Since the very beginning, the antagonist of Evil has been Michael Emerson‘s Leland Townsend. His list of crimes is numerous, with the latest (and arguably the most terrible) being using Kristen’s (Katja Herbers) egg and his sperm and having a surrogate carry their baby, the Antichrist. (He has since been born and named after Kristen’s father, Timothy.)
With the series winding down—it’s currently in its final season, consisting of 10 episodes, then four bonus ones, with the sixth dropping on June 27—the question has to be asked: Will Leland, as the villain of the show, survive? Or will someone kill him? There are certainly quite a few people who would gladly do it or could be in the position to do so (or be involved). Below, we take a look at the possibilities.
Kristen
Kristen and Leland have been enemies since the series premiere, and considering how he’s targeted her family, she has quite a few reasons to want him dead—and could easily end up in a situation where it’s a matter of only one of them coming out of it alive. (We’d put our money on Kristen.) If she found out that he brainwashed Andy (Patrick Brammall) into killing their daughter, and her husband broke through that enough to inject himself and save her? Well, let’s just say we wouldn’t want to be Leland. And Kristen has killed before, to protect her family…
Sheryl
Listen, we may not know if Kristen can trust Sheryl around her daughters, but we do know that they have one thing in common: their hatred of Leland. As Sheryl knows, even doing something management wants at work can only get a woman so much (in her case, an office with a very low glass ceiling). “I don’t think Sheryl always understands her own motives,” executive producer Michelle King told TV Insider. “She may believe that she’s on Kristen’s side and her granddaughters’ side, but in fact, she’s pretty self-serving.” She’s threatened Leland before. And it would be “pretty self-serving” to get him out of the way…
Timothy the Antichrist
Yes, he’s just a baby, but he’s the Antichrist. And this is Evil. Need we say more?
Sister Andrea
We may have seen Sister Andrea (Andrea Martin) wielding garden shears and going after demons, but it’s hard to imagine her actually killing Leland (though we’d love to see that scene because Martin and Emerson onscreen together? Gold!). But anything is possible. Or, if not directly responsible, she could also be involved in some way if he is killed.
Andy
Considering the brainwashing that Leland has done to him and that he almost made him kill his own daughter and if Andy found out? It’s easy to imagine him reacting by going after Leland. Whether or not he could kill him is a different story, but anything could happen in a struggle.
No One
Sometimes evil prevails. And it is entirely possible that Leland survives the show. Thanks to our exclusive casting news, we know that he has a trial is coming up, but that could be for anything. And even if he is found guilty of whatever he’s on trial for (we could sit here and make quite the list just from the first three seasons), that doesn’t mean he’d end the show locked up, either.
What do you think? Do you think Leland will survive, or do you think someone will kill him? Let us know in the comments section, below.
Evil, Thursdays, Paramount+