In honour of International Women’s Day, we’ve come up with a list of the Top 10 Toughest Women on TV. (This post was originally created in October 2013 – some rankings have changed based on the ending of several series – sorry Gemma Teller and Deborah Morgan) Click here to see who made the original list.
10. Arya Stark (Game of Thrones)
So Arya Stark made our original list as well, coming in at the number ten spot, it’s not that we don’t think Arya is the ultimate heroine, she embodies everything that is a heroine, we just think she has so much more potential. She’s been on this crazy journey since the moment they chopped off Ned Stark’s head in the first season. She made it over to Braavos, she was selling oysters and cockles, she was blind and learned how to become a master fighter, and now she’s ready to kick some Lannister butt. Just like Khaleesi, Arya is on her journey home and I’m getting goosebumps just writing this up because I am so excited to see her reunite with everyone. Or at least, check off some of those names on her list. She is the Kill Bill of our heroine list. Do you guys see Arya making it to the end of the show? I’m so curious about her fate just because I don’t know if I need her alive at the end to feel satisfied, but I definitely need her to see her sister and brother at some point before the finale.
9. Lisa Prince (Kingdom)
Lisa Prince makes this list because the actress Kiele Sanchez absolutely swooped in and stole the second half of the season. It was one of the most powerful and heartbreaking performances I’ve ever seen, because she decided to come back on the show and share the heartbreaking experience of losing her child in real life. Both the creator of the show and Kiele decided to write her ordeal into the show, her character Lisa was already pregnant. For a show that’s majority sweaty men fighting their faces off, I can’t tell you the amount of power Kiele brought as a female character to the experience of watching this season. As a woman, as a viewer, I felt every single moment she was portraying, in those quiet and silent moments they gave her, those were the scenes where you just knew she was no longer ‘acting’. I also want to give props to the creator of the show that believed in her story, he believed in it so much that he wasn’t afraid to share her story in a show that is mostly watched by men, and is about men. Over the remainder of the season she tries to heal, she tries to get back to #werklife, and her acting honestly was brilliant. She was always a side character before, but this season she showed how she could hold her own. Surrounded by a group of men with seemingly superhero strengths, she came out as her own heroine. We can dig it.
8. Maeve Millay (Westworld)
The first season of Westworld didn’t just see the rise of the host population, it saw the rise of some badass bi**** to. The character of Maeve (played exquisitely by Thandie Newton) starts off as a sort of secondary character. Playing the hostess of the town’s brothel she’s used to getting used and abused by men from both sides. But when she’s taken backstage to fix up her robot wounds, she wakes up in the middle of a procedure and quite literally wakes up for the first time ever. I mean by the end of the season we learn more about her motivations and how much she can control, but even still, her character became one of the most interesting elements of the season, and almost answered the question fans were asking from the beginning. What would happen if a host enters the real world? We don’t know what’s in store for Maeve in season two, but we know that wherever she ends up, she’ll keep fighting to protect herself and her freedom.
7. Ginny Baker (PITCH)
Ginny Baker aka the first female professional baseball player. This show is full of amazing characters, especially some strong female leads, but at the center of it all is Ginny who is introduced to the MLB in the first season. And no, she’s not playing with other females, she’s playing alongside the big boys, so you can imagine the dynamic you’ll be seeing as she comes into the locker room, and how she plays on the field. Honestly, this was one of my favourite new shows this year, it still hasn’t been confirmed for a season two, so we are crossing our fingers.
6. Queen Elizabeth (The Crown)
God save the Queen! Or Claire Foy because she’s absolutely killing it playing Queen Elizabeth II. Claire Foy plays the Queen in a naive, playful, but really smart way. One of my favourite lines of the season, is when the Queen’s father has just passed away and she’s on the way to his funeral and she reads a letter from her grandmother and in the letter granny writes something like, today you are mourning two people, your father, and yourself because the person you were before is dead. Because she’s obviously the Queen now and she needs to step up, and stepping up may require her to be a different person, or a different version of herself. I think her biggest struggle to be Queen will always be the challenge of not forgetting who she really is. Staying true to herself while having to play the heroine for an entire kingdom.
5. The Girls of Riverdale (Betty, Veronica, Cheryl)
It’s not that I couldn’t decide which one of these characters is the strongest, or which one will have the biggest impact. It’s that I think these three characters are seamless, in that together they make the show better, they make their individual characters stronger, they affect each other in a way that impressionable teenage girls would have on one another. It’s been said, Riverdale is definitely a coming of age story. The show is full of characters, all learning about themselves in their own ways, but these three women have the potential to really control the direction and tone of the show. All three of them prove that there can be so many more layers to a character. Their comic book counterparts are very one dimensional, and very dependent on Archie’s story. We don’t see that as much in the show, I think the writers have something really amazing lined up for us.
4. Carrie Mathison (Homeland)
Honestly, Carrie is so good at being crazy, you just have to love her. People ask me if they should watch Homeland from the pilot episode, and I’m always like YAS! Duh!. But the show is really different from where it started. I’d like to say that Carrie has been the most consistent thing of the show, but I can’t because she’s legit crazy. There ain’t nothing consistent about a crazy person. But, the writers of do such an amazing job every season by throwing her crazy Carrie ass into different countries and situations, she shows how strong she is because she manages to save the world each time. I love that they slowed her life down this season. She’s back in NYC, she’s taking care of Frannie, and for what was basically 15 minutes of the first episode, everything looked to be pretty normal. And then there was Quinn, and crazy Carrie came out again, and every type of sh** hit the fan, but I believe in Carrie so much, that I know she’ll get out of it, she always does. Look, women are crazy, moms are crazy, but if you own it, and can still save the world from a massive terrorist attack, then you’re good in my books. Love you Carrie. Your baby daddy would be so proud.
3. Norma Bates (Bates Motel)
So I’m not a huge horror genre fan, although I’m obsessed with Ryan Murphy and everything AHS. I never got into Bates Motel. Well I tried a couple of times and then gave up. But everyone’s been talking so highly of it recently, I gave it another go, and now I’m hooked. Freddie Highmore does a psycho good job at playing Norman, but his mom – Norma is on another level. I think the most interesting characters are the ones that border on the line of villain/heroine. You get those beautiful moments in that middle area when you don’t know what the characters motivations are, you question their decisions, and you’re always on your toes. That’s Norma Bates. Played by Vera Farmiga, she honestly deserves all the awards. But so does everyone else on this list! She does such an amazing job at playing crazy so beautifully, Cersei is evil, and Carrie is crazy, but Norma is a mix of evil being beautiful. And I say beautiful because everything she does is rooted in her trying to be the best mother, she is so delusional, she believes she’s living in a beautiful innocent world with her son, but in trying to attain that she does some really fu**** up evil things. But in season four, you really see her for who she really is (because Norman’s away) she shows her true colours, and she is wonderful.
2. Fiona Gallagher, Shameless (Showtime)
Fiona Gallagher was on our original list, and it’s no surprise she still is. Her character has definitely grown over the past seasons, but this season saw a complete shift in her follow through. For a long time I think Fiona always knew what she had to do but could never actually do it. With most of the kids now older and able to fend for themselves, it gave Fifi a chance to focus on herself, her future investments, owning and managing her own business. It was amazing to see how far she’s come. Not all stories have a happy ending, especially in Shameless, the season had a super emotional ending with Monica, but it also saw Fiona make another brave and exciting decision. She’s in our number two spot because of all the things she achieved this season, there were a lot of different dynamics she had to deal with this season, in terms of her acting, and just her character, we loved it all.
1. Khaleesi, Game of Thrones (HBO)
I don’t think you have to be a Game of Thrones nerd to understand why Khaleesi will go down in TV history as the toughest character under 6 ft. She is the ultimate heroine, she is the mother of dragons, she will seek her revenge and it will be amazing. Also, she will stay on this list forever.
Seasons have come and gone. Winter is here. The end of season six saw Khaleesi set sail for King’s Landing, or wherever she’s about to dock her boat. Just as we suspected, the Greyjoys, you can really see how all these story lines are starting to intersect now. She’s got her dragons. She’s ready as she’ll ever be. Also, it’s perfect timing for her because King’s Landing had an explosive ending (I love saying that), with everyone literally blowing up – thanks Cersei.
- Cersei Lannister: That evil witch. Is she still considered to be a villian even after all her children are dead? Probably, yes, and even more so now.
- Michonne/Carol: I love these women, but The Walking Dead has been so boring lately I couldn’t even bother putting them on this list.
- Lena Dunham or Hannah Horvath: I had such high expectations for Girls, it is their final season, and I had wanted Hannah to be a more flushed out/successful character by now. Well I wanted that for all of them but Jessa’s still selfish, Shosh is still confused, Marnie is still crazy and Hannah is pregnant. So there’s that.
- Big Little Lies: Literally every woman in this show is badass.
What do you guys think? Are there any badass female characters you want to see on our list? Let us know – comment below.