There have been a slew of infamous TV killers over the past decade: Dexter, Barry, Villanelle, Joe Goldberg, the list goes on. The era of the antihero main character gave way to full-on villains taking center stage, and it’s not hard to see why. We love a complicated protagonist with a murderous streak, and the actors who get to play them, from Michael C. Hall to Bill Hader to Jodie Comer, clearly love the opportunity to chew more than just scenery. Now it’s time to add another to TV’s killer elite.
Ella Purnell dominated the small screen in 2024 by not only studying the lethal craft, but by putting her own spin on it. Rather than becoming known as a singular killing machine, Purnell made waves through a committee of characters, each with their own relationship to the violence that consumes them. This year not only saw her bring to life a pair of leading ladies—Fallout’s Lucy MacLean and Sweetpea’s Rhiannon Lewis—but also return as the beloved Jinx to close the final chapter of Arcane. A killer-in-training, a cold-blooded serial killer, and a killer born out of circumstance. But what really connects Lucy, Jinx, and Rhiannon and sets Purnell apart is how she’s able to convey deep feelings of empathy for all three of them, regardless of their seemingly irredeemable actions.
This wasn’t always the case for Purnell—only recently has she given in to these (fictional) violent delights. She burst onto the big screen by playing younger versions of Margot Robbie, Angelina Jolie, and Keira Knightley, but eventually pivoted to TV in 2018 where she began to find even more success. Three years later, everything changed. In mid-November of 2021, the premiere of Showtime’s teen cannibal-filled drama, Yellowjackets, earned massive ratings with Purnell in the spotlight as Jackie Taylor, the mean girl–esque captain of the soccer team stranded in the Canadian wilderness. And just eight days prior to that breakout turn, Netflix dropped the first half of the season of Arcane.
At some point along the way, Purnell doubled down on this niche of dark, morally conflicted characters. She might not be a household name just yet, but her face and voice are now recognized by millions all over the world. Several of those eyeballs come from her most notable performance yet as Lucy in Fallout, a cheery vault-dweller at the heart of one of this year’s biggest shows. Shortly upon its release in April, the Amazon Prime series—based on the popular video game of the same name—became a commercial juggernaut. The postapocalyptic drama exploded in its first five days on the platform, clocking in at nearly 3 billion minutes viewed. Critical adoration soon followed in the form of 16 Emmy nominations, a far cry from the video game adaptations of old and another win for Hollywood’s ongoing love affair with the gaming industry. To cap things off, the Fallout team took home the trophy for Best Adaptation at the Game Awards (where Purnell was a double-nominee for Arcane Season 2 as well). It goes without saying that a major reason for Fallout’s popularity is that it’s a well-known title with a dedicated fan base, but Purnell’s ability to carry the prized IP on a big-budget scale can’t be overlooked.
Out of the three main characters she played this year, Lucy is far and away the easiest to root for and sympathize with. Classifying Lucy as a killer is admittedly a bit of a stretch, but she does fall squarely in the “I ain’t a killer, but don’t push me” camp. Lucy starts as someone who sees the best in everyone, adheres to a strong moral code, and gives off golden retriever energy. Battered by a postapocalyptic wasteland and reeling from a devastating secret about her father, she decides to do the unthinkable and team up with the Ghoul (Walton Goggins) on a warpath for revenge. This moment in Episode 8 is where Purnell really gets to cook: her eyes glaze over, and in an instant the remaining layers of her relentless optimism melt away, leaving Lucy as an empty shell full of rage. For the entirety of the story up until this point, Purnell plays Lucy with a heightened exuberance—when the switch flips, it’s genuinely chilling to witness.
Jinx, on the other hand, is somehow an even more tragic character whose penchant for vibrant terrorism was forged in the fires of deep-rooted childhood trauma. For the uninitiated, Arcane is developer Riot Games’ first foray into TV via the French animation studio Fortiche. The two-season epic—the most expensive animated series ever—takes place in the League of Legends universe and expands the lore of Riot’s flagship game. After its debut in 2021, Arcane won four Emmy Awards and became revered by many as one of the greatest video game adaptations of all time. The second and final season, which came to an end in November, built on Season 1’s impact. The soundtrack is at 500 million streams and counting on Spotify (The Ringer’s parent company) since its release, peaking at no. 2 on Spotify’s Global Top Album Charts. Over on TikTok, it’s impossible to scroll without coming across a meticulously crafted fan edit.
There’s just so much to rave about when it comes to Arcane, whether it’s the jaw-dropping animation and strikingly stylized set pieces or its rich character work and emotionally affecting vocal performances. Which brings us back to Purnell’s indelible take on Jinx, everyone’s favorite vile villainess. The raspy sharpness of her voice underscores Jinx’s wicked intentions and dangerous mental state, while at the same time allowing her anguish to seep through each line delivery. It’s a vocal concoction that makes you fear her and feel for her.
“Even though she kills people and is not necessarily the hero of the show, she’s got so many sweet qualities about her. She’s childish, she’s playful, she’s silly, and funny. God, she’s unpredictable, and that’s really fun. In a lot of ways, she does remind me of Lucy, actually,” she explained at a MCM Comic Con panel in October. “They do have a similar innocence about them… I really like that and I kind of always want to find that in my characters.”
“People I’d love to kill…”
Those are the words that kick off Sweetpea, the Starz original drama laced with hilarious dark comedy. The British series features Purnell as a stone-cold serial killer (and first-time executive producer) in maybe the most ruthless turn of her ascendant career. Rhiannon comes off as a shy, unassuming receptionist who wouldn’t hurt a fly, but the audience soon realizes that something sinister is bubbling beneath the surface. Perpetually ignored by the world around her and suffering from PTSD from years of childhood bullying, she harbors homicidal fantasies for those who fail to notice her.
Purnell plays Rhiannon as if she’s a stretched rubber band ready to snap. There’s a constant push and pull in her performance, like a pendulum swinging from wrath on one end to pain and hurt on the other. While this is a consistent trait across many of her roles, it’s most apparent through this rejected wallflower. Out of the three main characters Purnell played this year, she is far and away the most difficult to root for and sympathize with. However, there’s just something about the way Purnell embodies the character—even amid Rhiannon’s despicable crimes, you still catch yourself rationalizing for her. “I really wanted to play the villain,” Purnell said last month in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “And it scared me, honestly, because I didn’t know if I could do it the way they wanted to do it. To try to make the audience feel conflicted morally, and getting the audience to relate to her emotions, her motivations, without necessarily relating, obviously, to her actions.”
In both Fallout and Arcane, Purnell is buoyed by a murderer’s row of talent (both in front of and behind the camera) in what are largely ensembles adapted from widely recognized source material. Not to discredit the rest of the cast and crew on Sweetpea—which includes delightful appearances from a Slow Horse and a Diamond Dog—but the show is undeniably Purnell’s. Sweetpea is proof of concept for Purnell’s stand-alone star power; confirmation that she’s more than the industry’s video game adaptation It Girl.
There just simply aren’t a lot of women afforded the opportunity to inhabit these types of gnarly characters, which makes what she’s been able to accomplish that much more significant. “It’s only recently that we’ve seen women explore the same emotional depths as men,” she told Refinery29 earlier this year. “I love seeing women in survival dramas and seeing women sort of explore the very depths and the extent of what they’re capable of in desperation. Really getting into the nitty-gritty of what survival means—you’re starving, you’re desperate, you’re exhausted. You’re not this together, pretty picture that films originally depicted women as.”
So what’s next on the slate for one of the most exciting names in television? Well… movies. Purnell’s attached to a couple of potentially buzzy films in which she’s passing off the killer torch to a pack of deadly squirrels in The Scurry, and reportedly joining a trio of fellow up-and-comers in Loser. But don’t fret, dear reader, she’s not leaving television just yet. While it’s unclear to what extent, Ella Purnell Will Return as Jackie when Yellowjackets comes back for its third season next February. After that series took a step back in its second season, there seems to be at least some acknowledgment of what was missing: Purnell, and the best-friend relationship between her character and Sophie Nélisse’s Shauna that defined Season 1.
The point is that 2024 was just the beginning. There’s no better time to buy up all of the Ella Purnell stock you can hold. She’s going to be an on-screen force for years to come.
