Top 10 Lifetime Villainesses of 2024 (Part 2: The Top 5)

Unlike last year, where I pretty much had my top five pegged for months, this year was just a tad difficult. I really had to do some decision making and give it some deep thought, but I am satisfied with the second half of this year-end top 10 list. These five villainesses really showed out the most in 2024, and for a look at Part 1 of this list, click here.

Without further ado, here's the top five:

5. Marti Turner (Deadly Wives Club)

I remember looking forward to Deadly Wives Club for months, and on July 11, it finally hit Lifetime Movie Network. The film saw Anita Jackson, her husband Jack, and their adopted daughter Jilly move into a community known as Predator Ridge, where Anita would end up befriended by Marti Turner, who introduced Anita to the Wives Club. From the get-go, strange things start happening to Anita, and the club's suspected. It's also established that Anita's new house was once inhabited by a woman named Patrice, who was part of the club and knocked off prior to the events.

Regarding Marti, she and her husband, Ethan, were trying to have kids, and suddenly, Ethan's murdered, and Anita's searching for her daughter. Everything came to a head at Marti's house, where Anita was being held at gunpoint by Marti, who had Jilly captive. Marti, as it turned out, was Jilly's bio mom, but she was forced to give her up. The club helped Marti find Jilly, and she set up the Jacksons' move so she could get her daughter. In a huge surprise, Ethan was not only revealed to be alive, he was in on it, as they wanted a child of their own. Of course, it doesn't end well; as Marti ended up accidentally shot to death by Ethan.

Natalie Sharp had done a number of Lifetime films, but she took on a villainous role for the first time as Marti Turner. Marti was absolutely insane, and I did love her reveal in the climax; holding that gun to Anita. Sharp's performance was spectacular. She acted out Marti's friendly demeanor very well, but definitely shined when it came to Marti's unveiling.

4. Janet Timms (The Bad Guardian)

Lifetime has been really impressing me with their villainess casting as of late. We are seeing some big names do some evil things in a Lifetime forum, and one such name was La La Anthony. On May 18, we saw La La in The Bad Guardian as central villainess Janet Timms, who ran an assisted living facility. Her introduction came when main protagonist Leigh Davis-Delgado was looking to place her father, Jason Davis, in Janet's facility, but as we saw, what followed was Janet basically going into full crime boss mode. She kept Leigh from taking her father home, she manipulated her way into having full guardianship, and she even auctioned off Jason's things, including--get this!--his Purple Heart.

Janet even resorted to attempted amputation of one of Jason's legs in response to his diagnosis of neuropathy, and she was also complicit in a murder committed by her brother, Dave Timms, to protect her villainy. As I said, absolute crime boss mode, and La La Anthony absolutely shined in this evil role. We need to see La La back as a Lifetime film villainess; she proved that she can do it!

3. Carlee Patterson (Murder for Mortgage: Secrets on Maple Street)

I said this before, and I'll say it here: the Maple Street trilogy was the best thing to happen to Lifetime this year. I loved that I got so see a bit of that Hallmark Mystery charm on this channel, because when you think about it, those mystery movies are basically Lifetime thrillers. Three movies, each one with a villainess, but the one who stood out the most was Carlee Patterson from the third film, Murder for Mortgage. Carlee Patterson and her husband, Alex Patterson, moved in to the home that was owned by Gladys Claremont, who appeared in all three films and was knocked off in the 3rd film's opening.

What followed was a string of crimes, suspicion, and hooded figure attacks, along with another murder: Alex. It did turn out that Alex knocked off Gladys to get the house and rob her deposit box, but as Carlee was informed this by detective Lori Vaughn, a further swerve revealed that Carlee killed her husband, and she attacked Lori beforehand because she found out what Lori knew about Alex. Carlee held Lori gunpoint with intent on killing her, but one problem: the gun wasn't loaded. Carlee was knocked out with a cake plate and arrested afterwards. Frances Leigh played the evil Carlee Patterson in this film, which aired on July 28, and she stole the entire movie with her performance. Carlee was greedy, ruthless, and murderous, and Leigh acted out every evil facet of her character to perfection! It was an absolute joy to witness!

2. Miss Mitchell (Killing for Extra Credit)

This was a surprise treat for this villainess fan, as on March 17, one day before my birthday, I got to see this film, Killing for Extra Credit, on Lifetime. I entered this film expecting a good thriller, and I was not looking for a villainess, because I didn't think one would appear. The thriller was definitely good for sure, as it centered on Marybeth Morris, who was returning to school after several months away. The reason for her hiatus was because she was relentlessly bullied after racy photos of her were made public. Marybeth continued to face the same harassment for a bit, but she did have an apparent ally in the form of one of the school's teachers, Miss Mitchell.

Notice I said "appeared."

It was believed that Marybeth's own friend, Sophie Arredondo, leaked the pics, but the climax shockingly revealed that the true villain behind the leak was Miss Mitchell. As it turned out, Sophie was Miss Mitchell's biological daughter, but the teacher's father sold Sophie to the Arredondos. By happenstance, Sophie ended up at Miss Mitchell's school, and she confided in Miss Mitchell regarding being forced to leak the photos by Marybeth's rival, Toby Anderson. Miss Mitchell took the phone and appeared to delete the photos, but in actuality, she sent them herself to protect Sophie. The climax saw Miss Mitchell's heel persona boosted when she abducted Toby and even held him, as well as Marybeth and Ray, at knifepoint while revealing her past, while also revealing that she threatened Marybeth to stop looking into Sophie's sudden death in the film.

After Toby was freed, Marybeth's pursuit of the villainous teacher saw her reveal that she accidentally killed Sophie at a rooftop where she and Marybeth were supposed to meet. Miss Mitchell was an epic surprise villainess, and Amy Trefry played this role so deliciously. I would love to see them in more Lifetime films, especially in villainous roles, because they proved that they can really play evil baddies to perfection.

1. Bridget Stone (Death Down the Aisle)

For the first time in the four years that I've been doing this, I actually had a tough time deciding who should be #1. I had to really think about this, and after careful thought, Bridget Stone is, without question, 2024's best Lifetime villainess. On June 13, Death Down the Aisle aired on Lifetime Movie Network, and the centerpiece of the film was a wedding between Jon Stone and main protagonist Malorie Banks--a wedding that ended with the groom's sudden death. Jon's death was quickly ruled a homicide, and that would not be the only body that dropped, as Malorie's BFF, Francesca Banks, was also murdered.

The main suspect was Pamela Banks, Malorie's mother and Jon's former business partner, as Pamela and Jon's business separation wasn't exactly on good terms. While Pamela was a good and convincing suspect, the climax revealed that the killer was none other than Daughter Dearest herself, Bridget Stone. Of course, Bridget didn't plan on killing her father, as her true target was Malorie. She poisoned Malorie's glass of champagne, but Malorie was pregnant, so she didn't drink it. Jon took the glass and succumbed, and she killed Francesca fearing that she knew the truth, and tried again to kill Malorie afterwards.

Anna Kopacek appeared in this film as the evil Bridget Stone, and she played this role so beautifully. I have to admit, one of the reasons why I made her #1 on the list is because of that screenshot above. I absolutely loved that moment where Bridget seethes over failing to kill Malorie. When Bridget snarled about Malorie getting away from her clutches, you can literally see, hear, and probably feel the venom coming from her. That's what I love to see in a villainess, not just the ruthlessness and the insanity, but those evil and demented expressions that show how truly insane she is. We got that in spades with Bridget Stone, and Anna Kopacek hit it out of the park with this performance!

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So that's the list for 2024! A new crop of Lifetime villainesses will hit our TV screens in 2025, and I hope that the New Year's batch will top 2024! And there's a new wrinkle regarding Lifetime thrillers; it looks like the new movies are back to premiering on Fridays again, so that's a nice boost!

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