be tough for the face of the real Amahl Farouk to come in and replace her. Thankfully, Navid Negahban proved to be the perfect choice. He's another performer who exudes that unique mix of charisma and malevolence.
What Negahban also does, surprisingly, is to humanize Farouk. Under him, the character isn't simply pure evil. Similar to Magneto or Apocalypse, he's a mutant so powerful he believes he is a god and it's just his rightful place to rule over the "ants" - humanity. It's also hinted that his villainy stems from being described as such by white men (e.g. Professor X) for centuries, so he decided 'what the hell?' and became one.
With David eventually taking over from him as the big bad, the finale casts Farouk in an intriguing new light - almost like a parent disappointed by their child. Presumably he's going to go all Hannibal Lecter in season 3 as Divsion 3 will have to turn to him for help in stopping David.