Vernon Schillinger is a fictional character played by American actor J. K. Simmons on the HBO series Oz and the main antagonist.
Schillinger is one of the most powerful and feared inmates in Oswald Maximum Security Penitentiary ("Oz"). As a leader of Oz's Aryan Brotherhood, Schillinger controls most white inmates and has a reputation for ruthless brutality and rape. He is shown to be a high-ranking member of the Brotherhood outside of prison, thus giving him power outside of Oz through a vast network of allies.
Character overview "Prisoner #92S110: Vernon Schillinger. Convicted October 21, 1992 - Aggravated assault in the first degree. Sentence: Eight years, up for parole in five."
Schillinger is the head of the Aryan Brotherhood inside the Oswald Maximum Security Penitentiary ("Oz"). An ardent racist, he is serving an eight-year sentence for aggravated assault for attacking an African-American drug dealer with a crowbar for selling drugs to his sons. He indulges in varying degrees of sexual sadism, especially toward fellow inmate Tobias Beecher, whom he rapes to "initiate" him into prison life. In addition to Beecher, Schillinger commits several acts of rape over the series against weaker white inmates; ironically, he is virulently homophobic. He is also quick to have the Brotherhood murder other inmates to prove that the Aryans are a legitimate threat to the rest of Oz's inmate population.
Throughout the series, Schillinger has several major family issues: his father, whom he hates, taught him everything he knows about white supremacist ideology; his sons are both amoral drug addicts; he disowned his sister for marrying a Jew, and his daughter-in-law is a prostitute. Many of his underlings are imprisoned for hate crimes and readily affiliate themselves with his group. Despite his status as a leader, he seeks approval from his superiors such as former mentor Wilson Loewen, who views him as having "a big ego and no balls to back it up." A running gag in the show revolves around his surname: Schillinger strongly objects to his name being mispronounced, averring that it should be pronounced with a hard "G" sound ("Schilling - ur"), not a soft "G" sound ("Schillin - jur"). Few characters throughout the show's run pronounce it properly. Ironically, Kareem Saïd, his biggest rival and bitter enemy, is the one character who always pronounces his name correctly.
Season 1 Schillinger is among the inmates in the specialized Cell Block E, or "Emerald City." After Tobias Beecher is threatened by his larger African American cellmate, Simon Adebisi, the initially harmless-looking Schillinger offers to let him move into his "pod." Beecher naively accepts the offer, unaware that Schillinger is a prison rapist who intends to turn Beecher into a sex slave, or "Prag." As a result, Schillinger rapes Beecher once he is inside the cell and burns a swastika on his right buttock. Schillinger subjects Beecher to a series of rapes and humiliations, most notably forcing him to perform in drag for a prison talent show. To cope with the constant trauma, Beecher begins using heroin, much to Schillinger's disgust.
Schillinger forces Beecher to wear a T-shirt bearing a Confederate flag in hopes that Beecher will be killed by African-American inmates. However, after taking some PCP, Beecher flies into a rage and throws a chair at Schillinger, shattering a window in Schillinger's cell and temporarily blinding him in one eye. After Unit Manager Tim McManus transfers Schillinger to the prison's general population, he threatens Beecher in the gym. Beecher reacts fiercely, beating Schillinger unconscious with free weights before defecating on his face in front of other inmates. Schillinger realizes how vulnerable he is and tells McManus how badly he wants to be paroled in his upcoming review. McManus reluctantly allows him to move back into Emerald City.
Throughout this season, Schillinger is wary of the high-profile leader of the Muslim prisoners, Kareem Saïd, because of his ability to gain access to and sometimes influence McManus and other prison officials. He fears that Saïd could mobilize the African American inmates in a takeover of the prison. These fears come true when a prison riot breaks out in Emerald City, during which Schillinger lies low, allowing biker inmate Scott Ross to command his Aryan troops. During the riot, Schillinger sees correctional officer Diane Whittlesey murder Ross after the SORT team supplies her with a gun.
Season 2 When law school dean Alvah Case investigates the riot, he offers Schillinger a letter of recommendation for parole. Despite this, Schillinger uses his knowledge of Ross' killing to blackmail Whittlesey as he is desperate to be paroled and return to his sons, who have been kicked out of their residence by their Grandfather. After Emerald City is reopened, Beecher begins taunting and threatening Schillinger in the hopes of ruining his chance at parole. When Schillinger approaches other prisoners to try and hire one of them to kill Beecher, they all make fun of him for being too frail to handle his own dirty deeds. More stress on Schillinger comes from outside, when his father Henrik reveals that both his sons are stealing money to fuel their drug addiction, resulting in them being kicked out angering Schillinger, who orders his father to find them but is refused. As soon as Beecher becomes aware of Schillinger's deeds, he works with Whittlesey and McManus to have the parole hearing halted and an additional 10 years added to Schillinger's sentence for the murder plan. Schillinger is permanently removed from Emerald City.
Once in Oz's general population, Schillinger is brutally attacked by numerous African American inmates, who taunt him about Beecher defecating on him. He takes the initiative to fill the Aaryan's leadership vacuum, rallying fellow Aryan, Mark Mack, decide to randomly kill a non-white inmate to win back respect for the Brotherhood, targeting Jewish inmate Alexander Vogel. Warden Leo Glynn cannot find any evidence to conclusively tie the murder to the Aryans, who were not prosecuted for the crime. As a result, the Aryans are once again feared in Oz and Schillinger renews his plans for revenge against Beecher. He employs Chris Keller, a bisexual serial killer who once served time with him in another prison, to play a sick mind game on Beecher to break him down. As the plan goes forward, Beecher is informed of his wife's apparent suicide, and Schillinger tauntingly implies that he actually arranged her murder. Karl Metzger a CO and Aryaan member is employed at Oz and Vern uses this to his advantage.
Cyril O'Reily, the intellectually disabled brother of Irish inmate Ryan O'Reily, arrives in Oz and is put on Schillinger's cell block. Schillinger promises to take Cyril to see his brother in Emerald City but instead orchestrates his gang rape by the Aryans. When Ryan realizes what has happened, he orders Cyril to assault him so he can be sent to solitary confinement, isolated but safely away from Schillinger. After his release, Cyril suffers flashbacks and nightmares about his sexual assault. Meanwhile, Keller seduces Beecher and gets him to relapse into alcoholism. Schillinger, Keller, and Aryan Brotherhood prison guard Karl Metzger ambush Beecher, revealing Schillinger's revenge plan and breaking his arms and legs.
Season 3 When Augustus Hill testifies against Malcolm Coyle for murdering an innocent family, Saïd asks Schillinger, among other inmates, to help protect him. Schillinger agrees because he also is a family man and respects the fact that a member of the victims family died while serving in the Vietnam War when Antonio Nappa mentions this. Nappa has Coyle murdered to ensure a message is sent to the Homeboys. Guard Sean Murphy starts a boxing tournament in Emerald City, to which Robson agrees to compete for the Aryans. Schillinger taunts Cyril about the gang rape before he fights Robson, but Ryan pours chloral hydrate in Robson's water, thus allowing his brother to win the match. Afterward, the Aryans leave Cyril alone.
Schillinger's son Andrew arrives in Oz for his part in the lynching of a black man. Schillinger, upset that Andrew is a heroin addict, tells the Brotherhood to ignore his son until he is clean. Ryan, Keller, and Beecher devise a plan to turn father and son against each other. Beecher befriends Andrew as he helps get him off drugs, angering Schillinger. When he embraces his son for fighting his addiction, Andrew rejects his father's ideology and they fight in the cafteria with other inamtes and guards having to separate them. Feeling that Andrew has betrayed him, Schillinger arranges for his own son to die of a drug overdose in solitary, having guard Len Lopresti, a white supremacist who sympathizes with the Brotherhood, secretly provide Andrew with a highly potent package of heroin that kills him. Feeling guilty over Andy's demise Beecher has his father's law firm locate Schillinger's other son Hank, in an attempt to bury the hatchet. Schillinger is nearly sent to death row after Richie Hanlon, who he forced to take the blame for Vogel's murder, claims they did it together. He is murdered by Russian Nikolai Stanislavsky, who mistakenly believes he is avenging the death of his friend Vogel, unaware Schillinger was the actual culprit.
Beecher, after counseling from Saïd, tells Schillinger that Andrew's death was a setup. Schillinger attacks Beecher, who is now protected by Keller and the Muslims. Schillinger and Beecher both ended up in the hospital ward as a result of mutual stab wounds. When Schillinger is discharged, he realizes that Adebisi is plotting something against the white inmates. He asks all the other whites, including Beecher and Keller, to form a bond of solidarity — albeit only a temporary, opportunistic one — to prevent the blacks from taking over the entire prison. As another race riot is brewing, Glynn locks down the prison.
Season 4 When Schillinger's younger son Hank visits him in prison, Schillinger pays him to kidnap Beecher's children as revenge for Andrew's death. Schillinger pays Jewish inmate Eli Zabitz to help frame Keller for the kidnapping, turning the two against each other, and has Hank remove the hand of Beecher's son Gary and ship it to Oz. Hank then kills Gary. Father Ray Mukada begs Schillinger to give up Beecher's daughter, after telling him Beecher had him found to make up for Andrew's death.. Hank returns Holly and is arrested by the FBI. Despite Schillinger's concerns about being given up on an interrogation, Hank is freed from the murder charges on a legal technicality. Unbeknownst to Schillinger, however, Beecher hires the Italians to murder Hank.