James Rennie, better known as Big Jim, is the main antagonist of the Stephen King novel Under the Dome, and the tv show of the same name, where he is portrayed by Breaking Bad actor Dean Norris. However, he went from the main antagonist to the anti-hero in the final season of the show. Big Jim Rennie is the religious, power obsessed, and manipulative second selectmen of Chester's Mill, a small town that is mysteriously covered by a invisible dome.
Under the Dome - Novel
On Dome Day, Jim Rennie arrives and sees this as an attempt to seize control of Chester's Mill. Rennie had already had control over many of Chester's Mill's most important players, even the first selectman, Andy Sanders. After the death of Chief Duke Perkins, Rennie appoints Peter Randolph as the chief of police. And then his reign begins.
He has Randolph appoint his young son and his friends as police officers, who violently beat, rape, and abuse the people of Chester's Mill.
During the time in the Dome, Rennie kills many of the citizens of the Mill and is one of the most evil Stephen King villains in years. For he is more realistic and all of his actions have caused pain the everyone around him.
His reign of terror ended when Jackie Wettington killed his son Jim Rennie Jr. from killing Dale Barbara, and Sanders, who couldn't cope with the loss of his wife and daughter, broke free from Rennie's control and joined Phil "The Chef" Bushey and they killed Randolph and Melvin Searles, and blew up the meth lab, killing themselves in the process and resulting in a firestorm.
With the loss of power, Rennie and Carter Thibodeau turned on each other and Rennie killed Thibodeau. Rennie eventually died hours later when hallucinations of the people that died during the time of the dome chased him to the toxic environment.
Victims
- Lester Coggins (deceased; murder)
- Brenda Perkins (deceased; murder)
- Carter Thibodeau (deceased)
- Dale "Barbie" Barbara (framed)
Proxy Victims
- Angie McCain (deceased; murder)
- Dodee Sanders (deceased; murder)
- Andrea Grinnell (deceased)
- Carolyn Sturges (deceased)
- Stacey Moggin (deceased)
- Rupert Libby (deceased)
- Mickey Wardlaw (deceased)
TV Show
Dean Norris as Big Jim Rennie
In the Season 2 finale, when his wife Pauline died after requesting Rebecca to inject her with morphine, Big Jim began to go on a rampage by killing Rebecca, then killing Andrea Grinnell. He then tried to kill Julia who witnessed Andrea's murder, but she stabbed him in the foot and ran off to escape. He tried to chase her but was intercepted by Junior who confronted him about his actions since Pauline's death. Junior then shot his father in the chest and ran to the crater to catch up with the rest of the town members, presumably leaving Big Jim, still weak from the gunshot wound and the stab wound in the foot, to be crushed by the shrinking dome.
In Season 3, Big Jim made a dramatic change in his personality, becoming an anti-hero in the process. Many fans believe was that it was because having a dog named Indy made him see the errors of his ways. He eventually formed a group called "The Resistance" in an effort to stop the infected townspeople. When the dome came down he attempted to shoot Dawn only to get tackled by Junior who was infected, and they got into a fight. Just as Junior was about to finish him off, Indy distracted Junior long enough for Big Jim to fatally stab his son with a knife.
Victims
- Lester Coggins (deceased; murder)
- Boomer Platt (deceased; murder)
- Agatha Seagrave (deceased; left her to drown)
- Otto Aguilar (deceased; murder)
- Maxine Seagrave (deceased; murder)
- Dodee Weaver (deceased; murder)
- Dale "Barbie" Barbara (attempted; failed)
- Lyle Chumley (deceased; murder)
- Rebecca Pine (deceased; murder)
- Andrea Grinnell (deceased; murder)
- Julia Shumway (attempted; failed)
- Dr. Marston (deceased)
- Carolyn Hill (deceased; accidentally)
- Hektor Martin (deceased; saved Joe and Norrie)
- Kyle Lee (deceased; self-defense)
- Dawn (attempted; failed)
- James Rennie, Jr. (deceased; self-defense)
Gallery
Add a photo to this galleryTrivia
- He is one of the two main antagonists of season 1, one of the two main antagonists for the first half of season 2, an anti-hero/antagonist of the second half of season 2 and an anti-hero in season 3.
- In Season 1, he shared the role with Maxine Seagrave.
- In Season 2, he shared the role with Rebecca Pine, who in some ways manipulated him.
- In Season 3, his role was taken over by Christine Price and eventually, Dawn.
