As Professor Lupin in the Harry Potter franchise, David Thewlis plays a tortured soul that a full moon turns into an aggressive beast. On the other hand, he’s also a mentor to Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and among the elders who wish to protect The Boy Who Lived. With a career that started back in the 1980s, Thewlis’ role on The Sandman is evidence the English actor’s career is showing no signs of slowing day. Like Lupin, he’s had fun playing for the good side. But what happens when he crosses over into darker territory?
Thewlis even prefers taking on a villain, stating it plainly in an interview with Deadline: “I’ve realized over the years I either play very good people or very bad people, and I think I always enjoy the very bad people more.” For the following roles, no too are the same. One miniseries takes place in a sanctuary between humans and dinosaurs. A Netflix animated series shows young characters surviving puberty. And back in the early ‘90s, a gritty, controversial movie made Thewlis into a star. Not all of these characters are truly evil. But they do their share of horrendous deeds. And the further down, the more dangerous David Thewlis’ roles get.
7. Johnny Fletcher in Naked (1993)
Early on, Johnny mentions how he, “was a werewolf.” Of course, he isn’t. This is one of many meandering speeches he gives. He’s just a lost human, wandering in a society where the more privileged wish to ignore people like him. While Lupin looked a bit rough from his infliction with lycanthropy, Johnny Fletcher isn’t given that excuse. It’s a lonely, dehumanizing existence, to which Johnny’s responds back with anger. To him, women are to satisfy his sexual urges, warning one to not get with him or, “you’ll catch something cruel.” He’s unemployed but speaks with an educated background. He snakes his way into people’s lives, but has no true connections or even friends. It’s tragic and pitiful.
While Johnny is more of an antihero, the opening sets up the amoral lifestyle he inhabits. He aggressively forces himself on a woman in a dark alley. Before help can arrive, he makes a run for it. Later, he’s again aggressive with a woman he wants to have a fling with. Naked tries to muddy the waters, possibly insinuating it as rough sex rather than assault. But the start of the movie is telling. Johnny is violent, his frustrations never simmering down. After all, it’s what fuels him through a bleak life. For the grim and captivating performance, Thewlis earned international recognition.
6. Ares in Wonder Woman (2017)
Plot-twist villains can make fun surprises. Or they can come in too late, such as what happened with Thewlis here. The problem is, the limited scenes he is in, is not as Ares. He plays Sir Patrick Morgan, someone trying to find peace to World War II. Danny Huston’s general gets two major confrontations with Diana (Gal Gadot), and don’t forget Doctor Poison (Elena Anaya) is causing trouble too. When Ares truly takes over, the final battle isn’t as epic as it could have been. It might have worked if there weren’t three different villains.
Thewlis disappears under CGI armor to do battle with the crown princess of Themyscira, taking place on an airfield going up in flames. Ares a powerful figure, but his need to destroy ends up fueling Diana in becoming the Wonder Woman. So yes, being a god, Ares is powerful. Yet, there are other, more nefarious characters Thewlis has played which have better used his talents.
5. SS Officer Ralf in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)
Ralf feels in power but he’s only a puppet, eager to be a good soldier no matter the cost. And he suffers a great one. For a new posting, Ralf moves his family onto a compound where not too far away is a concentration camp. His son Bruno (Asa Butterfield) befriends a boy on the other side, unbeknownst to the family. Ralf is not so much ignorant, he has other concerns. Like giving a helping hand for a propaganda film, one that insidiously attempts to alter the image of life in the camps. When his wife Elsa (Vera Farmiga) realizes what lies nearby, she is horrified and starts to pull away from him. It only begins the fractures to the marriage.
But to Ralf, family matter little to his belief in the Nazi regime. When his mother dies, someone who despised the Nazi lies, Ralf stops Elsa from removing a casket wreath Hitler sends. The marriage is cracking and Ralf still chooses his uniform. During dinner, a fellow soldier attacks a Jewish slave, all the while Ralf sits nearby. He eats his dinner as if the attack isn’t occurring, while his wife and son watch in horror. He tries so hard to close himself off from humanity, that it all comes to a head. When Bruno sneaks into the camp and goes missing, Ralf is left running around in circles, stuck in a torrential rain. For all his sins, Ralf’s punishment is losing the son he hardly gave much attention too.
4. Cyrus Crabb in Dinotopia (2002)
Thewlis goes a bit hammy in this four-hour miniseries from The Wonderful World of Disney. It makes sense, the titular island is where humans and dinosaurs coexist. The setup is outlandish enough, many of the dino species have learned to speak and dress. It warrants a colorful bad guy. What makes it even better, is his motivations are understandable. The problem once you get to this island, is you can never leave it. The secret must be kept. So when two brothers get caught in a plane wreckage, it’s by accident they find the land. Stuck in Dinotopia too, is Cyrus.
It isn’t long before he makes it known how far he will go to escape. He’s a thief, desperate to find the exit route. He’s even lost a leg due to a dino attack in a sacred place he shouldn’t have tried to enter. And you won’t get another moment like Thewlis knocking out a mild-mannered Stenonychosaurus in order to keep his agenda hidden. He wants to collect mystic sunstones to properly achieve his end goal. He acts like a villain pulled from a fairy tale, where in this case Quetzalcoatlus replaces dragons.
3. The Shame Wizard in Big Mouth & Human Resources
The kids of Big Mouth have to deal with a lot, especially the turmoil of growing up. It’s tough, only getting tougher with the arrival of the Shame Wizard. With heterochromia, plus a scar on his face, he comes with a signature look and does like his name implies. The Shame Wizard is not only terribly good at his job too in pushing the kids into despair, he loves it. He also knows how to cut loose, taking on the role of a Dubstep DJ as a sleepover falls apart to shameful secrets. He even works on performing covers to pop songs in private.
In the voice acting, Thewlis goes all in on the cackling, whisperings of dreaded shame. The spin-off Human Resources gives more depth to this character, even giving him a name. But the Shame Wizard is best as the antagonistic force in the series that first introduced him. Especially, because there might just be a need for some mortifying feelings the ensemble kids slip into. After all, it’s all part of growing up.
2. John Dee in The Sandman (2022)
Dream (Tom Sturridge) finally escapes from a century of imprisonment and faces many challenges along the way to fixing the problems that have erupted from his absence. Like John Dee is convinced a world without lies is the ideal future. Once he breaks free from a mental health facility, he goes out to tamper with the Dreamstone. It leads to many deaths around him. He gets a ride from the sweet Rosemary (Sarah Niles), and all through the trip, the tension raises in what will happen when John reaches his destination.
Niles’ building anixety in realizing who her passenger is, increases Thewlis’ nonchalant, deadly presence. Things only get worse when John reaches the end of his hitchhiking trip, stopping at a diner. He uses the Dreamstone to unleash his desired world of honesty, wrecking the lives of those trying to eat and those at work. A human shouldn’t have the godlike powers John steals. The diner is a microcosm of what it would lead to. Lust and chaos, which John is unable to see as destructive forces.
1. V. M. Varga in Fargo (2017)
Here is a man who will surround himself with henchmen to kill on his orders, and who will ultimately save himself before any of his loyal allies. Suffering from bulimia, V. M. Varga’s teeth have all rotten out, matching his personality quite well. While his presence is limited in the beginning, as the episodes count up, Varga steps up to the plate. Living out of a massive truck, Varga calls it home and his base of operations. Which goes right into what makes him a bag of contradictions.
He is incredibly rich, yet you wouldn’t know it from his lifestyle. Varga’s greed almost becomes invisible. Coming from a childhood of poverty, he still treasures it, doing so in his own perculiar way. In his final scene, it turns into a battle of wills, with Varga facing off with what the future will hold for him. He’s told there is only one outcome: a long stay in prison. Varga, on the other, believes circumstances will fall right into his lap. This sense of entitlement and confidence is one of his best (morally worst) traits and Thewlis acts it all deliciously as one of the anthology series' best human monsters.