Season five of Showtime’s hit show Ray Donovan will feature plenty of new faces. When the season’s official trailer was released a few days ago, fans were given the chance to meet some of those new faces. Chief among them is none other than Susan Sarandon.
Sarandon is set to play Samatha Winslow, who appears to be a very strong-minded individual based on what we can see in the trailer. Samatha Winslow is the head of a motion picture studio, and I can’t help but feel that she will be very much like a female version of Ian McShane’s character from season three.
What I mean by that is I get the vibe that she will be a thorn in Ray’s side for a good portion of the season. It would seem logical that she, being the biggest addition to the cast for the season, could very well be the season’s main antagonist.
As awesome as that would be, there is another new addition that would fit that role perfectly. Back in February, there was an actor cast in the role of Dr. Brogan, who will be Ray’s court appointed therapist this coming year. That actor’s name is C Thomas Howell.
Now, it would seem like a court appointed therapist would be someone on Ray’s side. Sure, they will likely butt heads here and there throughout the season, but at the end of the day, he should be on the same side as Ray. So how great of a twist would it be to have Dr. Brogan have an underlying agenda.
He could pull some strings to make sure that Ray is appointed to him. Then while he appears to help Ray, he is truly setting him up in some grand scheme in an effort to take him down. It would be a twist that would certainly help the show hit a high point on the season, and certainly, help set it up to have an awesome villain.
The idea came to me from watching Howell in other shows. In particular, Criminal Minds. He has played one of the most iconic baddies in that show’s long and rich history. For this writer, The Reaper (Howell’s character on Criminal Minds), he is one of the greatest television baddies of all time.
It starts with his deep voice. In the trailer, we can hear his character utter the words, “Wanna tell me what happened? Your brother, your father were hospitalized. Your 19-year old daughter called the police. You gonna answer my question?”.
It may seem like an innocent snippet. It is just a therapist doing his job, right? Well, it could also be Howell’s character trying to set Ray up. By learning his deepest and darkest secrets, he could gain a psychological edge over Mr. Donovan.
If you have seen him in the role of The Reaper, you know how convincing Howell can be in a sadistic role. Often when shows go for a surprise antagonist hiding as a good guy, they often cast someone who knows how to play both sides of the coin. Howell fits that profile perfectly.
So what do you think? Do you think C Thomas Howell could be season five’s main antagonist on Ray Donovan? Tell us what you think in the comments!
And be sure to catch the season five premiere on August 6th of this year! Also, check out the trailer below!