It’s never easy to watch a TV character you love die. It’s even worse when the deaths are unexpected, but even the ones that we know are coming can still pack a heavy punch. This year in TV delivered some memorable series departures, some that were not well received by fans and others that were a long time coming if you know the shows’ backstories.
We previously broke down the most shocking TV exits of the year in a list that included Kevin Costner’s unexpected departure from Yellowstone, sad goodbyes from beloved longtime stars of shows like Grey’s Anatomy, Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., Law & Order, and more. Here, we break down the saddest TV character deaths from this year.
While our previous list does include character deaths such as Costner’s, we argue that Costner’s exit from the Taylor Sheridan series was more shocking than John Dutton’s death was sad (although it was a brutal way to go). The shocking exits list also includes storylines where the characters were written off but not killed off. The list below, however, is entirely comprised of heartbreaking character deaths, in order of when they aired.
Given the nature of this list, there are obviously major spoilers ahead.