The history of television is filled withshocking character deaths, prompting viewers to discuss their impact long after the episodes have ended. Some deaths were shocking for the impact they had on the show as a whole; others came out of left field and surprised audiences through sudden, unexpected events, and a select few were just shocking in a bad way and felt unearned and unnecessary. Like in life, death is an inevitability on television, but all these character demises had a major impact on the legacy of their series.
While somedeaths have viewers asking WTF?as they try to make sense of what just happened, for other shows, a character’s final days wereappropriately foreshadowed, and it was only the circumstances of their death and not the fact that they died that was shocking. It doesn’t matter if the show was a comedy, drama, fantasy, or even a traditional sitcom;all these characters' deaths had me pondering them well after the credits had rolled.
9Glenn Rhee
In its earliest seasons,The Walking Deadwas among the most exciting and entertaining series on television, powerfully showcasing the potential of zombies on the small screen. However, as time went on, I became increasingly frustrated by the direction the series went in as it embraced shock value over truly compelling storytelling, and it almost felt like it was toying with the audience in the way it seemingly brutally killed characters, only to have them make a grand return before once again being needlessly killed.
The biggest culprit of this was Glenn Rhee, an essential character who had been around since the pilot episode. While I was disappointed to see Glenn seemingly devoured by a horde of hungry walkers underneath a dumpster,The Walking Deadpulled a bait-and-switch, as it was later revealed that he had used Nicholas’s body as a human shield and survived the attack. With so much build-up to Glenn’s return, to have him killed by Negan in the very next season felt like a total waste, and I’m still mad about it.
8Catelyn & Robb Stark
Game of Thrones (2011 - 2019)
Ever since the shocking death of Ned Stark at the end of the first season ofGame of Thrones,it became clear that nobody was safe in this HBO fantasy series. While many beloved characters came and went throughout the show’s eight seasons, it was the deaths of Catelyn and Robb Stark at the Red Wedding that were the most brutal and shocking of all. As a sudden and emotionally devastating depiction of death, I can still remember the outpouring of horror among viewers across social media after the episode aired.
As a bloodbath that felt intense even forGame of Thrones,Catelyn and Robb weren’t the only ones to meet their maker in this intense episode, as Talisa Stark, Joyeuse Frey, and Wendel Manderly also died in this revenge-driven mass murder. In a series filled with iconic moments, it’s a testament to the memorable power and unexpected shock of the Red Wedding that it stands out as one of the first things viewers will recall when looking back on the series.
7Joyce Summers
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997 - 2003)
Buffy the Vampire Slayerwas among the most popular TV shows of the 1990s, and, as the title suggests, its characters were constantly facing deadly supernatural threats. With the teenage heroBuffy Summers as the one true slayer helping protect Sunnydale from a constant stream of vampires, demons, witches, and enchanted humans, those closest in her life were often the target of vicious villains. This was what made the all-too-human death of Buffy’s mother, Joyce, all the more shocking, as rather than fall victim to the inhabitants of the Hellmouth, it was a brain aneurysm that led to her demise.
Joyce’s death greatly affected Buffy and was a powerful reminder that even for those who have saved the world time after time, death is the endpoint for all of our loved ones, and that no matter how many vampires she slayed, Buffy was not above the raw, inescapable grief of being human. As a solemn reminder of the randomness of the universe, the fact that Joyce’s death was not a supernatural occurrence made it all the more impactful and memorable.
6Poussey Washington
Orange Is the New Black (2013 - 2019)
Orange Is the New Blackbegan with the lighthearted fish-out-of-water story of Piper Chapman being sentenced to 15 months in a minimum-security all-women’s prison. However, part of the appeal of this classic early Netflix series was the way it told the backstories of all the female prisoners, and we got great insight into their lives and how they ended up incarcerated in the first place. These were characters we grew to know and love, which made the shocking death of Poussey Washington in season 4 all the more harrowing.
Poussey died following a prison protestthat got out of hand, where she was forcibly restrained and accidentally suffocated by an inexperienced and improperly trained prison guard. This emotionally devastating death was a powerful glimpse into real fatalities in prison environments, bringing up genuine issues with many actual comparisons. Poussey’s death was so impactful that it led to the creation of the Poussey Washington Fund (viaVanity Fair), which endeavors to aid criminal justice reform and help incarcerated women.
5Adriana La Cerva
The Sopranos (1999 - 2007)
From the moment that Adriana La Cerva became an FBI informant, it was clear that her days were numbered, although that did not stop her death from being one of the most gut-wrenching and effective moments inThe Sopranos. As the girlfriend of Christopher Moltisanti,Adriana was caught between her loyalty to her partner and the leverage that law officers had over her, which caused her to totally unravel. It was heartbreaking to watch the moment when she finally confessed to Christopher, as she still held out hope that they might be able to go into Witness Protection and start a new life.
Instead, the tension slowly built as she was lured into a car with Silvio under the pretense that Christopher had tried to kill himself. By the time she realized the truth, it was too late, and rather than actually showing her murder on screen, the camera simply panned to a peaceful shot of the woods. As one of the few characters inThe Sopranoswho genuinely dreamed of a life away from the mob, the fact that she was killed by those closest to her made her character arc one of the bleakest of the entire show.
4Lane Pryce
WhileMad Menstands tall alongside the likes ofBreaking BadandThe Wireamong the best prestige TV series of the 2000s, unlike those shows, it did not prioritize action, crime, or violence. Instead,Mad Menwas a thoughtful exploration of the cultural shifts of the 1960s, highlighting the gender imbalances, social structures, and outdated norms that shaped the lives and careers of advertising executives. It was within this context that we met Lane Pryce, the British financial officer sent by Puttnam, Powell, and Lowe to work for the Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency.
Lane was the embodiment of a man who seemed to do everything right yet was still drowning financially, emotionally, and psychologically from the burden of responsibility that his new position had put him in.The tragic end of Lane’s story began when he forged Don Draper’s signature to make up for a financial shortfall, and rather than face the consequences of his poor decisions, he opted to end his own life. Lane’s suicide came as a shocking blow inMad Men, which embodied the devastating impact of the failure on 20th-century men.
3Logan Roy
Succession (2018 - 2023)
The earth-shattering consequences of the death of Waystar RoyCo media mogul Logan Roy were something baked into the very premise ofSuccession. With Logan’s health issues on full display from the pilot episode, it was clear from the beginning that at some point,the Roy family would be forced to confront the death of their fatherand the future of their multi-billion-dollar company. However, that did not stop Logan’s death in the fourth episode of the final season from coming as a total shock that recontextualized the entire show.
Logan’s viewpoint and opinions had always been the driving force ofSuccession,and despite him not being around for the final episodes, he cast a dark shadow over every character’s interactions. The death of Logan predictably brought out the worst in his children as they each plotted a cunning game to try and eventually take power.Successionwas always a family drama with near-Shakespearean levels of tragedy, and Logan’s death was the driving force behind everything that played into its climactic finale.
2Susan Ross
Seinfeld (1989 - 1998)
WhileSeinfeldwas one of the most popular sitcoms of the 1990s, one character’s death was insanely memorable just based on how bizarre and out of left field it was. This was the death of Susan Ross, George Costanza’s wife-to-be, to whom he was reluctantly engaged and spent the entire seventh season scheming ways to get out of his impending wedding. When it looked like George was going to have to go through with the big day, Susan suddenly died from licking the cheap, toxic envelopes that George had cheaped out and bought for their wedding invitations.
Susan’s death felt incredibly dark for a lighthearted sitcom, as she was unceremoniously killed off with George quietly pleased he was off the hook for getting married. This strange series of events only makes sense when you understand thebehind-the-scenes background between Heidi Swedberg and Jason Alexander. In an interview years later, Alexander admitted that he had trouble acting with Swedberg, stating, “I couldn’t figure out how to play off her” (viaTHR.) With Swedberg’s style not meshing with theSeinfeldcast, it seemed they decided to simply kill her instead of addressing the problem.
1Nate Fisher
Six Feet Under (2001 - 2005)
There’s not a single episode ofSix Feet Underthat doesn’t deal with grief, as this show about a family-run funeral home almost always begins with death. Despite this, nothing could have prepared me for the emotionally devastating death of Nate Fisher in the third-to-last episode of the series “All Alone.”Nate’s brain problem was first revealed back in the first season, and although there was plenty of foreshadowing to the eldest Fisher child’s untimely demise, it cast a dark shadow over the final episodes of the series.
Six Feet Underis famous for its all-time great finale, which showcased how each character in the show lived the rest of their lives and eventually passed away. In the climactic finale scene, which provided closure to all the main characters, it was impossible to think of Nate as we saw his mother, siblings, and wife live on without him. As a show that addressed the inevitability of grief in the human experience,Six Feet Underand Nate Fisher were a testament to the inspiring fact that before we die, we must also live.
