Who Is Red John In The Mentalist? His Identity Explained

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Patrick Jane has faced many criminals in "The Mentalist," but none more deadly, evasive, or significant than Red John. In many ways, Red John is to Jane what Professor Moriarty is to Sherlock Holmes. From the very first episode, the serial killer haunts Jane's life.

A flashback in the episode shows that before Jane was an investigator, he was a psychic who once claimed on TV to have an idea of Red John's personality. The serial killer responded by murdering his wife and daughter, and has continued to murder people since, leaving a red smiley face on walls to taunt the police. That tragic event prompted Jane to become a consultant for the California Bureau of Investigation (CBI), an investigative agency that supports police and other law enforcement.

With Jane taking several seasons to catch up with Red John, the serial killer almost became a mythical figure within the series as important as any of the lead characters. But in Season 5, the endgame for "The Mentalist" Red John Saga was finally set up after Jane narrowed down a list to seven names.

At the end of Season 5, Patrick Jane has seven suspects, many of whom were introduced in the later season. These suspects are chosen after Lorelei, an ally of Red John, reveals that Jane has met and shaken hands with the criminal without realizing it. In Season 6, Jane circles the seven suspects, as they are killed off one by one, making the shortlist shorter.

But as he zeroes in on the foe, Jane and the CBI team learn Red John has been leading an organization with members inside every law enforcement agency who kill people and cover up each other's crimes. After all other suspects are murdered or arrested, Jane is convinced it's Gale Bertram, the CBI director, and announces this on television, but this revelation leads to the FBI swooping in to shut down the CBI. Jane, now on the run, tracks down Bertram in Season 6, Episode 8, but the real Red John kills the director and steps out of the shadows.

Turns out it's Thomas McAllister (Xander Berkeley), the creepy, shady sheriff introduced in the second episode of "The Mentalist." It was quite the rogue reveal, considering McAllister hadn't reappeared until Season 6, was seemingly dead at the time, and was a forgettable character during his first appearance. But just as Red John is revealed, he's quickly taken out when Jane overpowers the villain and kills him.

Like the endings of "How I Met Your Mother," "Stranger Things," or "Lost," when a show builds a grand mystery across several seasons, fans develop high expectations for the solution and judge the TV ending too harshly. Any reveal was likely going to disappoint, but this particular reveal was unsatisfying to some fans because Thomas McAllister seemed less smart and cunning than the killer had been presented beforehand. Jane immediately outsmarts McAllister, leaving him whimpering and begging for his life, which is far from the stone-cold killer persona that had been built. The episode also leaves many questions about Red John's plan, including whether he was a true psychic. And these questions are never answered as "The Mentalist" moves on, ending after seven seasons.

Fans weren't the only ones who did not like this ending. In 2013, Simon Baker told Entertainment Weekly about Red John after the reveal: "Ultimately with anything like this there's a level of disappointment because like anything when there's mystery you paint a picture in your head of what it's going to be, [particularly] when it's a mystery that holds you underwater so long, the mystery of who it is is mythical." Although Baker said he wasn't a fan of Jane killing Red John, he said, "I was eventually satisfied with the way I killed him — how about that?"

Bruno Heller, the creator of "The Mentalist," revealed in the same interview that Red John's identity wasn't determined from the start of the show, despite being mentioned in the very first episode, and the villain being a character from the second episode. "It kind of just emerged over the last couple years," Heller said. "There was always three or four possibilities. And it just happened, really. It seemed like the natural correct choice."