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Characters we love to hate in TV and film


Some characters can be hated in a way that we positively delight in. It keeps us invested in a story, we feel irritation or anger but it still makes us warm and fuzzy – these are the characters we love to hate. They’re often, but not always, villains, and they usually bring a bit of drama to the whole show. And some of the most hated characters, we just really hate, even if we’re not particularly supposed to. Here are a few examples of the different types:

  • Villains – think Ramsey Bolton from Game of Thrones. He’s hated because he’s bad, but he’s often wonderfully bad, in a way that we can’t wait to see again!

  • Irritations – Jar Jar Binks in the Star Wars prequels. Agh, he’s annoying, he grates, we do not like to see him on screen.

  • Unlikeable – slightly different from being irritating, these characters are just… unlikeable. They might even be the protagonists, like Walter White in Breaking Bad, where the dislike comes from his moral ambiguity after an incredible character arc.

A brief history of most hated characters

Hating characters is a tradition that dates back to the earliest days of cinema and TV. The reasons why we might hate someone has evolved with trends and shifts in attitudes, but the sweet, sweet hate has always been there.

Films in the earlier days were all about an archetypal kind of villain, ones audiences would love to hate. In films like The Perils of Pauline (1914) the bad guy would be a fantastic stereotype coming up with a number of evil schemes in order to get money (or whatever thing he happened to be coveting). The things the baddy got up to would be over the top, and very much of the moustache-twirling mwa-ha-ha variety. There were also bumbling “buffoon” type characters who were there to irritate the protagonist, and so the audiences!

an evil looking man in costume is talking to a woman in a very old picture in sepiaan evil looking man in costume is talking to a woman in a very old picture in sepia
A still from The Perils of Pauline (1914) via IMDB

Later, we saw more complex, morally ambiguous characters that were designed to be hated, like Noah Cross in Chinatown. With the advent of television and the creation of soap operas, there was a whole new platform for hated characters and they’d be a great reason to keep people tuning in each week; like J.R Ewing in Dallas!

As we head into more contemporary cinema and TV we start to get into hated characters like the anti-hero and irritating sidekicks. We’re more tolerant now of characters whose morals are a little sketchy and so anti-heroes like Tony Soprano (from The Sopranos) and Don Draper (Mad Men) became really popular. At the same time, overly sentimental, wishy-washy characters like Rory Gilmore (The Gilmore Girls) started to become increasingly disliked for entitled, self-centred behaviour.

10 characters from film & TV that we love to hate

Dates refer to when the character appeared in the movie or show rather than when the show might have ended.

1. Jar Jar Binks – Star Wars (1999-2005*)

* he also makes an appearance in The Clone Wars.

an image of jar jar binks peeping around a door, which still does not make him likeablean image of jar jar binks peeping around a door, which still does not make him likeablean image of jar jar binks peeping around a door, which still does not make him likeable

He is the poster child for missing the mark when it comes to “comic relief“. An annoying, clumsy, over-the-top character who Star Wars fans detested from the outset. There’s irritating and then there’s Jar Jar, quite possibly the most hated character of all time – certainly the most hated in the Star Wars universe, so much so that his appearance in the subsequent prequel-sequels was greatly reduced!

2. Bella Swan – Twilight (2008-2012)

a portrait photograph of bella swan, a young, white, brown haired womana portrait photograph of bella swan, a young, white, brown haired womana portrait photograph of bella swan, a young, white, brown haired woman

Bella is moody and co-dependant on Edward. While some saw this as behaviour of a typical teen, it grated with a number of fans who were irritated by her lack of personality and constant self-pity. As the films progressed, she seemed to get even worse, dropping her hobbies, ambitions, and friends in favour of hanging out with Edward and becoming a vampire.

While we’re on the Twilight saga, a special shout-out to minor yet much hated character, Renesemee, a sort of hybrid human-vampire who was shown with a terrifying use of CGI that will appear in your nightmares for years to come.


3. Willie Scott – Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

a curly haired blonde woman is grimacing and looking generally not very happya curly haired blonde woman is grimacing and looking generally not very happya curly haired blonde woman is grimacing and looking generally not very happy

A “damsel in distress” character, poor Willie is hated for her constant whining and screaming her way through the film. I mean, if we had to walk through a bunch of rats we might scream too, but Willie is written to be annoying: annoying to villagers, annoying to Short Round, annoying to Indy, and annoying to us! The saving grace of Willie is she does evolve for the better through the film and becomes less materialistic and helpless.

4. Cousin Greg – Succession (2018-2023)

a young man with brown hair is sitting on a chair holding a cell phonea young man with brown hair is sitting on a chair holding a cell phonea young man with brown hair is sitting on a chair holding a cell phone

There are hated characters aplenty in Succession but Cousin Greg, despite his seemingly quite sweet personality is awkward, bumbling, and opportunistic. He’d sell out absolutely anyone for his own personal gain and his constant swinging of alliances definitely makes him a character we love to hate.

5. Rachel Berry – Glee (2009-2015)

a young brown haired woman with a fringe, in a white topa young brown haired woman with a fringe, in a white topa young brown haired woman with a fringe, in a white top

She’s talented, but Rachel is also arrogant, relentlessly ambitious and loves nothing more than overshadowing other people. She’s a more complex hated character in that she does have vulnerabilities that make friends more tolerant of her failings, but she can still be incredibly annoying!

6. Ramsay Bolton – Game of Thrones (2012-2016)

a young man with brown hair is sat on a horse with a battle behind him, he's carrying a sworda young man with brown hair is sat on a horse with a battle behind him, he's carrying a sworda young man with brown hair is sat on a horse with a battle behind him, he's carrying a sword

Oh how we love to hate Ramsay Bolton. He’s cruel, he’s sadistic… and he loves it, revels in it even! And so do we, we hate him but we also can’t wait to see what he’ll do next. Ramsay’s completely unpredictable nature is a big part of what makes him a great hated character.

7. Ross Geller – Friends (1994-2004)

a man in his 30s is standing talking, with his index finger raised as if making a pointa man in his 30s is standing talking, with his index finger raised as if making a pointa man in his 30s is standing talking, with his index finger raised as if making a point

The interesting thing about Ross is that it’s more with hindsight that he’s hated. Sure, a lot of people disliked him while Friends was current, but there was a real shift in attitudes during the time Friends aired and Ross’ jealous and controlling nature seems less romantic and more… problematic. He’s another character who whines a lot and is entitled, always expecting things to go his way, and let’s face it, at times he’s a bit of a sex pest!

8. Piper Chapman – Orange is the New Black (2013-2019)

a blonde woman in orange with blonde hair stands behind the glass of aa (prison) doora blonde woman in orange with blonde hair stands behind the glass of aa (prison) doora blonde woman in orange with blonde hair stands behind the glass of aa (prison) door

Piper is privileged, self-absorbed, and consistently makes poor decisions. She’s more complex in that she does have moments where she’s vulnerable, or kind, but she didn’t make the kind of transformation that you’d expect through the series, and by the time she’s out of prison she hasn’t particularly grown at all.

9. Scrappy Doo – Scooby-Doo (1979-present)

a small cartoon puppy, brown with a blue collar, stands with his hands (paws?) on his hipsa small cartoon puppy, brown with a blue collar, stands with his hands (paws?) on his hipsa small cartoon puppy, brown with a blue collar, stands with his hands (paws?) on his hips

Who could hate a cute little puppy, right? Well, we could. The overly confident nephew of Scooby-Doo is loud and annoying, rendering his catchphrase “Puppy Power!” enough to grind our teeth down to bitty little nubs. His presence actually disrupted the group dynamic and changed the tone of the show to the point where he felt very out of place.

9. Delores Umbridge – Harry Potter films (2007-2009)

an older woman is wearing a very pink coat and hat, she is smilingan older woman is wearing a very pink coat and hat, she is smilingan older woman is wearing a very pink coat and hat, she is smiling

She’s cruel, but throw in a bit of bureaucracy and she’s almost worse than Ramsay Bolton. Umbridge uses her power to control, punish, and humiliate her students, including forcing Harry to write in his own blood using a quill that carves the words “I must not tell lies” into his skin. She hides this sadism under a very sweet and girly exterior, which just makes us hate her more!

10. Screech – Saved by the Bell (1989-1992)

a teenage boy in a tiger striped blanket is screaming while being held down by the arms of two different peoplea teenage boy in a tiger striped blanket is screaming while being held down by the arms of two different peoplea teenage boy in a tiger striped blanket is screaming while being held down by the arms of two different people

A little blast from the past for us 80s/90s kids, Screech was awkward and nerdy, but in a way that was annoying rather than endearing. He’s pretty consistent through the whole show, which might be part of the reason he’s irritating, with no growth, which starts to feel a bit repetitive through the years. He did make it into some SBTB spin-offs though, so what do we know?!

Love to hate… but without crossing a line

A lot of these characters were prior to social media, and now the most hated characters can take on whole new dimensions as platforms let fans vent their anger. While mostly harmless, it can take a bit of a sinister toll and it’s important to remember the real people behind the characters. Anna Gunn, who played Skylar in Breaking Bad got hate mail and death threats, while Ahmed Best, who played Jar Jar Binks, went to some very dark places mentally after the backlash against his character.

While characters might be annoying, the strong reactions fans can have to them show how vital they can be when it comes to either the narrative, or getting the show talked about. Without characters we hate, stories would feel flat, so however we feel about characters we love to hate, we can’t deny they leave a lasting impression on us and TV and film just wouldn’t be the same without them!

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About this page

This page was written by Marie Gardiner. Marie is a writer, author, and photographer. It was edited by Andrew Blackman. Andrew is a freelance writer and editor, and is a copy editor for Envato Tuts+.



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