Is Apple’s Servant setting up Leanne to become the villain?

Apple’s Servant finale served up some compelling factors that could lead Leanne to become a terrifying force to be reckoned with down the line.

Servant has been a wild ride, to say the least, in its first season. After a thought-provoking finale that enticingly asked more questions than it answered, Apple TV+ subscribers are very excited to see how the rest of the story unfolds in season 2. M. Night Shyamalan has stated that he needs six seasons to complete the narrative, and given what happened in the first season’s final episode, there is still plenty left to tell.

One significant part of the finale was how far Leanne has come. Played brilliantly by actress Nell Tiger Free, the Turner’s servant is no longer the naive country girl she was when she arrived. She has become something much more. And given her actions in the season 1 finale, it seems like she could be the one to watch out for as the series progresses.

While Leanne was always suspected to be something more then she appeared, the show really went out of its way to lead audiences to believe that she would become an unlikely antihero there to right whatever wrongs were done in the Turner house prior to her arrival. But who would she be going up against exactly? Servant kept that card very close to its chest, pointing viewers in several directions before the highly anticipated finale.

At first, the trailers for the Apple TV+ original led everyone to believe that there was something up with the creepy baby doll. After a slue of terrifying toy horror premises like Annabelle, Child’s Play, and The Boy, it made a lot of sense that Servant was heading in that same direction looking for similar results. But that quickly went out the window as soon as he was replaced by an actual baby.

Then the focus on evil within the Turner house shifted to Sean and Julian. From their paranoia, it seemed like they were the culprits behind whatever heinous thing happened to baby Jericho. The fact that they were always boozing only helped the theory that these privileged punks got complacent and, as a result, took a child away from their mother, traumatizing her in the process.

But when it was revealed how Jericho left this world, the attention went to Dorothy, as she was at fault for leaving her baby in the back seat on a scorching day. This, combined with her spoiled brat antics throughout the course of the season, pushed the focus to Dorothy being the bad guy. While she’s no saint, she’s not really a villain either, more so just a parent who made a tragic mistake.

Then the finale decided to bring back Leanne’s uncle George, a very intense individual with a strange fetish for sleeping in babies’ cribs. It was clear he was someone to watch out for but felt more like a side note than the main threat. But Uncle George made good on his promise and returned with Aunt May. The two go from unsettling religious-obsessed guardians to being members of a dangerous cult known as the Church of Lesser Saints rather abruptly, with May being their leader, of course.

Aunt May reminded Leanne that she was their servant and not the Turners. She also went on to state that they only help those who deserve it, and the Turners do not fit those criteria. So Leanne leaves with the cult disappearing along with baby Jericho. The Church of Lesser Saints definitely initiated some conflict for season 2, but are they the villain or merely the catalyst for one in the making?

At this point, we know Leanne possesses some supernatural abilities. She was able to bring a cricket, a stray dog, and baby Jericho back to life. We also know from her Uncle George that her emotions have effects on her powers, which explains why Sean is plagued with splinters, a loss of taste, and then finally no feelings at all. She also can presumably teleport people to a different location as we saw with the cult’s dramatic exit.

The extent of her abilities is unknown at this point, but there are some events that could allude to what she is really capable of doing. The fire that started at her house could have been her just lighting a match, or it could have been something similar to the likes of Firestarter. The explosion at the reveal of the cult during a standoff with police could easily have been Leanne, who then escaped with her aunt and uncle afterward.

Regardless of what her abilities are, it’s safe to say Leanne is not one to be underestimated. She has made it clear that she does not like to be jerked around by people, and if this occurs, she will respond as we saw her do so throughout the season. She already felt the need to escape her aunt once, and it’s pretty obvious she is scared of the unnerving leader.

The question becomes: how much longer will Leanne continue to put up with others telling her how to live and exploiting her talents for their own gain? Shyamalan is notoriously known for his mind-bending revelations, and given all the twists the show pulled with who Servant’s villains could be before the finale, it isn’t hard to imagine Leanne becoming the one everyone should be afraid of in the end.

You can only poke the dragon so many times before you begin to feel its flames. While this is all speculation, all signs point to this servant turning the tables down the line. And after she hits that breaking point, then we’ll see what kind of power Leanne is really working with.