Whether we like it or not TV series have changed forever. The scripts are more provocative and brave than ever and they most frequently aim to shock the audience. No character, no matter how important it is, is safe for its future.
Ten or fifteen years ago we could calmly watch every show and know that your favourite characters will overcome anything en route to the obligatory happy ending. Today the tragic end is always close, always around the corner and the emotions we feel watching certain episodes haunt us for years.
We are talking about the tragic ends of characters that we love and care about – an unexpected, tragic, shocking, traumatic experience. Here are the top ten most emotional and shocking deaths on TV!
10. Rita Morgan (Dexter)
Arguably one of the toughest deaths to swallow in TV history. Dexter finally managed to deal with the Trinity Killer, but not before he realized he had to cope with one more murder: that of his own wife. Dexter found Rita in a bathtub full of blood, her stare fixed on their baby, crying on the floor.
9. Nicholas Brody (Homeland)
It takes an enormous amount of courage for a TV production to kill one of its two main characters – but this is precisely what happened at the end of season 3 of Homeland, when Nicholas Brody was executed on a square in Tehran. It was a shocking end of his unconventional love story with CIA agent Carrie Mathison and it meant the show would have to take a serious plot turn – for better or worse.
8. Ned Stark (Game of Thrones)
Game of Thrones had already given us a lot to talk about up until Season One, episode 9. But the execution of the main protagonist, the most likeable of all characters in the story shocked millions of fans and convinced them they have to steel their nerves for the seasons to come. It was an unforgettable moment of pure cinematic quality, an instant classic and one of the most tragic moments we have ever seen on TV.
7. Derek Shepherd (Grey’s Anatomy)
The TV death that caused the greatest uproar and anger in the faithful fans of the medical drama. Things went so far that more than 10 000 people signed a petition to the creative team to revive the much beloved surgeon in some impossible twist. It was all in vain – Derek was dead, and so was his love story with Meredith.
6. Will Gardner (The Good Wife)
Fans were left stupefied when the leading male character in the series was killed in season 5. Josh Charles, the actor in the role was convinced to remain in the show before the writers could finish his plotline. Still, his death was somehow illogical and ill-placed – Gardner was shot by an insane client, whom he represented at court.
5. Tara Knowles (Sons of Anarchy)
We did not see that one coming, at least not in this brutal, vicious way. But Sons of Anarchy is a part of this new wave of TV shows that relies heavily on shock value and the death of main characters became the trademark of the series, season after season.
There was no love lost between the two most important women for the main character Jax Teller – the love of his life Tara and his mother-and-biker-queen Gemma Teller. So when Gemma understood Tara would take her son away for good she killed her with a grill fork in the back of her head. Bloody.
4. Leo McGarry (The West Wing)
Leo McGarry (played by late acting legend John Spencer) was the father-figure for the staff of the West Wing, even more so than President Jed Bartlet. He was a master tactician, erudite, a solid, moral man, despite his drinking problem from the past. He was a brilliant counterpart to Martin Sheen’s genius and the only character who could get in the face of the President and tell him he was wrong. So when he died from a heart attack in the end of Season 7, it marked the emotional end of one of the greatest TV series of all time.
3. Adriana La Cerva (The Sopranos)
After Adriana is uncovered as an FBI agent, Christopher’s fiancée is assassinated in the most shocking murder of “The Sopranos”. Tony finds out she is a double agent and instead of going to meet her loving she is shot point blank in the car in – a shocking surprise for the show’s audience.
2. Walter White (Breaking Bad)
In the last scenes of the most awarded TV series of the decade Walter meets his death alone and broke, but in peace with himself and his deeds. After a last goodbye with his wife and securing the inheritance of his son, the self-made drug kingpin dies on the floor of his lab, police sirens in the background. And while we knew this was the most logical and expectable of end for the series, many fans still hoped for a miracle. It was not to be.
1. The Red Wedding (Game of Thrones)
The first spot in this list has to go to a scene that is already legendary and booked its place in modern pop culture. The creators of the most successful TV show found a simple rule – there are no rules. So when they decided to kill three of the most beloved main characters in the story in a single scene of bloodbath, revenge and feudal hatred, they left millions of people dumbfounded. Some of us are still to recover from the emotional scars!
Lina Petkova @Florence 8 years ago 
