10 TV Character Deaths That Shocked Fans Through History
[This article contains major spoilers for Season 2, Episode 2 of 'The Last of Us' and for 10 older shows dating back to 1975.]
Shocking TV viewers these days is harder for a variety of reasons, and that is true of even major character deaths. Audiences may be tipped off by internet leaks and rumors — or, in this I.P.-driven age, by source material. Millions of 'Game of Thrones' watchers were floored when the Red Wedding episode aired on HBO in 2013; millions of George R.R. Martin readers were not.
But for the many viewers of the HBO series 'The Last of Us' who haven't played the video games, Sunday's episode most likely came as an immense shock. (The episode, the second of Season 2, is drawn from events in the video game sequel The Last of Us Part II, from 2020.) As when Rosalind (Diana Muldaur) fell down the elevator shaft in 'L.A. Law,' or when Omar (Michael K. Williams) was murdered by a child in 'The Wire,' the death of Joel (Pedro Pascal) was jaw-dropping. It felt in some ways like a throwback.
It remains to be seen how Joel's death will change the complexion of the show, but it will be fundamentally different without him. As we ponder how that might take shape, we look back at some shocking character deaths that changed everything.
'M*A*S*H'
Season 3, Episode 24 (Airdate: March 18, 1975)
In retrospect, it shouldn't be that shocking for someone in the Army to die during wartime. But audiences in 1975 were unprepared for news that the former commanding officer of the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital didn't make it home alive. Sure, it had been announced that McLean Stevenson (who played Lt. Colonel Henry Blake) was leaving the series, but the expectation was that his character would be simply discharged, given some fond farewells, and that would be that. But then suddenly, in the last scene of the third season finale, Radar (Gary Burghoff) announced that Blake's plane had been shot down: 'There were no survivors,' he said. With that, the mood of the show shifted from sitcom to dramedy.
'Good Times'
Season 4, Episode 1 (Sept. 22, 1976)
Norman Lear's sitcoms were known for tackling tough subjects, but they rarely turned tragic. But that changed with the character James Evans Sr., who helped create a blueprint for strong Black fathers on television. John Amos, who portrayed Evans, had been dissatisfied with the direction of the show. He wanted more authenticity, more serious story lines. He also publicly criticized what he saw as the show's increasing tendency toward caricature. His attitude put him on Lear's chopping block. As with 'M*A*S*H,' death happened offscreen, with the dreadful news by telegram that James had died in a car crash. After this, the show struggled to continue but never recovered.
'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'
Season 5, Episode 22 (May 22, 2001)
When the apocalypse comes, remember to beep Buffy, the 'chosen one' who stands against the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness. Naturally, this comes with a lot of death, including Buffy's own. She had already died in Season 1 (just a little drowning), but this second time, which capped Season 5, was different. When she realized she could close a portal between human and demon dimensions, she made the fateful choice to sacrifice herself, shocking her sister (Michelle Trachtenberg), her friends and viewers. How could 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' ever hope to continue without Buffy? This episode could have served as a series finale (it was the end of the show's WB run), but it was just the beginning of a new chapter. The show's next season took a huge tonal shift with Buffy's nonconsensual resurrection, the aftermath of which was one of the most realistic depictions of depression ever seen on television.
'The Sopranos'
Season 5, Episode 12 (May 23, 2004)
'The Sopranos' wasn't reluctant to dispatch characters — the mob world is dangerous, and people get whacked. But Adriana La Cerva (played by Drea de Matteo) wasn't expecting to die — at least not until she found herself on a one-way drive with Silvio Dante (Steven Van Zandt) and started to realize what was about to happen. By then, it was too late. Compared with the show's other characters, she was collateral damage — mob-adjacent but not really a criminal, even if the F.B.I. had made her think otherwise when it tricked her into turning informant. What made her death scene especially moving was the camera's drift into the sky as we heard (but didn't see) the gunshots. It felt like not only her death but also the death of hope itself.
'Game of Thrones'
Season 1, Episode 9 (June 12, 2011)
Readers of Martin's books were not surprised when Joffrey (Jack Gleeson) called for the head of Ned Stark (Sean Bean). But non-readers definitely were, having been set up for the biggest of rug-pulls — not least because Bean had figured so prominently in the marketing of the series, as if he were the star. It seemed certain that he would escape a bloody fate. But poor Ned was shocked when his plea bargain was betrayed, and viewers soon realized that his story was only a prelude to the war to come. Such seemingly out-of-nowhere deaths of beloved characters became one of the show's signature moves, demonstrating over and over that no one was safe.
'Breaking Bad'
Season 5, Episode 14 (Sept. 15, 2013)
Martin once wrote that Walter White was 'a bigger monster than anyone in Westeros.' There is also an argument to be made that Walt's brother-in-law, the D.E.A. agent Hank Schrader (Dean Norris), was the true hero of 'Breaking Bad.' When Hank was executed, it was devastating. The two men's positions reversed so rapidly: from Walt in handcuffs, spitting at Hank, to Walt begging and bargaining the neo-Nazis for Hank's life, wrestling with his own culpability. But Hank won't beg. He accepts his fate with dignity. Walt is the one who breaks.
'The Good Wife'
Season 5, Episode 15 (March 23, 2014)
Often when an actor asks to leave a show, his or her character is killed off. It wasn't surprising, then, how 'The Good Wife' handled Josh Charles's request to stop playing Will Gardner. What was surprising was how violently it did so. (He is shot by a client having a psychotic break during a courtroom hearing.) This became one of the best things to happen to the show's protagonist, his longtime associate and former lover Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies), allowing her to reveal her true emotions and creating a hole she could never quite fill.
'Orange Is the New Black'
Season 4, Episode 12 (June 17, 2016)
This one hurt. When the Litchfield Penitentiary inmate Poussey Washington (Samira Wiley) was suffocated by Officer Bayley (Alan Aisenberg), it felt all too real, like the then-recent deaths in real life of Eric Garner, Michael Brown and Sandra Bland. Poussey was a lovable, nonviolent offender who might easily have re-entered society, but she was instead killed and then blamed for her own murder. A perfect storm of problems — the overcrowding, the privatization of the prison, brutal guards — could lead only to disaster, culminating in a three-day prison riot that continued over the course of the next season.
'The Walking Dead'
Season 7, Episode 1 (Oct. 23, 2016)
Any adaptation of a popular book will inevitably run into the problem of what to do with the death of a major character. Should it be foreshadowed? Should there be fake-outs? Should there be cliffhangers? Why not all of the above, if you're dealing with one of the most shocking deaths in the Robert Kirkman zombie comic 'The Walking Dead.' The sixth season finale, 'Last Day on Earth,' made it obvious that someone would die at the hands of Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and his barbed bat, but who? Fans were left in suspense for a grueling seven months after that tease, only to discover that, yes, Glenn (Steven Yeun) was indeed a goner, just as he was in the comics. Ratings started to drop after this, suggesting that perhaps all the hype may have backfired.
'Succession'
Season 4, Episode 3 (April 9, 2023)
You can't have a succession without someone either stepping down or dying, so the idea of Logan Roy's death was always in the background. (He nearly died in the pilot.) But Logan (Brian Cox) managed to hang on, continuing to outmaneuver his adult children, each of whom wanted his throne or power of his or her own. Finally, though, Logan collapsed in the bathroom of his private jet. As he received heart compressions, the audience was mostly with Logan's children Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Roman (Kieran Culkin) as they tried to say goodbye on the phone. For these three, what was once theoretical had became painfully real, and the remainder of the series was all about the aftermath.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Veterans Park event will mark US Army's 250th birthday
TUPELO – On Tuesday, June 3, attorney Jak Smith had an idea, and in the days that followed, he put fast action to it. In a week's time, Smith has planned a gathering to celebrate the 250th birthday of the United States Army. All are invited to pay homage to the U.S. Army on Saturday, June 14, at Veterans Park. The party will begin at 9 a.m. "I figured I might not make the Army's 300th birthday," Smith said. "So, I decided I was going to do something for the 250th. We may have five people attend; we may have 50. But this is something I wanted to do." Here's what's on tap for Saturday morning's celebration: The Tupelo High School ROTC will be on hand for the posting of the colors; Sabrina Ganaway will sing the National Anthem; and a bagpipe player will provide music. Also, there will be a birthday cake. Speakers, all Army veterans, will include Bro. Chester Harrison, Col. Roger Johnson, Brigadier General Kelly Mims and Smith. "Chester Harrison is a pastor who married my wife and I on Lebanon Mountain in Prentiss County in 1993," Smith said. Harrison will give a benediction and share some of his own Army experiences. "He was a machine gunner who served on the front line in Vietnam," Smith said. Col. Roger Johnson is senior Army instructor of Tupelo High School's Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps. Circuit Court Judge Kelly Mims served in the Army National Guard 34 years and retired as a brigadier general. Smith, a 1970 graduate of West Point Military Academy, spent eight years in the Army in Colorado and in the 11th Cavalry in Europe as an artillery officer. He's more than a history buff; Smith can fire off dates and events from farther back than most can even remember. And he especially knows the U.S. Army, in which he proudly served. It was May 10, 1775, when the Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia and delegates resolved to create an army that would represent not just New England, but all the British colonies in North America. "In June of that same year, George Washington was unanimously chosen as the commander-in-chief," Smith said. "Washington really set the tone for what the Army should be."
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
‘The Last of Us': Gabriel Luna on shooting flamethrowers and what Season 3 could mean for Tommy
Making a television series can be a lot like surviving the apocalypse. Most of the time you're thrown together with a group of strangers and forced to overcome differences with the hopes of achieving something larger than yourself — maybe even forming a sort of family along the way. And you shoot a flamethrower. More from GoldDerby 'St. Denis Medical' creators Eric Ledgin and Justin Spitzer discuss navigating the 'peaks and valleys of comedy' Liam Payne confirmed as judge for Netflix singing competition, 'Superman' hits hard, and today's other top stories Carrie Preston on fencing with Matthew Broderick and the heart, humor, and growth of 'Elsbeth': 'She's more than just quirky' That's been Gabriel Luna's experience making The Last of Us, the massive HBO production that over the course of two seasons so far has turned its cast and crew into a community not dissimilar from the ragtag forces defending the walls of Jackson Hole, Wyo., from a horde of infected. "It was very similar in the way that we kind of embraced each other off-screen and tried to build the fibers between the cast as quickly as we could," Luna told Gold Derby. "There were instances where people had kind of just met each other and were thrown into pretty intense subject matter." And considering what happens in Season 2, "pretty intense" might be putting it lightly. The Last of Us Five years have passed since the events of Season 1's finale, in which Pedro Pascal's Joel murdered a hospital full of resistance fighters in order to save the life of his surrogate daughter, Ellie (Bella Ramsey). The duo are now living in Jackson, with Joel's brother Tommy, played by Luna. Tommy has spent the past half decade years growing his family, nuclear and otherwise. He and his wife, Maria (Rutina Wesley), now have a young son, and they're leaders within the community of Jackson, which has grown to resemble something like the world before the Cordyceps. For Luna, returning to the world of The Last of Us for the second season meant expanding his off-screen family as well, welcoming in new cast members like Isabela Merced, Kaitlyn Dever, and Young Mazino and doing his best to foster the same camaraderie on set that made Season 1 such a special shoot. "Pedro and myself, Rutina, and Bella were kind of the elder statesman," Luna said. "We were trying to maintain the culture of the show, which is one of love, of real love. And that sounds kind of cliché, but it's, it's really true in this case." But soon the concerns of production were shifting from whether the costars got along to whether Luna could properly handle a flamethrower. The season's biggest set piece, in which hundreds of infected descend upon Jackson, involves Tommy facing down a massive bloater one-on-one, and Luna got to operate the fire-powered weapon himself on set — with less training than you might expect. "They give you a three-minute tutorial," Luna said with a laugh. "That's it a couple of days before you go on." The massive scale of the action in that episode is balanced with drama elsewhere that was painfully personal. Joel's brutal death at the hands of Dever's Abby defines the trajectory of the story that follows, sending Ellie off on a quest for revenge that takes her and Dina (Merced) all the way to Seattle. But when the action picks back up on Episode 3, the focus is on Tommy, now a grieving brother, as he prepares Joel's body for burial. The scene, for Luna, had greater implications for the show that went beyond the story. "It was kind of a farewell to the great leader," Luna said. "The great leadership that Pedro gave, and a transition into Bella's tenure, and myself and everyone else and Kaitlyn, who were going to continue telling the story. Yeah, I kind of let it all go in that moment." The scene was such an integral one that Luna had a unique request. Since Joel remains beneath a sheet during the sequence, Pascal's double, Philippe, laid on the slab for filming. And when production asked Luna whether it would help to have the actor opposite him in full, bloody makeup, he took them up on the offer — unfortunately for Philippe. "I apologized for having them put him in full makeup," Luna said with a laugh. "I'd have to lift that shroud and see his face, and I wanted something to to obviously engage with and react to, and [Philippe] was kind enough to go through several hours of prosthetic makeup to do the full look. And, but it all ended up being really effective for me and hopefully for the piece itself." And while Ellie's quest for Abby takes the action away from Jackson, Tommy eventually catches up with her, just in time to land at the center of the season's climactic cliffhanger. Held at gunpoint by Abby, the fate of Tommy and Ellie are left in the balance until Season 3. But Luna is excited for viewers to learn more about what his character was up to when the series' point of view shifts to Abby and winds the clock back two days. "What's special about the game and the perspective shift that occurs is that your heroes in one viewpoint are someone else's boogeyman," Luna said. "And I look forward to being that — if we do, in fact, handle that story that way. It's an opportunity to really show somebody who returns to their base instincts and the most destructive aspects of their nature and someone who gives in to the fury that that kind of grief sparks." Best of GoldDerby TV Hall of Fame: Top 50 best choices who should be inducted next Carrie Preston on fencing with Matthew Broderick and the heart, humor, and growth of 'Elsbeth': 'She's more than just quirky' 'RuPaul's Drag Race': Onya Nurve and Jewels Sparkles dish their 'ride of a lifetime,' stolen jokes, and turning drag 'inside out' Click here to read the full article.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Parker Posey reveals ‘The White Lotus' fans are making sure she's living a comfortable life
'Thank you, darling! I dressed up for you! I got the flowers in the kitchen!' Parker Posey says, accepting a compliment on how fabulous she looks popping up on our Zoom interview from the Chateau Marmont, wearing her now signature pink glasses and a chic scarf. Although the certified Legend earned her first Emmy nomination last year for guesting on Prime Video's Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Posey considers this her first real awards season, and she's doing it right. If you watched Season 3 of HBO's The White Lotus, you already know that Posey could do no wrong as Victoria Ratliff, the North Carolina matriarch whom show creator Mike White described to the actress as a younger version of Grey Gardens' eccentric Big Edie. Having grown up in Louisiana and Mississippi, Posey couldn't wait to choose her (much-imitated) Southern accent. "I love how funny it sounds. I love how there seems to be an emphasis on feeling but not actually what you're saying," she explains. She zeroed in on Victoria's lines about her country club life. "She's under this grip of achievements, and money, and what people should do and how they should live," Posey says. "I looked at her as someone who was programmed in this kind of male-dominated world. But underneath it all, there was someone lost and waiting to come out. That's why I like her [tsunami] dream so much [in Episode 3]. A character has a dream, then that gives such another dimension to her and what's going on with her." More from GoldDerby Animal skins, clothes-swapping, and those terrifying masks: How 'Yellowjackets' costume designer works with Liv Hewson and cast 'The Last of Us': Gabriel Luna on shooting flamethrowers and what Season 3 could mean for Tommy 'The Studio' dominates 2025 Astra TV Awards with 4 wins, including Best Comedy; 'Severance' takes Best Drama Here, Posey shares how she found inspiration for some of Victoria's most memorable moments — and which scenes fans won't let her forget. Gold Derby: You've said that if Victoria hadn't been funny, she would have come across as a terrible person. Was that your biggest challenge, making her likable? Parker Posey: Yeah, you're exactly right. You know, The White Lotus is already like a brand. So we know what kind of characters we're dealing with. We're dealing with the 1 percent, and then the hospitality industry in these hotels, right? Everyone likes a snob when you look at characters in movies and TV shows, like the person who's just obnoxious. So having a [slips into Victoria's drawl] snotty way of talking, it's really juicy. So I was happy to be able to deliver that. I mean, I hope it's OK. You know I wasn't always confident, in the beginning especially. But I love Evil Under the Sun and Murder on the Orient Express, and these characters, they're almost drawn, they're kind of animated. I remember being a little kid and watching these movies and looking forward to being a grown-up and acting this way. Maggie Smith, and who else was in Evil Under the Sun? Peter Ustinov. You know they had this style and this way of being that you knew they were acting and having fun as they were playing these people, you know, but they were very drawn. It was very archetypal. And so that was fun to enter into that story world of whodunit, you know, and just playing someone who you don't really know what she's capable of doing. Do you trust her? Is she trustworthy? Is she high on lorazepam? What's going on? So all that stuff was such good fun. There's an arc with Victoria, from almost childlike to formidable: When she arrives at the White Lotus, I love how nervous she is when Pam (Morgana O'Reilly) brings up taking a test. And then cut to when she's off the lorazepam and she's the one, not husband Timothy (), who finds a way to stop Piper () from staying in Thailand. What was it like for you to play that change? It was so fun to just play a full-on woman, you know. Like, when she's in a bad way and she needs to take to bed, she's gonna take to bed. And Timothy and the whole family is going to abide by that and take care of mom and worry about mom and hope she's OK. And then, like on a dime, she can drink a cup of coffee and get the show on the road and do some detective work. [Laughs] That kind of drama. She's just a drama queen. Tell me about filming the scene in the finale when Piper reveals to Timothy and Victoria that she isn't staying in Thailand. It's so fun to watch you, as Victoria, figure out what Piper's really saying. You escalate Victoria's response to the hug. Was the thumbs up you give scripted or something that just came to you? No, that was totally scripted. And that was such a beautiful day of work for Sarah Catherine. We shot a lot in a condensed amount of time, and we shot that, I think, within the first or second week. So I didn't know really what the path of Piper was. … It's so tragic in that scene, so much about not being able to escape your family and to accept the limits of what you are capable of doing. And so really what she's saying is, "I'll never be able to leave you." And it's that powerful mother and father that have their child going, "I gotta come back to you." I just thought it's just such great writing and such a great arc. But that was all Mike White. She hugs, and she's like [gives a thumbs up], "Got her!" [Laughs] Jason told me how much he with a live audience and hearing people's reactions to certain scenes. Is there any particular scene you'd have loved to hear the response to? I haven't watched the show yet, and I wasn't there for the finale [screening] because I was working. But I talked to John Valerio, our editor, and I said, "Can you remind me of the piña colada scene? Because all I remember is, it was at like 4 o'clock in the morning. We improvised a lot of different bits, right? We were talking about desserts?" He's like, "That's not in it." He said in the editing of that scene, what was fun is the stuff that was added, just the energy of the scene. Mike would throw out funny lines, like ["Is that it, Tim? Have you ever heard of wine?"]. To be able to work with an ensemble, and to be able to build moments along with the director, who's written the story and knows it so well, it's like all these characters coming to life right in front of his eyes. It's such a remarkable thing. Every actor I've spoken to this awards season has talked about how much they love that on-set collaboration. It made me wonder about a line in Episode 2, when Victoria finds out that Jaclyn () is a famous actress and says, "Actresses are all basically prostitutes… if they're lucky." The laughter from your costars seemed genuine. Was that scripted or something thrown in? "If they're lucky" was thrown in, yeah. And that was my first day of work. Mike is so funny, because you can just hear him cackling. Has anyone done his cackle for you? Patrick (Schwarzenegger) has. It's like [shrieks twice]. Another scene that I thought might also have been enhanced by you was the house party in Episode 7 when Victoria is talking to the Thai beauty (played by Praya Lundberg), asking why she's with her older boyfriend, and telling her to come to North Carolina: "Are you scared of him? I could get you out of this." Praya was a really lovely person. We just connected on set [filming an earlier scene], and I adored her. And I told Mike. I was like, "I love Praya. Can we have a scene with her?" And he thought about it. And then he was like, "I know what I wanna do. I'm gonna bring her into the party," to the scenes that you're talking about. But that [dialogue] was all Mike. … We spent almost seven months [in Thailand], and when I went back to the premiere, people there were like, "Welcome home." Like, it's so hospitable, and the people are so lovely and kind. So I still feel like I'll be returning there soon, even though I'm not. What was cool about the experience was there was the hotel working next to us, and the Butlers. Did I read that you and Natasha Rothwell took the butlers out to dinner? God, that was such a perfect night. That was such a perfect night! Yes, we took our butlers at the Four Seasons. [Names them.] We bonded with them. They were just such cool women, you know. And when they knew that I like to just hang out — we were staying there for like two months — I felt like I got to know them a little bit, and to know just the kind of people that they are. And I just love them. "You know Khun Parker, you don't need a man if they don't enhance your life. And if they don't enhance your life, why…." [Laughs] They were, like, giving advice. … One of my favorite nights was going to set watching Lisa perform [as Mook]. And I watched Lisa dance, and it was so beautiful. The way that they just move, and that beauty, that's their culture. So I cried when I left Four Seasons, and I know how ridiculous that sounds. But I cried, like looking out of the van and waving goodbye to them. We were like, "We'll be back in like six months, five months," and when we came back. … Natasha, Michelle, and I took them all out to dinner. They were all obsessed with Lisa, and it just so happened that Lisa worked that day, and I called her assistant. I said, "Is there any way Lisa can stop by?" And she said, "Well, it just so happens that something's up with Lisa's leg and she's like a five-minute drive [away] getting a massage, and she can stop by on the way." And so we took these pictures of Lisa and the butlers. It's those moments that make it. They were just so happy. Fabio Lovino/HBO Jason told me that people now offer him piña coladas everywhere he goes. Is anything like that happening to you? On Easter Island! I was shooting a movie with Sam Rockwell and John Malkovich on Easter Island, and you know it's the furthest place you can go in the furthest part of the world. The only people there are tourists, and it's just like this hotel we were all staying in. There was a homemade mimosa bar, and so it was like 10 o'clock in the morning, and this woman walks by and she says, 'I have some lorazepam if you need some,' and just walked away. [Laughs] That will be happening for the rest of your life. And then I went on a Delta flight, and the flight attendant asked what I wanted to drink, and I said, "I'll have a seltzer with some ice," and he says, "I just want to make sure you're living a comfortable life." "Oh, thank you. I'm very comfortable." I did want to touch on that "I just don't think at this age I'm meant to live an uncomfortable life" scene. Did you know when filming it that fans would eventually be quoting it? That moment, when she says, "I don't want to live an uncomfortable life, I don't have the will," that's when you don't really know what's gonna happen to Victoria, this being at the end of her rope and what she's been through. [With] those little lines, we get to bring in the history of person. I had the essential oils and the lotions, and you just see how spoiled she is. But also, you know she's broken. She's kind of a mess, and then on the other side, she gets it together, and she's able to, like, Sherlock Holmes this stuff and get her daughter back. I love Mike White and how he writes women! We're talking about a writer who writes great women, and they're alone. They stand alone in a man's world. I feel so lucky I got to play it. Best of GoldDerby TV Hall of Fame: Top 50 best choices who should be inducted next Carrie Preston on fencing with Matthew Broderick and the heart, humor, and growth of 'Elsbeth': 'She's more than just quirky' 'RuPaul's Drag Race': Onya Nurve and Jewels Sparkles dish their 'ride of a lifetime,' stolen jokes, and turning drag 'inside out' Click here to read the full article.
