Summary

• Omar Little from The Wire is a deeply layered character, showing vulnerability, viciousness, and a lighthearted side.
• Tony Soprano from The Sopranos breaks the mold of TV protagonists, showcasing complex and flawed character development.
• Walter White from Breaking Bad undergoes one of TV's greatest character journeys, descending from a meek man to a menacing figure.

From those who made audiences laugh to those whose flaws fascinated viewers, the greatest TV characters of all time are unforgettable small-screen creations. Throughout the history of television, there have been certain characters who have come to define the medium. Though everyone has their own personal favorites from the shows they love, there are some who have cemented themselves as truly outstanding and deserving of a place among the best TV characters of all time.

From modern icons of current television shows to characters who have been around as long as television itself, the collection of television's characters is a fascinating look at the kind of figures audiences look for in the shows they love and the stories they want to explore. Whether they broke new ground in the medium, presented new archetypes fans had never seen before, or just entertained viewers, these are the greatest TV characters of all time.

36 Angela Abar - Watchmen (2019)

Played By Regina King

With only one season and no sign of more to come, Watchmen proved to be one of the most acclaimed and popular shows of the 21st century. The limited series served as a sequel to Alan Moore's ground-breaking graphic novel and featured several of the iconic characters from that story, including Adrian Veidt and Dr. Manhattan. However, it was an original character from the series who stood out as the best of them all. Angela Abar disguises herself as the crime-fighter Sister Night to help the police force fight crime in an alternate reality in which Moore's story took place.

She is a complex and grounded hero who is able to capture the themes of Moore's novel while commenting on the modern world.

However, she soon discovers a conspiracy involving a white supremacist organization infiltrating the police force over the years. In an era when superhero stories are so prevalent in pop culture, Angela was a different kind of crime fighter who thought she was fighting for the right cause only to find herself delving into her past secrets to protect what is most important to her. She is a complex and grounded hero who is able to capture the themes of Moore's novel while commenting on the modern world.

Regina King won an Emmy for her role on Watchmen.

35 Rust Cohle - True Detective (2014-)

Played By Matthew McConaughey

While True Detective introduced a compelling mystery, most of the fascination from the series came from exploring the protagonist Rush Cohl (Matthew McConaughey). Rust was a brilliant detective but a hard guy to hang out with as he was consumed with a cynical view of the world and was prone to spouting off obscure philosophical musings, including his iconic explanation of how time is a flat circle, demonstrated with his empty beer cans.

True Detective season 1 was a star-studded television affair with McConaughey going head-to-head with real-life friend Woody Harrelson. However, it is McConaughey, in the midst of his amazing Hollywood comeback, who steals the show. His gaunt appearance adds to the character's haunted persona but makes him no less dangerous. Seeing Rust go through this dark and twisted journey only to come out on the other side as a more optimistic man is a wonderful arc achieved over eight episodes.

34 Lucille Bluth - Arrested Development (2003-2019)

Played By Jessica Walter

Arrested Development is a show that excels because of its ensemble, which makes it hard to single out any one character from the acclaimed comedy. However, looking back on the series, the late Jessica Walter does stand out for her tour-de-force performance as the Bluth family matriarch, Lucille. As with the rest of the characters on the show, Lucille is so memorable because of how the show embraces her biggest flaws.

There are so many hilarious aspects to Lucille as a mother, from her smothering nature towards Buster to her brutal honesty towards Lindsay. By the end of the show's first run, it is also revealed that she was actually the mastermind behind the family's crimes, which makes perfect sense given how she wields power among her kin. She was one of those television characters who only got more entertaining the more mean spirited she was.

33 Al Swearengen - Deadwood (2004-2006)

Played By Ian McShane

Al Swearengen was the most ruthless and conniving man in town, and in a town like Deadwood, that is quite an accomplishment. The HBO series Deadwood mixed the most brutal aspects of the Western genre with almost Shakespearean dialogue, with no one delivering it half as well as Al himself. The proprietor of a local bar, Al is actually the local criminal element, always plotting a new scheme or influencing some aspect of the town's affairs to suit his best interests.

Ian McShane commands the screen every moment he is on it, at times terrifying when he is murdering people in cold blood and at other times hilarious when he is dealing with the constant incompetence around him. He is a man who represents the last of the Old West, but he is holding onto those lawless ways with all his strength and is not afraid to cut down anyone who tries to take that from him.

32 Eric Cartman - South Park (1997-)

Played By Trey Parker

Making a child one of the most evil characters on television is a feat that only South Park could accomplish. The child in question is Eric Cartman, the most self-centered, bigoted, and infantile person in this small mountain town. He is also one of the main reasons the series has remained on the air for more than 25 years, as he provides the biggest laughs with his outrageous behavior.

Despite being friends with the main characters of Stan, Kyle, and Kenny, Cartman has shown time and time again that he would throw them aside without hesitation if he thought it would benefit him in the slightest. The extent of his cruelty is hilarious, with the episode, "Scott Tenorman Must Die" showing how far Cartman will go to destroy a classmate's life simply because the other child pranked him. All this time on the air, Cartman has shown hardly any redeeming qualities besides making audiences laugh and that has been more than enough.

31 Frasier Crane - Frasier (1993-2004)

Played By Kelsey Grammer

Frasier Crane stands out as one of the greatest TV characters of all time, given the fact that he has been a main character in three hit series. Frasier was introduced to the world on Cheers as the intellectual new love interest to Diane. Though he was meant to simply be a noticeable change from her romance with Sam Malone, Frasier cemented himself on the show with his cultured and sophisticated style that was hilariously different from the blue-collar world of the bar.

However, it was in the character's own spinoff series, Frasier, that he really got to shine. The show embraced those eccentricities of Frasier, even elevating them with his similarly-minded brother, Niles Crane. However, the show also had a lot of fun making Frasier pompous at times, oblivious at others, and a person who deals with the same relatable struggles as most people. While a new revival series has brought Frasier back to the small screen yet again, it has not quite captured the magic of his 1990s sitcom.

Frasier was only intended to be a temporary character on Cheers before ing the main cast.

30 Sherlock Holmes - Sherlock (2010-2017)

Played by Benedict Cumberbatch

There have been countless Sherlock Holmes movies and television shows over the decades, with the famed detective still remaining a popular figure in pop culture well over a century after he was first introduced to the world by Arthur Conan Doyle. That made it all the more impressive that Sherlock and Benedict Cumberbatch found an exciting new approach to the character for the 21st century.

This version of Sherlock is brilliant and brave, but it also shows the loneliness of his gifts as brilliant as they were.

Sherlock is a modern-day retelling of the famous detective and his trusty companion John Watson taking on complex cases in London. This version of Sherlock is brilliant and brave, but it also shows the loneliness of his gifts as brilliant as they were. There was also some fun comedy with his lack of social etiquette. It makes Sherlock a fun and complex hero to root for with Cumberbatch finding a breakout role that redefined an iconic character.

29 Annalise Keating - How To Get Away With Murder (2014-2020)

Played by Viola Davis

Viola Davis was already an acclaimed and successful actor by the time she was cast in the crime series How to Get Away with Murder, but she found a role perfectly suited to her bold screen presence and emotionally captivating performances. The series explores Keating as an accomplished defense lawyer and law school professor, but the series continues to dig deeper into Keating's personality and past, showing different aspects to her that make her one of the most layered and fascinating female characters on television.

Keating became a fully realized human character, which is not always the priority with shows like How to Get Away with Murder.

The show itself was a gripping murder mystery with some clever writing, but it was certainly elevated in its genre thanks to Davis' performance. Keating became a fully realized human character, which is not always the priority with shows like How to Get Away with Murder. Davis is always up to the new challenges of the role, further making Keating a successful creation.

28 Glenn Rhee - The Walking Dead (2010-2022)

Played by Steven Yeun

Even from the beginning of the series, The Waking Dead featured such a large cast that it was hard for some of the characters to get noticed. However, Steven Yeun's Glenn didn't take long to become a fan-favorite and cement himself as one of the leads of the show. The audience gets to see Glenn grow as a hero throughout his time in the series as he becomes more of a leader, finds romance with Maggie, and faces countless dangers.

When the show got bogged down in zombie violence and the dark, conical themes of the show, Glenn was always the character who could inject a little humanity into the world. As a testament to how important he was to the show, Glenn's death in The Walking Dead remains one of the most widely discussed moments, despite happening long before the eventual finale.

27 Rosa Diaz - Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013-2021)

Played by Stephanie Beatriz

While there are so many lovable characters in the series, Rosa Diaz stands out as its very best creation.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine is one of those crowd-pleasing sitcoms that gets so much of its strength from the amazing ensemble cast. While there are so many lovable characters in the series, Rosa Diaz stands out as its very best creation. Rosa is introduced as the tough and intimidating detective who often refuses to let people get close to her. While that could have made for a one-note character, the show continued to develop new aspects of Rosa while staying true to who she was.

One of the biggest aspects of the character that was introduced was her coming out as bisexual. There was the typical Rosa courage in seeing her embrace who she really was, along with a lot of vulnerability in dealing with her family's reaction. The show often leaned on her for the biggest storylines, such as Rosa and Jake going to prison. Rosa carried these moments as a strong character with personal complexities while also delivering some of the show's biggest laughs.