"TV Dramas That Shocked Fans: Game of Thrones and Beyond"

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No one expected these shocking onscreen deaths! In Touch takes a look at TV shows that were bold enough to kill off their main characters.

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‘Game of Thrones’

Most of the first season of the HBO show revolved around moral compass and presumed lead Ned Stark (Sean Bean) — so his beheading in the finale set the tone for the rest of the series.

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Peter Krause TV Shows That Killed Off Main Characters

‘9-1-1’

They had eight seasons with Peter Krause’s Bobby, but fans still freaked when he died following exposure to a deadly virus on the April 10, 2025, episode.

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‘The Last of Us’

Though he knew his character wouldn’t last long when he took the gig, Pedro Pascal admitted to Entertainment Weekly that he’s “in active denial” about leaving the HBO hit after Joel’s death in the second episode of season 2 on April 20, 2025.

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‘The O.C.’

“The level of emotional devastation really took us by surprise,” producer Stephanie Savage told the New York Post in 2023 of fan response to the demise of Marissa (Mischa Barton) in season 3.

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‘Homeland’

The premise of the show was Nicholas Brody’s (Damian Lewis) return home from being held captive by terrorists (having possibly become one himself), but that didn’t stop creators from having him hanged in season 3.

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Dan Stevens TV Shows That Killed Off Main Characters

‘Downton Abbey’

“I still get messages every other week where somebody hits the end of season 3 and can’t believe what’s just happened,” Dan Stevens told Business Insider in 2024 of how his character, who was the show’s romantic lead, died in a car crash.

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‘The Wire’

“I didn’t know my character was gonna die until we got the episode [script],” Idris Elba said on the “What Now? with Trevor Noah” podcast in 2024 of reading that fan-favorite Stringer Bell would be gunned down in season 3.