Giancarlo Esposito’s TV Villain Roles, Ranked
Giancarlo Esposito is one of TV’s greatest villain actors. He’s so good at being bad, we’re used to seeing him stick to the bad guys nowadays. The actor is now the protagonist of his newest AMC series Parish, which premiered Sunday, March 31, bringing him into the spotlight in an anti-hero role.
In Parish, Esposito plays Gray Parish, a man trying to leave his life of crime in his past as he grieves the death of his son with his family (his wife, Rose, and daughter, Makayla, are played by Paula Malcomson and Arica Himmel). Fate, however, has other plans for this former getaway driver.
He’s soon pulled back into the life for one last gig, with his old partner in crime, Colin (a skeevy Skeet Ulrich), bringing the reluctant Gray into the fold. But this “last” job proves to be one of his most dangerous yet, connecting him with an underground organized crime scene with Zackary Momoh‘s Shepherd “The Horse” Tongai.
Esposito tries his best to stay away from the villains in Parish (which will include Bradley Whitford in later episodes). Here, we rank the times Esposito has played the villain himself — and done so oh, so well.
Parish, Sundays, 9/8c, AMC and AMC+
7. Sidney Glass, Once Upon a Time
While Esposito’s man in the mirror (who doubled as both the Genie from Aladdin and the magic mirror from Snow White in this series) definitely caused trouble, he was less so motivated by pure evil and more so motivated by his blind love for Regina (Lana Parrilla), making him a willing puppet under her oppressive, secretive rule of Storybrooke.
6. Stanley Johnston, The Gentlemen
Esposito plays a drug kingpin yet again in Guy Ritchie‘s Netflix series. Stanley’s bottomless pockets make him hard to refuse, whether he’s paying to make your life miserable or trying to broker a deal. Esposito always delivers a noteworthy performance, but this isn’t the first or best time he’s embodied a threatening druglord. In fairness, his original kingpin is impossible to beat, unless your name is Hector Salamanca…
5. Captain Tom Neville, Revolution
In this world where a blackout wiped out modern technological capabilities, Esposito played a captain of what was called the Monroe Republic, the nation-state that emerged post-blackout. He was merciless when carrying out his duties and used innocent teens for collateral (among other methods) in his plots to discover why the lights of the world went out.
4. Lex Luthor, Harley Quinn
Esposito’s Superman villain is a campy delight, giving viewers a funny bad guy instead of a solely dark and insidious one. Harley Quinn‘s Lex Luthor is a corporate man (Poison Ivy’s boss), one who revels in the thrill of breaking Earth laws like using baby seal blood as a skincare treatment. He knows how to elevate his voice for a voice over performance as well; you can hear how much fun he’s having in this role in every single soundbite.
3. Stan Edgar, The Boys
Esposito’s Stan Edgar in The Boys is a corrupt politician more than a bad guy who gets his own hands dirty. Stan’s company promotes injecting people with a superpower-inducing drug, he hires a Nazi for Vought’s a superhero group, and attempts to get Compound-V implemented into the military. His measured demeanor makes his business moves all the more insidious.
2. Moff Gideon, The Mandalorian
A willingness to kidnap a child (or in this case, The Child) is most definitely the mark of a bad guy, and Moff Gideon is a formidable Star Wars villain for more than just this reason.
His obsession with Mandalorian culture, paired wit the resources at his fingertips to hunt down what he needs on his quest for immortality, makes him capable of justifying any action necessary to fulfill his goals.
That Gideon stands out in a franchise that harbors the greatest onscreen villain of all time is a mark to Esposito’s talent.
1. Gustavo Fring, Breaking Bad & Better Call Saul
Two words: Box cutter. Gustavo Fring isn’t just a great TV villain, he’s one of TV’s greatest villains.
Esposito made Gus mild-tempered, succinct, and direct. The man of few words was always plotting 10 steps ahead in his mind, and he had a unique way of problem solving through sowing fear into the hearts of his enemies. In Breaking Bad, Gus Fring is cutthroat personified (pun intended). In Better Call Saul, we learn how he got there.
