Having an evil twin can be a drag. They run around causing mischief and often trying to steal their innocent twin’s identity. Thankfully for us, when it comes to the realm of fiction, it's easy to tell the good twin apart from the evil one: by their hair. Here are five famous (and unfortunate) characters that had to deal with a brunette evil twin.
1. Samantha from Bewitched
Sixties television loved using the brunette evil twin trope. For those who remember Bewitched, Samantha was the beloved blonde housewife who also doubled as a witch with magical powers. With just a twitch of her nose, Samantha could wiggle her way out of any troublesome situation. She also had an evil "twin" in her cousin, Serena. Elizabeth Montgomery donned a black, cropped wig while playing Serena. The evil witch also sported a beauty mark on her cheek. During Bewitched’s eight-year run, Serena caused all sorts of trouble with her flirtatious antics.
2. Jeannie from I Dream of Jeannie
Like Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie created an evil twin for its main character. To make things doubly confusing, Jeannie’s evil, brunette counterpart was also named Jeannie. Like most evil twins, the brunette Jeannie tried to steal the identity of her blonde sister and caused all sorts of problems while trying to impersonate her.
When Sidney Sheldon first created the show, he wanted to cast Jeannie as a brunette to avoid confusion with Samantha from Bewitched. However, he could not find an actress to portray Jeannie as he had envisioned her, so he was forced to cast the blonde Barbara Eden as his lead. Jeannie’s brunette evil twin was likely created to at least partially satisfy Sheldon’s initial wishes for a raven-haired Jeannie.
3. Ginger from Gilligan’s Island
In the Gilligan’s Island episode “All About Eva," a brunette comes to the island ... and looks suspiciously like Ginger. When the dark-haired Eva meets the gang, everyone befriends her and tries to change her appearance to make her resemble Ginger even more. By the end of the episode, Eva fulfills her role as an evil twin by leaving the island and taking Ginger’s identity.
4. Sabrina from Sabrina the Teenage Witch
In the 1990s short-lived animated version of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Sabrina had a brunette evil twin named Damina (who was actually her cousin). While they looked exactly alike, Cousin Damina was a little more innocent than most evil twins and chose not to steal Sabrina’s identity. However, since the show lasted only 65 episodes, who knows what kind of trouble Damina could have caused had it been more successful?
5. Ariel from The Little Mermaid
The Little Mermaid contains probably the best-known example of the evil brunette twin trope. In the popular Disney movie, Ariel is a mermaid who falls in love with a human. Against her father’s wishes, Ariel makes a deal with the evil Ursula to grow legs and meet the handsome Prince Eric—if she gives up her voice. Ariel can only gain her voice back and stay human if she receives a true love’s kiss from Prince Eric within three days. When Ursula senses that Ariel is close to winning the deal, she transforms into Ariel’s evil brunette twin, Vanessa. Vanessa then uses Ariel’s stolen voice to try and steal Prince Eric from her, but you probably already know how that plan ends.