(Credits: Netflix)

There was a time when Netflix villains were easy to spot. They wore scowls, plotted destruction, and rarely had a reason for the chaos they caused. They were cartoons in human skin, entertaining but never empathetic. You booed them, rooted against them, and never once questioned which side you were on.

But lately, something has shifted. On Netflix, especially, the most compelling characters are no longer the clean-cut heroes; they are the morally grey ones. The ones who lie, cheat, stalk, manipulate, and sometimes kill, and still make you feel for them. You hate what they do, but part of you understands why they did it. And that complicates everything.

It is not about justifying their actions; most of them do unforgivable things. But their backstories, motivations, and quiet moments of vulnerability remind you of the reality of the person behind it all, of yourself, sometimes. They are driven by insecurity, loneliness, fear of irrelevance, or a need to be loved and not just pure evil. And that makes them harder to dismiss.

Maybe it is because we live in an age where nobody feels like they are fully good or fully bad anymore. Or maybe it is just the writing getting better. Either way, Netflix villains have stopped being caricatures and started becoming mirrors. Here are seven that feel a little too relatable for comfort.

Netflix villains who feel too relatable

Joe Goldberg – You

Joe is a murderer, a stalker, and a manipulator. He kills in the name of love, rationalises violence as protection, and narrates it all like he is the misunderstood romantic lead. And somehow, people still root for him. Not because he is good, far from it, but because he is honest in a way most of us are not. A brutally insecure, obsessive, and desperate-to-be-loved character.

Joe taps into something dark but familiar. He overthinks and tries to control the uncontrollable. He wants the fantasy so badly that he ruins the reality. That feeling of longing, of wanting to be enough, is what makes him so disturbingly relatable. You do not agree with him, but you have definitely thought like him.

Anna Delvey – Inventing Anna

Anna scammed, lied, and manipulated her way through New York’s elite circles. She hurt friends, burnt bridges, and never once apologised. But peel back the arrogance, and you find something raw: a young woman trying to force her way into a world that constantly told her she did not belong. She faked power to survive invisibility.

Her hustle is unethical, yes, but it is also a reflection of the pressure to “make it” at any cost. In a culture obsessed with image and success, Anna’s moral compass snapped. And honestly, who has not felt like faking it just to be taken seriously? That quiet, desperate ambition is what makes her story stick so close to home.

Eleanor – The Good Place

Eleanor starts the show in hell, literally. She is selfish, rude, and emotionally closed off. But she is also scared, defensive and tired of pretending to be someone she is not. Her villainy is not grand or violent. It is passive, and the lies she tells herself to avoid getting hurt.

She is a deeply flawed person, and that is exactly why we relate. Her journey in The Good Place is not about becoming good. It is about learning how to care, how to admit fault, and how to let someone in. And every time she stumbles, it feels like something we have done too, just without a cosmic scoreboard, making her a great contender in the race of Netflix villains.

Martha – Baby Reindeer

Martha crosses every boundary. She stalks Donny, harasses him, disrupts his life, and blurs the line between obsession and delusion. She is unstable, inappropriate, and terrifying. But beneath the horror is a woman who is deeply alone. Her actions stem from untreated trauma, abandonment, and a desperate need for connection.

What makes Martha hit hard is how gradually it escalates. At first, she seems awkward, even sympathetic. Then the tides turn. But that progression mirrors how real-life toxicity works. It starts with vulnerability, grows in silence, and becomes unbearable before anyone can say the word “danger”. That emotional realism makes her one of the most unforgettable Netflix villains.

Georgia Miller – Ginny & Georgia

Georgia is a liar, a manipulator, and a murderer. She does awful things, and she hides them behind charm and a Southern drawl. But at her core, she is a woman who grew up in chaos and vowed never to let her kids feel unsafe, even if it means doing everything right and wrong.

You judge her, but then you understand her. Her parenting is terrifying, but her fear is relatable. She wants control because she has lived without it. She wants safety because she has never had it. Georgia is what survival looks like when softness is not an option.

Camille Razat – Emily in Paris

Camille is introduced as the charming, artsy Parisian girlfriend. But when the betrayal hits, so does the shift. She turns cold, calculating, and quietly vindictive. She lies, manipulates, and plays the long game. But can you blame her? She was betrayed by her best friend and her boyfriend.

Her pettiness is real, and so is her pain. Camille is not evil; she is just a woman who has to smile through parties while swallowing humiliation. Her cruelty is born from heartbreak. And most people, if they were being honest, would have snapped a little, too.

Ruth Langmore – Ozark

Ruth is volatile, foul-mouthed, and completely unpredictable. She kills, she lies, and she aligns herself with some of the most dangerous people onscreen. But she does it all from a place of survival. Raised in a cycle of poverty and violence, Ruth never had the privilege of soft decisions. Her ruthlessness is an armour, her anger is protection, and her ambition is the only thing that keeps her afloat.

What makes her so painfully relatable is that she never hides her pain. She is messy but honest, desperate but driven. She wants to prove she is more than her last name, and every wrong move she makes comes from a place of wanting better, even if she no longer knows what that looks like. You do not root for her because she is right. You root for her because she never stops trying, even when the world keeps taking everything from her.