Why are we so drawn to fictional psychopaths? Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the scariest and most unforgettable psychopaths in television.
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00:00Clearly, you found him as distasteful as I did.
00:04On the contrary.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the scariest and most unforgettable psychopaths in television.
00:12These characters can be from a series or a miniseries, but we will be excluding representations of real people like Jeffrey Dahmer. Spoilers ahead.
00:19For what I did, I should be dead.
00:23Number 20. Tom Ripley. Ripley.
00:25You have the same shoes that Dick and I have.
00:27Do I? I don't think I've seen Dickie's.
00:32Oh, he wears his all the time.
00:35In 2024, Netflix had a go at The Talented Mr. Ripley, which had previously been adapted as a movie in 1999 starring Matt Damon.
00:42While Damon's iteration was still sociopathic, he was a bit warmer than Andrew Scott.
00:46This version of Ripley is truer to the book. Much colder, distant, largely unemotional, and totally psychotic.
00:53He's a dedicated con man through and through, not caring who he hurts or victimizes.
00:57His crimes include the likes of forgery, fraud, identity theft, and yes, even murder. Multiple murders.
01:02This Tom Ripley's not afraid to get what he wants, and if you have something that he wants, he certainly isn't afraid to kill you for it.
01:08His Rolex. His clothes. His Ferragamos. What else have you got, Tom? His money? His Picasso?
01:18Number 19. Nina Myers, 24.
01:20I can't let you go. Not yet.
01:26We're still mad about what Nina did to Jack. 24 pulled off a fantastic twist in its first season,
01:31revealing that Nina was a traitor selling powerful government intel to terrorists.
01:35As if that wasn't bad enough, she also personally killed Jack's wife, Terry, by tying her to a chair and shooting her in the chest.
01:41Nina operates with deceptive charm, seducing and eliminating her targets seemingly without a second thought,
01:46not to mention betraying friends and murdering those who get in her way.
01:49Plus, you know, there's the whole collaborating with terrorists thing. Driven entirely by violent self-interest, Nina is a true psychopath.
01:56Because you're worse than a traitor, Nina. You don't even have a cause. You don't believe in anything.
02:03But you would sell anyone and everything out to the highest bidder.
02:06Number 18. Killgrave, Jessica Jones.
02:08What are you doing in Jessica's apartment with all the lights off?
02:11The lights are off to suggest no one is here, but you couldn't take a hint.
02:17This series is much darker than other entries in the MCU, containing many serious themes and a general storyline centered around trauma.
02:24At the heart of it all is Killgrave, who has a very disturbing past with Jessica Jones.
02:28Killgrave is able to manipulate anyone he wants thanks to his mind control powers, and if they fight back or break free, he simply kills them.
02:34His past with Jessica is filled with abuse. He destroys people's lives by making them do what he wants,
02:39and he even has people maim and kill themselves for his own personal amusement.
02:43This guy gives Thanos a run for his money in the psychopathy department.
02:46So you came here for a confession?
02:48I came here to end the collateral damage you've been piling up around me.
02:52But confession was the last ditch.
02:54Number 17. Natalie Buxton, Bad Girls.
02:57Oh, don't you worry, sir. I've got big ideas for this library.
03:01And you've got more than just a clever pair of hands at your service.
03:05It's all right there in the title. These are Bad Girls, the inmates of a South London prison called Larkhall.
03:10The series has a huge cast of characters, all of whom land in different places of the moral spectrum.
03:14Some are good people, some are iffy, and some are outright evil.
03:17Enter Natalie Buxton, the baddest of them all.
03:19Natalie is a human trafficker who uses a school as a front and often makes the children a subject of her horrific crimes.
03:25Her past is so terrible that she becomes the target of the other inmates,
03:28but that doesn't stop her from becoming the local prison mastermind, making crystal meth and blackmailing guards to get away with it.
03:34Number 16. Dennis Reynolds, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
03:37Because if the girl said no, then the answer obviously is no.
03:40But the thing is, she's not going to say no. She would never say no because of the implication.
03:44Like a more extreme Seinfeld, this show follows some not-so-nice and incredibly selfish people,
03:49but Dennis Reynolds makes them all look like saints.
03:51Like a true psychopath, Dennis appears relatively normal on the outside, even handsome and charismatic.
03:56He dresses well and tries his best to be cool and seductive,
03:59but he can barely conceal the intense hatred he has for humanity.
04:02Dennis has delusions of grandeur and is extremely narcissistic, but that's the least of it.
04:06It's heavily implied that Dennis is a predator.
04:08His D-E-N-N-I-S system is all about stalking and harassing women,
04:12and he may be a murderer, maybe even a serial killer.
04:15Yes, this show is a comedy.
04:17Dude, what's all that stuff you're grabbing?
04:19Tools! Tools! Duct tape, zip ties, and gloves! I have to have my tools!
04:25Number 15. Martin Keeney, Lost.
04:28I need you to tell me exactly how many people are on that island and where every single one of them is.
04:33This show is all about moral ambiguity, with many of the characters having both good and bad traits.
04:38But not Martin Keeney. This guy's all evil all the time.
04:41Despite his limited screen time, Keeney certainly made an impression on the fans
04:45and is now regarded as the series' most despicable villain.
04:48He's so disgusting that he even made us feel bad for Ben, and that's no easy feat.
04:52Keeney's nothing but a paid mass murderer,
04:54being hired by Charles Widmore to raid the island and kill everyone who occupies it.
04:58He has a job to do, and he sets out to do it,
05:00even if that includes executing teenagers in cold blood.
05:03I'm not coming out of this house.
05:05So if you want to kill her, go ahead and do it.
05:10Number 14. Ralph Cifaretto, The Sopranos.
05:13It's my fault she's a klutz!
05:19When even a gang of murderous criminals calls you psychotic, you know you're not right in the head.
05:23Joe Pantoliano was born to play bad guys,
05:26and he won an Emmy for his performance as the deranged Ralph Cifaretto.
05:29Ralph is a sadomasochistic gangster,
05:31driven by nothing but self-interest, money, and power.
05:34While he seems to care about his children,
05:36Ralph doesn't have much regard for other lives,
05:38having beaten a pregnant woman and maybe burning a horse alive.
05:41His actions are so deplorable that they slowly erode Tony's psyche,
05:44and he eventually beats Ralph to death for just generally being a D-bag.
05:52Number 13. Villanelle, Killing Eve.
05:55You want me not to kill someone.
05:58You do know what I do, right?
06:00By their very nature, assassins hold some degree of psychopathy,
06:03being paid to take human lives.
06:05That's the case with Villanelle, a Russian hitwoman
06:07who works for a shadowy organization called The Twelve.
06:10Villanelle is a psychopath to a T,
06:12being both a mass murderer and a master manipulator,
06:15whether it's mimicking accents or toying with her victims.
06:17Villanelle only displays what she wants people to see,
06:20and then usually just kills them anyway.
06:22She killed dozens of people throughout the series,
06:24and often in horrifically brutal ways.
06:26These aren't quick shots to the head.
06:28No, these kills are personal, bloody, and wickedly disturbing.
06:32Because you will never understand how much harder it is
06:35to be nice and normal and decent than it is to be like you.
06:39Number 12. Oh Il-nam, Squid Game.
06:49The Korean show that took the world by storm,
06:51Squid Game is an interesting examination
06:53of class, desperation, and moral quandaries.
06:55The series features a type of villain we don't often see,
06:58an old man nearing the end of his life
07:00and not really caring what he does with the time he has left.
07:03This is Oh Il-nam, the creator of the Squid Games,
07:05who poses as a frail old man within them.
07:08Il-nam is personally responsible for thousands of deaths,
07:11and his death games were created for no other reason
07:13than his own sick amusement.
07:14He's also a terrific manipulator,
07:16having hidden in plain sight with the people he planned to kill
07:19and garnering their sympathy along the way.
07:26Number 11. Oliver Saxon, Dexter.
07:44While Dexter himself started out as a psychopath,
07:46he arguably overcame those tendencies by the series' end.
07:49But not Oliver Saxon.
07:50Dexter himself refers to Saxon as a perfect psychopath,
07:53being highly manipulative, completely devoid of empathy,
07:56and a perfect mimic of ordinary human emotions.
07:59But inside, Saxon is utterly empty.
08:01He feels nothing and is a highly successful serial killer,
08:04having murdered 16 people, including his own girlfriend and mother,
08:07not to mention Dexter's adoptive sister, Debra.
08:17Number 10. Todd Alquist, Breaking Bad.
08:24I might get cold.
08:26No, I don't mind. I just...
08:28I just want to see the stars.
08:30There are a few characters throughout Breaking Bad
08:33who could be considered psychopaths,
08:35but even the most hardened villains display some degree of humanity.
08:38Not Todd.
08:39Todd is utterly devoid of compassion
08:41and doesn't seem to love or even care for a single soul,
08:43other than himself, of course.
08:44Todd seems nice enough on the outside,
08:46but he's a complete psychopath with a very itchy trigger finger.
08:49He kills Drew Sharp after the train robbery,
08:51keeps Jesse prisoner,
08:53and later executes Andrea, leaving Brock an orphan.
08:56Don't let the quiet and polite exterior fool you.
08:58This guy's sadistic.
08:59Just so you know, this isn't personal.
09:02Number 9. Jim Moriarty, Sherlock.
09:05I've given you a glimpse, Sherlock,
09:07just a teensy glimpse
09:09of what I've got going on out there in the big, bad world.
09:12Another Andrew Scott character, another psychopath.
09:15The guy's good at being cold.
09:17In Sherlock, he portrays one of the most famous villains
09:21and Sherlock's arch-nemesis, Jim Moriarty.
09:23He's one of those villains who cause havoc and pain
09:25simply for the fun of it,
09:26and he makes it his personal goal to torment
09:28and eventually kill Sherlock Holmes.
09:30It's implied that Moriarty has always been a psychopath,
09:32having killed Carl Powers as a boy
09:34and going on to live a life of general anarchy.
09:37Scott's boyish good looks and smooth talking suggest otherwise,
09:40but Moriarty is evil incarnate,
09:42and Sherlock stops at nothing to bring him down.
09:45In a world of locked rooms,
09:47the man with the key is king
09:49and, honey, you should see me in a crown.
09:57We're supposed to be together, aren't we, Norman?
10:00Are we?
10:02Yeah.
10:04Yes, we are, Mother.
10:06Forever.
10:08The show asks how a psychopath is born
10:10and whether their affliction is a result of nature or nurture.
10:13The Norman Bates we see in Psycho
10:15is in the throes of his madness being a successful serial killer
10:18and often playing his deceased mother.
10:20Bates Motel is his origin story,
10:22showing how a troubled but polite young boy
10:24becomes the Norman Bates we all know.
10:26Freddie Highmore is terrific in the role,
10:28at first being mildly sympathetic before falling into total madness.
10:31While he is a tragic character to some degree,
10:33he's also a serial killer who takes the life of his own mother
10:36and hides her corpse at the motel.
10:38Let's not forget that.
10:42Mother.
10:44Number seven, Marlo Stanfield, The Wire.
10:46All right, first thing.
10:48We go hard at Webster Franklin's crew.
10:50Gave him a chance to get on a tit, he passed.
10:53Now we bang on his corner a couple of times till he fold.
10:56Considered one of the greatest shows ever made,
10:58The Wire is a complex examination of urban society,
11:01ranging from high-ranking government officials
11:03all the way down to street-level drug dealers.
11:05One of the main antagonists is Marlo Stanfield,
11:07a cunning drug kingpin who runs the seedy streets of Baltimore.
11:10He values nothing but money and power
11:12and sees his subordinates as mere pawns
11:14to be controlled and manipulated.
11:16He's also indirectly responsible for mass murder.
11:18With his crew systematically eliminating
11:20those of Avon Barksdale and Stringer Bell,
11:22Marlo even hides his corpses in vacant homes
11:25just to add a further degree of nastiness
11:27to the violent proceedings.
11:29So what's up, man? What's up with you otherwise, you know?
11:31Uh, the game's a game.
11:35Always.
11:37Number six, Lalo Salamanca, Better Call Saul.
11:40H-Howard? Howard!
11:43Howard, you need to leave.
11:45The prequel to Breaking Bad was much calmer than its parents' show,
11:49but it introduced the most psychotic character
11:51in the fictional universe.
11:52This is Lalo Salamanca, cousin of the barbarous Tuco.
11:55The psychopath Gene seems to run in the family,
11:57but Tuco punching a dude to death
11:59looks like child's play next to what Lalo gets up to.
12:02Lalo is much smarter than his brasher cousin,
12:04using charisma as a tool and displaying
12:06an extraordinary degree of intelligence and manipulation.
12:09But he's also just as violent
12:10and takes dozens of lives throughout the series,
12:12including that of the completely innocent Howard Hamlin.
12:15We asked how Jimmy McGill became Saul Goodman.
12:17The answer, mostly, is Lalo Salamanca.
12:20Please, just tell us what you want.
12:24Like I said, to talk.
12:27Number five, Joffrey Baratheon, Game of Thrones.
12:30You sound like a little cat mewling for his mama.
12:33Princess, don't cry.
12:35We could have put Ramsay Bolton here,
12:36but we have to give this spot to the bratty child
12:38that everyone hates, Mr. Joffrey Baratheon himself.
12:41Of course, Joffrey isn't just a bratty child.
12:43He's a genuine sadist,
12:44making all the other villains throughout this show
12:46look as noble and likable as Ned Stark.
12:48Joffrey really has no redeeming qualities.
12:50He's violent, spoiled, abusive,
12:52and completely without empathy,
12:54or even a capacity to love.
12:55Joffrey takes great delight in tormenting his victims,
12:57whether it's belittling Tyrion
12:59or killing Ross just for the fun of it.
13:00He's also a terrible and uncaring ruler,
13:02as evident throughout much of the second season
13:04where he lets King's Landing fall into chaos.
13:07We've had vicious kings,
13:08and we've had idiot kings,
13:10but I don't know if we've ever been cursed
13:12with a vicious idiot.
13:13You can't.
13:14I can, I am.
13:15Number four, Lorne Malvo, Fargo.
13:17Or you could go get in your car and drive away.
13:22Why would I do that?
13:24Because some roads you shouldn't go down.
13:27We don't care how psychotic Lorne Malvo is.
13:29We just can't get over that haircut.
13:31Expertly played by Billy Bob Thornton,
13:32Malvo is a harbinger of chaos,
13:34arriving in the small town of Bemidji
13:36and stirring up the hornet's nest.
13:37Malvo is a total enigma,
13:39as we know very little about his personal life,
13:41motivations, and morals, or lack thereof.
13:43He just wants to sow discontent,
13:44cause anarchy, and kill people,
13:46and that's exactly what he does.
13:47The first season contains many biblical allusions,
13:49and Malvo is often compared to Satan himself.
13:52It's not hard to see why.
13:53This guy's pure evil through and through,
13:55a walking metaphor for death more than a human being.
13:58Lester, is this what you want?
14:02Number three, Homelander, The Boys.
14:04But with you and I together,
14:06he wouldn't stand a chance.
14:09Nobody would.
14:10A brilliant, hilarious, but ultimately brutal
14:12subversion of the superhero genre,
14:14The Boys has enjoyed incredible popularity,
14:16and Homelander's the breakout star.
14:18Everyone loves a good villain.
14:19Despite his heroic veneer,
14:20Homelander's an out-of-control psychopath,
14:22obsessed with his own self-image
14:24and engaging in some of the most deplorable violence
14:26ever seen on television.
14:27Wanted murder aside,
14:28Homelander's also just a disgusting individual,
14:30being unabashedly narcissistic
14:32and holding supremacist beliefs,
14:33believing that non-soups are mud people.
14:35He's an unrepentant psychopath,
14:37the complete opposite of a hero.
14:39Well, PR is drafting a response as we speak.
14:42Acknowledgement, apology, action?
14:43No, no, no. Apology? No.
14:46Number two, Frank Underwood, House of Cards.
14:49Moments like this require someone who will act,
14:52who will do the unpleasant thing,
14:55the necessary thing.
14:58The first scene starring Frank Underwood
15:00sees him killing a dog,
15:01and it only gets worse from there.
15:03There have been many duplicitous politicians on TV,
15:05but none like this.
15:06Stopping at nothing to become President of the United States,
15:09Frank will do anything in his power
15:11if it means attaining more power.
15:12Lying, conniving, and deceiving are the least of his crimes.
15:15He's also personally committed murder on two occasions
15:18and has allowed many more to die through political scheming.
15:20He's the ultimate Machiavellian,
15:22a symbol of political corruption made incarnate.
15:24We can only shake our heads and gape at the lows
15:27to which Frank Underwood digs.
15:28That I wasn't a part of someone's...
15:33Finish your thought.
15:37Part of someone's murder.
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15:561. Hannibal Lecter – Hannibal
15:59I'm curious as to what fate befell Dr. Fell
16:03to see you here in his stead.
16:06One of the most famous fictional psychopaths in history,
16:09Hannibal Lecter is a monster of a man
16:11and has long been regarded for his dreadful behavior.
16:13Mads Mikkelsen does a tremendous job
16:15taking the reins from Anthony Hopkins,
16:17which was certainly no easy feat.
16:19This iteration of Hannibal is much colder
16:21than the one portrayed by Hopkins,
16:23offering little in the way of outward charisma.
16:25He's an unemotional robot,
16:26utterly devoid of love or adoration
16:28and focused on little more than twisting Will's psyche.
16:31Of course, Hannibal's also a seasoned killer
16:33and his many grotesque crimes are captured
16:35in vivid detail throughout the course of the series.
16:38And yes, that includes many instances of eating.
16:41Your legs are no good to you anymore.
16:44You've got a T4 fracture of the vertebra.
16:47This is a far more practical use for those limbs.
16:51Which of these characters do you find the scariest?
16:53Let us know in the comments below.
16:55Aren't ordinary people adorable?
16:57Did you enjoy this video?
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