Looking Back At One Of Mark Hamill's Most Sinister Live-Action Roles...A Serial Killer
Photo Source: Variety
It is impossible to hear Mark Hamill’s name and not immediately think of Luke Skywalker, however, this character actor has more to his resume than Star Wars. While some actors run the risk of typecasting, this versatile entertainer has been cast in roles portraying everyone from the epitome of wholesome goodness as he is known in a galaxy far, far away to the far more sinister in nature. One such role is a serial killer who gave fans’ favorite BAU team a run for their money in the eighth season of the popular police procedural crime drama, Criminal Minds.
Hamill stars in nine episodes over the course of the season as THE unsub that the team investigates up to the season finale when his identity is at last revealed. Erica Messer, writer for the series shared that Hamill’s character would be the first time the show would feature a season-long unsub. Hamill plays John Curtis, a narcissistic disgruntled former BAU Supervisory Special Agent turned serial killer as a response to being demoted and transferred. “You know, I admired you back then. Leading the charge the day it all changed, the day Erin Strauss ruined us. I sat next to you, borrowed your pen to sign my transfer. They put me in Kansas. Me!” – John Curtis to the team’s newest member, Alex Blake. Curtis blames Strauss for the ruin of his career. After working his way back into a supervisory role and transferring out of Kansas to the D.C. field office he is once again overlooked for promotion. When Emily Prentice leaves the Bureau and her position becomes available, Blake is considered. This is likely when Curtis snaps and begins stalking the team.
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This villain type rarely disappoints as the unsub in question has the same insight as the team investigating. He knows the procedures, he knows the past cases, he knows all the clever ways people are murdered, and knows how to cover his tracks. Add in the talent of Mark Hamill as your creepy executioner extraordinaire and what you get is an exciting season with a finale that packs a punch.
Curtis is briefly introduced at the end of the episode titled “The Silencer.” We know that he has made his first kill in copycat fashion after the unsub whom he styled his murder is apprehended by Blake. Fans bear witness to him standing alone in a darkroom hanging up a fresh photo of Blake next to pictures of the rest of her team, perhaps suggesting Blake as a likely ultimate target of his frustration and rage. This earns him later the profile characteristic of a wound collector. At this point, he has escalated from stalker to copycat serial killer. It is worth mentioning that he does not copy just one style, further complicating the team’s efforts to profile him. In the episode titled “The Apprenticeship,” the team investigates him for his copycat style of the unsub, John Myers who was labeled The Silencer. The final scene concludes with a seemingly lighthearted agency softball game that cuts to Curtis taking photos of the team as they play.
Photo Source: Rotten Tomatoes
Remember this character is not your average joe, he is one of the BAU’s own and very unsuspected at this point. In the episode, “Magnificent Light” he is at a dinner that Morgan and Garcia attend together. While Morgan delivers a speech, Curtis snags his empty wine glass with forensic-level care and skill that he places on a table in a room with a live victim and a deceased victim, The episode delivers a gruesome end to his third and fourth victims. The profile at this point includes law enforcement or ex-convict level training and notes that this copycat murderer is targeting past solved often high-profile cases of this team. He is spotlighted in the episode titled “Perennials,” where the team is informed of the copycat crimes in question. The dots are beginning to be connected at this point in the season. In the episode, “Zugzwang,” Curtis cruelly taunts Reid under the alias of Adam Worth from Mauve Donovan’s house, Reid’s girlfriend who was murdered by a stalker. Curtis is seen in episodes “Broken” and “Carbon Copy” where both his sociopathy and genius-level intellect are displayed. He is planning something and targeting someone specifically on the team.
In the episode, “Brothers Hotchner” which is Part 1 of the season finale, fans meet Hotch’s brother Sean. The episode culminates in learning that Strauss is the ultimately intended victim. Part 2 of the finale “The Replicator” includes Curtis slowly killing Strauss while simultaneously taunting the team. It ends with a bang, all puns intended with Rossi escaping an explosion while presuming Curtis dies. Presumably, mind you…
So, what we know about Mark Hamill is that he can portray anyone from the adorable hero who ultimately saved the galaxy and brought Darth Vader back to the light side of the force to the sinisterly evil…and no one, we do mean no one can do creepy and calculated better than Mark Hamill.
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