Some actors are born to play the hero. Others are born to play the villain. In the case of Neal McDonough, it’s definitely the latter. McDonough recently signed onto Season 2 of Tulsa King as Carl Thresher, a “powerful and extremely territorial businessman” who comes into conflict with Sylvester Stallone’s Dwight Manfredi. It’s the latest in a long line of antagonists that McDonough’s played over the years, to the point where nearly all of his television roles have been villains. But what makes McDonough such a great villainous presence is the variety within each of his roles, not to mention the fact that he commits 100% to the role.
Neal McDonough First Rose to Villainy in ‘Desperate Housewives’
The first glimpse of McDonough’s tendency to play villains was first glimpsed in Season 5 of Desperate Housewives, where he played Dave Williams. Dave marries Edie Britt (Nicolette Sheridan) and, at first glimpse, seems to be a normal suburban husband, even starting his own band. But over the course of Desperate Housewives Season 5, Dave exhibits violent behavior as well as is mentally unstable. The cause of his mental problems lies in the fact that he lost his previous wife and daughter in a car crash that happened in the five-year-jump between Season 4 and Season 5. Initially, Dave thinks Mike Delfino (James Denton) is responsible for the crash and is determined to get revenge by any means necessary until Mike’s ex-wife, Susan (Teri Hatcher), confesses she was the one driving the car. Dave then turns his attention to killing Susan until Mike saves her, and he’s shortly placed in a mental institution afterward.
This was the first glimpse of how dark McDonough could get. His behavior actually mirrors real-life cases of mental instability; he often talks to his deceased wife and daughter and launches into violent outbursts without warning. Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry hand-picked McDonough for the role of Dave due to his performance on the NBC procedural Boomtown as district attorney David Norris. “Dave is this really sweet guy next door, and then something tragic happens to him, and his personality splits in half. You like Dave and you feel for him, but he also creeps the hell out of you,” McDonough told the Los Angeles Times. “Marc wanted to have the dark side of Boomtown’s David McNorris infused in the dark side of David Williams.” It wouldn’t be the last time that McDonough played a character with an affinity for darkness.
Neal McDonough’s Roles in ‘Yellowstone’ & ‘Justified’ May Set the Stage for His ‘Tulsa King’ Appearance
The next time McDonough flexed his villainous muscles was on Justified. In Season 3, he plays Robert Quarles, a mob lieutenant exiled to Kentucky. Quarles begins to take over multiple criminal enterprises, drawing the attention of Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) and Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins). The latter soon learns that he’s in more danger than he thinks when he meets Quarles for the first time; McDonough goes from affable to menacing at the drop of a hat, and it might be more disturbing than any of the other acts of murder and extortion he commits throughout the rest of Season 3. It’s no surprise that Quarles is considered to be one of the best villains in Justified history, as McDonough’s performance ensured he was not a man to be trifled with.
The same goes for McDonough’s turn in Yellowstone as Malcolm Beck, a ruthless businessman who locked horns with John Dutton (Kevin Costner). What made Beck dangerous was that he and his brother Teal (Terry Serpico) were willing to go to any lengths to seize the Duttons’ land for themselves; this results in Beck sending a white supremacist militia to kidnap John’s grandson Tate (Brecken Merrill). Even though John kills Beck in a firefight, his actions wind up impacting future seasons of Yellowstone as Tate suffers from PTSD, and John is forced to step down as livestock commissioner due to his dealings with Beck. McDonough’s penchant for playing menacing businessmen who aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty bodes well for his appearance on Tulsa King — and Yellowstone isn’t the first series he’s had a major impact on.
Neal McDonough Gave the Arrowverse the Villain It Needed
The villainous role most TV viewers know McDonough from is Damien Darkh, a former member of the League of Assassins who also happened to be a master magician. Darhk first appeared in Arrow Season 4, with his actions forcing Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) to return to superheroics as the Green Arrow. Darhk also posed a unique threat to Oliver, both in and out of costume. Up to that point, Oliver had faced mortal men, but Darhk’s proficiency in magic combined with the rise of metahumans on the sister show The Flash, meant that the Emerald Archer was facing a whole new level of danger. Darhk probably cemented himself as one of the most infamous villains in Arrowverse history when he killed the first Black Canary Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy); this, combined with the fact that he had the brother of John Diggle (David Ramsey) in his employ made things all the more personal.
Darhk would return in other Arrowverse shows, most notably Legends of Tomorrow. Season 2 of Legends saw him joining the Legion of Doom, while Season 3 had him conspiring to warp time and free the demon Mallus. In his reappearances, McDonough went for a looser, more affably evil version of Darhk. He’d crack jokes, he’d light up with glee when he had the chance to kill someone. It worked, mainly because Legends had found its groove by Season 2, and it was the right fit for a world that had time travel, superpowers, and a telepathic gorilla who tried to kidnap Barack Obama (yes, that really happened). No matter the show, Neal McDonough will always shine as the villain.
