41 most shocking TV deaths

Nashville kicked off its fifth season with a new home on CMT, and within weeks served up a major shock for viewers. Rayna Jaymes (Connie Britton) managed to survive an attack from her stalker, only to suffer a car crash soon after. She made it to the hospital and seemed to be pulling through, but quickly took a turn, leaving both Nashville fans and Deacon devastated when she died.

There was a whole lot of bloody death on The Wire, but what makes this one so particularly shocking is its frightening randomness. For five seasons, Omar was the god of war on the mean streets of Baltimore, practically invincible (he jumped out of a building!). Given his career choice, Omar's demise was just a matter of time, but it was still surprising, and heartbreaking, when he got shot in the back of the head not by a gangbanger or a policeman, but by the adolescent Kenard. —Darren Franich

After two weeks of "where is Derek" and "what happened to Derek" teases, fans finally found out the truth: After witnessing a car accident and stopping to lend a hand, McDreamy got into a car accident all his own. But he survived! Sadly, the hospital he was taken to wasn't exactly equipped to handle trauma. So, as Derek's voiceover pointed out everything his doctors were doing wrong, fans had to watch their beloved leading man slip away until finally—because a neurosurgeons didn't want to leave dinner—he was pronounced brain dead. Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) then pulled the plug on the love of her life after 11 seasons of building up one of television's most memorable romances. Heaven just got a little dreamier. —Samantha Highfill

Ever since Slade Wilson (Manu Bennett) arrived in Starling City, Oliver's (Stephen Amell) loved ones have been in danger, so Moira's death wasn't entirely out of left field. That being said, it came at a time, and more specifically, in a way that no one expected. Forcing Oliver to relive a choice he made years earlier on the island, Slade made him choose between saving his mother and saving his sister Thea (Willa Holland). Only one could live. And when Moira stood up and told Slade to pick her, jaws dropped everywhere. For a split second, we thought her courage had saved her, until Slade pulled out a sword and put it straight through her heart, thereby breaking ours. —Samantha Highfill

For five seasons, Will Gardner had more or less been the male lead of The Good Wife. He was a name partner at the law firm that jump-started Alicia Florrick's career, and perhaps more important, he was the man that Alicia Florrick fell in love with, despite the wedding ring on her finger. But in what will surely go down as one of the most shocking moments in TV history, Will Gardner tried to help an emotionally distraught client (played by Hunter Parrish), and when a courtroom cop didn't have his weapon safely secured, things ended in tragedy. During his client's panicked shoot-out, Gardner took a bullet to the neck before being rushed to the hospital, where he died. —Samantha Highfill

The second season of Netflix's political drama certainly starts off with a bang — or, to be more precise, a splat. By this point in the series, ambitious journalist Zoe knows that she can't trust the even more ambitious Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey), a congressman who's just weaseled his way into the White House. Even so, she agrees to meet her former lover in a shadowy subway station, where she prods him to tell the truth about orchestrating another congressman's death — and gets shoved in front of an approaching train for her trouble. It's similar to what happens to Zoe's character in the original British version of House of Cards, but that doesn't make watching the death hurt any less. —Hillary Busis

In the final moments of Downton's season 3 finale, Mary had just given birth to their son, and Matthew rushed home to tell his family the news. Driving down a winding road, the new father — who survived a debilitating tour of duty in World War I and the Spanish influenza that ravages his countrymen — looked happier and more full of hope than ever. Maybe that's why he failed to noticed the truck coming straight at him. Cut to the aftermath: Matthew lying crushed under his car, blood pouring down his face. There ended the season, and Stevens' contractual obligations to Downton. —Denise Warner

Even by the harsh standards of post-apocalyptic undead-infested America, Lori Grimes had a rough time of it. First, her husband Rick died of a pre-zombie-attack gunshot wound. No sooner had she found solace in the arms of her husband's best friend when — twist! — Rick showed up, alive and well. Then — double twist! — Lori had her own private Mamma Mia! Hell when she became pregnant. (Potential Daddy #1 wound up killing Potential Daddy #2.) By the time the survivors found refuge in a prison, Lori's husband wasn't talking to her, her son hated her, and Walking Dead fans could barely stand her. Even Lori's unborn child despised her: How else to explain the fact that Lori's contractions started right in the middle of a zombie attack? Still, you had to shed a tear for poor Lori when she selflessly sacrificed herself to save her baby. And then you had to shed a tear for innocence lost when her son stayed behind to end her undead life with a bullet in the brain. —Darren Franich

As Grey's Anatomy's fifth season came to a close, viewers were focused on the possibility of losing Izzie (Katherine Heigl) to cancer and losing George to the Army. Thanks to a season with very little George, though, they didn't think to panic when George wasn't in much of the finale. They also had no reason to make a connection between him and John Doe, a man who became completely unrecognizable after being dragged under a bus. Well, until John Doe wrote "007"—George's nickname—in the palm of Meredith's (Ellen Pompeo) hand. By the end of the hour, Izzie's life was still up in the air, but George was dead. To say it was shocking doesn't do it justice. —Samantha Highfill

It's an unwritten rule that you kill off only one major character at a time. But when did The Walking Dead ever care about rules? First, preachy good guy Dale was offed by a walker that Carl had unwisely spared. With hindsight, Dale's Stanley Kramer-esque self-righteousness probably marked him for zombie-assisted disembowelment, but it was still a guts-y move (pun intended), as he represented the survivors' last link to human decency. Then, the very next week, Rick was finally forced to kill Shane, though it took Carl's newfound handgun prowess to finish the job, after Shane turned into a zombie. At least the kid learned from his mistake! —Christian Blauvelt

After Jimmy made an unsuccessful play for power, including a botched assassination attempt on his former mentor Enoch ''Nucky'' Thompson (Steve Buscemi), Nucky shot and killed the young war vet in the second season finale, sending fans into a tizzy over the loss of a favorite character.—Abby West

Sure his death was clearly in the George R.R. Martin books that the HBO series is based on, but for those who hadn't read them, watching Eddard Stark meet his demise in a violent beheading in episode 9 was quite a shocker. The seeming central figure had been the face on the show's posters and billboards, yet there was nothing to spare him the fate that had long awaited him. —Abby West

In a shocking twist after five seasons as the seeming epicenter of HBO's series about a polygamous family, Bill took three shots to the chest and died under the careful ministrations of his three wives in the final episode. His death, at the hands of a deranged neighbor, proved to be both liberating and unifying for the sister wives, and ended the series on a note of empowerment in the face of tragedy. —Abby West

The final episodes of BSG got off to a bleak start. Dualla, long the show's quiet conscience, had just gotten back from a romantic date with her ex-husband, Lee. The stage seemed set for a triumph-of-the-human-spirit plotline. She looked at herself in the mirror, grinned... and then raised a gun to her forehead and fired. About as troubling and despairing as TV death gets. —Darren Franich

Fans were excited when Jane Badler, the original V femme fatale, joined the reboot. Fans were upset when Badler spent nine episodes doing nothing in the sewers. Fans were excited when, in the season finale, she led a rebel uprising. Then she was killed by her daughter. It's rough out there for V fans. —Darren Franich

If you were a fan of NCIS in 2005, you were aware someone was dying in the season 2 finale, you just didn't know who. Cut to the team's shootout with terrorists, and Caitlin diving in front of Gibbs (Mark Harmon) to take a bullet. Turns out she was wearing a vest. She stood, and viewers exhaled as Gibbs told her she did good. ''Wow,'' she said. ''I thought I'd die before I ever heard a compliment —'' and gunshot. With a single bullet to the forehead from hated villain-sniper Ari (guest star Rudolf Martin), she was gone. —Mandi Bierly

We'd followed Nancy (Patricia Wettig) through her battle with ovarian cancer, and as she went into the hospital for surgery to see if any cancer cells remained, we braced ourselves for the worst. The news was great... for her. Just as it sank in, the devastating word came that Gary (Peter Horton) died in a car crash. Among his remains was a gift for her, a copy of Alice Through the Looking Glass, with this inscription:

In a Wonderland they lie,

Dreaming as the days go by,

Ever drifting down the stream,

Lingering in the golden gleam,

Life? What is it, but a dream.

—Ari Karpel

Crazy, even violent, things happened in the emergency room of Chicago General all the time but the stabbing death of this med student rocked viewers. That scene of bleeding Carter lying on the floor looking at Lucy's face... heart wrenching. —Ari Karpel

They killed a kid. Seriously, they had a boy blasted by an alien spaceship, trampled by a herd of cattle, then run over by a police cruiser. Then his friends and some rats desecrated his body. Granted, they did worse to Kenny over the next five seasons, but that first death really made us all go, ''Oh my God, they killed Kenny!'' —Abby West

Torchwood has never shied away from killing off major characters. But that small fact hardly lessened the blow that Ianto's (Gareth David-Lloyd) death inflicted in last year's Children of Earth miniseries. Not only was he arguably the franchise's most beloved alien hunter, but he was in a romance with the central hero, Captain Jack! Viewers bypassed denial and went straight to the anger phase of grief. Boycotts were threatened. Death threats were made. And through it all, Torchwood's creator remained shockingly (and somewhat admirably) unapologetic. ''If [they] can't handle drama [they] shouldn't watch it,'' he told EW.com at the time in response to the backlash. ''Find something else. Go look at poetry. Poetry's wonderful.'' —Michael Ausiello

It's Homer's fault, of course. At Springfield's new raceway, our favorite buffoon removes his shirt and paints a target on his chest, hoping cheerleaders will catapult free T-shirts his way. And they do, and miss, knocking Maude off the bleachers and smack into the parking lot, killing her, and making Ned a wid-diddly-diddow. As Rev. Lovejoy says so aptly in her eulogy, ''In many ways, Maude Flanders was a supporting player in our lives. She didn't grab our attention with memorable catchphrases, or comical accents. But, whether you noticed her or not, Maude was always there...'' —Ari Karpel

Allison and Scott (Tyler Posey) were the couple at the center of Teen Wolf. Theirs was the love story that viewers were watching, even when the two weren't together. So when the couple—and their friends—went to save Lydia (Holland Roden) in season 3's penultimate episode, there was no reason for fans to fear for either of their lives. In fact, fans were more worried about Isaac (Daniel Sharman), who was being beaten by the Oni when Allison figured out a way to kill them. But her moment of victory was quickly ruined by another Oni putting a sword through her. It happened in a split second, but it was a split second that fans will never forget. As Allison fell, Scott caught her—and she got to die in the arms of her first love. —Samantha Highfill

Locke's steadfast faith in the importance of the Island seemed essential to the balance of the show. So how could diabolical mastermind Ben Linus (Michael Emerson) really be wrapping a cord around his neck and killing him dead? He's not really dead? Right?? —Abby West

Kutner's suicide shook Princeton-Plainsboro in a way it had never experienced, and the same can be said for fans of the Fox drama, who saw only a great future for Dr. House's brightest minion. Actor Kal Penn has since ditched the White House gig he left the show for, but the jolt from Kutner's unexpected and dramatic exit has all but fled from our memories. —Sandra Gonzalez

Who would have thought that George finding someone willing to marry him wasn't the most shocking thing to happen on Seinfeld? Nope, that honor goes to the death of said fiancée, Susan Biddle Ross, in the show's season 7 finale. George went all out when purchasing their wedding invitations, springing for bottom-of-the-barrel envelopes laced with toxic glue. Susan paid the price for his cheapness when she died after licking too many of the hazardous receptacles. For a show about nothing, this was something. For them to kill her off, and for indirectly responsible George to actually kind of relish it, was shocking indeed. —Catherine Garcia

Even though fans knew that Jake (Scott Foley) was Command of B613, they knew him better as the oh-so-handsome love interest of Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington). Well, one of them anyway. But when Jake decided that Publius—otherwise known as James—knew a little too much for his own good, he took things into his own hands. When Jake shot and killed a reporter, an NSA employee, and James—in the back as he tried to run away—we'd never be able to think of him as a sweet love interest again. Leaving only David Rosen (Joshua Malina) alive, Jake then sat with James as he died … in the middle of the street. —Samantha Highfill

A big sister of sorts to President Bartlet (Martin Sheen), Mrs. Landingham (Kathryn Joosten) had such a longstanding relationship with the Bartlet family that she never feared speaking her mind. But when the widow finally got a driver's license and bought her first car, her death in an auto accident was an ironic loss that profoundly affected the president. A force even in death, Mrs. Landingham returned to Bartlet in a vision, telling him he'd be a coward not to run for reelection because of his multiple sclerosis. And, as usual, she was right. —Ari Karpel

Lost has killed off plenty of major characters, but it was truly shocking to lose all three of these Islanders in the span of a few minutes. Sayid, a troubled soul from the beginning, certainly turned toward the dark side that season, but he always seemed to be reaching for redemption. His final act was a heroic one as he spirited away a bomb trying to save the lives of his fellow castaways. Meanwhile, through time warps, spatial anomalies, and various people with guns out to get them, Jin and Sun fought their way back to each other only to die a watery death holding hands. Hurley's loud sobs on the beach at news of their demise were echoed in many a household. —Abby West

Buffy often dealt with death, but never as directly or realistically as when Buffy's mom died not from a beastie or ghoul, but from a brain aneurysm. In the harrowing aftermath, we see every main character's response to Joyce's passing — Buffy's vomiting on the floor, Dawn's collapse, Willow's panic over what to wear to the hospital. The show's usual music and sharp humor are conspicuously absent, making it clear that Buffy's fantasy world was not immune to the trials of the real world. —Ari Karpel

Admitting to her fiancé, Christopher (Michael Imperioli), that she'd become an FBI informant, Adriana hoped they could start their new family in witness protection. He told her he'd do it, but when Silvio drove her to the woods to meet her brutal end, it was clear which family he had sided with. No one would ever say Chris-tuh-fuh the same way again. —Ari Karpel

The detested litigator hired to reverse falling revenues at powerhouse law firm McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney, and Kuzak, Roz Shays (Diana Muldaur) was eventually forced out in a battle that nearly destroyed the firm. But in the end, it was the firm's building that did her in: In a move only writer David E. Kelley could have orchestrated, Roz comically, and shockingly, stepped into an empty elevator shaft and plummeted to her death. —Ari Karpel

Just as Jax (Charlie Hunnam) decided to turn himself in to save Tara and his sons, Gemma (Katey Sagal) learned of Tara's old plan to betray Jax. Without realizing that things had changed, Jax's mother went to Tara's house and took the life of her daughter-in-law … with a meat fork. As if the act weren't shocking enough, the violence took things to another level. Fans proceeded to get their hearts ripped out when Jax discovered Tara's body and cradled her on the kitchen floor as he wept. —Samantha Highfill

You had a pretty good idea what kinda twisted, brutal world The Shield would be when, in the very first episode, our antihero Vic Mackey put a fatal bullet into the head of his new, young partner just to cover his own butt. Actor Reed Diamond was billed as a main cast member, so none of us expected it. And that blank stare and furrowed brow in his final moments made it pretty clear that poor Terry didn't see it coming either. —Mike Bruno

On Day 1 (a.k.a. season 1), Jack's wife Teri has had just as hard a day as her secret-agent husband. Searching for their abducted daughter, she winds up being kidnapped as well, and offers herself up to be raped instead of her child. Narrowly escaping, she heads to one safe house after another that doesn't live up to its name. Finally, just after Jack saves the day and we're prepared for a teary reunion, we get just that...sort of: Teri is shot by the mole Nina Myers, and the season ends with an agonized Jack clutching his wife's dead body. —Ari Karpel