24 TV Deaths That Shocked Fans, From ‘The Last of Us’ to ‘Game of Thrones’
Nothing stings like the death of a favorite television character.
Whether it’s an honorable lord with his head on the chopping block, or an upstanding, if snooty, attorney in the wrong place at the wrong time, TV deaths can surprise, upset and even betray viewers, who spend hours upon hours with these characters in their living rooms.
So, Variety compiled 24 of the most shocking TV character deaths, from “Succession” to “The Last of Us.” It’s safe to say this story contains major spoilers for a variety of series, so proceed with extreme caution.
When “The Last of Us Part II” was released on PlayStation 4 in 2020, gamers were shocked that beloved protagonist Joel was offed (quite brutally, to boot) in the early hours of the sequel. Developer Naughty Dog went to great lengths to keep the death a secret, even including fake footage of Joel in trailers.
When the TV series’ second season rolled around, a second wave of shock rippled through the audience as non-gamers learned of Joel’s fate for the first time. While on a routine patrol, Pedro Pascal’s Joel saves a stranger named Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) from a horde of infected pursuing her. As Jackson faces its own infected swarm, Joel wants to help, but Abby convinces him that she and her friends at nearby ski lodge can help fight, luring him into a deadly trap. When Joel arrives, Abby shoots him in the leg and reveals that her father was the surgeon Joel killed when saving Ellie from the Firefly hospital in the first season’s finale. She brutally beats Joel to death with a golf club as Ellie (Bella Ramsey) watches on in horror.
“There’s something so terribly sad to me about seeing a powerful person brought low,” creator Craig Mazin told Variety about the scene. “We don’t do these things to hurt people. We’re doing it because we’re with Ellie, and she’s experiencing this horrible thing that we will all experience, which is just grief and heartbreak. It’s coming for us all.”
Though it’s a TV procedural about life-threatening emergencies and the first responders who battle them, Ryan Murphy’s “9-1-1” has been largely seen as a comfort show by its viewers over the past seven years. Tragedy strikes here and there with a victim they can’t save, and a series regular might leave from time to time (Connie Britton at the end of Season 1), but no one from the Station 118 family ever dies. They are always, always saved in the nick of time, and all is well at the end of each week’s episode. But that all changed in Season 8, Episode 15, “Lab Rats,” when Captain Bobby Nash (Peter Krause) revealed in the final moment’s of the episode he had contracted the lethal virus from which he’d been working to save his team member Chimney (Kenneth Choi). There was only enough vaccine to save one person, and Bobby gave it to Chimney before revealing to anyone he had been exposed as well. With just minutes to go before it ended, “9-1-1” viewers were left wondering how Bobby would make it out this time, only to realize he wouldn’t. He said tearful goodbyes to his surrogate son Buck (Oliver Stark) and his wife, LAFD sergeant Athena Grant (Angela Bassett), through a protective barrier and then knelt down to pray before the virus took him as Hozier’s “Work Song” played over the tragic scene.
“Game of Thrones” is known for how liberally and violently it killed off major characters, but there’s still no death that stings quite as badly as Ned Stark’s (Sean Bean) in the penultimate episode of Season 1. Ned was the main character and the wholly good, righteous man in the show that was trying to stop the Lannisters from taking over Westeros. But good people often meet terrible ends in “Game of Thrones,” as Ned is unjustly beheaded in front of a crowd. His execution taught viewers to not get too attached to any character because anybody can go at any time. Ned’s untimely demise paved the way for “Game of Thrones” to consistently shock fans with surprising, and often heartbreaking, kills.
The minute the FBI targeted Adriana La Cerva (Drea de Matteo) as a mole, she was destined to have a tragic ending. Indeed, after admitting her involvement to her fiancé Christopher (Michael Imperioli), he nearly beat her to death before alerting Tony (James Gandolfini) that she was an informant. When Tony called Adriana and lied, saying that Christopher was in the hospital after a suicide attempt, she jumped in the car with Silvio (Steven Van Zandt) to see him. Unfortunately, she quickly realized it would be her final trip.
As Silvio drove her deep into the woods, Adriana wiped away tears, knowing the end was near. As he pulled over and dragged her out of the car with a torrent of profanity — cold and workmanlike — she crawled away on all fours, whimpering pathetically as he drew a pistol to shoot her from behind. It was a brutal ending for such a charming character, who is reduced to being gunned down like an animal. Deep into the fifth season of “The Sopranos,” it was also a stark reminder that these often charming criminals were evil men.
AMC’s “The Walking Dead” was no stranger to shocking character deaths (just see Variety’s list of 15 here, including Carl Grimes and Merle Dixon), but no demise was as gut-wrenching or divisive as the graphic murder of Glenn Rhee (Steven Yeun) in the Season 7 premiere. The character had been with “The Walking Dead” since its pilot episode, and Yeun was perhaps the series’ most beloved supporting actor. Not only did Glenn’s death change the tone of the show as it entered the Negan years, but it also may have affected its viewership. Ratings dropped substantially for Season 7’s second episode after Negan brutally bludgeoned Glenn to death with his infamous barbed wire-wrapped baseball bat in the premiere.
Logan Roy’s death is baked into the very premise of HBO’s “Succession.” Brian Cox’s towering media mogul suffers a stroke and enters a coma in the first two episodes of the series, and, yet, when Logan finally kicks the bucket four seasons later, it feels impossible, like he will be resurrected at any moment. That Logan dies suddenly, on an airplane while all four of his kids are on a boat for Connor’s (Alan Ruck) wedding, makes it all the more devastating. Logan is barely ever shown in his final episode, as Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Roman (Kieran Culkin) piece together the details of their father’s passing through panicked phone calls. Instead of a dramatic goodbye, “Succession” goes for a more realistic and contemporary depiction of the loss of a loved one. Plus, because it happens early in the final season of “Succession,” it allows the final batch of episodes to focus on who will replace him as CEO of Waystar Royco.
Poussey Washington (Samira Wiley) was a beloved, nonviolent inmate on “Orange Is the New Black,” whose tragic death in the penultimate episode of Season 4 marked a major turning point in the series. During a peaceful protest in the prison cafeteria, Poussey was accidentally suffocated by C.O. Bayley (Alan Aisenberg), who, distracted by the distressed behavior of Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren (Uzo Aduba), pinned Poussey to the ground with his knee on her neck. Despite the improper training of its guards, the Litchfield prison administration attempted to blame Poussey for her own murder, sparking outrage among the inmates and igniting a three-day riot.
Poussey’s murder was a visceral scene, reminiscent of the real-life killings of Eric Garner and Freddie Gray — both of whom died during encounters with police officers prior to the release of “OITNB” Season 4. Her death also echoed the “I Can’t Breathe” slogan and the ongoing Black Lives Matter movement.
Given the nature of prequel series, viewers were prepared for many of the “Better Call Saul” characters who did not appear in “Breaking Bad” to be killed off. Still, the particular set of circumstances surrounding Howard Hamlin’s (Patrick Fabian) death, and the chilling way in which it merged Jimmy’s (Bob Odenkirk) legal sphere with his secret criminal life, shocked fans. In a show full of murderous cartel bosses, Howard represented a white-collar antagonist, who served as a roadblock to Jimmy’s law career. Throughout Season 6, Jimmy and Kim (Rhea Seehorn) embarked on an elaborate plot to assassinate Howard’s character in order to force a settlement that would result in a big payout for Jimmy. Howard could not have picked a worse time to confront Jimmy and Kim in their apartment, as the ruthless Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton) arrives shortly after him. Lalo has cartel business to attend to, and, despite never meeting Howard, he shoots the lawyer in the head without a second thought. It’s a horrifying twist, and one that supports the idea that when people break bad, there are unforeseen casualties.
Given that “Grey’s Anatomy” is the longest running primetime medical show in TV history, it’s safe to say it has featured dozens of shocking character deaths over the last 20 years and counting. But the deaths of original characters George O’Malley (T.R. Knight) and Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) remain two of the most heartbreaking and divisive for fans. Derek, the longtime love interest of Meredith Grey, died in Season 11 during a fatal car crash that took place while Meredith was pregnant with their child. George’s death was even more shocking. The character had signed up to join the military in Season 5, so fans were expecting George to exit at some point. In the season finale, Meredith and the team tend to a John Doe who was hit by a bus and has severe facial trauma. The John Doe writes “007” on Meredith’s hand to reveal that he is actually George (007 was the nickname given to him in the show’s first season). It remains one of the most shocking twists in “Grey’s” history. George succumbs to his injuries and is revealed to be brain dead in the Season 6 premiere.
The fifth season of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” focused on Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) protecting her magical new little sister, Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg), from the machinations of a maniacal god, Glory (Clare Kramer). But tucked inside that fantastical saga was a human-scaled story about the deteriorating health of Buffy and Dawn’s mother, Joyce (Kristine Sutherland). Her headaches and fatigue turned out to be caused by a brain tumor, not by magic or a demon, forcing Buffy to confront that there are things in the world that even the Slayer can’t control.
Still, after Joyce’s surgery to remove the tumor goes really well, Buffy and Dawn (and viewers, though we should’ve known better) believed they were out of the woods. Nope! In the final scene of the episode “I Was Made to Love You,” Buffy came home to find Joyce dead on their couch; the episode ended with Buffy devastatingly calling out to her: “Mom? Mom? Mommy?” The next episode, “The Body” — still widely considered one of the best hours of television ever made — picked up right at that moment, as Buffy dealt with the wrenching and disorienting strangeness of the sudden death of a loved one. “Buffy” and its spinoff “Angel” featured many, many shocking deaths; R.I.P. Jenny Calendar, Tara Maclay, Cordelia Chase, Winifred “Fred” Burkle, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce and Buffy herself (the second time). But the sight of Joyce on that couch, her eyes wide open yet lifeless, still hits the hardest.
If you thought Ned Stark’s death was brutal, think again. “Game of Thrones” delivered the most unthinkable, shocking death scene that still haunts fans’ dreams to this day with “The Rains of Castamere” in Season 3, better known as The Red Wedding. Ned’s son Robb Stark and his family pay the ultimate price after Robb goes back on his word to marry his one-time ally Walder Frey’s daughter. To make things right, Robb’s uncle marries one of Walder’s daughters, but the Freys double-cross the Starks and slaughter them. Robb, his bride Talisa, their unborn child, his mother Catelyn and their allies are all brutally murdered in a moment that goes down as one of the most horrifying in TV history.
Dominic Monaghan’s Charlie was one of the beating hearts at the center of the “Lost” cast, which made his self-sacrifice in the Season 3 finale, titled “Through the Looking Glass,” one of the show’s most heartbreaking events. Charlie quickly became a fan favorite on the series as he overcame heroin addiction, became a father figure to fellow survivor Claire’s son and hit it off with island best friends Hurley and Desmond. It was hard to accept that Charlie might die, which “Lost” repeatedly teased throughout Season 3 via Desmond’s visions, but such foreshadowing couldn’t prepare fans for the sight of Charlie drowning to death so that he could save his friends.
In the third season of Showtime’s “The L Word” — the chaotic, groundbreaking drama about lesbians in Los Angeles — professional tennis player Dana (Erin Daniels) died of complications from breast cancer. But Dana’s death, as sad as it was, was mere prelude to the show’s deranged sixth and final season, which revolved around a “Who killed Jenny?” plot that creator Ilene Chaiken had deliberately hidden from the cast. Jenny Schechter (Mia Kirshner), whose move to L.A. in the series premiere had provided the show with its engine — previously straight, the brilliant, mischievous Jenny’s coming out was the audience’s introduction to the world of “The L Word” — was found dead in a pool, “Sunset Boulevard”-style, in the Season 6 premiere in 2009. Who killed Jenny? Well, based on past events, Jenny caused destruction everywhere she went, so it really could have been anyone. That is, had Chaiken chosen to solve the mystery by the end of the season, which, reader, she did not! In an interview with the Los Angeles Times at the time, Chaiken said: “I don’t actually feel compelled to answer it. The show is about character and relationships, and I used this story to deeply explore those relationships. It’s a risk not to solve a mystery, admittedly.”
Indeed it was! But anyone still driven crazy about who killed Jenny needed only to wait for “The L Word: Generation Q” to premiere in 2019. Early in that show’s first season, Bette (Jennifer Beals) says offhandedly that her friend Jenny had “died by suicide” in her pool, something that fans found implausible, knowing how resilient and determined Jenny had been. This development even drew out Kirshner herself, who wrote on Twitter: “Nope. Jenny is not dead. That’s not the story that needs to be told about a survivor of sexual violence. It’s not a story that can be wrapped up and tied up with a bow. So no, she is not dead.”
So let’s go with Kirshner’s theory, and Jenny is still out there, causing anarchy wherever she goes!
While “One Tree Hill” may be best known for incredible love triangles and complicated, layered relationships, it also isn’t afraid to shock its audiences. Case in point: midway through Season 3 — not a premiere or finale — the most beloved character of the series was killed off. The episode, titled “With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We Slept,” is about a troubled student, Jimmy Edwards, who brings a gun to school after years of being bullied. While it features themes of mental health, suicide and gun violence — so much so that it has been shown in high school auditoriums — it also includes two deaths. At the end of the episode, Jimmy takes his own life. Afterward, Dan Scott (Paul Johansson) picks up Jimmy’s gun and shoots his brother, the beloved Uncle Keith (Craig Sheffer), whom he’d always been jealous of. Sheffer later revealed that, much like the audience, he was blindsided by being killed off the show.
Walter White faced many enemies over the run of “Breaking Bad,” but none was more cold, calculated or cunning than Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito). Gus built himself an empire by always being one step ahead, and occasionally getting his hands dirty. (Remember that boxcutter?) So, when it became clear that either Walt or Gus was going to have to die, Walt tried everything until he finally found Gus’ one weakness — his hatred for Hector Salamanca. Gus is no joke, but even he couldn’t survive a point-blank explosion from a bomb strapped to a wheelchair… right? In one of the greatest fakeouts in TV history, viewers saw Gus step out of Hector’s nursing home room, seemingly unscathed. That is, until the camera reveals half of his face is missing and Gus finally dropped dead. No wonder the episode was titled “Face Off.”
Chuck Lorre couldn’t kill Charlie Harper (played by Charlie Sheen) on “Two and a Half Men” just once. The sitcom character has the rare distinction of being killed twice, in two extremely unpleasant ways. The CBS series, which aired for 12 seasons, went through a major change at the start of Season 9 after Sheen had been fired over a meltdown that included antisemetic tirades against his boss, exec producer Lorre, and unhinged social media livestreams. (And remember “winning” and “tiger blood”? Those were the days.)
When Warner Bros. TV and CBS decided that Sheen was no longer fit to perform, the actor was then fired. As a result, at the start of Season 9, viewers are informed that Charlie had been killed off-screen after being hit by a train in Paris while on a getaway with Rose (Melanie Lynskey).
Rose described Charlie’s body as a “balloon full of meat,” and it seemed pretty clear that he was dead. On the show, Sheen’s void was filled by the arrival of Ashton Kutcher, who plays billionaire Walden Schmidt, the new owner of the beach house where they all live.
Later, Charlie’s ghost appeared on the show — as played by Kathy Bates. But in the 2015 two-part “Two and a Half Men” series finale, it’s revealed that Charlie was still alive and had been held hostage in Rose’s basement. He plots his revenge against everyone, but just as he arrives at the beach house, Charlie (played by a body double, as Sheen was still not welcome back) is killed for real this time, when a helicopter accidentally drops a grand piano on him.
As the series end, Lorre himself appears and breaks the fourth wall — exclaiming, “Winning!” (Which he was, until Lorre was also then pancaked by a second piano. Another surprise TV death!) Lorre and Sheen would eventually bury the hatchet, and Sheen even appeared on Lorre’s recent Netflix series “Bookie.”
Marissa Cooper’s (Mischa Barton) death in the Season 3 finale of “The O.C.” remains one of the most shocking moments in teen drama history — a decision that series creator Josh Schwartz even admitted was a regrettable one. Marissa met her end when her ex-boyfriend, Kevin Volchok (Cam Gigandet), ran her and Ryan Atwood (Benjamin McKenzie) off the road, causing their car to flip over. While Ryan sustained only minor injuries, Marissa succumbed to hers and died in his arms. The scene is cemented in pop culture memory by the heart-wrenching shot of Ryan carrying Marissa away from the wreckage as the car explodes behind them.
Will Gardner (Josh Charles) was a staple of “The Good Wife” for five seasons, so when he was shot in the neck while in the courtroom in “Dramatics, Your Honor,” fans were completely blindsided by the suddenness. Up until that point, Will had shown himself to be a complex, fan-favorite character due to his affair with Alicia (Julianna Margulies) and the way he managed his attorney business. So it’s no wonder that fans were outraged — the show kept the surprise tightly under wraps in the weeks leading up to Will’s fate.
CBS Studios head David Stapf even suggested that the showrunners write a letter to fans online, in which they explained that “life does go on.” And Gardner’s ghost lingered in the show, appearing in a dream appearance of the series finale, “End.” In that episode, Will returned for one final kiss, telling Alicia: “It’s just really good to see you again.”
Jennifer Coolidge was a “White Lotus” favorite as the wealthy, bumbling Tanya McQuoid, whose search for romance and happiness ends with several bangs at the end of Season 2. In Season 1, the ebullient Tanya fell for fellow Hawaiian resort guest Greg Hunt (Jon Gries), whom she decides to marry despite his supposed terminal illness. After the wedding, Greg and Tanya arrive in Italy for Season 2, but Tanya’s not pleased when he quickly departs on emergency business, leaving her alone with her assistant, Portia (Haley Lu Richardson). Things are looking up when Tanya meets fun-loving, attentive Quentin (Tom Hollander) and his friends, who invite her to their yacht — until she spies a photo of her husband and Quentin together. After this ominous discovery, things go rapidly downhill as she realizes she’s being held captive on the yacht, utters the now-immortal sentence “these gays are trying to murder me,” finds a gun and shoots Quentin and two of his associates. After unleashing this firepower, Tanya has the chance to escape to shore on a dinghy — but in her typical hapless fashion, she hits her head and drowns, depriving the world of the chance to see more of Jennifer Coolidge flouncing around in boldly-patterned caftans at various resorts. Greg, of course, lives on to reappear in Season 3.
During her brief tenure on “ER” in Seasons 5 and 6, medical student Lucy Knight (Kellie Martin) never gelled with the staff at Cook County General Hospital. That was especially true of her assigned resident, Dr. John Carter (Noah Wyle), who regularly clashed with Lucy over everything from learning to start an IV to her prescription to Ritalin. Lucy became such an irksome presence — to her colleagues, and to the audience — that Martin and the showrunners came to a mutual agreement that it was time to leave the show. Crucially, they kept this decision to themselves.
Enter Paul Sobriki (David Krumholtz), a young husband who Lucy rightly diagnosed with schizophrenia, even as Carter catastrophically dismissed her concerns. Later that night, when Carter entered what he thinks is an empty patient room, Paul stabbed him in the back with a butcher knife meant for the staff’s Valentine’s Day cake. Carter fell to the ground, and saw Lucy lying on the floor in a pool of her own blood — a total, unspoiled, never-saw-this-coming shock in an era when everyone still watched TV live at the same time. Lucy died from her injuries in the next episode, which, ironically, transformed a character we barely cared about into someone we were gutted to see go.
Certainly the world of “Mad Men” was never one of moral integrity — what with the rampant infidelity, corporate backstabbing and consumer culture wheel-greasing — but it had always fluttered above truly harrowing territory until the suicide of Jared Harris’ affable Lane Pryce. After Don Draper discovers his fellow founding partner Pryce had forged his signature on a company check, he demands his peer’s resignation, triggering a depressive spiral that leads Pryce to hang himself in his office. Coming in the penultimate episode of Season 5, the death struck an unprecedented grave tone for the series, and demonstrated the truly drastic consequences that Draper’s actions could set off. And “Mad Men” lost one of its brightest personalities as well: a regular ally to Christina Hendricks’ oft-patronized Joan Holloway, a British suit that brought an outsider perspective to absurd Americanisms and the one guy in the office who wasn’t afraid to slug Pete Campbell across the face when the situation demanded it.
The fourth season of “Dexter” was a series high for fans, as the titular serial killer (Michael C. Hall) tangled with Arthur Mitchell, the Trinity Killer (John Lithgow), while raising his baby son Harrison with his wife Rita (Julie Benz). Yet it ended with a nightmarish twist, as Dexter’s triumph over killing Arthur was immediately extinguished by his realization that Rita was his final victim. When Dexter returned home, he found his wife dead in the bathtub — as was the Trinity Killer’s style — and Harrison sitting on the bloody floor by her side.
Although it is cited as an example of “fridging” — i.e. brutally killing a female character as a device to motivate a man — it was no doubt a shocking and emotionally charged ending of a powerful season. It also pivoted the show into much darker territory, as Dexter’s love for Rita had shifted from “Serial Killer Beard” to the closest he’d ever feel to true companionship, only to have her struck down.
“Jane the Virgin” began hinting at Michael’s (Brett Dier) death in Season 1, when the narrator says that he would love Jane (Gina Rodriguez) “until he drew his very last breath.” In the Season 2 finale, right after he and Jane finally get married, he gets shot in the chest by crime lord Sin Rostro — aka Rose Solano (Bridget Regan), his wife’s son’s father’s widowed stepmother, in true telenovela style. But it’s revealed in the Season 3 premiere that Michael survived the altercation. So it comes as a shock when, in the tenth episode of that season, Michael collapses and dies after taking the LSAT due to a delayed complication from the gunshot wound.
Fans were jarred and heartbroken by the loss. Unable to continue his work as a detective after the shooting, Michael seemed to be finding true fulfillment by pursuing a career in law. And his marriage to Jane was off to a happy start — in addition to finally resolving the love triangle between him, Jane and Rafael (Justin Baldoni). Michael’s death was so tragic that the “Jane the Virgin” writers decided to follow it with a time jump, because it would have overwhelmed the story to follow Jane through her grief. But again, this is a telenovela after all. In the Season 4 finale, years after Jane has processed Michael’s death and begun dating Rafael again, she and Rafael find out from an incarcerated Rose that Michael is still alive.
In a show that has previously featured elaborate disguises and evil twins, it wasn’t immediately clear whether the Michael who shows up on Rafael’s doorstep was really Michael. But in Season 5, it’s revealed that Rose drugged Michael to bring on his cardiac event and bribed medical professionals to help her fake his death. She also induced amnesia via electroshock therapy, though, so he has no memory of his life with Jane. He goes by Jason now, and he’s a completely different person. Jane and Michael/Jason don’t end up getting back together. But the fact that she has the opportunity to try things out with her first love and doesn’t take it helps strengthen her relationship with Rafael, who she marries in the series finale.
The role of “the mother” in CBS’ “How I Met Your Mother” was a considerable undertaking. The series spent close to a decade building up to the moment Ted (Josh Radnor) would meet the love of his life, and after eight seasons of establishing intimate and hilarious chemistry between the main ensemble, it had become tough for fans to imagine investing in a brand-new character the way had with Ted, Marshall (Jason Segel), Lily (Alyson Hannigan), Robin (Cobie Smulders) and Barney (Neil Patrick Harris).
So it was a feat when Cristin Milioti debuted in the Season 8 finale as the Girl With the Yellow Umbrella, later revealed to be named Tracy McConnell, and spent all of Season 9 winning favor with audiences for heart and humor that made the character worth waiting so many years for. (Case in point: It’s Milioti, not one of her longer-tenured castmates, who represents “How I Met Your Mother” on Variety‘s list of the 100 greatest TV performances of the 21st century.)
Unfortunately, the fact that Tracy was so loved later added to the show’s reputation as having one of the worst series finales of all time. Season 9 is all about Ted and Tracy falling in love in the lead-up to Barney and Robin’s wedding, so the last-minute reveal that Tracy died of an illness while Barney and Robin got a divorce stung, especially once it became clear that all of that backtracking was just happening so Ted and Robin could get back together. Apparently, this had been the writers’ plan all along, but by the end of “How I Met Your Mother,” Tracy had become a real, loved person. Treating her like just a plot device made her death a painful and confusing one.
Editor’s note: Jennifer Maas, Katcy Stephan, Pat Saperstein, J. Kim Murphy, Joe Otterson, Emily Longeretta, Matt Minton and Michael Schneider also contributed to this list.
Whether it’s an honorable lord with his head on the chopping block, or an upstanding, if snooty, attorney in the wrong place at the wrong time, TV deaths can surprise, upset and even betray viewers, who spend hours upon hours with these characters in their living rooms.
So, Variety compiled 24 of the most shocking TV character deaths, from “Succession” to “The Last of Us.” It’s safe to say this story contains major spoilers for a variety of series, so proceed with extreme caution.
When “The Last of Us Part II” was released on PlayStation 4 in 2020, gamers were shocked that beloved protagonist Joel was offed (quite brutally, to boot) in the early hours of the sequel. Developer Naughty Dog went to great lengths to keep the death a secret, even including fake footage of Joel in trailers.
When the TV series’ second season rolled around, a second wave of shock rippled through the audience as non-gamers learned of Joel’s fate for the first time. While on a routine patrol, Pedro Pascal’s Joel saves a stranger named Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) from a horde of infected pursuing her. As Jackson faces its own infected swarm, Joel wants to help, but Abby convinces him that she and her friends at nearby ski lodge can help fight, luring him into a deadly trap. When Joel arrives, Abby shoots him in the leg and reveals that her father was the surgeon Joel killed when saving Ellie from the Firefly hospital in the first season’s finale. She brutally beats Joel to death with a golf club as Ellie (Bella Ramsey) watches on in horror.
“There’s something so terribly sad to me about seeing a powerful person brought low,” creator Craig Mazin told Variety about the scene. “We don’t do these things to hurt people. We’re doing it because we’re with Ellie, and she’s experiencing this horrible thing that we will all experience, which is just grief and heartbreak. It’s coming for us all.”
Though it’s a TV procedural about life-threatening emergencies and the first responders who battle them, Ryan Murphy’s “9-1-1” has been largely seen as a comfort show by its viewers over the past seven years. Tragedy strikes here and there with a victim they can’t save, and a series regular might leave from time to time (Connie Britton at the end of Season 1), but no one from the Station 118 family ever dies. They are always, always saved in the nick of time, and all is well at the end of each week’s episode. But that all changed in Season 8, Episode 15, “Lab Rats,” when Captain Bobby Nash (Peter Krause) revealed in the final moment’s of the episode he had contracted the lethal virus from which he’d been working to save his team member Chimney (Kenneth Choi). There was only enough vaccine to save one person, and Bobby gave it to Chimney before revealing to anyone he had been exposed as well. With just minutes to go before it ended, “9-1-1” viewers were left wondering how Bobby would make it out this time, only to realize he wouldn’t. He said tearful goodbyes to his surrogate son Buck (Oliver Stark) and his wife, LAFD sergeant Athena Grant (Angela Bassett), through a protective barrier and then knelt down to pray before the virus took him as Hozier’s “Work Song” played over the tragic scene.
“Game of Thrones” is known for how liberally and violently it killed off major characters, but there’s still no death that stings quite as badly as Ned Stark’s (Sean Bean) in the penultimate episode of Season 1. Ned was the main character and the wholly good, righteous man in the show that was trying to stop the Lannisters from taking over Westeros. But good people often meet terrible ends in “Game of Thrones,” as Ned is unjustly beheaded in front of a crowd. His execution taught viewers to not get too attached to any character because anybody can go at any time. Ned’s untimely demise paved the way for “Game of Thrones” to consistently shock fans with surprising, and often heartbreaking, kills.
The minute the FBI targeted Adriana La Cerva (Drea de Matteo) as a mole, she was destined to have a tragic ending. Indeed, after admitting her involvement to her fiancé Christopher (Michael Imperioli), he nearly beat her to death before alerting Tony (James Gandolfini) that she was an informant. When Tony called Adriana and lied, saying that Christopher was in the hospital after a suicide attempt, she jumped in the car with Silvio (Steven Van Zandt) to see him. Unfortunately, she quickly realized it would be her final trip.
As Silvio drove her deep into the woods, Adriana wiped away tears, knowing the end was near. As he pulled over and dragged her out of the car with a torrent of profanity — cold and workmanlike — she crawled away on all fours, whimpering pathetically as he drew a pistol to shoot her from behind. It was a brutal ending for such a charming character, who is reduced to being gunned down like an animal. Deep into the fifth season of “The Sopranos,” it was also a stark reminder that these often charming criminals were evil men.
AMC’s “The Walking Dead” was no stranger to shocking character deaths (just see Variety’s list of 15 here, including Carl Grimes and Merle Dixon), but no demise was as gut-wrenching or divisive as the graphic murder of Glenn Rhee (Steven Yeun) in the Season 7 premiere. The character had been with “The Walking Dead” since its pilot episode, and Yeun was perhaps the series’ most beloved supporting actor. Not only did Glenn’s death change the tone of the show as it entered the Negan years, but it also may have affected its viewership. Ratings dropped substantially for Season 7’s second episode after Negan brutally bludgeoned Glenn to death with his infamous barbed wire-wrapped baseball bat in the premiere.
Logan Roy’s death is baked into the very premise of HBO’s “Succession.” Brian Cox’s towering media mogul suffers a stroke and enters a coma in the first two episodes of the series, and, yet, when Logan finally kicks the bucket four seasons later, it feels impossible, like he will be resurrected at any moment. That Logan dies suddenly, on an airplane while all four of his kids are on a boat for Connor’s (Alan Ruck) wedding, makes it all the more devastating. Logan is barely ever shown in his final episode, as Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Roman (Kieran Culkin) piece together the details of their father’s passing through panicked phone calls. Instead of a dramatic goodbye, “Succession” goes for a more realistic and contemporary depiction of the loss of a loved one. Plus, because it happens early in the final season of “Succession,” it allows the final batch of episodes to focus on who will replace him as CEO of Waystar Royco.
Poussey Washington (Samira Wiley) was a beloved, nonviolent inmate on “Orange Is the New Black,” whose tragic death in the penultimate episode of Season 4 marked a major turning point in the series. During a peaceful protest in the prison cafeteria, Poussey was accidentally suffocated by C.O. Bayley (Alan Aisenberg), who, distracted by the distressed behavior of Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren (Uzo Aduba), pinned Poussey to the ground with his knee on her neck. Despite the improper training of its guards, the Litchfield prison administration attempted to blame Poussey for her own murder, sparking outrage among the inmates and igniting a three-day riot.
Poussey’s murder was a visceral scene, reminiscent of the real-life killings of Eric Garner and Freddie Gray — both of whom died during encounters with police officers prior to the release of “OITNB” Season 4. Her death also echoed the “I Can’t Breathe” slogan and the ongoing Black Lives Matter movement.
Given the nature of prequel series, viewers were prepared for many of the “Better Call Saul” characters who did not appear in “Breaking Bad” to be killed off. Still, the particular set of circumstances surrounding Howard Hamlin’s (Patrick Fabian) death, and the chilling way in which it merged Jimmy’s (Bob Odenkirk) legal sphere with his secret criminal life, shocked fans. In a show full of murderous cartel bosses, Howard represented a white-collar antagonist, who served as a roadblock to Jimmy’s law career. Throughout Season 6, Jimmy and Kim (Rhea Seehorn) embarked on an elaborate plot to assassinate Howard’s character in order to force a settlement that would result in a big payout for Jimmy. Howard could not have picked a worse time to confront Jimmy and Kim in their apartment, as the ruthless Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton) arrives shortly after him. Lalo has cartel business to attend to, and, despite never meeting Howard, he shoots the lawyer in the head without a second thought. It’s a horrifying twist, and one that supports the idea that when people break bad, there are unforeseen casualties.
Given that “Grey’s Anatomy” is the longest running primetime medical show in TV history, it’s safe to say it has featured dozens of shocking character deaths over the last 20 years and counting. But the deaths of original characters George O’Malley (T.R. Knight) and Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) remain two of the most heartbreaking and divisive for fans. Derek, the longtime love interest of Meredith Grey, died in Season 11 during a fatal car crash that took place while Meredith was pregnant with their child. George’s death was even more shocking. The character had signed up to join the military in Season 5, so fans were expecting George to exit at some point. In the season finale, Meredith and the team tend to a John Doe who was hit by a bus and has severe facial trauma. The John Doe writes “007” on Meredith’s hand to reveal that he is actually George (007 was the nickname given to him in the show’s first season). It remains one of the most shocking twists in “Grey’s” history. George succumbs to his injuries and is revealed to be brain dead in the Season 6 premiere.
The fifth season of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” focused on Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) protecting her magical new little sister, Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg), from the machinations of a maniacal god, Glory (Clare Kramer). But tucked inside that fantastical saga was a human-scaled story about the deteriorating health of Buffy and Dawn’s mother, Joyce (Kristine Sutherland). Her headaches and fatigue turned out to be caused by a brain tumor, not by magic or a demon, forcing Buffy to confront that there are things in the world that even the Slayer can’t control.
Still, after Joyce’s surgery to remove the tumor goes really well, Buffy and Dawn (and viewers, though we should’ve known better) believed they were out of the woods. Nope! In the final scene of the episode “I Was Made to Love You,” Buffy came home to find Joyce dead on their couch; the episode ended with Buffy devastatingly calling out to her: “Mom? Mom? Mommy?” The next episode, “The Body” — still widely considered one of the best hours of television ever made — picked up right at that moment, as Buffy dealt with the wrenching and disorienting strangeness of the sudden death of a loved one. “Buffy” and its spinoff “Angel” featured many, many shocking deaths; R.I.P. Jenny Calendar, Tara Maclay, Cordelia Chase, Winifred “Fred” Burkle, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce and Buffy herself (the second time). But the sight of Joyce on that couch, her eyes wide open yet lifeless, still hits the hardest.
If you thought Ned Stark’s death was brutal, think again. “Game of Thrones” delivered the most unthinkable, shocking death scene that still haunts fans’ dreams to this day with “The Rains of Castamere” in Season 3, better known as The Red Wedding. Ned’s son Robb Stark and his family pay the ultimate price after Robb goes back on his word to marry his one-time ally Walder Frey’s daughter. To make things right, Robb’s uncle marries one of Walder’s daughters, but the Freys double-cross the Starks and slaughter them. Robb, his bride Talisa, their unborn child, his mother Catelyn and their allies are all brutally murdered in a moment that goes down as one of the most horrifying in TV history.
Dominic Monaghan’s Charlie was one of the beating hearts at the center of the “Lost” cast, which made his self-sacrifice in the Season 3 finale, titled “Through the Looking Glass,” one of the show’s most heartbreaking events. Charlie quickly became a fan favorite on the series as he overcame heroin addiction, became a father figure to fellow survivor Claire’s son and hit it off with island best friends Hurley and Desmond. It was hard to accept that Charlie might die, which “Lost” repeatedly teased throughout Season 3 via Desmond’s visions, but such foreshadowing couldn’t prepare fans for the sight of Charlie drowning to death so that he could save his friends.
In the third season of Showtime’s “The L Word” — the chaotic, groundbreaking drama about lesbians in Los Angeles — professional tennis player Dana (Erin Daniels) died of complications from breast cancer. But Dana’s death, as sad as it was, was mere prelude to the show’s deranged sixth and final season, which revolved around a “Who killed Jenny?” plot that creator Ilene Chaiken had deliberately hidden from the cast. Jenny Schechter (Mia Kirshner), whose move to L.A. in the series premiere had provided the show with its engine — previously straight, the brilliant, mischievous Jenny’s coming out was the audience’s introduction to the world of “The L Word” — was found dead in a pool, “Sunset Boulevard”-style, in the Season 6 premiere in 2009. Who killed Jenny? Well, based on past events, Jenny caused destruction everywhere she went, so it really could have been anyone. That is, had Chaiken chosen to solve the mystery by the end of the season, which, reader, she did not! In an interview with the Los Angeles Times at the time, Chaiken said: “I don’t actually feel compelled to answer it. The show is about character and relationships, and I used this story to deeply explore those relationships. It’s a risk not to solve a mystery, admittedly.”
Indeed it was! But anyone still driven crazy about who killed Jenny needed only to wait for “The L Word: Generation Q” to premiere in 2019. Early in that show’s first season, Bette (Jennifer Beals) says offhandedly that her friend Jenny had “died by suicide” in her pool, something that fans found implausible, knowing how resilient and determined Jenny had been. This development even drew out Kirshner herself, who wrote on Twitter: “Nope. Jenny is not dead. That’s not the story that needs to be told about a survivor of sexual violence. It’s not a story that can be wrapped up and tied up with a bow. So no, she is not dead.”
So let’s go with Kirshner’s theory, and Jenny is still out there, causing anarchy wherever she goes!
While “One Tree Hill” may be best known for incredible love triangles and complicated, layered relationships, it also isn’t afraid to shock its audiences. Case in point: midway through Season 3 — not a premiere or finale — the most beloved character of the series was killed off. The episode, titled “With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We Slept,” is about a troubled student, Jimmy Edwards, who brings a gun to school after years of being bullied. While it features themes of mental health, suicide and gun violence — so much so that it has been shown in high school auditoriums — it also includes two deaths. At the end of the episode, Jimmy takes his own life. Afterward, Dan Scott (Paul Johansson) picks up Jimmy’s gun and shoots his brother, the beloved Uncle Keith (Craig Sheffer), whom he’d always been jealous of. Sheffer later revealed that, much like the audience, he was blindsided by being killed off the show.
Walter White faced many enemies over the run of “Breaking Bad,” but none was more cold, calculated or cunning than Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito). Gus built himself an empire by always being one step ahead, and occasionally getting his hands dirty. (Remember that boxcutter?) So, when it became clear that either Walt or Gus was going to have to die, Walt tried everything until he finally found Gus’ one weakness — his hatred for Hector Salamanca. Gus is no joke, but even he couldn’t survive a point-blank explosion from a bomb strapped to a wheelchair… right? In one of the greatest fakeouts in TV history, viewers saw Gus step out of Hector’s nursing home room, seemingly unscathed. That is, until the camera reveals half of his face is missing and Gus finally dropped dead. No wonder the episode was titled “Face Off.”
Chuck Lorre couldn’t kill Charlie Harper (played by Charlie Sheen) on “Two and a Half Men” just once. The sitcom character has the rare distinction of being killed twice, in two extremely unpleasant ways. The CBS series, which aired for 12 seasons, went through a major change at the start of Season 9 after Sheen had been fired over a meltdown that included antisemetic tirades against his boss, exec producer Lorre, and unhinged social media livestreams. (And remember “winning” and “tiger blood”? Those were the days.)
When Warner Bros. TV and CBS decided that Sheen was no longer fit to perform, the actor was then fired. As a result, at the start of Season 9, viewers are informed that Charlie had been killed off-screen after being hit by a train in Paris while on a getaway with Rose (Melanie Lynskey).
Rose described Charlie’s body as a “balloon full of meat,” and it seemed pretty clear that he was dead. On the show, Sheen’s void was filled by the arrival of Ashton Kutcher, who plays billionaire Walden Schmidt, the new owner of the beach house where they all live.
Later, Charlie’s ghost appeared on the show — as played by Kathy Bates. But in the 2015 two-part “Two and a Half Men” series finale, it’s revealed that Charlie was still alive and had been held hostage in Rose’s basement. He plots his revenge against everyone, but just as he arrives at the beach house, Charlie (played by a body double, as Sheen was still not welcome back) is killed for real this time, when a helicopter accidentally drops a grand piano on him.
As the series end, Lorre himself appears and breaks the fourth wall — exclaiming, “Winning!” (Which he was, until Lorre was also then pancaked by a second piano. Another surprise TV death!) Lorre and Sheen would eventually bury the hatchet, and Sheen even appeared on Lorre’s recent Netflix series “Bookie.”
Marissa Cooper’s (Mischa Barton) death in the Season 3 finale of “The O.C.” remains one of the most shocking moments in teen drama history — a decision that series creator Josh Schwartz even admitted was a regrettable one. Marissa met her end when her ex-boyfriend, Kevin Volchok (Cam Gigandet), ran her and Ryan Atwood (Benjamin McKenzie) off the road, causing their car to flip over. While Ryan sustained only minor injuries, Marissa succumbed to hers and died in his arms. The scene is cemented in pop culture memory by the heart-wrenching shot of Ryan carrying Marissa away from the wreckage as the car explodes behind them.
Will Gardner (Josh Charles) was a staple of “The Good Wife” for five seasons, so when he was shot in the neck while in the courtroom in “Dramatics, Your Honor,” fans were completely blindsided by the suddenness. Up until that point, Will had shown himself to be a complex, fan-favorite character due to his affair with Alicia (Julianna Margulies) and the way he managed his attorney business. So it’s no wonder that fans were outraged — the show kept the surprise tightly under wraps in the weeks leading up to Will’s fate.
CBS Studios head David Stapf even suggested that the showrunners write a letter to fans online, in which they explained that “life does go on.” And Gardner’s ghost lingered in the show, appearing in a dream appearance of the series finale, “End.” In that episode, Will returned for one final kiss, telling Alicia: “It’s just really good to see you again.”
Jennifer Coolidge was a “White Lotus” favorite as the wealthy, bumbling Tanya McQuoid, whose search for romance and happiness ends with several bangs at the end of Season 2. In Season 1, the ebullient Tanya fell for fellow Hawaiian resort guest Greg Hunt (Jon Gries), whom she decides to marry despite his supposed terminal illness. After the wedding, Greg and Tanya arrive in Italy for Season 2, but Tanya’s not pleased when he quickly departs on emergency business, leaving her alone with her assistant, Portia (Haley Lu Richardson). Things are looking up when Tanya meets fun-loving, attentive Quentin (Tom Hollander) and his friends, who invite her to their yacht — until she spies a photo of her husband and Quentin together. After this ominous discovery, things go rapidly downhill as she realizes she’s being held captive on the yacht, utters the now-immortal sentence “these gays are trying to murder me,” finds a gun and shoots Quentin and two of his associates. After unleashing this firepower, Tanya has the chance to escape to shore on a dinghy — but in her typical hapless fashion, she hits her head and drowns, depriving the world of the chance to see more of Jennifer Coolidge flouncing around in boldly-patterned caftans at various resorts. Greg, of course, lives on to reappear in Season 3.
During her brief tenure on “ER” in Seasons 5 and 6, medical student Lucy Knight (Kellie Martin) never gelled with the staff at Cook County General Hospital. That was especially true of her assigned resident, Dr. John Carter (Noah Wyle), who regularly clashed with Lucy over everything from learning to start an IV to her prescription to Ritalin. Lucy became such an irksome presence — to her colleagues, and to the audience — that Martin and the showrunners came to a mutual agreement that it was time to leave the show. Crucially, they kept this decision to themselves.
Enter Paul Sobriki (David Krumholtz), a young husband who Lucy rightly diagnosed with schizophrenia, even as Carter catastrophically dismissed her concerns. Later that night, when Carter entered what he thinks is an empty patient room, Paul stabbed him in the back with a butcher knife meant for the staff’s Valentine’s Day cake. Carter fell to the ground, and saw Lucy lying on the floor in a pool of her own blood — a total, unspoiled, never-saw-this-coming shock in an era when everyone still watched TV live at the same time. Lucy died from her injuries in the next episode, which, ironically, transformed a character we barely cared about into someone we were gutted to see go.
Certainly the world of “Mad Men” was never one of moral integrity — what with the rampant infidelity, corporate backstabbing and consumer culture wheel-greasing — but it had always fluttered above truly harrowing territory until the suicide of Jared Harris’ affable Lane Pryce. After Don Draper discovers his fellow founding partner Pryce had forged his signature on a company check, he demands his peer’s resignation, triggering a depressive spiral that leads Pryce to hang himself in his office. Coming in the penultimate episode of Season 5, the death struck an unprecedented grave tone for the series, and demonstrated the truly drastic consequences that Draper’s actions could set off. And “Mad Men” lost one of its brightest personalities as well: a regular ally to Christina Hendricks’ oft-patronized Joan Holloway, a British suit that brought an outsider perspective to absurd Americanisms and the one guy in the office who wasn’t afraid to slug Pete Campbell across the face when the situation demanded it.
The fourth season of “Dexter” was a series high for fans, as the titular serial killer (Michael C. Hall) tangled with Arthur Mitchell, the Trinity Killer (John Lithgow), while raising his baby son Harrison with his wife Rita (Julie Benz). Yet it ended with a nightmarish twist, as Dexter’s triumph over killing Arthur was immediately extinguished by his realization that Rita was his final victim. When Dexter returned home, he found his wife dead in the bathtub — as was the Trinity Killer’s style — and Harrison sitting on the bloody floor by her side.
Although it is cited as an example of “fridging” — i.e. brutally killing a female character as a device to motivate a man — it was no doubt a shocking and emotionally charged ending of a powerful season. It also pivoted the show into much darker territory, as Dexter’s love for Rita had shifted from “Serial Killer Beard” to the closest he’d ever feel to true companionship, only to have her struck down.
“Jane the Virgin” began hinting at Michael’s (Brett Dier) death in Season 1, when the narrator says that he would love Jane (Gina Rodriguez) “until he drew his very last breath.” In the Season 2 finale, right after he and Jane finally get married, he gets shot in the chest by crime lord Sin Rostro — aka Rose Solano (Bridget Regan), his wife’s son’s father’s widowed stepmother, in true telenovela style. But it’s revealed in the Season 3 premiere that Michael survived the altercation. So it comes as a shock when, in the tenth episode of that season, Michael collapses and dies after taking the LSAT due to a delayed complication from the gunshot wound.
Fans were jarred and heartbroken by the loss. Unable to continue his work as a detective after the shooting, Michael seemed to be finding true fulfillment by pursuing a career in law. And his marriage to Jane was off to a happy start — in addition to finally resolving the love triangle between him, Jane and Rafael (Justin Baldoni). Michael’s death was so tragic that the “Jane the Virgin” writers decided to follow it with a time jump, because it would have overwhelmed the story to follow Jane through her grief. But again, this is a telenovela after all. In the Season 4 finale, years after Jane has processed Michael’s death and begun dating Rafael again, she and Rafael find out from an incarcerated Rose that Michael is still alive.
In a show that has previously featured elaborate disguises and evil twins, it wasn’t immediately clear whether the Michael who shows up on Rafael’s doorstep was really Michael. But in Season 5, it’s revealed that Rose drugged Michael to bring on his cardiac event and bribed medical professionals to help her fake his death. She also induced amnesia via electroshock therapy, though, so he has no memory of his life with Jane. He goes by Jason now, and he’s a completely different person. Jane and Michael/Jason don’t end up getting back together. But the fact that she has the opportunity to try things out with her first love and doesn’t take it helps strengthen her relationship with Rafael, who she marries in the series finale.
The role of “the mother” in CBS’ “How I Met Your Mother” was a considerable undertaking. The series spent close to a decade building up to the moment Ted (Josh Radnor) would meet the love of his life, and after eight seasons of establishing intimate and hilarious chemistry between the main ensemble, it had become tough for fans to imagine investing in a brand-new character the way had with Ted, Marshall (Jason Segel), Lily (Alyson Hannigan), Robin (Cobie Smulders) and Barney (Neil Patrick Harris).
So it was a feat when Cristin Milioti debuted in the Season 8 finale as the Girl With the Yellow Umbrella, later revealed to be named Tracy McConnell, and spent all of Season 9 winning favor with audiences for heart and humor that made the character worth waiting so many years for. (Case in point: It’s Milioti, not one of her longer-tenured castmates, who represents “How I Met Your Mother” on Variety‘s list of the 100 greatest TV performances of the 21st century.)
Unfortunately, the fact that Tracy was so loved later added to the show’s reputation as having one of the worst series finales of all time. Season 9 is all about Ted and Tracy falling in love in the lead-up to Barney and Robin’s wedding, so the last-minute reveal that Tracy died of an illness while Barney and Robin got a divorce stung, especially once it became clear that all of that backtracking was just happening so Ted and Robin could get back together. Apparently, this had been the writers’ plan all along, but by the end of “How I Met Your Mother,” Tracy had become a real, loved person. Treating her like just a plot device made her death a painful and confusing one.
Editor’s note: Jennifer Maas, Katcy Stephan, Pat Saperstein, J. Kim Murphy, Joe Otterson, Emily Longeretta, Matt Minton and Michael Schneider also contributed to this list.