Tobias Menzies’ Best Period Roles, Ranked
Tobias Menzies loves a period drama, and we love him in them.
The Emmy winner adds a new period piece to his lengthy resume with Apple TV+‘s Manhunt, an all new series depicting the feverish hunt for John Wilkes Booth that took place after he assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. Menzies stars as Edwin Stanton in the series, whose close bond with the fallen Lincoln (Midnight Mass‘ Hamish Linklater) is shown in flashbacks throughout the season.
Menzies has starred in numerous period pieces over the years. His most recent and well-known period roles are as Prince Philip in The Crown and Black Jack Randall and Frank Randall in Outlander. Menzies told TV Insider that Edwin Stanton fits into his history of playing “deeply complex and contradictory” characters. That theme is clearly seen throughout his performances listed below.
In honor of Manhunt‘s series premiere (the first two episodes debuted on Friday, March 15), here’s a ranking of Menzies’ best period roles.
Manhunt, Fridays, Apple TV+
5. James Fitzjames, The Terror
This AMC horror series isn’t the most mainstream of his credits, but fans agree it’s not to be missed. Season 1 of the anthology series dramatized an ill-fated Arctic expedition in the 1840s that is truly terrifying. It saw Menzies reunited with the Caesar to his Brutus in Rome, Ciarán Hinds (seen above, with Menzies).
4. Frank Randall, Outlander
Oh, Frank. Beloved Frank. Claire’s (Caitríona Balfe) first love in Starz‘s time-traveling epic was hard not to love. Your heart breaks for Frank as he struggles to find his missing wife, and it breaks even more when she returns and their marriage is never the same. Frank’s exit from the series was tragic, but his love for daughter Briana (Sophie Skelton) lasts her a lifetime.
3. Marcus Junius Brutus, Rome
Et tu, Brute? One of Menzies’ earlier roles was as the ultimate betrayer in HBO‘s Rome. Brutus’ internal conflict as he was goaded to kill Hinds’ Caesar came to a head when Ides of March at last came to pass. Brutus met his just desserts in the end, but in a way that rewrites history to deliver poetic justice.
2. Prince Philip, The Crown
Matt Smith and Jonathan Pryce also played the Duke of Edinburgh in the heralded Netflix drama, but Menzies is the only one of the three to win an Emmy for his performance. In Season 3, the middle-aged Philip is spearheading the royal family’s attempt to appeal to the people. They don’t always succeed, but the episode where Philip implores Elizabeth (Olivia Colman) to show warmth in the aftermath of a deadly landslide is a series standout.
1. Black Jack Randall, Outlander
Tasked with playing two characters in the period drama, Menzies created one of the most chilling villains ever seen on TV in Captain Jack Randall, aka Black Jack Randall. It’s a testament to Menzies’ talent that Frank and his ancestor, Jack, while looking exactly alike, are irrefutably entirely different men (thank goodness for that).
