17 Favorite Female TV Characters from 2016
13. Maeve Millay (Westworld)
The brothel madam is a classic character in any Western, but Maeve becomes so much more on the first season of Westworld. As she slowly becomes aware of what she is and copes with tragic memories from her previous loops, she becomes determined to take her fate into her own hands.
Maeve’s scenes are some of the best in many episodes thanks to the incredible amount of depth and emotion actress Thandie Newton brings to the role.
14. Rebecca Bunch (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend)
Rebecca Bunch may be an extremely flawed character, but that doesn’t make her any less important — or any less enjoyable to watch. She’s a brilliant lawyer who left a successful life behind in search of happiness, and she found a new home and new friends in the process. She’s also already learned a lot about herself, even though she’s still got some work to do.
15. Kensi Blye (NCIS: LA)
Kensi Blye on NCIS: LA has had a rough year. Season 8 opened with a mission gone wrong, leaving Kensi injured and placed in a medically induced coma. After waking up, the strong and independent agent is now recovering from a spinal cord injury.
Unlike similar storylines you might see on procedurals, NCIS: LA isn’t glossing over Kensi’s recovery. Instead, they are allowing the audience to follow her through her journey as she recovers. It’s raw, and moving, and certainly a storyline Daniela Ruah can sink her teeth into.
16. Temperence Brennan (Bones)
Brennan is tough, brilliant, and a character who has grown and changed over the years in phenomenal ways. Just her willingness to become more open-minded makes her one of our favorite female characters, but add to that her passion for helping people and fighting crime, her perseverance, and her loyalty, and there’s just no one else like her.
17. Marcia Clark (The People vs. O.J. Simpson)
Playing a real person is a task that Sarah Paulson is able to pull off convincingly in The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. Pauls0n portrayed Marcia Clark, the prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson trial and she was the character audiences were riveted by this spring.
The series addresses a lot of sexist and Clark’s role as a female prosecutor. Throughout the limited series, you see Clark dealing with office politics. And if you have any doubts about the show’s authenticity, the real Marcia Clarke is on-record talking about how it nails issues of racism and sexism.
Who were your favorite female characters from 2016? Let us know yours in the comments below, and be on the lookout for more of our favorites from 2016!
*Additional Contributions by: Nora Williamson, Katie Houlis, and Ashley Bissette Sumerel.
Lauren Busser
Lauren Busser is an Associate Editor at Tell-Tale TV. She is a writer of fiction and nonfiction whose work has appeared in Bitch Media, Popshot Quarterly, Brain Mill Press Voices, and The Hartford Courant.
10 comments
You mean Clarke”My people´s doormat” Griffin, Oh yeah she had such a development this year!, like they didn´t completly screw a character that showed so much potential on season 2, just so people wouldn´t judge the rest of the characters that were from Arkadia.
Even Stephen King complained about her apologizing to everyone all the time (even though it would be almost everyone else that should’ve been apologizing to her lol).
If with the “was under the control of an A.I.” you were referring to Lexa, you definitely didn’t watch the show I’m afraid. In case it wasn’t clear for some of the viewers, the show specified it TWICE, with the voice of two different characters (first Titus and then Lexa) that it was not like that. The chip only enhanced what was already inside of Lexa. It didn’t control her in any way. But anyone who watched the show would know this…
If you didn’t refer to Lexa, sorry, but if you did, please get your fact straight before writing an actual article, because otherwise you’re make the entire site look unprofessional ^_^
Umm, you do know that Lexa was not under the control of an AI, right? If you are going to write an article at least do your research before smearing a character that meant a lot to so many people.
Lexa was not under the control of an AI! You should do your research better or watch the show itself. It literally said in the show A COUPLE OF TIME THAT LEXA WASN’T UNDER THE CONTROL OF A.L.I.E. If you don’t like a character you can just say so and not make up a stupid excuse.
I’m sorry, but the article has nothing to do with Lexa. The character was dead long before Raven,Abby etc. were under the control of the AI. That’s the point Lauren is making. She is using “characters” in a broader sense of the word. She is not attacking Lexa or what she stood for. I find it funny that you are engaging in girl on girl hate, which is exactly what Marcia Clark faced. I applaud your enthusiasm for Lexa and her storyline; and while I am all for gay and bisexual storylines, I am not sure a plot driven show is the place for you.
Nonsense! How about Lexa?
She is the most favorite character in show!!!
And you forget about Commander!
It’s not fair!
Sclerosis?
Not everyone likes Lexa though. Myself included.
Love seeing Clarke Griffin on this list! She is such a great character.
The comments under this article show two things:
1. Clexa fans (or at least a good majority of them) don’t really care about Clarke, otherwise they would be happy that at least she made the list, not be mad that Lexa didn’t. Newsflash, whether you like it or not, Lexa was a side character, Clarke was the lead.
The writers put everyone else on the sidelines in 3A to squeeze Clexa in, and made Lexa the spotlight (even compared to Clarke), but that doesn’t change the fact that technically Lexa was never the main.
2. All they see (and care about) is Lexa, which connects to point 1. If you really watched the rest of the show, you’d know, that Raven was possessed by Alie. But of course you’d know that if you watched past 307.
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