The TV and movie deaths that still haunt us years later

SPOILER ALERT: For The Last of Us episode two, Through the Valley, as well as a bunch of TV shows and movies

Are we weirdos for being genuinely upset when a fictional character is killed off? Or is it just a mark of great writing and film making that those wizards have managed to get us to care?

TV shows and films kill off characters all the time. Sometimes it’s grisly, sometimes it’s shocking and sometimes it’s a long time coming. But there are a batch of onscreen deaths that still haunt us, years and years later.

This week, The Last of Us dispatched Joel, played by Pedro Pascal. Joel is one of two leads and it was only the second episode of the second season. We just got him back and now he’s gone again.

Joel’s death was effective not because it was brutal (and it was), but because the depth of Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann’s writing allowed us to form a lasting bond with him. In our grief, we are Ellie, Joel’s de facto daughter.

Flawed but a fundamentally decent man, Joel’s time with us was not long (it is a post-apocalyptic dystopian world), and those who played the video game the series was based on were dreading this moment already. So, as an ode to Joel, we look back at the onscreen deaths that still strike us in the feels.

JOYCE SUMMERS, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER

Joyce was not the perfect mother (there’s no such thing), but she was a rock for Buffy, a demon-fighter who didn’t have the predictability of life spans. A surrogate parent for the wider Scooby Gang, but also a career woman who had a cheeky teen past, Joyce had already been through so much.

The worst part was that she seemed to be recovering from her brain tumour when a surprise aneurysm took her from the world of Buffy. The episode in which she is discovered, called The Body, is a wrenching 42 minutes of TV that explores the unexpected forms grief can take in the immediate aftermath.

NED STARK, GAME OF THRONES

Plenty of people had already been killed throughout the first season, but it was Ned Stark’s beheading that really declared this show meant business. If it was willing to kill off the top-billed star so early on, then no one was safe. But then again, with Sean Bean in the role, we should’ve seen it coming.

MUFASA, THE LION KING

Who signed up for this childhood trauma? Did you? Or you? As a studio, Disney is usually all about the dead mothers, but The Lion King went for the jugular on the pater familias (thanks a lot, Shakespeare). Mufasa’s death in the gorge, the betrayal of Scar and the fear and guilt in Simba’s eyes as he fled the pride lands have left generations of kids mournful for a good king.

ADRIANA LA CERVA, THE SOPRANOS

Adriana was wily, brash and loved an animal print. She may have been not the best person but, damn, she was entertaining. When the FBI vice gripped her into an informant, she was always doomed. Still, the optimism, obviously misplaced, that Christopher would go into witness protection with her would ultimately prove to be her downfall.

JACK DAWSON, TITANIC

There will be no more drawing French girls or English aristocrats after the Titanic collided with a teeny weeny iceberg. But at least Jack had a nice final stretch, well, up until the aforementioned collision. He got to wear a tuxedo, fall in love and declare himself the king of the world. Was the door big enough to fit both of them? The fact we’re still debating this question, even after Mythbusters took on the case, shows there’s no forgetting his icy death.

GLENN RHEE, THE WALKING DEAD

In a zombie apocalypse, no one is safe. But the resourceful Glenn managed to scrape through a raft of misfortunes, and he had been there from the beginning. When the psychotic Negan came at Glenn with the barbed bat (who he called Lucille, which is clearly further evidence of his sociopathy), it hurt in more ways than one. For many fans, the show never recovered from that moment.

GOOSE, TOP GUN

The need for speed can have some drawbacks, and Maverick learnt that the hard way when his buddy and co-pilot fatally hits his head on a canopy that hadn’t fully blown off during an ejection. It was super sad, especially for Goose’s wife and their young son. But Goose’s death did establish the premise for the sequel, which allowed Maverick to redeem his heavy heart by being a de facto dad to Goose’s son, eventually.

DEREK SHEPHERD, GREY’S ANATOMY

After 11 seasons, McDreamy was sent off to the land of eternal slumber. Yes, Patrick Dempsey’s hair was something else, but maybe don’t rewatch the early seasons because Derek Shepherd is more unpalatable than you remembered, but he was still a fan favourite. Also, knowing that Dempsey had, according to executive producer James D. Parriott, caused some cast members PTSD, makes his onscreen death a little less sad.

DEWEY RILEY, SCREAM

The twisted minds behind Scream weren’t afraid to kill main characters, that’s the whole point of a horror movie. But there’s expendable and there’s the core trio of Sidney Prescott, Gale Weathers and Dewey Riley. Together, they survived four movies and 26 years, until the 2022 “re-quel”, where Dewey’s time was finally up. He died the hero he was, protecting others while Ghostface stabs him to death.

THOMAS J. SENNETT, MY GIRL

Thomas J was so sweet, and not just because he had Macaulay Culkin’s angelic face. Vada, the main character of the 1970s-set coming-of-age story, really grew up when Thomas J., searching for Vada’s lost mood ring in the woods is beset by a hive of bees. He was allergic, as he was to everything. Vada’s cries at his funeral that he can’t see without his glasses is enough to break your heart.

MARISSA COOPER, THE O.C.

The troubled rich girl of Orange County courted drama, but not intentionally. She was just so deeply unhappy thanks to her absent father, her conniving mother and the pressures of being perfect. Don’t you know it’s hard being that wealthy and hot? Her death scene still stung, though, Ryan carrying her body away from the burning car in a mirror image to when he carried her drunk out of Tijuana in that first season.

NEIL PERRY, DEAD POETS SOCIETY

Hands up if you remembered Neil’s full name in Dead Poets Society was Neil Perry. Neil’s death stung hard because we’d been led to believe that an inspiring teacher who really cared about literature and his students was enough to conquer everything. Alas, not so. Not when your parents are so wilfully opposed to your dreams.

WILL GARDNER, THE GOOD WIFE

Will and Alicia’s relationship was complex. There was an affair, there were loaded moments and always the possibility they would be the endgame. Alas, it was not to be. Will was shot by his deranged client in the courtroom, in a twist that few could’ve predicted. It felt abrupt and the fans let it be known.

RITA MORGAN, DEXTER

Poor Rita. Poor, poor Rita. The woman could not catch a break. First, she had the abusive husband, and then she coupled up with Dexter, a man who was, at best, emotionally unavailable and merely mimicking human emotions most of the time. Then, she’s murdered by a serial killer. Goodness. Rita deserved better.

OBI-WAN KENOBI, STAR WARS

Alec Guinness had this way about him. His presence made you feel safe, and clothed in Obi-Wan’s robes, he made it feel as if everything was going to be OK. The Empire would fall, the rebels would emerge victorious. So when Darth Vader, it felt like such a gut-punch. But it wasn’t the end, for the mysterious ways of the force meant Obi-Wan could always come back in ethereal form.

LOGAN ROY, SUCCESSION

The Succession writers had warned us. The show is called Succession, and there isn’t one until the existing head has moved on, and there was no way Logan Roy was going to go willingly. Still, his death on that private jet was eye-popping, mostly because that episode became such a performance showcase for Sarah Snook, Kieran Culkin and Jeremy Strong as they tried to grapple with what’s happening.

JAMES BOND, NO TIME TO DIE

James Bonds come and go, but they never die. People around them die, but the British not-so-secret agent was meant to be impervious. Which is why it was so shocking that Daniel Craig’s version was killed off, and so soon learning he had a daughter. But the most haunting death of the Craig era was Eva Green’s Vesper Lynd, whose demise deepened Bond’s character over the next two films.