TV’s greatest anti-heroesoften make for more interesting and compelling characters than the conventional heroes we’ve been conditioned to root for by generations of onscreen stories. Contrary to the classic heroic protagonist Hollywood carried over to the screen from European and American literature, anti-heroes can be anything but honest, courageous, or noble.
Yet, the verybest TV anti-hero charactersget us to sympathize with them just the same, despite their shortcomings and moral foibles. In fact,the flaws in these characters often make us identify with themeven more than we do with traditional heroes, by making them appear more realistic and authentic as human beings.
Just as the greatestTV villains are those characters we love to hate, a standout small-screen anti-hero is someone we hate to love, but ultimately must submit to the feelings they engender in us. Television’s flawed protagonists are slightly easier to create than thebest movie anti-heroes, as TV writers are generally afforded more screen time to appeal to our sympathies.
Nevertheless, it’s still quite the challenge to get us onboard with a character’s harmful actions, ambiguous motives, or destructive mistakes.The very best TV anti-heroes are just relatable enoughto make it work.
10Dexter Morgan
Dexter
Vigilante serial killer Dexter Morgan is someone who takes human life as part of his daily routine. Inspired by thetrue story of Brazilian mass killer Pedro Rodrigues Filho, Dexter’s victims tend to be the perpetrators of serious crimes themselves, but that doesn’t make it any easier for us to watch him dismember their bodies.
It’s Dexter’s aspiration to live as a normal person without so much killing that makes us root for him.
At the same time,Dexter’s titular anti-hero has a profoundly traumatic childhood backstorythat makes him worthy of pity, and helps us understand his readiness to kill. Even more than his motives, it’s Dexter’s aspiration to live as a normal person without so much killing that makes us root for him.
9Devi Vishwakumar
Never Have I Ever
Mindy Kaling’s coming-of-age seriesNever Have I Everwas a hugely popular Netflix series, in large part thanks to its anti-heroic protagonist Devi Vishwakumar. At first, it might seem a little extreme to describe a high-schooler dealing with the many-sided pressures of adolescence as an anti-hero, but there’s no question that Devi fits the bill.
Devi Vishwakumar was the very first screen role ofNever Have I Ever’s lead actor Maitreyi Ramakrishnan.
During the course of the series, Devi’s temper repeatedly gets the better of her. Even worse,she two-times love interests Paxton Hall-Yoshida and Ben Gross, sabotages her rivals, and frequently lies to her mother and her school.
Despite all her mistakes, though, Devi’s actions are impossible not to sympathize with. She’s only trying to find herself and fit in, andwe want nothing more than for her to fulfill her dreams.
8Michael Scott
The Office
The Office’s Michael Scott has to be one of TV’s most adorable anti-heroes. Michael is so utterly naive, with such a childlike need for love and attention, that we let him get away with pretty much anything, yet still find a special place in our hearts for him. Even the worst things he does don’t turn us against him.
The Scranton branch manager for Dunder Mifflin is prone to problematic behavior and can be downright abusive (especially if your name happens to be Toby Flenderson). Somehow, we forgive him all of it, becausewe know his heart’s almost always in the right place, and he deeply cares about those around him.
Aside from his big heart, Michael Scott has next to no heroic qualities. He’s still the hero ofThe Office, however, becausehis flaws make him hilariously likableand agonizingly sympathetic as a character.
7Eleanor Shellstrop
The Good Place
Eleanor Shellstrop has no idea how she’s ended up in the Good Place after her death, and for good reason. Eleanor was selfish and inconsiderate in life, and is made to pay for her behavior during the first two seasons ofThe Good Place. Even so,she’s impossible not to love, particularly as she brings some much-needed normality to the afterlife.
Eleanor Shellstrop’s character trajectory evolves over the course ofThe Good Place. While she starts out as an archetypal anti-hero, she transforms into a more conventionally heroic figure later in the series.
It soon turns out that Eleanor is humble, kind, and a strong leader, too. She’s more than earnedher soulmate byThe Good Place’s final episodes, and is actually a much better person than she gave herself credit for. In that sense,there’s a little bit of Eleanor Shellstrop in all of us.
6Tony Soprano
The Sopranos
During the course ofThe Sopranos,Tony Soprano kills eight peopleby his own hand, and has various others murdered. He’s an unscrupulous mafia boss who’ll stop at nothing to protect his criminal enterprise. Yet, from its very first episode,The Sopranosmakes us take Tony’s side.
We feel the pressure he’s under, having to run an underground organization in a world where it’s quite literally kill or be killed. When the legendary show finally reaches its conclusion after six seasons,we watch in horror as Tony Soprano appears to be on the brink of getting whacked. There’s nothing we want to happen less.
5Villanelle
Killing Eve
A deadly assassin capable of killing pretty much anyone,Villanelle gives us plenty of reasons to root against her, especially while she’s the womanKilling Eve’s titular protagonist is trying to catch. However, we soon find ourselves coming to understand Villanelle better, even when we still don’t know exactly who she is.
Killing Eve’s ending is so devastating precisely because of the strong feeling we’ve developed for Villanelle throughout the series.
As her complicated relationship with Eve Polastri turns romantic, our hearts jump for joy, and we can imagine no more satisfying twist for the story.Killing Eve’s endingis so devastating precisely because of the strong feeling we’ve developed for Villanelle throughout the series, against our better judgment.
4Omar Little
The Wire
UndoubtedlyThe Wire’s best character, Omar Little is a tragic figure throughout the show’s five seasons. We don’t support many of his actions, but we feel for him regardless of the crimes he’s wrapped up in.
Omar is also one of the most complex TV characters ever written, too, with his manifold layers gradually revealed to us episode by episode. A gay man in a world of extreme machismo,Omar has certain undeniably heroic qualities that contrast starkly with his ruthless criminality. Beyond his sexuality, he’s an altruistic, caring, and loyal friend to his inner circle.
3Fleabag
Fleabag
WhileFleabagends with more questions than answers, the answers it does give us throughout its story suggest a title character with major failings as a friend, sister and romantic partner. The final twist ofFleabagseason 1 is one of the most shocking reveals of any TV show, precisely because Fleabag has turned our sympathy for her against us.
Fleabag is named after the show’s creator and lead actor, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, whose family nicknamed her “Flea”.
We never stop rooting for her, though, and hope against hope that something works out in her love life.It helps that she lets us into her head by regularly breaking the fourth wallwith intimate asides, making us feel like we have a privileged position in her story.
2Tommy Shelby
Peaky Blinders
Tommy Shelby is a cut-throat gangster who seems to be hellbent on destroying anyone and anything in his path throughoutPeaky Blinders. He’s alsoan attentive family patriarch— a responsibility he took on of his own accord — as well as a tender romantic partner, and a victim of war with profound unresolved trauma.
Tragedy befalls Tommy with almost every step forward he takes in life. Despite the fact that we have little in common with him,we feel his pain as though it were our own, thanks largely to an extraordinary performance by Cillian Murphy.
Tommy Shelby’s best quotes inPeaky Blindersreveal an impressive intellect too, making him a fiercely intimidating figure all around. Perhaps we wouldn’t want his life, but we wouldn’t mind having some of his abilities.
1Walter White
Breaking Bad
Breaking Badcenters on a masterful character transformation, the likes of which Shakespeare would have been proud to write. Themoment when Walter White changes into Heisenbergis definitive, but the process takes place gradually, almost imperceptibly, until we can’t help but see it happening.
Because of how this change in Walt happens, we still remember the spineless family man from the start ofBreaking Bad’s first season, and manage to root for him at his very worst. At no point in the show do we ever turn against Bryan Cranston’s iconicTV antihero, which is the real secret ofBreaking Bad’s genius.
