Key Takeaways

• Antiheroes dominate the Western genre, offering complex characters that blur moral lines.
• Figures like Tommy Norris and Calamity Jane showcase the genre’s appeal through their flawed yet relatable nature.
• These characters often receive more screentime than traditional villains, enhancing their impact on the story.
• The Western antihero archetype has evolved, with modern portrayals reflecting deeper emotional conflicts.

The Western genre has its fair share of traditional heroes, but the genre is better known for providing us with some of the most iconic antiheroes on both the big and small screen. It’s arguably these figures that make the genre so appealing to film and television fans looking for authentic characters with moral ambiguity and emotional depth.

Since the days of Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name, the so-called heroes in Western movies have tended to be just as terrifying as the villains. But the first antiheroes in TV Westerns actually predate Eastwood’s iconic character from Sergio Leone’s Dollars trilogy. Indeed, two of the characters on this list first appeared onscreen in the late 1950s.

The attraction of antiheroes is that, unlike straightforward heroes, they’re fallible and worthy of criticism, which makes them more relatable as characters. They even share some qualities with traditional villains, whilst still remaining likable.

Antiheroes have another key advantage over genuine antagonists, in that they tend to get far more screentime. Even the best villains in Western TV shows tend to come and go within the space of a single season. In fact, many classic Westerns had a different villain every episode. By contrast, the best Western antiheroes are irreplaceable and ever-present.

10

Tommy Norris – Landman

Played By Billy Bob Thornton

As Billy Bob Thornton revealed in an interview about Landman last year, Taylor Sheridan actually wrote the part of Tommy Norris in his voice. That makes perfect sense when you watch the show, as the part of Norris fits Thornton like a glove.

His titular oil merchant is hard-talking with a crude sense of humor, and he isn’t afraid to involve himself with criminals to get the deal he wants. At the same time, Tommy Norris is highly charismatic and impossible not to love, as much as we might question a lot of his actions, and wonder where he left his moral scruples.

9

Calamity Jane – Deadwood

Played By Robin Weigert

When it comes to crudity and tough-talking, however, Tommy Norris has absolutely nothing on arguably the most entertaining Western character this century. One of Deadwood’s most prominent historical figures, Calamity Jane is a foul-mouthed gunslinger who embodies a very different kind of frontier spirit from the one espoused by traditional Western heroes.

Played with supreme comic timing by Robin Weigert, Jane completely subverts the typical gender dynamics of the Western genre with bawdy abandon. Deadwood without her would be a much darker, less colorful series, and the residents of its titular gold rush town would arguably be worse off, too.

8

Roy Goode – Godless

Played By Jack O’Connell

Godless is one of the few Western TV shows that are pretty much perfect from start to finish. A miniseries based on different true-story elements of Western American history, it centers on a fictional town run almost entirely by women following a deadly accident at the nearby mine. In a cast of characters dominated by women, Roy Goode stands out.

Jack O’Connell’s antihero rides into town exhibiting all the tropes of a protagonist in classic Westerns of decades gone by. He’s on the run from a murky past and initially reluctant to help the women of La Belle. However, his steely resolve in the face of danger and fearsome reputation as a sharpshooter end up being essential to their cause.

7

Bret Maverick – Maverick

Played By James Garner

Maverick’s central antihero is primarily responsible for some of the best Western TV show episodes of all time. Far from the prototype of genre classics, Bret Maverick isn’t an all-action gunslinger. Instead, he gets by on the strength of his wiles, conning many an opponent out of their gambling kitty.

Thanks to Maverick’s deceptive charm and unerring ability to misdirect his way out of tight jams, the show he fronted was a far more cerebral affair than the average Western and effortlessly blended elements of comedy into its thrilling storylines. James Garner’s portrayal of the smoothest cowboy in the Old West rightly turned him into a major star.

6
Beth Dutton – Yellowstone

Played By Kelly Reilly

The most complex and multi-faceted character in Taylor Sheridan’s flagship TV Western, Beth Dutton is also Yellowstone‘s most quotable character and is ultimately responsible for the climactic moment in its finale episode. Actor Kelly Reilly does a great deal of the show’s heavy lifting throughout the series as her character walks a line between hero and villain throughout.

She somehow makes Beth the most sympathetic member of the Dutton household even though she’s responsible for some of their most reprehensible actions. It’s difficult to stomach her treatment of adoptive brother Jamie Dutton, but even this aspect of her character is understandable in context.

5
Cullen Bohannon – Hell On Wheels

Played By Anson Mount

A decade before Anson Mount’s role in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, he played one of the greatest antiheroes in Western genre history, Cullen Bohannon. Cullen has all the makings of a genuine villain from his past fighting for Confederacy to his thirst for vengeance. But he’s relatable and easy to like from very beginning of Hello on Wheels.

Cullen Bohannon’s character development reflects journey Union Pacific Railroad’s construction. From indulging corruption lawlessness falling for migrant laborer comes work alongside – chasing her across ocean – Cullen Bohannon himself essence show’s redemption story.

4
Josh Randall – Wanted: Dead Or Alive

Played By Steve McQueen

Steve McQueen’s breakout role in Wanted : Dead or Alive is everything his big-screen superstardom would become. Josh Randall manages to combine head trigger-happy hand cold-blooded bounty hunter heart hopeless romantic.

He’s Vin Tanner from The Magnificent Seven , em > , The Great Escape ’ s Cooler King , Thomas Crown , Frank Bullitt all rolled into one. It’s worth noting that Wanted : Dead or Alive served as particularly early example this character archetype which had only featured handful major movies before McQueen first appeared Randall.