Bye Felicia: TV Characters Who've Been Killed Off

[DollEyes]

  Here's the thread for TV characters who've been killed off, whether their deaths are shocking ("McDreamy's" on Grey's Anatomy, Henry Blake on M*A*S*H, the Red Wedding on Game Of Thrones), predictable (Kenny in every episode of South Park), a long time coming (Joffrey on Game Of Thrones) or heartbreaking (Ned Stark on Game Of Thrones, Spartacus on Spartacus).

 

 Share your thoughts on the characters who've died and the deaths themselves.

[roamyn]

Heartbreaking: Jimmy Smits on NYPD Blue, Dr. Green on ER , Grandpa Walton on The Waltons (even if it was necessary), Hoss on Bonanza (again, necessary)

Shocking: Drs. Romano & Lucy on ER - separate incidents, Capt. Montgomery on Castle, Jonathan Snow on GOT .

Edited July 10, 2015 by roamyn

[shoregirl]

Heartbreaking: Finn on Glee..sadly necessary

Shocking :Lucy on ER..Abby on Dawsons Creek

[Snow Apple]

Heartbreaking: Joyce Summers from BtVS. You can fight monsters, but sometimes you can't fight the ordinary and those hurt the most.

[Bastet]

There's also the funny, such as Susan's death on Seinfeld.

 

Dan Conner's death on Roseanne was like a punch to the gut.  Roseanne takes a lot of flak for the "it was all a book" reveal, but I like it (other than the Mark/David switch) and love the content of that voiceover.  When it originally aired, and the camera panned over to that empty chair as Roseanne revealed Dan had died of his heart attack a year earlier, I got chills and sat there with my mouth hanging open.  Re-watching it, I still get chills, even knowing it's coming.

 

Gary's death on thirtysomething was water cooler conversation for days.  Ken Olin was amazing in the scene where Michael listens to the message.

 

Charlie Cagney's death on Cagney & Lacey was incredibly moving, not to mention one of the best CPR scenes I've ever seen on television.

 

Mrs. Landingham on The West Wing.  I wish I hadn't been spoiled for that one.  I wasn't watching by the time Leo died, but any time a character's death is necessitated by an actor's that is a separate category of heartbreaking.

[spaceytraci1208]

Of all the deaths on The Wire, Wallace's murder is the one I can't watch again...broke my heart. Omar's death was definitely the most shocking. I remember watching that episode on demand and rewinding it to make sure I saw what I thought I saw.

Opie's death on Sons of Anarchy had me almost completely check-out as a viewer. He was the only one of the gang that I cared to see survive.

Paul's death on 8 Simple Rules... resulting from the untimely and sad death of John Ritter left me sobbing. It was handled beautifully though.

[Raja]

Of all the deaths on The Wire, Wallace's murder is the one I can't watch again...broke my heart. Omar's death was definitely the most shocking. I remember watching that episode on demand and rewinding it to make sure I saw what I thought I saw.

 

When people start to give up when first trying The Wire I always spoiler them and advise them to go to this point. if they still are not in then the show wasn't meant for them.

 

There was Hill and Renko in the Hill Street Blues pilot, but then they were brought back to life.

[Chaos Theory]

Rita Bennett Morgan on Dexter. . I am not sure I would call it heartbreaking but it was shocking.

[ParadoxLost]

There's also the funny, such as Susan's death on Seinfeld.

 

I didn't find that one funny at all.  It was the last straw and sent me into a rant on how someone on one of the shows I watched needed to be rootable (just one show and not necessarily Seinfeld) and Hollywood was run by out of touch moron hacks missing the point that there needed to be something on TV that was escapist and not demonstrating that all people (on television) are despicable.  I recall Seinfeld piling on with the callousness.

 

I wasn't watching by the time Leo died, but any time a character's death is necessitated by an actor's that is a separate category of heartbreaking.

 

Its very difficult to rewatch the West Wing from the time Leo has the rift with the President and then shortly after the heart attack in the woods onwards.  John Spencer does such a good job of acting ill that you get a dread that you are watching John Spencer's decline before he passes away even though I think his passing was sudden not after a long illness.

 

Alex on Third Watch is probably the most brilliantly filmed death scene I've ever seen.  She is thrown back in an explosion.  She's alert the people around her (friends and coworkers) are shocked.  A glimpse of her legs and arms.  That's bad. She's definitely paralyzed.  You are in denial. She's comforted.  She realizes she's going to die. She does.  They pull back and you see that she's under a car and the angle of her body means she has literally been torn in half.  And then I went on a rant about how you should really spend the episodes making it really devastating to all the other characters to lose Alex if the death scene was going to be that good.  Instead they couldn't write anything good for the character except the death which is probably why they killed her.

 

Speaking of 'why'.  Listening to the podcast where they explained why they killed Kara on BSG taught me never to listen to Ron D. Moore podcasts.  I can't take the stress of 'its cool, we'll figure out the rest' later on shows I love.  The result is inevitably being grateful to SyFy executives for talking sense (I know) or Kara as a vanishing ghost neither of which I was happy about.

 

I think the only death that ever shocked me was when LA Law had Rosalind walk into the empty elevator.

[Princess Sparkle]

Adrianna on The Sopranos just ripped my heart out. I knew as soon as she was talking to the FBI she was a goner, but her crawling on the ground trying to get away from Sil was not quite how I expected it to go down.

Similarly, I figured Christopher wasn't going to make it out of the series alive, but I never thought it would be at the hands of Tony.

Will on the Good Wife was another shocking one for me, because I had no clue that Josh Charles was planning on leaving the show. With how quickly spoilers and rumors of people leaving shows come out so quickly now, that's the first time in recent memory where a death actually took me by surprise.

Edited July 11, 2015 by Princess Sparkle

[turnitwayup]

Wash and Book in Serenity movie. With Firefly cancelled so fast, Book had an interesting backstory that never got to play out on screen. Zoe and Wash is one of my fav couples so it was sad to see them not have their happy ending.

 

Its very difficult to rewatch the West Wing from the time Leo has the rift with the President and then shortly after the heart attack in the woods onwards.  John Spencer does such a good job of acting ill that you get a dread that you are watching John Spencer's decline before he passes away even though I think his passing was sudden not after a long illness.

 

Yeah the whole Leo/Bartlett riff which started by the Gaza bombing at the end of s5, the heart attack in the woods in early s6 and then John passed away during winter hiatus of s7 sucked to watch it all play out. Especially the few eps from mid s7 & on where you knew the actor died but the character is still alive but not on screen. The election eps where all the characters find out was really heartbreaking to watch, but it was really sweet to see many recurring characters to show up for Leo's funeral with no lines since they respected John so much.

[DollEyes]

 

Of all the deaths on The Wire,  Wallace's murder is the one I can't watch again...broke my heart. Omar's death was definitely the most shocking. I remember watching it on demand and rewinding it to make sure I saw what I saw.

 

  ITA. Besides the actual death itself, the most heartbreaking thing was D'Angelo's reaction: "Where's Wallace, String?"  As for Omar's death, wasn't just shocking, it was infuriating. Given that Omar was so powerful in his own way that the sight of him made people run for their lives and even the mere mention of his name inspired fear, he should've gone out like a boss, not gunned down by some punk kid.

 

  Another shocking death on Buffy was Tara's in the "Seeing Red" episode. When Warren went on a shooting spree after being defeated by Buffy again, he not only shot her, one of his stray bullets killed Tara, who died in Willow's arms, causing a devastated Willow to turn to the Dark Side and kill Warren for revenge.

[GreekGeek]

Lane Pryce on Mad Men, although I would also have been sad to lose Pete (who seemed to be the most targeted for death foreshadowing). Likewise the (imminent) death of Betty. On the latter, I can sort of see the "it was foreshadowed from the beginning" opinion, although it seems based mostly on hindsight. I followed the discussions here and in Television without Pity forums, and I don't recall any posters seeing imminent doom for Betty.

 

In addition to the characters already mentioned, there was Dr. Greg Pratt on ER. I was never a huge fan of the character, but his death was one of those prolonged "he knows he's dying as his colleagues try in vain to save him" situations. I'll never forget seeing him weep in pain. I was angry by the stupid "death by helicopter" death of Dr. Romano also.

 

On an earlier medical show, St. Elsewhere, there were some shocking deaths: Dr. Peter White, Dr. Deb Chen, Dr. Robert Caldwell (offscreen, from AIDS).

 

This one is weird since it was a character we never saw: Archie's Cousin Oscar on All in the Family. It was the first time I recall a sitcom episode revolving around death, and it shocked me.

 

Joe Coffey on "Hill Street Blues." I so loved the not-quite-romance between him and his partner Lucy Bates.

Edited July 11, 2015 by GreekGeek

[roamyn]

I was thinking about Dr. Peter White. But his was one of those 'long time coming' or 'deserves' deaths.

[GaT]

There's also the funny, such as Susan's death on Seinfeld.

 

 

 

I didn't find that one funny at all.  It was the last straw and sent me into a rant on how someone on one of the shows I watched needed to be rootable (just one show and not necessarily Seinfeld) and Hollywood was run by out of touch moron hacks missing the point that there needed to be something on TV that was escapist and not demonstrating that all people (on television) are despicable.  I recall Seinfeld piling on with the callousness.

 

 

 

 

Interestingly, according to Jason Alexander, the reason Susan was killed off was because of Heidi Swedberg's lack of chemistry with the cast. 

[spaceytraci1208]

Simon Adebisi's death on Oz was a "game-changer" for me as a fan. I stuck it out to the bitter end, but losing Adebisi sucked a lot of life out of the show. He was a despicable human being, but I missed him when he was gone.

[Enigma X]

I am marathoning Warehouse 13 and I am really let down about how Leena's death was mainly a device to introduce another character whom I felt added nothing more to the show. I know that both characters were minor, but still I am unhappy about it. They could have at least connected Leena's heroics in confronting Artie to an artifact.

 

Dewey Crowe on Justified was shocking and sad.

 

Omar on The Wire broke my heart.

 

I was shocked by Ned's death in A Song of Ice and Fire so when it happened on Game of Thrones I was just sad. If Jon Snow is actually dead, I will be mad.

 

Leo was my favorite character on The West Wing. I was saddened by the character and actor's passing.

 

Tara's death, her true death, on True Blood was another case where I fellt like there should have been more emotional resonance on the show.

Edited July 11, 2015 by Enigma X

[legaleagle53]

Bonnie on Jericho.   I still remember vividly the scene of Bonnie, a 17-year-old deaf girl single-handedly fighting off a home invasion during which she was gunned down in cold blood.  It was shown completely from her point of view, in absolute silence except for the sound of her beating heart.  I still remember the reaction of TWOPers to that chilling scene (including mine):  "I can't believe they went there!  Breathe.  BREATHE.  BREATHE.  I need a drink!"

Edited July 13, 2015 by legaleagle53

[Luckylyn]

I'm still not over the death of Ianto Jones on Torchwood.  It was especially shocking because it happened after the deaths of two other main cast members Tosh and Owen.

[Rick Kitchen]

There's a memorial for Ianto Jones in Cardiff - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.386257564740400.95740.372495959449894&type=3

[joelene]

Tosh hit me harder than Ianto. Maybe because she was a sadder character. How Ianto's death happened also had a WTF SO UNNECESSARY feeling hanging over it for me.

Cal and Chloe from Harper's Island. That one hit harder than it probably should have considering that show, but it had me bawling my eyes out.

[kili]

Nate Weston on Burn Notice - the team seemed like it could survive anything anybody threw at them, they finally get the last standing member (Anson) of the organization that burned Michael and out of nowhere, Nate takes a sniper bullet (that passed through the body of Anson). His face is sprayed with Anson's blood, He's lying on the ground, telling his brother that he's scared. Boom. Michael breaks into a thousand pieces while outwardly keeping it together. I don't know if I can forgive Matt Nix for that death or the rest of the deaths it spawned that season.

 

Charlie's Death on Lost - He knew his death had been foretold, but he'd manage to survive many near deaths. Then, he lets himself die so he can send the message "Not Penny's Boat". There were a lot of deaths on that show, but that one was a tough one. The actor really sold it.

[cpcathy]

I was racking my brain to come up with a death that affected me, I came here specifically to mention St. Elsewhere, and you guys beat me to it. All the ones that were mentioned, of course.  Wasn't Boomer's wife killed? (Boomer had the WORST luck). Mrs. Hufnagle. Also, I think the doctor played by Stephen Furst of Animal House. Can anyone back me up on that?

[Swansong]

 

Cal and Chloe from Harper's Island. That one hit harder than it probably should have considering that show, but it had me bawling my eyes out.

Their deaths got to me and also Trish's death, maybe because of the reveal that came with it.

[blueray]

TNG: Data:  I seriously sobbed at the end of Nemesis :(. I feel like he could have out of the ship into space.

Edited July 13, 2015 by blueray

[legaleagle53]

And there was Trip's death on the finale of Enterprise.  That death alone pissed off more viewers than any other element of the clusterfuck that that show was.  To this day, I don't think anyone has forgiven TPTB for going there.

[tribeca]

Mr. Hopper on Sesame Street was so sad.   I can still remember that episode where they addressed his death.  I was watching it with my younger brother and remember just crying.

[Neurochick]

I think the only death that ever shocked me was when LA Law had Rosalind walk into the empty elevator.

 

 

I agree.  I watched that show when it was on NBC and back then there was no Internet, no social media.  I was totally unspoiled, so when that happened, I think I sat there like, "WTF was that?"  I think I'd recorded that episode, my mom saw it first but wouldn't tell me anything, so when I watched, I was stunned.

 

For me, John Mitchell's death in "Being Human" UK version bothered me and IMO ruined the show, I know they had to kill him off because Aiden Turner was in "The Hobbit" and they couldn't film around that.  I think the reason the North American version was better than the original was because the Mitchell character in the NA version (Aiden) in that show, wasn't killed off and had a basically happy ending.  The UK one was bleak, and eventually boring and I stopped watching.  

Edited July 14, 2015 by Neurochick

[Ujio]

I couldn't stand Zoe Barnes' character on House of Cards, so her death was a total WTF moment for me (I admit I let out a squeal of glee after the initial shock wore off). I knew her character would be dead (since her British counterpart died as well), but I just never thought it'd be that early in the second season. 

 

Also, I got to admit that when Mickey Doyle finally bit the dust on Boardwalk Empire, I was shocked because by then I was convinced that he'd survive even a nuclear war -- just like a cockroach! And such an unceremonious death at that, too. Well, I guess that was fitting. Of course, Richard Harrow's death, OTOH, was beautiful and heartbreaking. 

 

BTW, the death that was highly anticipated but didn't happen? Boyd Crowder's on Justified. Him dying in a hail of gunfire would've been fitting, but that's one death I'm glad that didn't happen! And even without the death, it still felt right. 

[Princess Sparkle]

 

BTW, the death that was highly anticipated but didn't happen? Boyd Crowder's on Justified. Him dying in a hail of gunfire would've been fitting, but that's one death I'm glad that didn't happen! And even without the death, it still felt right. 

I was absolutely convinced that Boyd AND Tim were dead men walking on Justified.  I have never been so happy to be wrong in my entire life.

[Luckylyn]

I agree. I watched that show when it was on NBC and back then there was no Internet, no social media. I was totally unspoiled, so when that happened, I think I sat there like, "WTF was that?" I think I'd recorded that episode, my mom saw it first but wouldn't tell me anything, so when I watched, I was stunned.

For me, John Mitchell's death in "Being Human" UK version bothered me and IMO ruined the show, I know they had to kill him off because Aiden Turner was in "The Hobbit" and they couldn't film around that. I think the reason the North American version was better than the original was because the Mitchell character in the NA version (Aiden) in that show, wasn't killed off and had a basically happy ending. The UK one was bleak, and eventually boring and I stopped watching.

Actually Aiden was killed iff in the final episode but it was handled in a way that he got a happy ending by getting to go to the afterlife with the Sally.

[Neurochick]

Actually Aiden was killed iff in the final episode but it was handled in a way that he got a happy ending by getting to go to the afterlife with the Sally.

 

Aiden in the North American version did die in the very last episode and did have a happy ending with Sally.  But Mitchell in the UK version got staked by George I believe.  Bleak. 

[Babalu]

The deaths that shocked me the most were probably the L.A. law elevator and the St. Elsewhere ones mentioned above, but the fairly recent one that got to me was Hubbell on Bunheads. I just figured he would be the conduit for Sutton Foster's character, Michelle, to establish a life in Paradise and then - blam! - gone by the end of the pilot. Of course, in retrospect, it allowed the all-too-short series to have an almost perfect arc, allowing Michelle to develop and forge relationships on her own. Still, it was a shocker when it happened, especially because Hubbell was played by Alan Ruck, whom I assumed would be a series regular.

[Athena]

For me, John Mitchell's death in "Being Human" UK version bothered me and IMO ruined the show, I know they had to kill him off because Aiden Turner was in "The Hobbit" and they couldn't film around that.  I think the reason the North American version was better than the original was because the Mitchell character in the NA version (Aiden) in that show, wasn't killed off and had a basically happy ending.  The UK one was bleak, and eventually boring and I stopped watching.  

 

I was a casual viewer of this show. I never watched it regularly, but I remember this season the most. I also stopped watching after Mitchell's death because it was just too wretched. Considering what happens to George the next season, I'm glad I did not continue. Airden Turner acted his best in that Mitchell arc though and all the three main characters sold that death episode. George did kill Mitchell after he told George he could no longer live with what he had done. George only did it after they found Wyndham was going to use and abuse Mitchell as an "attack dog". It was basically assisted suicide in the most dismal way.

[Snipsa]

There have been so many shocking deaths, however many of them didn't stick. I'm looking at you Kenny, I mean Daniel Jackson (SG1).

For me the deaths that made lasting impressions weren't necessarily main characters (although some were), but were characters that left the biggest voids in other characters lives:

Prue on Charmed - I thought it was a death done quite well and the sisters grief was mostly well acted.

Lucy on ER - Truly shocking. Left a lasting legacy. Runner up wrt ER deaths: Pratt. So sad...

Some smaller or bit characters whose deaths left lasting impressions:

Janet Frasier on SG1 - Forshadowed without the viewer truly realizing it. And really sad as she was such a rock for the team members.

Saracen's dad on FNL. True reflection of grief for somebody that you loathed but by design (being their child) had to love at least a bit as well. So well acted by Zach Gilford.

West Wing: Mrs Landingham. Shocking, and very tragic...

Scrubs: there were quite a few, but the one that left a lasting impression was Ben (Jordan's brother and Cox's best friend)'s death from leaukemia

[callie lee 29]

The one that has the most lasting memory on me was Henry on MASH. Even now I start crying at the beginning of the show. My dad and I used to watch the show together, it was one of the only good memories I have of him. I remember him being pretty upset when they killed off Henry as well.

 

When Gee died in Homicide: The Movie. That was bad.

 

I also remember really hating Tasha Yar being killed off of Star Trek:TNG. It didn't make any sense and completely sucked.

[GreekGeek]

I was racking my brain to come up with a death that affected me, I came here specifically to mention St. Elsewhere, and you guys beat me to it. All the ones that were mentioned, of course.  Wasn't Boomer's wife killed? (Boomer had the WORST luck). Mrs. Hufnagle. Also, I think the doctor played by Stephen Furst of Animal House. Can anyone back me up on that?

Yes, Boomer's wife died from a fall in the shower. Her heart was then transplanted into one of Dr. Craig's patients, who seemed to recover nicely for a while but later died. So did Dr. Eliot Axelrod, the Stephen Furst character you mentioned. Mrs. Hufnagle was such a nasty witch I couldn't feel very bad when she died, especially since the circumstances were so ludicrous (she was trapped inside a hospital bed). You could see that one coming a mile off--she initially had a very minor problem, but her ailments kept mounting because the doctors repeatedly handed her off--nobody wanted to deal with her.

 

There was a shocking plotline in the first season where a young boy came in with something like a broken foot but somehow died. Good ol' St. Elsewhere--so uplifting!

[andromeda331]

Agreed about Grandpa Walton's death, Charlie's on LOST but also Juliet's, Nate Weston's

death surprised me and for me was when I stopped liking Burn Notice. Kitty's death on the

Closer along, for non Closer fans she was Brenda's cat that got really old and sick and finally

had to be put to sleep. Also the one where the teenage boy got shot by his girlfriend's brother

and is in the hospital, not only is he not going to survive his mom was a flight attendant and

there was no way she could get back in time.

[Princess Sparkle]

I've been rewatching Oz (thanks Amazon Prime!) and out of all the deaths on the show, I forgot how upsetting and well done Hill's death was.  I held the UO of actually liking Hill and his monologues, so to have the episode where he dies close out with just an empty wheelchair and absolute silence just gutted me.

[NutMeg]

From Boardwalk Empire, a number of shocking and heartbreaking ones: James Darmody, maybe the biggest game changer, then there was the devastating death of Richard, Van Halden's was a shocker too, Chalky White had one of the best sent off e-v-e-r, Sally's was too sudden for me to have seen it coming, Mickey Doyle's, he had survived so much I thought he was eternal, Owen showing up in a specially delivered package, and to end in all Nucky's (that one we could see coming, same as some of the others, but the way it happened was such a wtf moment). Shock and awe never ceased on that show...

[Miss Dee]

Carter on Person of Interest. Gutted me.

[DollEyes]

 There have been several deaths on Strike Back, the Cinemax series about an elite, British anti-terrorism unit, that were shocking, but one of the saddest is the death of Sgt. Julia Richmond, who usually worked behind the scenes, but was also quite a badass in the field, when she had to be.

[blueray]

I forgot this until I was watching a random episode of Farscape : Dargo's death was really sad but he did get a good death scene.

[DollEyes]

Bumping it up to say that if the reaction videos on YouTube alone are any indication, killing off Lexa on The 100 could arguably be the worst mistake that that show's producers have ever made.

[Betelnut]

Maud Flanders on The Simpsons. Yes, a cartoon went there. Plus...it was funny.

[Calvada]

There's such a difference when the death has to be written in because the actor died (like Phil Hartman = still cannot believe that happened), and when it's just the show's decision to kill someone off.  The ones in the latter category that I remember the most are Rosalind Shays on LA Law, since it was so unexpected, and then Will on The Good WIfe, since amazingly in this time of huge spoilers, I had no idea Josh Charles was leaving the show. 

[zxy556575]

The death that really bothered me was Juliette on Grimm.

 

But only because she didn't stay dead.

[Luckylyn]

Bumping it up to say that if the reaction videos on YouTube alone are any indication, killing off Lexa on The 100 could arguably be the worst mistake that that show's producers have ever made.

I think that reaction is somewhat unfair.  The actress who plays Lexa is now on another show (Fear the Walking Dead).  So her death may have been more about the actress wanting to move on to another project and the writers needing to explain her absence.  I'm curious about her role in this.  Did she want to continue with both shows or did she tell The 100 team that she couldn't continue doing both?  Was there a scheduling conflict that made doing both impossible?  

 

The death of the popular character Ianto Jones from Torchwood was a huge mistake.  The negative fan response seemed to overwhelm and shock the show's creator.  He got so defensive and dismissive of upset fans referring to us as "nine hysterical woman."  Plus they killed off Ianto not long after killing two other popular characters, Owen (whose actor wanted to move on) and Tosh(who was let go for reasons I never understood) reducing to main cast to two people.  One of those characters (Gwen) becoming a lighting rod for fan discontent.  I don't think he realized how popular Ianto was and how resentful some viewers would be of Gwen getting to survive when he killed everyone else with a larger fan base.

Edited March 12, 2016 by Luckylyn

[shang yiet]

Unnecessary/premature - Boone on Lost, Rex Vanderkamp and Mike Delfino on Desperate Housewives.

[SmithW6079]

The death of the popular character Ianto Jones from Torchwood was a huge mistake. The negative fan response seemed to overwhelm and shock the show's creator. He got so defensive and dismissive of upset fans referring to us as "nine hysterical woman."

I never understood the appeal of Ianto, other than as Jack's boyfriend (and even then I never thought there was really any chemistry between them). I think that's what people were upset about -- their slash fiction fantasies come to life suddenly ended.