TV shows likeGame of Throneshave a reputation for killing off characters in the most horrible manners when you least expect them, but some deaths have been easier to predict.Shocking TV show deaths tell viewers no characters are safe, and keep them guessing who will die next, as odds stack up against multiple characters simultaneously. Even when the rules of the game have become apparent, it’s not always obvious which character might die. Over time, however, one develops an instinct for predicting deaths.
Manyfemale TV show characters who deserved a better endinghave been killed off this way, rather unceremoniously. Some deaths, though, can be seen coming from a mile away. When aTV character you don’t expect to feel sorry forsuddenly starts getting a dedicated major story arc to them, and becomes sympathetic, that is almost always a telltale sign that things are going to go downhill for them. Especially in drama and thriller shows where there is no plot armor for the protagonists,it’s sometimes painfully obvious which characters will diebefore the show ends.
10Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn)
Stranger Things (2016 – 2025)
Stranger Thingsused to have a problem of not killing any major characters, which seems to be continuing. Instead, it has developed a problem of killing off beloved side characters. Ina bid to convince viewers that the main group is harder to kill, it seems to provide brutal endings to side characters when they face off against the main villain in each season.
10 Predictable TV Show Deaths We All Saw Coming
Showrunners face the challenge of making key character deaths impactful when people can predict them far ahead of time, due to familiar narratives.
Stranger Thingsis asci-fi TV show that isn’t too complex or overwhelmingand keeps introducing interesting side characters every season, who become fan-favorites, only to then die before the season ends. It was shocking when it happened to Ben first, but by the time Eddie Munson showed up, everyone could tell that he wouldn’t make it to the end. Not only did he have too many odds stacked against him, he was becoming too likable for the trend to not target him.
9Jack Sheppard (Matthew Fox)
Lost (2004 – 2010)
Asci-fi TV show with an excellent mystery element,Lostbegins with a premise that promises heartbreaking character deaths. The first season begins with a plane crash that leaves a few survivors stranded on an island. They face terrifying entities, but try to do their best to save each other. So, a few main characters dying isn’t unexpected, butLostmanaged to become one of the most exciting series because of its shocking deaths.
When Sheppard decided they needed to go back, there was no doubt that he would die.
Jack Sheppard became the group’s leader in the first seasonand has led them through many perils, but his constant brushes with death seemed to insinuate he’d die before the show ends. Even then, there was hope for him when they all managed to escape from the island with their lives. When Sheppard decided they needed to go back, there was no doubt that he would die. While predictable, the death was still impactful.
8Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton)
Better Call Saul (2015 – 2022)
Apart from a throwaway mention inBreaking Badwhen Saul Goodman was first introduced,Lalo Salamanca is entirely missing in the show. It is not difficult to guess that Lalo would die beforeBetter Call Saulended, given that it’s a prequel show and the Salamancas play a major role inBreaking Bad. However, as is the case whenever Vince Gilligan is involved in storytelling, there is a twist involved in his death.
Along with Lalo, Nacho, aka Ignacio, is also mentioned when Saul is first introduced inBreaking Bad, and while his absence from the show is seemingly understandable because he isn’t as important a character in the earlier stages of the show, it became obvious that he would die as well when Gustavo Fring came into his life inBetter Call Saul.
BothBetter Call SaulandBreaking Badare such well-written andloved TV shows that should never be rebootedbecause their thrilling plot twists could never be replicated. When Lalo first seemingly dies, viewers, along with Saul, believe that that’s his end in the show. Yet, it’s revealed in a shocking twist of events that he faked his death. Gilligan is an expert in misdirection, and this throws viewers off, so that when Lalo actually dies, it’s still shocking, even though viewers knew he wouldn’t survive.
7Kaori Miyazono (voiced by Risa Taneda)
Your Lie in April (2014)
Your Lie in Aprilis known for the doomed central romance that inevitably ends in tragedy. The show’s exploration of parental abuse adds a dark angle to what is otherwise a tragic romance story. It has its lighter moments, and its vibrant color grading will get you rooting for all the characters and the central romantic couple. However, this is mostly a misdirection tactic to keep things light enough in their minds, so they don’t see the darker moments coming.
Even then, the gloomy closing song of the show and Kaori’s jokes about dying seem to be more than just atmospheric creative devices. When she faints during a performance, though, it becomes clear that something is amiss, and that starts the foreshadowing of her death in the final episode. Towards the middle of the second half of the show,it’s clear that she has a terminal illness, and she is living on borrowed time. At that point, there was no doubt left in viewers' minds that she wouldn’t live to see the end of the show.
6Cain (Tom Welling)
Lucifer (2016 – 2021)
Lucifer’s final season ended in a bittersweet way, which felt rather anticlimactic after six seasons of will-they-won’t-they between the titular character and Chloe. However, the show has been considerably sincere with the arcs of its side characters until the last season. Even though Charlotte feels like afemale TV character who deserved a better ending, there’s still some satisfaction to be found in the realization that she went to heaven.
Lucifer
Lucifer, released in 2016, follows Lucifer Morningstar, the former Lord of Hell, who retires to Los Angeles. There, he partners with LAPD detective Chloe Decker to solve crimes. As he distances himself from the underworld, a potential threat looms, risking the unleashing of humanity’s darkest forces.
However, deaths in the show often come at the most unexpected moments. So, it is hard to predict when or how or even if a character will die, especially because most main characters survive most of the seasons. However,Cain’s entire mission is to die, and Lucifer promises to get his curse removed and send him to the afterlife. Since Lucifer always keeps his word, it’s not difficult to guess that Cain would ultimately die. The exact moment wouldn’t become apparent until he kills Charlotte, though. It becomes obvious he’ll die soon, and he does so in the next episode.
5Walter White (Bryan Cranston)
One of the greatest TV shows of all time,Breaking Badnever shies away from killing off important characters if that’s where the plot is naturally supposed to go. Characters neither die sensationally just for shock value nor have plot armor against impossible odds. Moreover, characters' arcs almost always reach a natural conclusion, which is most commonly their deaths. So, it doesn’t take a psychic to predict that, despite being the calculated protagonist who navigates his way out of death an uncountable number of times,Walter White will die.
There Are Villains & Then There Are These 10 TV Characters Who Got Darker & Darker With Each Season
These TV characters, not all necessarily villains in the bigger series, went to darker places each season as they were pushed to their worst impulses.
After being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, he had a miraculous recovery while becoming a highly successful drug manufacturer and dealer on the side. However, Walt, in his ruthless pursuit of money, starts becoming reckless with every episode, and soon, it’s clear that the only way the show can stop telling his story is if he dies. His refusal to stop suggests no other ending would be satisfying. Moreover, in the fifth season, which features one ofthe best cold opens in TV show history, his cancer returns, and it’s obvious that the show can only end with his death.
4Jack Pearson (Milo Ventimiglia)
This Is Us (2016 – 2022)
Right from its first episode,This Is Ussets the tone for what’s to follow. A beautifully endearing story with nearly as much tragedy as reasons for celebration. A slice of life drama in every sense of the word, it goes into extensive detail, exploring the lives of the various characters, developing an unexpected amount of lore by the time it ends. One of its primary themes is the unpredictable nature of life, and true to that message, the show hits viewers with both joy and sorrow from the most unexpected sources.
This Is Ususes misdirection throughout the show, and it seemed Jack would die when the family’s house caught fire, but it happens a little while later at a moment that no one could have predicted, and so, despite being obvious, Jack’s death catches viewers off-guard.
Since it non-linearly explores the lives of many characters spanning at least three generations,This Is Usisn’t lacking in character deaths. Some of these are especially harrowing and shocking. The ironic part of what is perhaps the most harrowing death is that viewers had been informed it would happen within the first few episodes of the show.It’s revealed early on that Jack’s dead in the present timeline, and so, everyone could guess he would die in the past timeline where the Big Three are still children. That knowledge doesn’t soften the blow when it happens, though.
3Vision (Paul Bettany)
WandaVision (2021)
Wandavisionuses experimental storytelling techniques using sitcom tropes to explore how Wanda is dealing with her loss with the death of Vision inAvengers: Infinity War. This wasn’t clear at first, but, it doesn’t take long for viewers to realize that the reality in the show is a simulation made by a mournful Wanda. So, it’s very obvious that the Vision we see in the majority of the show will die when Wanda lets go of the illusion she’s created.
Since White Vision carries all the original Vision’s memories, the latter lives on through him.
However, no content in the MCU can be standalone without featuring some setup for the future. The show’s main antagonist, Agatha Harkness, got her own spin-off show,Agatha All Along. She isn’t the only one to get her own show setup byWandaVision, though, as it also introduces White Vision, who is set to appear inthe MCU showVision Quest. Since White Vision carries all the original Vision’s memories, the latter lives on through him, which is also easy to predict, since few important characters permanently die in the MCU. Wanda herself may return some day.
2Peter Kilmer (Yul Vazquez)
Severance (2022 –)
One of the most exciting TV shows currently is Apple TV’sSeverance. With the second season almost finished airing, viewers are waiting with eager anticipation to find out how the expansive storyline of this new season will conclude. Season 1 introduces the audience to an elaborate web of lies created by the Lumon corporation to keep their employees' innies in line. While each main character is under threat in various ways, and one of them nearly kills themselves, no major character really dies in the show.
Yet, the one significant death in the first season is hardly surprising. Even if it happens in just the third episode of the show, everyone can tell from his very first appearance that Petey will not survive until the end. The permanence of severance as a procedure has been addressed multiple times, and he clearly has horrible migraines that suggest something is wrong with his brain. Moreover, Lumon’s hunt for him also gets serious very soon after he first appears. So, be it fromreintegration sickness or from Lumon’s wish to suppress him, his death was always inevitable.
1Ben Urich (Vondie Curtis-Hall)
Daredevil (2015 – 2018)
From its early stages,Daredevilsets the tone for its dangerous world where no one has plot armor. Anyone who steps out of line either needs to be very fortunate or needs to be a blind martial artist with heightened senses to survive.Daredevildoesn’t take long to establish how ruthless Wilson Fisk is. Even his business associates aren’t safe from his wrath if they dare question him or confront him. So, it isn’t hard to guess that a journalist researching on and writing against Fisk’s endeavors will die at his hands.
Daredevil Knows Death Well, But His Best Friend’s Murder Did Not Go as Expected
Foggy’s death is the moment Matt gives up being Daredevil, as he cannot live with the guilt of his actions coming back to endanger his loved ones.
Ben Urich is shown to be a brave working-class man who wants to do the right thing at any cost. He’s wary and jaded, but he can’t be a silent witness toFisk ruining and taking the lives of innocent people. It is obvious that at some point, Fisk or his men will eventually find him and kill him. Urich’s fate becomes even more obvious when Karen takes him to talk with Fisk’s mother, but that still doesn’t help mentally prepare for it. The viewers' anxiety grows with anticipation, and then their hearts break when Fisk finally confronts Urich.
