22 Most Shocking TV Character Deaths of 2018, From ‘The Affair’ to ‘Westworld’ (Photos)

If there was one thing 2018 taught us, it’s that “shocking” is a truly relative term — and we’re not even talking about real-life instances here. Yes, it’s pretty hard to blow anyone’s mind these days, including that of TV viewers, making truly gasp-worthy small-screen character deaths few and far between. But that didn’t stop several showrunners from doing their worst — er, best, to totally kill you with these on-screen passings. Obviously, spoilers ahead.

Many, many residents of Westworld — “Westworld”: Several characters on Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy’s HBO sci-fi series died on the Season 2 finale, including Bernard, Charlotte Hale, Elsie, Robert Ford, Dolores and Maeve — to name of a few of the many. The shocker here is the group is divided into those who stayed dead, didn’t stay dead, and may or may not still be dead.

Jack Pearson (Milo Ventimiglia) — “This Is Us”: We’ve known the Pearson family patriarch was going out long before the second season got around to showing how he died. The wham episode (which aired after the Super Bowl) packed a punch because of the twist that sees Jack of cardiac arrest due to smoke inhalation after a house fire the entire family manages to make it out of alive.

June (Maya Rudolph) and Oscar (Fred Armisen) — “Forever”: Basically the premise of the whole show is that they’re dead, but it was a secret. Surprise!

Madison Clark (Kim Dickens) — “Fear the Walking Dead”: Madison’s death was one of several bombs the “Walking Dead” franchise dropped on fans this year. Dickens’ exit left fans in a zombie-like haze they had barely recovered from by the time Andrew Lincoln’s Rick Grimes said farewell to the main series.

Alan Pangborn (Scott Glenn) — “Castle Rock”: Pangborn is accidentally offed by his lover Ruth Deaver (Sissy Spacek) just over halfway through the first season of Hulu’s Stephen King-universe series.

Eden (Sydney Sweeney) — “The Handmaid’s Tale”: Young, sweet Eden’s execution marks a turning point in Season 2 of the Hulu adaptation. The moment horrifies Serena Joy and makes her question her beliefs about Gilead’s dystopian society.

Alison (Ruth Wilson) — “The Affair”: Allison’s death at the end of Season 4 was a shock, but not as much of a shock as the behind-the-scenes story of Wilson’s exit. Read about that here.

Anika (Grace Byers) — “Empire”: The death of “Kitty Boo Boo” was clearly a long-time coming, as “Empire” co-creator Danny Strong told TheWrap, but knowing Anika had it coming didn’t help us contain our gasps during her Andre-assisted suicide.

Everyone on “American Horror Story: Apocalypse”: This season was literally named after the end of the world, so it really would have been more shocking if no one died. Yes, pretty much everyone dying (at one point or another) by the end checked out — the real “OMG!” for Ryan Murphy fans when the clock was turned back and (mostly) everyone on the good side was revived.

Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz), “Star Trek: Discovery” — A case of, maybe he’ll be back someday, maybe he won’t, makes the “Discovery” death even more frustrating than some very open-and-shut cases on this list.

Agent Reeves (Duane Henry) — “NCIS”: Pauley Perrette’s planned exit was far less dramatic than Henry’s surprise goodbye in the same episode.

So many Crains — “Haunting of Hill House”: The Netflix adaptation of the horror novel of the same name is packed with tragic moment upon tragic moment for the Crain family, but the deaths of Nellie and Olivia cut deeper than anything else the show throws at you. Oh, and if you didn’t cry over Hugh’s sacrifice in the finale, then you are truly dead inside.

Riggs (Clayne Crawford) — “Lethal Weapon”: Roger Murtaugh losing his partner probably would have hit fans harder if it wasn’t already very clear Damon Wayans was losing his co-star before the Season 3 finale aired. So this was more a case of the on-set spats between Wayans and Crawford shocking viewers than Riggs’ actual demise.

Dede (Shelley Long) — “Modern Family”: The ABC sitcom teased a major character death leading up to its annual Halloween episode, and fulfilled that grim promise with the sudden passing of Mitch and Claire’s mother.

Bill (David Haig) — “Killing Eve”: It’s hard to say there’s anything about the Sandra Oh-led BBC America spy thriller that isn’t shocking. But Bill going out was, uh, definitely up there.

Jesus (Tom Payne) — “The Walking Dead”: Hardly the first death for the long-running AMC series, but definitely one of the hardest to hit fans so far.

Read original story 22 Most Shocking TV Character Deaths of 2018, From ‘The Affair’ to ‘Westworld’ (Photos) At TheWrap