Dr. Ellie Staple

"It's amazing to meet you. It is simply extraordinary. Maybe this will all make sense if I explain who I am. My name is Dr. Ellie Staple, and I'm a psychiatrist. My work concerns a particular type of delusion of grandeur. It's a growing field. I specialize in those individuals who believe they are superheroes."

- Staple introducing herself and talking with the main characters. "What have you done, Elijah?"

- Dr. Staple to Elijah Price/Mr. Glass realizing her plans have been foiled.

Dr. Ellie Staple is the main antagonist of the 2019 film Glass of the Unbreakable series and the organization she works for is the overarching antagonist of the series. She is a psychiatrist and secretly a member of a conspiracy that covers up the existence of people with superpowers.

She is portrayed by Sarah Paulson, who also played Ally Mayfair-Richards and Sally McKenna in American Horror Story and Mary Epps in 12 Years a Slave

History
Dr. Ellie Staple ran a mental institution where Elijah Price aka "Mr. Glass" was held. After both David Dunn and Kevin Wendell Crumb were caught by police, they were taken there too. Staple has discovered ways to keep the three of them under control, she equipes Kevin's room with a set of flashing lights that activate with Kevin's closeness, this makes another personality to take over, imitating "the light" inside Kevin's. David's room is equiped with hoses connected to a water tank, activated if David shows any dangerous behaviour, she also keeps Elijah heavily sedated to contain the power of his mind. Along the movie, Staple performs various tests on them as well as interviews with their closest relatives and friends, when Joseph, David's son tries to rescue his father from the Asylum, Staple interviews him about his mother's passing, event she thinks atributed to David's and Joseph's delusion, she also has been interviewing Elijah's mother along the years, she shows to still love her son and constantly visits him to cheer him up. Also Casey Cooke, the only victim to survive the Beast, asks permission to meet with The Horde, during this encounter of which Dr. Staple is witness, she discovers that samples of true love can make the true Kevin take control of "the light". Later she informs Elijah they will have a procidure on his brain. Staples meets with the three of them to counsel them and persuade them that there is no such thing as superhuman powers and that they simply have a mental illness that causes them to believe so. She gives numerous "proofs" to them that there is a scientific reason behind their feats, David and Patricia (Kevin's most loyal identity to The Beast) begin to doubt. However, Elijah teams up with The Horde, as it's revealed he has outsmarted his captors once again as he has been faking to be sedated all along, he visits Patricia in the middle of the night after escaping his room and convinces her to keep her faith on The Beast. The next day Dr. Staple wakes Elijah up and tells him they have footage of him escaping and the procidure has been advanced, however she doesn't know Elijah has sabotaged the machine, keeping his IQ safe and faking to be numb once again, that night when one of his nurse guards checks him out, Elijah cuts his throat with a shard of broken glass and after getting The Horde to unleash his most "The Beast" and the two escape.

Elijah makes known his plan is to go to a public event and make David and The Beast fight in front of the public and the cameras, Staple and squads of armed troopers go after them to kill them to prevent the world from learning the truth about superpowers. During the fight, Joseph, Casey and Elijah's mother arrive to the asylum, Joseph reveals to The Beast that Kevin's father was in the same train wreck his father survived (of which Elijah was already aware of) The Beast turns on Elijah and crushes his shoulder and ribs, David stops him and they keep fighting, The Beast throws David to the water tank, weakening him, Staple's men capture David and drown him in a puddle not before Staple takes his hand to reveal him through David's visions, she is part of a secret organization dedicated to hide the truth about superhumans, meanwhile Casey hugs The Beast to make Kevin take the light, unaware that Staple's men where waiting for this to shoot Kevin, who dies on Casey's arms as the personalities dedicate a final farewell to her before the true Kevin finally succumbs. Elijah meanwhile is also dying from his wounds, Staple reveals to him he was right all along, then Elijah dies on his mother's loving arms telling her he was never a mistake, her mother replies he was spectacular.

After the events, Staple meets with the organization and tells them they have succeeded and she's ready to move to the next city, as the plan of the organization is to first try to convince superhumans they are not special and plan B is killing them. However, despite Staple success on killing the main characters, she realizes that maybe Elijah had another plan, she checks on the Asylum security cams, everything has been deleted by her to hide the truth, however, she also realizes Elijah had previously hacked the security cameras of the mental institution and sent the footage to Joseph, Casey and his mother, who then reveal the truth to the world to avenge and honor their loved ones, Staple is last scene on a security camera screaming in rage, despair and impotence as her plans and the organization's have been foiled.

Trivia

 * For the opportunity to work with M. Night Shyamalan, Sarah Paulson accepted her part without reading the script, even though her role was originally written for a man.

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Ellie Staple