8 Main Character Deaths That Killed Great TV Shows
These shows never recovered from these untimely character deaths.
The death of any prominent TV character is a precarious business. Killing them off too soon or in the wrong way can alienate your fanbase, but if you get it right the stars align and the chances are high you're going to create heartbreaking TV gold.
Sadly, this is most definitely not the case with the following TV show deaths, each of which came about in such a tactless, unfair or unfortunate way that it derailed the entire series going forward; the writers unable to recapture whatever magic that series once had.
From beloved sci-fi classics that couldn't live without the big personalities at their centre, to moody dramas that went too far removing a promising figure from their story, each of the following shows killed characters at completely the wrong time, in completely the wrong way, rendering the series' future forever tainted by their loss.
Of course, there are plenty of behind-the-scenes issues at play here that have to be respected -- sometimes, an actor just wants to step away, and that's that -- but for the most part these character deaths were, with the power of hindsight, a pretty bad idea.
With that in mind, here are eight TV character deaths that effectively killed their shows. This article will contains heavy spoilers for each show discussed.
8. Lexa - The 100
During her painfully short stint on The 100, warrior Lexa was one of the show's most compelling characters, and due to her leadership, strength, and budding romance with series lead Clarke, she seemed destined to stick around.
But it wasn't meant to last. Just as she started to get comfortable with the show's ensemble and confess her love for Clarke, Lexa was anticlimactically killed off by a stray bullet, in what can only be described as a lazy way to hurt its lead and crush an endearing same-sex love story.
With Lexa gone, The 100 scrambled to fill the void she left, but nothing worked. Like Clarke, the audiences never recovered from her death, and her absence was the first nail in the coffin for a series that would fall inexorably downward with each passing season.
If only Lexa had been given the role she deserved, The 100 wouldn't have ended up becoming such a mess.