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10 Great TV Criminals Who Are Surprisingly Easy To Root For
Crime dramas are always a great place to find lawbreakers who you often don’t want to answer for their crimes, but TV characters of this type can be found in other genres too. For instance, some of the best superhero shows are home to brilliant criminal characters that the audience is rooting for, and some of the best sci-fi TV characters also fall under this umbrella.
Shows like Dexter often feature a protagonist who, in the real world, the audience would almost definitely see as a monster, not just a petty criminal. However, thanks to the magic of TV, how a character is perceived can be completely flipped on its head if the scripts are good enough.
It should be noted that although there are only nine entries on this list, it does include 10 characters. As you’ll see as you read, there was one criminal duo who just can’t be separated, and so I didn’t. Their storyline and criminal activities are so intertwined that they almost don’t make sense on their own.
9
Gemma Teller Morrow From Sons Of Anarchy
Played By: Katey Sagal
Appearing in the show’s pilot episode and going on to be a pivotal character throughout Sons of Anarchy, Gemma Teller Morrow becomes indispensable to the show’s titular biker gang. She carries out countless criminal acts in the name of keeping the group intact and to avoid them being caught, which in turn makes her a problematic individual.
Still, Sons of Anarchy manages to make Gemma a character who is easy for the audience to support, despite flashes of absolutely deplorable behavior. There are certainly characters more evil than Gemma, but there are definitely more upstanding citizens, even in the criminal underworld. Either way, her successes are often celebrated and her failures mourned.
8
Fred Johnson From The Expanse
Played By: Chad Coleman
The Expanse introduces Fred Johnson during an interesting point in the character’s timeline. Although he has become a key figure among the Belter community by the time of his debut, this doesn’t change the fact that Fred Johnson is still guilty of war crimes during his time as a UN Colonel.
Despite his best intentions, Fred never truly pivots into becoming a traditional hero, and he remains morally ambiguous at best.
Still known as “The Butcher of Anderson Station,” Fred joins the Outer Planets Alliance in an attempt to seek redemption for the horrific acts he carried out against the Belters. Despite his best intentions, Fred never truly pivots into becoming a traditional hero, and he remains morally ambiguous at best. Still, the fact that he owns up to the acts he’s hated for contributes to his likability.
7
Hondo Ohnaka From Star Wars: The Clone Wars & Star Wars: Rebels
Played By: Jim Cummings
Hondo is the leader of a large group of pirates in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and although the Weequay is clearly an adversary to the show’s more traditional heroes, he’s never presented as a particularly nefarious individual. Instead, Hondo acts almost like a comic relief character, but his constant betrayals of those he collaborates with are still frustrating.
Jim Cummings is best known for voicing Winnie the Pooh and Tigger.
It eventually becomes expected that, whatever deal Hondo makes, he will either interpret it a little too generously when it suits him or outwardly turn against his would-be allies. Any episode with him starts to feel empty until the said betrayal has taken place. Still, his magnetic personality and lovable attitude draw people in again and again, including during his return in Star Wars: Rebels.
6
Walter “Walt” White & Jesse Pinkman From Breaking Bad
Played By: Bryan Cranston & Aaron Paul
It wouldn’t make sense to separate Walt and Jesse in a list like this. Although Jesse’s criminal career predates his team-up with his old chemistry teacher, he only really starts to become a major player in the drug game when Walt enters the picture. After that, they each constantly bring the best and worst out of each other.
The back-and-forth dynamic between Walt and Jesse makes it difficult for the audience to decide who they should be rooting for at any given moment. Despite their loosely shared goals of making money via meth, they often find themselves on different sides of the fence. Regardless, it’s shockingly easy to support them both…most of the time.
5
Enoch “Nucky” Thompson From Boardwalk Empire
Played By: Steve Buscemi
Boardwalk Empire is quietly one of the best gangster shows of all time, despite not being discussed very much. A big part of what makes it so rewarding is that it shows the story of individuals on both sides of the law. With bootlegging among Nucky’s laundry list of wrongdoings, it would seem reasonable that the audience would side with the cop characters.
Surprisingly, the opposite happens. Despite Nucky being an awful human being, Boardwalk Empire finds subtle ways to sway viewers into sympathizing with Buscemi’s character and hoping that the law doesn’t catch up to him. He isn’t the show’s only likable criminal, but as Boardwalk Empire‘s central figure, he probably gets the most screen time.
4
Emperor Philippa Georgiou From Star Trek: Discovery
Played By: Michelle Yeoh
Originally introduced as Captain Philippa Georgiou at the beginning of Star Trek: Discovery season 1, Michelle Yeoh’s Prime Universe character quickly meets her end. However, Star Trek‘s Mirror Universe opens the door for Yeoh’s immediate return to the cast as Georgiou’s villainous counterpart – the leader of the Terran Empire.
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Emperor Georgiou’s arc isn’t restricted to Discovery‘s ventures into the Mirror Universe, as Yeoh’s character crosses into the franchise’s main reality, and despite the atrocious acts she carried out in her native universe, she is put to work by Starfleet and Section 31. Her experience, knowledge, and no-nonsense attitude prove very useful, and it’s hard to deny that her smugness has a certain appeal.
3
Berry Berkman From Barry
Played By: Bill Hader
Barry‘s title character is a hitman who wants out of the game, and the fact that he’s had enough of killing in favor of something more fulfilling makes it strangely easy for the audience to see past all the lives he’s ended. It’s very obvious while watching Barry that Hader’s character initially has a decent grasp on what’s right and wrong, but he’s trapped by his circumstances.
Barry Berkman is a brilliantly written character that not enough people know about.
Most of the show’s run chronicles Barry’s attempts to leave his criminal career in the past as he tries to find love and a new purpose. Rather than lamenting this change, which can sometimes be the case in similar shows, viewers find themselves endlessly frustrated that he keeps getting pulled back into his old life against his will. Barry Berkman is a brilliantly written character that not enough people know about.
2
Dexter Morgan From Dexter, New Blood, Original Sin, & Resurrection
Played By: Michael C. Hall, Patrick Gibson
Dexter Morgan is one of the biggest examples of criminals that audiences want to literally get away with murder. Although Dexter redirects his serial killer urges into a pseudo-vigilante career, what he is doing is still deeply illegal. Regardless, the way the Dexter franchise is made somehow frames its main character as a somewhat conventional protagonist.
The existence of Dexter: Original Sin means Michael C. Hall now shares his biggest role with Patrick Gibson, who plays a younger version of the character in the prequel series. While Dexter fans were already rooting very heavily for Hall’s iteration of the serial killer, seeing what the character was like in his earlier years makes him an even bigger antihero.
1
Wilson “The Kingpin” Fisk From Daredevil, Hawkeye, Echo, & Born Again
Played By: Vincent D’Onofrio
No Marvel show in which Vincent D’Onofrio stars as Wilson Fisk tries to frame his character as the good guy. He’s violent and single-minded, with few redeemable traits that would make him seem like a character to root for. Despite all of that, it’s always a disappointment when the Kingpin is taken down or fails to successfully carry out one of his nefarious schemes.
Fisk has an undeniable charm about him, which, when paired with the healthy fear everyone has of the character, creates a potent mix that verges on traditional charisma. That said, I don’t think audiences want him to win because he deserves it. I’m convinced there’s another reason entirely.
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Fisk and Matt Murdock/Daredevil (Charlie Cox) are two sides of the same coin. They both want what’s best for their city, but they have very different opinions about how the goal can and should be reached. This is what causes their endless conflict. If Fisk is ever caught for good, that brilliant dynamic comes to an end.
Therefore, it’s in the audience’s best interests to encourage and celebrate the Kingpin’s criminal activity. Without it, Daredevil wouldn’t have been the same, nor would any of the shows in which Fisk has appeared. It may seem off to want a bad guy’s crime streak to continue, but Fisk is just one example of this being the case.
