I Know You'll Miss Me Blind: Ten Superior Psychopaths

By Cindy Davis | Lists | May 31, 2012 |

By Cindy Davis | Lists | May 31, 2012 |

While taking on a film role like Hannibal Lecter or Alex DeLarge calls for an exceptional actor, inhabiting a television psychopath requires sustaining an appealing despicability across an entire season or more—often against a larger cast of characters. In other words, it ain’t easy being mean. The best of the maniacs often manage to elicit our sympathy or laughter right alongside our horror. We despise them, and yet we admire them for earning our hatred. If they get their comeuppance, it’s to our disappointment…even as we cheer. We may say we want them to suffer or die, but if that day does come, it can be more devastating than we’d imagined. And for those lucky few who manage to defy time and again, there’s a secret spot in our dark, little hearts that spreads itself into an evil Grinchy grin.

10. Jack Gleeson as Joffrey Baratheon, “Game of Thrones”

9. James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano, “The Sopranos”

8. Michael Emerson as Benjamin Linus, “Lost”

7. James Frain as Franklin Mott, “True Blood”

6. Denis O’Hare as Russell Edgington, “True Blood”

5. Andrew Scott as Jim Moriarty, “Sherlock”

4. Jessica Lange as Constance Langdon, “American Horror Story”

3. Jon Bernthal as Shane Walsh, “The Walking Dead”

2. Neal McDonough as Robert Quarles, “Justified”

1. Michael C. Hall as Dexter Morgan, “Dexter”

Cindy Davis will always miss…SPOILER…

Shane.