Lauren’s Top 10 Sci-fi, Fantasy, and Horror TV Characters of 2020

This year has wreaked nothing but havoc on so many fronts, but television seems to be one arena where stories are thriving. 

In a year like this, it feels like stories are more important than ever, and it especially feels good to find worlds with fantastical elements that allow you to step outside of the world at large.

Luckily there were several shows this year, that put forth unique narratives that got at the heart of what it means to be human. Many involved witches, magic, and power, others were love stories masquerading as ghost stories, and a few were adventurous science fiction plots that dared to make us question our reality. 

In each of these worlds, there have been characters with complex storylines, that show true leadership, and even managed to make me laugh.

Here are my top ten science fiction, fantasy, and horror TV characters of 2020. 

1. Zelda Spellman (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina)

If I was in a jam and needed to call someone, then, without a question, it would be Zelda Spellman.

She starts off Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Part 3 with The Church of Night recently decimated by Father Blackwood.

Zelda Spellman was low-key serving as the directrix of The Academy of Unseen Arts trying to convince the council that everything is fine despite the absence of Father Blackwood.

Not only is she keeping up a professional charade, but a bigger problem is brewing. The coven’s magic is off, and Zelda spends much of the season trying to find a solution. She ultimately finds it in a dream with her brother Edward, and when she awakens, she summons the Coven to the Cain pit where she calls on Hecate and resurrects Hilda. 

The relaxed and in-charge Zelda sitting in the mortuary opposite Mambo Marie and confidently saying that they’re now The Order of Hecate is the kind of energy viewers of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina deserve in a show that staked a claim as feminist entertainment. 

Here’s hoping Zelda can keep her newly branded coven intact as the Eldritch terrors come into town in Part 4. 

2. Nicole Haught (Wynonna Earp) 

Wynonna Earp Season 4 is a gift to 2020, even if we only got to see the first six episodes. While all the characters have strong storylines, Nicole Haught’s stands out the most. 

Wynonna Earp Season 4 Episode 2, “Friends in Low Places,” reveals that Wynonna, Doc, and Waverly, had been trapped in the Garden of Eden for over a year and a half. In that year and a half, Nicole experienced some trauma that is so relatable in the socially-distanced world of 2020. 

Like most people, Nicole’s life has been upended. She’s been unseated as Sheriff and keeps to herself on the Earp homestead, and there are secrets she can’t tell Wynonna and Waverly about unless she wants to keep barfing frogs. 

While she may have been mourning a loss for 18 months, she’s also dealing with feelings of betrayal and abandonment from the rest of her support network. It isn’t until the midseason finale that she can lean on them again when she tries to break the curse the Swamp Witch put on her. 

The final scene of Wynonna Earp Season 4 Episode 6, “Holy War: Part II,” with Team Earp sitting in the homestead, drinking in celebrating, and celebrating Waverly and Nicole’s engagement is a positive sign that things may be on their way back to normal. 

A feeling I think we all hope we’ll see again in 2021. 

3. John Murphy (The 100)

I have a lot of feelings about The 100 Season 7, many of which just fall under the umbrella of “too many planets.” 

The one arc I do like is John Murphy’s. Murphy is the character who improved the most over The 100‘s seven seasons. 

While his primary focus is usually — and continues to be — Emori, he has been finding himself caring about the community more and more. 

His ability to show compassion and finally care about something bigger than himself is what had me rooting for him throughout most of the final season. While the others are planet-hopping, Murphy keeps things going in Sanctum, and when Clarke casually showed up towards the end of the season, he just smirked and said, “where do I begin?”

If that wasn’t a quintessential 2020 mood, I don’t know what is.

4. Klaus Hargreaves (The Umbrella Academy)

If you asked me what I thought Klaus would be doing onThe Umbrella Academy Season 2, I would likely not have said “start a cult,” but after watching the series, there is no other way that story could have gone. 

Klaus has a dynamic personality and the fact that he has Ben by his side to simulate these mystical acts in the 1960s is the ideal setup for a cult b-plot. The fact that he’s even using similar pop songs from bands like The Backstreet Boys and TLC adds to the humor of the season, and the levity is much needed.

As funny as Klaus can be, his character is also balanced with some heartbreak.

Klaus happened to find himself in a position to change history and to keep Dave alive by warning him about Vietnam. The dramatic efforts to convince him not to enlist are truly gut-punching, and Robert Sheehan plays it so well.

It’s compounded when Ben departs after reaching Vanya and calming her down. Klaus realizes that his brother who has always been there for him is gone and that for the first time in many years he doesn’t have that constant companionship. 

5. The Doctor (Doctor Who) 

Sometimes it’s good to know that even a time-traveling alien can have an existential crisis. 

Doctor Who Season 12 debuted on New Year’s Day, and the series kicked off with a James Bond-inspired episode that brought back the Doctor’s best-enemy, The Master, and gave us a bit of what Season 11 had been missing: a season-long thread.

Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor has been left to question if she can trust her memories particularly on the episode Doctor Who Season 12 Episode 5, “The Fugitive of the Judoon,” when she realizes there is a part of her memory she can’t account for. 

Since the Doctor is a character with a long history, opening up that chasm is one of the best things the series could have done. It gives Whittaker something to play with and with the added angst revealed on Doctor Who Season 12 Episode 10, “The Timeless Children,” the series seems poised to continue that evolution in the New Year’s episode, and into Season 13. 

6. Tebe (Luna Nera)

I’ve always been drawn to strong leaders on television, and that pattern holds true in science fiction. The Italian series Luna Nera is no exception.

While the coven that Ade settles into is definitely a sisterhood, there is no question who calls the shots. Tebe is a methodical leader who is gentle at times and unafraid to take action at others. Her interactions with her fellow witches and her regret over the past keep her grounded as she takes action.

Yes, Luna Nera Season 1 is all about Ade, but the story would be very different if she didn’t have guidance from Tebe and the rest of the coven. 

7. Raelle Collar (Motherland: Fort Salem)

Motherland: Fort Salem is a different kind of witchy tale. It’s a universe in which the witches are our military force, and have been for centuries. One of the main characters, Raelle Collar, presents us with the familiar narrative of the reluctant soldier. 

When Raelle gets conscripted, she isn’t invested in making a career out of the military. She knows it’s required because of dwindling matrilines but has resigned herself to cannon fodder.

Over the course of the first season, she finds that she’s more to live for. She forms bonds with Tali and Abigail, her unit, and falls in love with a girl named Scylla.

Motherland: Fort Salem is an ensemble show with standout performances from each member of the main cast, but Raelle gives us a loveable and prickly heroine who is looking for where she belongs.

She may not have found it yet, but she’s definitely finding her way, and I am looking forward to seeing where she goes in Season 2. 

8. Vera Stone (The Order)

It’s probably an understatement to say that I do not envy Vera Stone, but I admire her tenacity. She’s essentially the Zelda Spellman of The Order Season 2, and if more people just listened to her, there wouldn’t be nearly as much chaos. 

As Grand Magus of The Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose, she’s challenged at every turn. It’s not even so much that things don’t go her way, but that she’s surrounded by inexperienced practitioners who think they can bend the rules as well as power-hungry council members. 

Anyone who has been in a similar situation knows how infuriating that is, but The Order Season 2 does a good job of showing us exactly how much Vera deserves the title of Grand Magus. 

Throughout Season 2, Vera is the gatekeeper to chaos. Whether she’s stopping an Emporer-level demon from starting the apocalypse, trying to tell a student not to use an ill-advised spell, or saving her student from being consumed into a network of telepathic trees, it’s clear that Vera Stone is not one to be messed with.  

Katherina Isabelle plays Vera with immense complexity. Not only do we see this very studious practitioner who takes her craft seriously, but she pulls back the layers a bit and lets us see some of Vera’s pain underneath all the magical armor. 

9. Jamie (The Haunting of Bly Manor)

I don’t think there’s been a horror series capable of ripping our hearts more than The Haunting of Bly Manor, and a big part of that was Amelia Eve’s performance as Jamie.

When we first meet Jamie she’s a no-nonsense gardener who you’ll get along great with, as long as you don’t mess with her plants. As the nine-episode series continues, we see her slowly unfurl as she opens up to Dani, telling her about her past and laying bare the fact that she thinks plants are more worthy than people. 

Ultimately, she follows her instincts and pursues a promising relationship with Dani.

On the final episode of the season, Dani breaks the curse of Bly Manor freeing the ghosts but realizes that in doing so, she’s invited a spirit in that will one day claim her. 

She tells Jamie this and, instead of running, Jamie stays, asking if Dani wants company while she waits for the beast. This offer and the fact that they then have six years together is heartwarming, even though it ends in Dani’s death. 

Dani may have broken the curse, but Jamie is the brave one, for opening herself up to heartache, telling their story (even if she frames it as not her own), and continuing to love Dani decades later.

And yes, I am still destroyed by that final scene and that hand.

10. Nora Antony (Upload)

One of the things I love about science fiction is the way it has a tendency to illuminate problems in our society. Upload’s Nora is an example of a complex character with a desire to do good. 

In her position as an Angel at Lake View, she’s responsible for a number of residents, but she’s also aware that the luxury of choosing an afterlife isn’t given to everyone.

She’s facing the heartbreak of losing her father in an age where people don’t need to say goodbye to loved ones. At the same time, she’s found. anally in Nathan and has the chance to make real, and compelling change. 

It’s characters like Nora that make sci-fi the perfect place to have these tough conversations and I appreciate it when sci-fi lets us examine our humanity a bit. 

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Who were your favorite characters from sci-fi, fantasy, and horror in 2020? Let us know in the comments below. 

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