We’re approaching the end of the traditional TV season for this year (something that’s becoming increasingly irrelevant in the era of small-screen disruption from streaming services and cable, and now mostly used as an Emmy-qualifying signifier), and as finales land or get near, showrunners are keen to go out with a bang. And so often in television land, going out with a bang means killing off a beloved character.
Almost as long as serialized TV drama has been a thing, the death of a character has been a way of amping up the stakes (and, more often than not, of also granting the wishes of an actor who wants off the show). This week alone, “Empire,” “Blindspot,” “Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D,” “The Americans,” “Bates Motel,” “Quantico,” “The Last Man On Earth,” “Jane The Virgin” and, obviously, “Game Of Thrones” (on which it’s virtually a weekly occurrence) all murdered, or seemingly murdered, a key character.
It can be done lazily, crassly or just generally poorly, but when it really lands, when it’s earned and justified and brilliantly performed and shot, it can mark one of the defining and most memorable moments of a series. So, while the bodycount continues to ramp up, below you’ll find, in no particular order, fifteen of the most scarring, powerful, unforgettable deaths in TV history. Take a look, and let us know your favorites in the comments.
SPOILERS are ahead, as you might imagine.
Lt. Col. Henry Blake – “MASH”
The great-granddaddy of most of the moments on this list, the rug-pull death of a major character on the beloved Korean-War comedy (based, of course, on Robert Altman’s movie) came at a time when shows were, almost as a rule, not serialized. Actors would leave shows, but they’d be waved of, and that seemed to be what was happening to Blake (McLean Stevenson), the well-liked, laidback commanding officer of the 4077th unit. The actor had asked to leave the series, and most of the third season finale “Abyssinia, Henry” waves him goodbye as he prepares to be honorably discharged and return home to his family. He leaves (“You behave yourself, or I’m gonna come back and kick your butt,” he tells Radar) then flies off. But in the episode’s coda, there’s further brutal news: during an operation, Radar tells the surgeons that Blake’s plane was shot down over the Sea of Japan, killing everyone on board. Basically nothing like it had been done before, and it caused outrage, with over a thousand letters sent to the producers (imagine if Twitter had existed then…). But now, it stands as a moment that helped to define the show, a death that, while it appears to be pulled from the ether, would have been all too common in war.
Will Gardner – “The Good Wife”
Some of these shows are ones that revolve around death, or the threat of it, every week so however shocking a death might be, it’s always been in the realm of possibility. “The Good Wife” isn’t one of those shows: even a medical or political soap like a “Grey’s Anatomy” or a “Scandal” deal with life-and-death decisions, whereas the Kings’ legal procedural only dealt with criminal law occasionally, and even then not even necessarily murder cases. And it restrained itself from ratings-grabbing finales where it threatened to bump off one of its characters. Which meant that when Josh Charles’ Will Gardner, a crucial part of the show since the first episode, was shot by an unstable client, it felt almost unbelievable. As the longtime colleague, and slow-burning love interest, of lead character Alicia Florrick, it was almost unthinkable to consider the show without Will, and his passing cast a long shadow on the rest of the series (which just ended a week ago). But it was the placing of it that felt most powerful: coming unannounced, without build-up in the middle of a season (though planned by the creators for over a year), it felt like death as it happens in real life: sudden, random and unfathomable.
Rita – “Dexter”
In contrast, “Dexter” was a show that didn’t just revolve around death, it reveled in it. The show was, after all, about a serial killer, albeit one who attempted to control his murderous urges by preying only on killers (while also working as a forensic technician, ensuring we’d get a body or two even if Michael C. Hall’s titular hero didn’t off anyone that week). But when it wanted to pack a punch, it really could, and it punched hard at the end of Season 4. That particular season was focused on Dexter’s attempt to mix his… hobbies with domestic family life, after marrying and having a child with Rita (Julie Benz). His dark(er) mirror was Arthur Mitchell (a chilling John Lithgow), a churchgoing family man who was also the Trinity Killer, with over 200 victims to his name. Dexter befriends him, hoping to learn how he juggles his double life, but their relationship quickly turns to enmity, and their Cold War became the basis of the best season of the show. Dexter eventually got the best of Arthur, killing the older man, but he soon discovers that he was too late: Trinity has gotten to his wife Rita and killer her in his traditional blood-filled bathtub manner. It lands with such a blow not just because of who it is, but because you were so sure that she was safe.
Ned Stark – “Game Of Thrones”
There have been, on rough estimate, a zillion deaths on “Game Of Thrones” so far, with barely an episode going by without a major character biting the dust (poor REDACTED this week…). And some have been incredibly memorable: the Red Wedding, Charles Dance on the toilet, Oberyn Martell, Jon Snow in the snow. But the one that’s lingered longest was the one that taught us that no one — absolutely no one — was safe. The first season saw a few casualties before it was out (like Viserys getting his crown of gold), but even when Ned Stark (Sean Bean) was on the block, being prepared for beheading, it felt like he would surely be spared. Hell, he even gave up on his never-bending principles, and confessed in the hope of sparing himself. And obviously Bean was the best-known actor in the series when it began, the center of the marketing campaign and the closest thing the series had to a leading character. This, you see, was a more innocent time, before the mass audience realized that George R. R. Martin was unsparingly brutal towards his creations, and that Westeros wasn’t a world that rewarded nobility or goodness or how far up the opening credits you were. And then the blade came down, and the credits rolled in silence, and a few million jaws dropped.
Jane – “Breaking Bad”
Again, “Breaking Bad” had more than a few memorable deaths over its run, from the grisly end for Krazy-8 (Walter White’s first kill), to Gus Fring’s explosive end, to Hank’s sad demise in the desert. But the one that truly shocked, that truly signified the darkness to which the show was heading, came in “Phoenix,” the penultimate episode of season 2 of the show, as Jane (Krysten Ritter) passes away. Walt (Bryan Cranston)’s burgeoning empire is being put at risk by partner Jesse’s (Aaron Paul) increasing addiction to heroin, an addiction in part enabled by girlfriend Jane. As the season heads towards an end, Walt goes to their apartment, in an attempt to make up with Jesse and help him out of his dependency, but when he finds them there, he sees Jane choking on her own vomit. And… he… does… nothing. Just watches her suffocate. And later allows Jesse to think it was his fault. We’d seen Walt do terrible things before, but there’s something about the passive, banal nature of the evil here, the cold-heartedness it displays, that made this feel like the point of no return for our anti-hero.
