Television loves its villains loud and flashy—drug lords with booming voices, mob bosses who crush glasses with their bare hands, killers who laugh while the world burns. But sometimes, the most chilling monsters don’t need theatrics. Sometimes, the most terrifying evil whispers, smiles politely, and pulls the trigger without hesitation.

Which brings us to the question that has Yellowstone and Breaking Bad fans spiraling into late-night Reddit debates:

Is Yellowstone’s Steve Hendon really Todd Alquist in cowboy boots?

It sounds absurd at first—a ranch-hand turned livestock agent in Montana compared to a pest-control technician turned meth-cooking executioner in New Mexico. But the more you look, the more the shadows overlap. The quiet menace. The blank stare. The way violence slides off them like water off leather.

Let’s dive into the eerie parallels that have fans asking if Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone has its own Todd Alquist lurking beneath the cowboy hat.

Steve Hendon: Livestock Agent or Silent Executioner?

Played with unnerving restraint by James Jordan, Steve Hendon is no ordinary livestock agent. On paper, he’s tasked with enforcing agricultural law and protecting Montana’s ranching heritage. In practice? He’s an unofficial enforcer for the Dutton empire—a man who operates in moral shadows, where “justice” often looks like a freshly dug grave.

When Hendon first appears in Yellowstone Season 2, he feels like background noise—a supporting character orbiting Kayce Dutton, blending into the scenery. But that’s the trick. Just like Todd in Breaking Bad, Hendon lulls you into forgetting he’s there… until he acts.

And when he acts, it’s brutal.

• The “Accidental” Killing – In one early incident, Hendon shoots a young man in a heated confrontation. Was it impulsive? Maybe. But Hendon doesn’t crumble, doesn’t panic. He shrugs it off, a chilling sign of someone who’s danced with death before.

• The Vigilante Murders – By Season 3, Hendon goes darker. Two men accused of assaulting a barrel racer end up dead—not in a courtroom, but under Hendon’s gun. No jury. No hesitation. Just swift, silent execution under the guise of justice.

• The Vanishing Act – By Season 5, Hendon fades from Yellowstone’s screen, but not from fans’ minds. The man survives, but his legacy is a crimson question mark: how many killings were really “accidents,” and how many were cold-blooded decisions?

James Jordan’s portrayal makes it all the more disturbing. There’s no rage in Hendon. No theatrics. Just a man carrying out violence as if he’s clocking in for another shift.

Todd Alquist: The Devil in Work Boots

Now let’s rewind to Vince Gilligan’s Breaking Bad, and one of the most quietly terrifying villains in TV history: Todd Alquist.

Played with eerie stillness by Jesse Plemons, Todd enters as a polite pest-control technician. He’s respectful, mild-mannered, the kind of guy you wouldn’t notice at the grocery store. But behind the soft smile is a sociopath who murders without hesitation.

Who could forget that moment? A child on a dirt bike, stumbling across Walt and Jesse’s train heist. Todd doesn’t flinch. He doesn’t argue. He just raises the gun, pulls the trigger, and ends a life like he’s swatting a fly.

That’s Todd in a nutshell:

• No anger.

• No pleasure.

• Just obedience and efficiency.

His loyalty to Walt and his uncle Jack is almost childlike, driven by a desperate need to belong. But that loyalty makes him lethal. He cooks meth because Walt tells him to. He tortures Jesse because Jack orders it. He kills because it’s expected.

It’s that terrifying lack of moral compass—combined with his soft-spoken demeanor—that cements Todd as one of TV’s most haunting villains.

The Chilling Parallels

So why are fans convinced Hendon and Todd are cut from the same cloth? Let’s break it down:

1. Quiet Violence

   • Todd kills without raising his voice. Hendon shoots without blinking. Both men commit atrocities with unsettling calm, making them scarier than villains who roar.

2. Loyalty as a Leash

   • Todd worships Walt, craving his approval like oxygen. Hendon is bound to the Duttons, executing their will above law, logic, or conscience. For both, loyalty isn’t noble—it’s dangerous.

3. Detached Morality

   • Todd doesn’t see children, victims, or innocents. He sees obstacles. Hendon doesn’t see criminals or ranch hands—he sees threats to the Dutton legacy. Their killings aren’t crimes in their minds; they’re “duties.”

4. The Blank Stare

   • Jesse Plemons and James Jordan both play their characters with a terrifying stillness. No theatrics, no grand speeches. Just a look that says: “I’ve already decided your fate.”

5. The Creator’s Blueprint?

   • Vince Gilligan gave us Todd. Taylor Sheridan gave us Hendon. Different universes, different creators—but both men are fascinated with power, loyalty, and moral corruption. Could Sheridan have been inspired, consciously or not, by Todd’s brand of quiet evil? Fans think so.

Hendon vs. Todd: The Key Difference

While the similarities are spine-chilling, there’s one crucial difference: motive.

• Todd’s Violence – Comes from obedience. He wants to belong, and killing is part of the price.

• Hendon’s Violence – Comes from twisted righteousness. He believes he’s dispensing justice, protecting ranchers, upholding Montana’s “law of the land.”

One is driven by need. The other by belief. But both arrive at the same blood-soaked conclusion: innocent people die.

Fan Theories: Is Hendon Yellowstone’s Hidden Villain?

The internet is ablaze with speculation:

• Some argue Hendon is Taylor Sheridan’s subtle nod to Todd—a spiritual successor, a cowboy-clad echo of Breaking Bad’s dead-eyed killer.

• Others think Hendon is meant to embody the darker side of law enforcement, showing how a badge can become a weapon when morality rots.

• And a few fans even joke about a shared TV universe: “Todd faked his death in El Camino, moved north, and became Hendon the livestock agent.”

It’s wild, sure. But that’s the power of TV’s quiet monsters—they linger, they haunt, and they make us question if evil needs a face at all.

The Legacy of Quiet Killers

At the end of the day, what makes both Hendon and Todd unforgettable isn’t the body count—it’s the calmness of it all.

They remind us that the scariest villains don’t need to scream, plot world domination, or wear flashy suits. Sometimes, the most terrifying evil wears work boots, tips its hat politely, and pulls the trigger because “that’s the job.”

Whether or not Hendon was modeled after Todd, the comparison cements both men as archetypes of cold-blooded violence—TV’s ultimate quiet monsters.

Final Thoughts

So, is Steve Hendon really Todd Alquist in cowboy boots? Not literally. But spiritually? Emotionally? Archetypally? Fans might be onto something.

Both characters embody the nightmare that evil doesn’t always look evil. Sometimes, it smiles. Sometimes, it obeys. Sometimes, it hides behind a badge or a work shirt.

And that’s what leaves us shaken long after the credits roll.

As I always say:
When good men justify bad acts, monsters get uniforms.
And both Todd and Hendon wear theirs like a second skin.