From Evil Queens to Likeable Vampires: 6 TV Villains We Love to Hate

There are villains and then…there are villains. There are the ones we despise, those we’d love to see fall through an appropriate portal and disappear forever from our lives. And then there are those we just dislike, and barely. The ones we can’t help but cheer on from time to time, the ones that makes us laugh. The ones we’d miss.

Here are my favorite ones, in no particular order.

1. Raymond Reddington, The Blacklist

The premise of the The Blacklist is that Raymond Reddington is the villain that you like; but oh, does James Spader make it easy. I’ve been a fan of this show from the beginning, and I can honestly say I’m here for Red, not for the good guys. In this particular case, the good guys are boring. They’re unoriginal, and, even worse …they’re dull.

Enter Raymond “Red” Reddington. The one who’s always right. The one who makes us laugh. The one that makes us care. Villains? If this is a villain, what we do need heroes for?

2. Angelus/Spike, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

I’m cheating here, but I couldn’t pick one over the other, because the reason that we love the version of Spike we got in the last few seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is directly related to Angel’s evil twin, Angelus.

It’s not the same road we’ve taken with the other villains. We loved Angel, and, for the brief time that we knew him, we hated Angelous. But we knew our beloved Angel was still there, deep down, so we could never truly hate him. Neither could Buffy. And, oh, he broke our hearts when he came back.

Then there’s Spike, who we never expected. Who grew on us. (Like a fungus. Exactly like a fungus). He was never one of the good guys, and when he started to become good-guy adjacent, we didn’t buy it. Turns out, he was. And he wasn’t. He was Spike. Good things, and bad things, all rolled into one.

3. Cersei Lannister, Game of Thrones

I’ve gone through the scope of emotions with Cersei Lannister. From “OMG what a bitch,” to feeling bad for the fact that she was essentially sold into marriage with a man who was still in love with a dead woman, and then to feeling nauseated by her and Jamie, all the way to hating her with a passion for what happened to almost all the Starks.

Then, when I thought I was done, when she was firmly into the HATE FOREVER category, Season 5 happened. I still don’t like her, but I feel bad for her. I still don’t want her to win, but boy, the only thing I want less is a show without her.

4. Malcom Merlyn, Arrow

I hesitated a lot before adding him to the list, mostly because I don’t believe the whole Malcom-needs-to-be-around-for-reasons thing has been sufficiently explained. But that’s not really the characters fault; it’s obviously not the actors fault. And the truth of the matter is, that no matter what the writers throw at him, John Barrowman always, always gives us a perfectly delightful Malcom Merlyn.

This is the thing with Merlyn. I HATE him. I really do. I have never felt anything but hate for him. But, he also makes me laugh. And even when it makes no sense whatsoever, I want him in every possible scene.

5. 3XK, Castle

You know what I really, really love about 3XK? Other than the fact that he’s seemingly impossible to kill, because every time he appears we think we’ve gotten rid of him for good, and then there he goes, popping back again, I love that he’s the creepiest dude on this supposedly lighthearted show.

Castle is not a dark show. It’s not a show where you routinely expect your favorite characters to suffer. At least, not very much. And even when they do suffer, the show tends to deal more with the after-effects than with the actual anguish.

Except when Jerry Tyson, aka 3XK, is concerned.

He brings out the feels. The characters get all intense, the pace of the show picks up, and things …things happen. Good things. Bad things. All sorts of things. And isn’t that what we want a villain for? To up the ante?

3XK is supposedly dead now, but if I’m honest, heading into what is possibly the last season of Castle, I really wouldn’t mind getting a final crack at his particular brand of crazy.

6. The Evil Queen, Once Upon a Time

It’s been a long time since we called Regina by her original moniker, and even though she’s mostly reformed these days, we still love the villain with a tragic side story and a hell of a lot of sass version of her. (We can’t imagine the heroic version will be devoid of zingers, but in a way, we’ll kind of miss the I’ll-say-what-I-want-regardless-of-feelings thing that she had going on as a bad guy.)

The best thing about her days as the evilest villain who ever existed (Unless you count Rumplestilskin), was that we got enough backstory to feel bad for Regina, even when we hated her. She was the ultimate villain you wanted redeemed. And now that she sort of is, she’s the ultimate villain you want as more than a hero. Because the Evil Queen was fun. Despite our best intentions, we did like her.

Which of these 6 villains is your favorite, and who would you add to the list? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Lissete Lanuza Sáenz

Lawyer. Writer. Columnist. Geek. Falls in madly in love with fictional characters. Hates the color yellow, misogyny, and people who are late. Can always be found with a book. Watches an absurd amount of TV every week, often, while eating coffee ice cream. She has no regrets. You can check out her blog here: Absurday. Lissete is a senior writer for Tell-Tale TV. Follow @lizziethat