Giancarlo Esposito, Antony Starr, Kathy Bates represent TV villains at 2024 Emmys

The latest addition to their infamous ranks is "Baby Reindeer" star Jessica Gunning, who won Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series.

There's a new legendary TV villain in town.

On Sunday night, the Emmys assembled the trio of Giancarlo Esposito, Antony Starr, and Kathy Bates to represent the rich history of small-screen villainy as they presented the award for Best Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie.

Starr, of course, has made his name playing Homelander, the superhero who's actually a supervillain, on The Boys. Bates won an Oscar for playing Annie Wilkes, the original unhinged fan, in 1990's Misery, but subsequently transferred her villainy to TV with recurring roles in American Horror Story (she even won an Emmy in this very category for her role in the Coven season). Esposito, meanwhile, is most famous on TV for his role as drug kingpin Gus Fring from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, but is such a peerless performer of villainy that he has brought his talents to The Boys as well, where he plays Vought CEO Stan Edgar.

Related: Emmys 2024: See the complete list of winners

What really unites all these TV villains, though, is how often their roles bleed over into real life.

"My American horror story was forgetting to thank Ryan Murphy when I won my Emmy," Bates said, which might explain why she hasn't been on the horror anthology series since 2018.

"For me, the downside is trying to have a nice, quiet, fine dining experience, and drug dealers start asking for advice on how to build their empires," Esposito said.

"Then there's the critics, like 12-year-olds telling me I'm a bad superhero," Starr said. "They're too young to watch the show anyways! Sloppy, sloppy parenting."

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

As they presented their award, the trio of iconic villains welcomed another member into their ranks: Jessica Gunning, who played stalker Martha Scott on Baby Reindeer.

"My biggest thanks has to go to Mr. Richard Gadd," Gunning said in her acceptance speech, referring to the star, creator, and writer of Baby Reindeer. "I've tried so many times to put into words what Baby Reindeer meant to me, and I fail every time, so I'm gonna sing...." Gunning continued with a laugh, "I'm gonna keep it simple and say thank you for trusting me to be your Martha. I will never, ever forget her, or you."

Related: Netflix rep concedes that alleged Baby Reindeer real-life Martha was never convicted of stalking

Baby Reindeer is inspired by Gadd's real-life experience, and a woman named Fiona Harvey alleges that the Martha character is based on her. Back in June, Harvey launched a defamation lawsuit against Netflix for $170 million. "Her actions took an extensive toll on my physical, and especially my mental, well-being," Gadd said of Harvey in a court filing responding to the lawsuit, and Netflix has since conceded that Harvey was never convicted of stalking, but was subjected to a court order.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.