James Whitley is the primary antagonist of the 2019 psychological thriller Beneath the Leaves, portrayed by Doug Jones. He is a disturbed and calculating psychopath whose warped obsession with reuniting orphaned children with their deceased biological parents led him to abduct four boys. After spending years imprisoned, Whitley escapes and resumes his unfinished mission, bringing him back into the life of one of his former victims, now Detective Brian Larson.