Top 20 Identity Reveals in TV History

#20: Victoria Neuman

“The Boys” (2018-)

This reveal is quite literally the definition of mind-blowing. In the second season of “The Boys” there’s a deadly supe responsible for causing the heads of prominent characters to explode. Who this supe is happens to be a mystery. But in the finale of season two we discover that it’s shockingly Victoria Neuman. The lady who built an entire career out of trying to set checks and balances on supes happens to secretly be one, and also incredibly homicidal too! Victoria’s not only a hypocrite, she’s also an incredibly powerful murderous maniac! Ugh, so many people in this show are rotten to the core. Don’t tell Victoria we said that though. We don’t want her going after us next!

#19: Sam’s Killer

“How to Get Away with Murder” (2014-20)

This show’s all about skirting the truth and deceiving the masses, and one of the most important mysteries from this critically-acclaimed series is who killed Sam Keating. Sam was the husband of Annalise Keating, a prominent professor and the main character. In the ninth episode of the first season we discover the truth: Wes Gibbins, a student of Annalise, was the killer. However, that’s not all. The episode later reveals that Annalise was there during the murder and agreed to cover up Sam’s death. Woah, it’s like twists-on-twists here. This suspenseful reveal happened early in the show but the drama and fallout from Sam’s death lasted multiple additional seasons. Wes Gibbins isn’t just a teacher’s pet; he’s arguably a teacher’s personal assassin too!

#18: Roku

“Avatar: The Last Airbender” (2005-08)

Roku is one of the most powerful entities out there. Well, to clarify, we mean the avatar named Roku, not the electronics device named Roku that you can use to binge “Golden Girls” episodes. Anyways, we already knew that this firebender was betrayed by Sozin, the great-grandpa of Suko. But what we later found out was that Roku was also related to Suko. Sozin was Suko’s paternal great-grandpa while Roku was Suko’s maternal great grandpa. Now, Sozin and Roku weren’t just two friends turned bitter enemies. They were recontextualized as both of Suko’s ancestors embroiled in a deadly rivalry. This added wrinkle deeply affected Suko, and changed how he saw things, eventually even leading to his redemption arc. Sometimes bombshells are necessary for character development.

#17: The Gossip Girl Blogger

“Gossip Girl” (2007-12)

The lives of New York’s ultra elite rich kids get picked apart by scandalous blog posts and troubling text messages in this show. Beyond this is a central mystery: who’s the mischievous blogger known as Gossip Girl? Well, that answer is revealed in the finale. In the end, it’s shockingly revealed to be Dan Humphries. Dan was an outcast from Brooklyn who used his online identity to work his way into the world of the wealthy. Originally it wasn’t meant to be him though. Eric van der Woodsen was planned to be Gossip Girl, but when people started guessing that, the writers pivoted to Dan instead. Dan as Gossip Girl wasn’t the most well-received plot twist, but the reveal was a genuine wild card nevertheless.

#16: Doctor Manhattan

“Watchmen” (2019)

What happens to one of the most powerful superheroes ever after calling it quits on the spotlight? The answer is ditching retirement on Mars for a life in Tulsa. In the “Watchmen” miniseries we find out that Cal Abar is actually Doctor Manhattan. The reveal and explanation occur in episodes seven and eight, and it’s a shocking twist. Not just because of the identity reveal, but also because the revelation happens through his wife Angela beating his brains in. After the original comic, Doctor Manhattan met and fell in love with Angela Abar. He then suppressed his godlike abilities for a chance at a normal life with her. It’s kind of sweet, but then again, marriage to a walking nuke is also pretty terrifying!

#15: Principal Skinner

“The Simpsons” (1989-)

For the longest time we assumed that Seymour Skinner was the typical quirky principal we knew and loved, but we were actually lied to. You see, “The Principal and the Pauper” revealed that Skinner was a fake this entire time. The real Skinner was believed to have been a sergeant who died in the Vietnam war. As a result, his friend Arnim Tamzarian took up his name in his memory. It’s a pretty weird shakeup to the canon. In fact, this controversial episode is widely argued to be the moment that “The Simpsons” started to dip in quality. Some twists work out and change a franchise for the better, and some just make a mess of the lore for no good reason.

#14: Sauron

“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” (2022-)

This series set in the “Lord of the Rings” world leaned heavily into Sauron, more specifically there was a mystery surrounding who could actually be him since this show was a prequel. The answer would be Halbrand. He was a sneaky person, but to find out that he’s actually the biggest bad of this franchise and one of the posterboys for evil was an interesting plot point. This wasn’t the show’s only shocking reveal. “Rings of Power” also revealed that a character called the Stranger was a younger version of Gandalf. The Sauron twist though also did lots of damage to the elf Galadriel, who had a strong connection to Halbrand. Finding out that he’s Sauron evidently complicated their dynamic to say the least.

#13: Grant Ward

“Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” (2013-20)

If you remember the film “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”, you were likely stunned by the reveal that HYDRA had secretly infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. for decades. Well, that idea trickled down from the movies to tv too, as the plot point came back to bite “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” Grant Ward was a fan-favorite S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who we thought was a good guy, except, well, the episode “Turn, Turn, Turn” came out and showed that he was actually a HYDRA mole. Yikes! This not only tied the show neatly into the second Captain America movie, it also devastated fans who were blindsided by the twist of Grant’s true allegiance. Everybody’s got secrets!

#12: Vecna

“Stranger Things” (2016-25)

Be careful who you torment, because they could come back as pure nightmare fuel to haunt you. Vecna cemented himself as a monstrous villain when he showed up in season four of “Stranger Things”, but he wasn’t always the ruler of the Upside Down. He was once Henry Creel, or “One”, a test subject cruelly experimented on, like the character “Eleven”. We were shown Vecna’s brutality and knew he had villainous plans, but this reveal made us see him differently. The glimpse at his tortured backstory undeniably painted him in a new light, and while we still weren’t rooting for Vecna, we were saddened to see how mistreated Henry Creel was. Maybe in another life things could’ve turned out differently for him.

#11: Michael

“The Good Place” (2016-20)

Despite being a show that revolves around people living in Heaven, there’s actually a lot of problems in the titular “Good Place”. And during the season one finale Eleanor comes to a world-shattering realization. No one is actually in the Good Place, instead, everyone’s been in the Bad Place the whole time. This then means that Michael isn’t an angelic figure, but actually a demon. The Good Place was his ultimate creation: a place that was supposed to be a paradise on the surface but was really just another level of misery. The truth about Michael and the Good Place stunned audiences and provided many more seasons of material to work with. We’re pretty much convinced now that Michael is the ultimate gaslighter!

#10: Agatha

“Wandavision” (2021)

Who’s the big bad of this Disney+ series? Is it Wanda Maximoff? White Vision? Mephisto? Well, the answer was actually Agatha all along. “Wandavision” definitely explored the idea of the Scarlet Witch doing some morally questionable things. However, the show later revealed that Wanda’s next-door neighbor Agnes was actually manipulating key events in Westview. Not to mention that Agnes wasn’t actually Agnes, her real name was Agatha Harkness. Ultimately Agatha wanted power, and manipulating Wanda was how she sought to get it. By changing a small side character into a chaotic witch, Agatha quickly became a major draw. She even got her own spinoff series set after “Wandavision”. Magic in the MCU would hardly be as fun without Agatha there to stir up some mischief!

#9: The Real Mr. Robot

“Mr. Robot” (2015-19)

Hackers hold quite a lot of power and in “Mr. Robot” these destructive men and women with a keyboard prove to be pretty dangerous. Elliot in particular isn’t someone to mess with. He gets recruited into a rebellion by a man named Mr. Robot to fight greedy corporations. But there’s a pretty big twist. Throughout the course of the show we gradually learn that Elliot and Mr. Robot are actually the same person! That’s right, Christian Slater was an alternate personality in Rami Malek’s head the whole time! Admittedly, the suspenseful twist definitely has some big “Fight Club” vibes. That being said, the show’s intriguing story and masterful acting performances make sure that this twist feels like an organic “holy cow” moment.

#8: The Ice Truck Killer

“Dexter” (2006-13)

A serial killer working for the Miami PD secretly hunts down other serial killers. That’s the gist of “Dexter”, and in its first season there’s a villain called the Ice Truck Killer. Dexter and his foster sister Debra theorized that he killed his victims in an ice truck, hence the name. Later on Dexter would learn who the murderer was, and it was intense. The killer was Brian Moser, aka Dexter’s older brother. You see, he and Brian both witnessed their mom’s death when they were young, but Dexter was later adopted by the Morgan family while Brian wasn’t. The lack of an authority figure arguably led Brian to give into his darkness and become a monstrous murderer. Yikes, this family’s got problems!

#7: Nina Myers

“24” (2001-10)

The first season for “24” is a pretty wild ride. Through a blackmailing scheme, counterterrorism agent Jack Bauer is forced to kill a senator named David Palmer. Jack tries stopping this assassination but someone inside the Counter Terrorist Unit throws a wrench into his plans. This rat is soon discovered to be Nina Myers. Nina was basically second-in-command at Jack’s organization. So the fact that she was a mole who was so high-up the food chain proved to be surprising. Making matters worse, Nina later kills Jack’s wife Teri. This would prove to be a defining moment in his life and an event that sent him on a disturbing downward spiral. Nina Meyers doesn’t mess around!

#6: Red John

“The Mentalist” (2008-15)

It shouldn’t be understated just how dangerous Red John was. Sure, Patrick Jane defeated lots of bad guys in his time on “The Mentalist” but Red John was a different breed. That’s because he killed Patrick’s daughter as well as his wife. In the eighth episode of season six we’d finally learn Red John’s identity and it was Sheriff Thomas McAllister. Red was a looming threat throughout the show, and while it was satisfying to learn who he was, not all fans exactly loved the twist. Such a big bad was ultimately a pretty minor character in the grand scheme of things. Some fans liked that, but some didn’t. Regardless though, Patrick finally being able to beat Red after this reveal was an undeniable victory.

#5: Oh Il-nam

“Squid Game” (2021-25)

If there’s a trend here it’s that a lot of big bads are people you’d never expect. Sure enough that’s the case in “Squid Game”. The first season introduces us to Oh Il-nam, an elderly man participating in the deadly games. When he loses one of the rounds to Gi-hun, we assume that he’s axed, however that’s not the case at all. The season one finale “One Lucky Day” peels back the curtain to show that Oh Il-nam is not only alive, but actually the one controlling the games. That’s right, an unassuming elderly man created this monstrosity and even started playing in them for his own entertainment. Any sympathy we may have felt for him is effectively gone now. Simply put: this dude’s deranged!

#4: The Bent-Neck Lady

“The Haunting of Hill House” (2018)

For her entire life, Nell Crain was haunted by a terrifying apparition known as the Bent-Neck Lady. She was an incredibly scary sleep paralysis demon that kept her in constant fear. Things got so bad that eventually Nell had enough and took her own life. However, her death revealed something horrible: Nell was the Bent-Neck Lady this whole time. Mike Flanagan’s other horror show “Midnight Mass” also featured an unsettling reveal. In that show it was how Father Paul was a spooky immortal priest. Nell’s situation is arguably more messed up though. It was her destiny to become the nightmarish woman who haunted her dreams. She was forced to fulfill a prophecy of trauma, which is a punishment that’s simply far too cruel.

#3: Heisenberg

“Breaking Bad” (2008-13)

Though the audience knew from the jump that Walter White was the drug kingpin known as Heisenberg, those close to Walt didn’t know right away. Some characters had to find out the hard way, like Walt’s brother-in-law, DEA agent Hank Schrader. While Hank was using Walt’s bathroom he found a poetry book with handwriting that matched the handwriting of Gale. Gale was a chemist known to have had ties with Heisenberg. It wasn’t long until Hank put the pieces together after that, which led to an intense confrontation with Walt. The fallout from this would be felt throughout the rest of the series. Hank is often treated like a meme within the fandom but moments like this remind us that he’s a highly-skilled character.

#2: President Morty

“Rick and Morty” (2013-)

Politics is known to be an explosive battlefield with controversial figures and unpopular politicians but the time Morty became president was an especially low point. Throughout this cartoon we met many different multiversal variants of the titular Rick and Morty duo. Some of them are cool but some are cutthroat. President Morty is one of the cutthroat ones. In fact, we later learn this presidential variant is actually Evil Morty, a version we saw back in season one. Yeah, apparently he not only managed to win the presidency but he also used his new power to take down anyone who dared to oppose him. President Morty is a dangerous look at what normal Morty could become if he went down a much darker path.

#1: Benjamin Linus

“Lost” (2004-10)

When this dude first appeared on “Lost”, he masqueraded as Henry Gale, a mild-mannered man who got stuck on our favorite mysterious island when his hot air balloon crashed. However, over the course of numerous episodes we gradually discovered that he wasn’t the real Gale. He was actually Benjamin Linus, the leader of an antagonistic group known as the Others. Look, we're just going to say it: Benjamin Linus is the GOAT! Sorry, he might not be the most physically imposing character but he’s the perfect representation of brain over brawn. Not long after we met Benjamin Linus he became widely considered one of television’s greatest villains ever made. This slow-burn reveal was the perfect introduction to someone whose most deadly weapons are his words.

Are there any iconic identity twists in TV that we missed? Share all of the interesting tidbits down in the comments!