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The Cast Of 'Misfits' Is Slowly Taking Over The World

By Emily Cutler | Lists | June 14, 2016 |

By Emily Cutler | Lists | June 14, 2016 |


I hope that by this point, I don’t have to tell you that you should watch Misfits. The British series about a group of teen delinquents who gain superpowers during a freak electrical storm (yes, that’s the standard synopsis) should be mandatory viewing for anyone who considers themselves a fan of the Golden Age of Television. This is in part because the show proves that taking an outside-the-box approach to sci-fi leads to some of the most innovative storylines in recent history. By that I mean the show is just balls-out crazy. Is a guy’s superpower that he controls dairy?! Really? Fucking dairy? It somehow manages to be fun and compelling even though the writers and showrunners clearly don’t concern themselves with things like “consistent character development” or “coherent plots” or “wait, a minute, didn’t that scene only take place in someone’s vision of the future? How do you have video footage of an interview that never took place?” None of it makes any sense, and it’s still great TV.

The other big reason to watch the show, though, is that the cast has decided they want to be in All The Things. If you’ve watched any decent TV or seen any half-decent movies lately, there’s a good chance you’ve seen at least one cast member. For a low-budget, admittedly poorly-constructed sci-fi show, it’s done a great job of launching a bunch of careers. It’s worth the 28 hours or so investment so you can say “Oh, yeah, I loved them since they were on Misfits”:

Nathan Stewart-Jarrett

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As Curtis Donovan, Stewart-Jarrett was actually one of the longest starring cast members. (Oh, right, Misfits kind of has a New Class Thing that happened, but they still manage to handle it pretty well. Don’t think about it too much.) While not yet as famous or prolific as some of the other cast members, Stewart-Jarrett did star on Britain’s other great, recent sci-fi series Utopia. Meaning Stewart-Jarrett should be popping up more and more as people realize how great he is, and should be a staple for trivia nights.

Antonia Thomas

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I’m not saying the fact that Antonia Thomas has a few crazy-hot sex scenes is the best reason to watch Misfits, but I am arguing it’s a good reason to watch Misfits. Thomas is also amazing in the terribly named, but surprisingly good Scrotal Recall. Which you should catch up on before the second season hits. You can now list your two favorite, British, anti-romcom shows (along with Catastrophe). Admit it, you kind of love being that guy.

Iwan Rheon

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So a lot of those hot sex scenes Thomas has? They’re with Iwan Rheon aka Ramsay Bolton aka surprisingly the very worst person in all of Westeros. You will feel weird about Rheon after watching The Misfits. You’ll actually feel weird about Rheon on account of that lack of character consistency thing I mentioned. But you will have a lot of good-confused feelings about Rheon if you’re into hot guys. Plus, it turns out Rheon speaks fluent Welsh and is a musician. Meaning, you might have to put torturing, murdering, raping, father-killing Ramsay Goddamn Bolton on your Pajiba 10 List. Think about that.

Natasha O’Keeffe

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Natasha O’Keeffe as Abbey Smith is one of my favorite things ever. The character, that character’s backstory, O’Keeffe’s portrayal. I loved everything about it. If you like yourself at all and want good things for you, don’t let anyone spoil anything about this character. O’Keeffe is as good as Lizzie Stark in Peaky Blinders, and actually great as the wholly unnecessary Emelia Ricoletti in Sherlock: The Abominable Bride. If at all possible, I’d highly recommend they keep O’Keeffe on for the fourth series, and permanently bar Steven Moffat from writing anymore fanfic.

Ruth Negga

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Ruth Negga’s six episode story-arc left so little an impression that neither I, nor seemingly the other characters on the show, remembered her after the fact. The latter I’ll chalk up to the writers inability to hold a thought for multiple seasons. The former is just that I was a fucking idiot. Negga’s since had a very small role in World War Z, played Raina on Agents of Shield, is kicking all of the ass as Tulip on Preacher (yay!), and played Lady Taria in Warcraft (ya … eh. It was decent.). Basically if Negga isn’t the Next Big Thing, I’ll hold you all personally responsible.

Joseph Gilgun

If you’d told me while watching Misfits that the break-out star would be the vaguely weird looking, slightly creepy dude, I’d have called you a liar. But if you told me the best spin-off potential from Breaking Bad is the comic relief-y lawyer, I’d have said the same thing, so apparently I’m bad at guessing things. But Gilgun is pushing hard to become the most famous, respected actor of the bunch. Shortly after Misfits, Gilgun had a role in the criminally under-seen Pride, and then decided to join Negga on Preacher as the “119-year-old vampire from Dublin city” Cassidy. This summer he’ll star with John Leguizamo and Walter White himself in The Infiltrator. If I had to make a guess now, I’d say Gilgun will end up as the often-nominated-never-wins character actor we all finally appreciate way too late in his career. And the thought of letting that happen?

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Looks about right, Rudy.