Dead to Me is over, and Iâm a wreck. No more Jen (Christina Applegate) and Judy (Linda Cardellini); no more death metal; no more reeling at the bizarre idea that some cops are nice; no more just enjoying two best friends having a great time. Iâm even going to miss Jenâs horrible children. And that cat! With the little collar! WITH A BELL!
I didnât even mention that this means no more James Marsden, whoâs killed it right alongside his co-stars for all three seasons of the Netflix black comedy. But then, itâs easy to forget James Marsden. Case in point: While working on this story about how wonderful James Marsden is, Iâve written the name âPatrick Wilsonâ more than once.
For most of his career, Marsden has felt peripheral to the cast, even when heâs the lead role. When he pops up as a handsome, successful, somewhat cookie-cutter secondary lead, I instead think of where we have seen him before. I become that meme of Leonardo DiCaprio in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, pointing at his TV screen: âHey, isnât that Cyclops?â
I admit that, for a long time, I wrote Marsden off. He either played a handsome, soft rom-com antagonist or a handsome, minor bit player in ensemble productions like Hairspray or X-Men. He hardly stood out to me on his own, even as he kept popping up countless things I watchedâand is, if I havenât mentioned it yet, very handsome.
But throughout 2022, Marsden quietly became one of the most recognizable faces on our screens. With a slew of lead roles on screens both big and small, he has become more visible than everâa presence that is both long overdue and well-deserved.

James Marsden in Dead to Me.
NetflixHis television turns this year have particularly stood out. Marsden returned as beautiful cowboy Teddy Flood, in Westworldâs fourth (and final) season back in June. Five months later, he reprised his dual roles in Dead to Meâs final season, playing a pair of identical twins.
Initially, none of these roles felt unique from the typical James Marsden flavor when the shows premiered. In Westworld, Marsden appears as the stereotypical cowboy lead: handsome, mostly jawline, and looks like heâs got nice arms. In Dead to Meâs first season, heâs Judyâs rich, successful, villainous ex-fiancĂ©. But in both of these shows, Masrdenâs characters gain an edge. In Westworld, Marsden is challenged to keep up with the showâs devolution into a subversive mess, while in Dead to Me, his clean-cut image is laced with jock-like aggression and abusive behavior that ultimately gets Steve killed. In Season 2, Marsden manifests his own comeback, returning to play Steveâs goofy, lovable, alcoholic twin brother Ben.
Having Marsden play his characterâs twin was a risky, almost soap opera-like move. Yet Dead to Me pulled it off, in no small part due to Marsdenâs acting chops. âIn the hands of a lesser actor,â creator Liz Feldman told the LA Times in 2020, following the showâs second season premiere, âit might not have transcended the trope.â
Instead of a staid cliche, Dead to Meâs twin twist forced us to consider how much we might have misjudged Marsden throughout the first decade or so of his career. A history of ostensibly dull, disposable charactersâthe hapless Prince Edward in Enchanted; the humiliated Cyclops in the original X-Men trilogy Lois Laneâs doomed ex-boyfriend in Man of Steelâbelies that Marsden has been quietly killing it the whole time. Looking back, thereâs a huge amount of range in James Marsdenâs career: action movies, comedies, romance, dramas, even a musical. While he never stood out above the pack in these movies, he never stood out as a weak link, either. Instead, even when heâs being upstaged, Marsden has always felt at home on our screens.
Though maybe upstaged is the wrong word. Dead to Me convinced me that Marsden has been doing something else all along: bolstering his cast mates. Throughout the showâs three seasons, weâve fawned over Christina Applegate and Linda Cardelliniâis this not everyoneâs default state, with Dead to Me or otherwise?âbut Marsden consistently provided a seabed in which to anchor their performances. Itâs unselfish, generous acting, as he allows himself to recede into the background in order to elevate everyone around him. This is Marsdenâs modus operandi as an actor even when that someone might be a blue, computer-generated, anthropomorphic âhedgehog.â

James Marsden and Idina Menzel in Disenchanted.
Photo Credit: Jonathan HessionItâs even more impressive when taking into account how Marsdenâs two characters, despite being twins, are completely opposite of each other. The guilt that Jen feels every time she sees Ben, for instance, is multiplied by how well Marsden sells Benâs devotion to her. (Jenâs guilt comes from killing Steve, after learning that he and Judy were driving the car that hit and killed Jenâs husband; Jen later dates Ben.) He convinces us of Benâs ineffable kindness and sensitivity, just as well as he sold us on Steveâs slimy shiftinessâa man so vile that weâre glad when Jen nuts him with a wooden bird at the end of Season 1.
His linchpin acting abilities are much easier to see than ever before in Dead to Meâperhaps because heâs playing two characters. But weâve had ample opportunities to watch him flex this unique muscle throughout the year. Despite Westworldâs diminishing returns, Marsdenâs earnest Teddy was a core foil to Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) in Seasons 1 and 2. After missing Season 3, his return for the showâs final outing was greatly appreciated; absence makes the heart grow fonder.
This monthâs belated Enchanted sequel, Disney+âs Disenchanted, may or may not be mostly pretty bad, but it also provided another fun romp for Marsden to flop around in. That heâs reprising his role in a fan-favorite film is also a good sign that heâs got career longevity.
There was also Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in April, which somehow transcended the CGI/live action-hybrid doldrums of Disney remakes and other messes to become something special. As Sonicâs father figure Tom, Marsden plays opposite an almost entirely computer-generated cast. Yet, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 leans into everything that makes Marsden so solid an actor, letting his soft, calming presence become a straight-man foil to Sonicâs haywire adventures.

James Marsden and Rachel Evan Wood in Westworld.
HBOYes, itâs easy to forget about James Marsdenâbut thatâs why heâs so great. He melts into performances in an utterly convincing way, even when juggling more than one character in the same show.
It takes a good actor to make a character believable. But it takes a great actor to do that and elevate their cast mates to that same level. Perhaps those years of serving as a supporting actor were actually intentionalâthey were just James Marsden being supportive. He is not the kind of actor who wants to hog the limelight; instead, he works for the betterment of those around him, and the film or show. Heâs just done this subtly enough that it took now for us to notice.
In 2022, itâs clearer than ever, with Marsden boosting those around him not once but four times, in four wildly different contexts. This year, more than ever before, has been a benchmark of just how the features of his acting that have been used to criticize him are, in fact, what make him so good at what he does.