20 TV Characters Whose Deaths Were Super Satisfying Because, Let's Be Honest, They Were The Worst People
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WARNING: THERE ARE MASSIVE SPOILERS BELOW.
We’ve all had our fair share of devastating fictional character deaths over the years, such as the ending of Titanic painting cinema floors with tears or the collective “oh no” America groaned when they realized Adriana was doomed in The Sopranos.
HBO
But you know a book, game, film, or television series is truly great when there’s enough audience investment on hand to elicit a major reaction when a bad character gets their comeuppance, whether you’re cheering for the evil family to bite it in Get Out or the shared celebration viewers had when The Governor met his end in The Walking Dead.
AMC Networks
Obviously, there’s nothing wrong with a little fictional schadenfreude, as so many television series have hinged those feelings to help bring back their viewership week in and week out, so I’ve assembled 20 examples of television characters whose demise fans actively applauded.
USA Networks
1.Joffrey Baratheon, Game of Thrones
Let's start this list off strong, shall we? We all remember where we were when the sadistic and murderous Joffrey Baratheon finally got what he deserved, being poisoned by Olenna Tyrell in league with Petyr Baelish. It was a moment we had all been hoping for since he showed his true colors in Game of Thrones Season 1, and while Joffrey's death was quite horrifying, the internet was abuzz with viewers showing their appreciation for the cruel character's untimely expiration.
2.Martin Keamy, Lost
ABC
It's pretty hard to be a bigger P.O.S. than Lost's Ben Linus, but if there was any character to do so, it was Martin Keamy, the ruthless mercenary who had no reservations about killing as many innocent people as possible to complete his mission, including Ben's "daughter," Alex Rousseau. Therefore, fans were more than satisfied when Ben was able to enact his violent revenge, even if it doomed some other characters, including Michael Dawson, who, admittedly, kind of had it coming too.
3.Chayton Littlestone, Banshee
Cinemax
While he wasn't the overarching antagonist of Banshee, Chayton Littlestone made a hell of an impression as one of the most despicable characters in the salacious action series, as a hulking, radicalized criminal who comes at the Banshee Police Department without mercy, killing fan favorite character Siobhan Kelly with his bare hands in front of her lover, "Lucas Hood." Afterward, fans counted the minutes until "Hood" would get payback, and that he did in one of Banshee's most unforgettably gruesome moments.
4.Gregory, The Walking Dead
Xander Berkeley has made a career out of playing memorably unsavory types, but perhaps no role was more deserving of karmic justice than Gregory, an egotistical coward who served as the leader of the Hilltop Community and had no problem throwing anyone under the bus to help himself. Of course, the character's hubris ended up resulting in him attempting to murder Maggie himself early in the ninth season, and Gregory ends up with a punishment more than fitting of the litany of his crimes, both major and minor.
5.Countess von Marburg, Salem
One of the truly evil characters from the underrated horror series Salem, Countess von Marburg does nary a single good thing throughout her two-season tenure and has no problem victimizing men, women, and children, including other witches, in her efforts to bring the Devil to Earth. Notably, Countess von Marburg has the distinction of getting more than one well-deserved death on this list, as she is resurrected in a mummified corpse and restored to full health before she is destroyed permanently by her equally ambitious daughter.
6.Phil Leotardo, The Sopranos
There are a handful of SOBs who deserved to get whacked throughout the six-season run of The Sopranos, but there's probably none that fans wanted to see die more than Phil Leotardo, a vindictive and volatile New York-based gangster who goes to war with Tony Soprano and personally executes Vito Spatafore in a disturbing way. So it's no surprise that fans relished in Leotardo's bizarre yet well-deserving killing, which ultimately ends with the character having his head crushed by a car left in neutral.
7.Grant Ward, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
ABC / Marvel Studios
The Benedict Arnold of the Marvel Cinematic Universe served as one of the most longstanding villains on the series, initially serving as a foil for Phil Coulson and company. He became a deceptive turncoat before advancing into full-on supervillain as "Hive" once his corpse was possessed by an ancient Inhuman. Both of Ward's deaths are incredibly satisfying for fans of this MCU small-screen series, as the character's betrayals of his friends (and even love interest) felt more personal and intimate than the typical larger-than-life villains they'd faced previously.
8.Koba, Gangs of London
The character of Koba served as a true villain in a show where even your favorite characters might be up to some underhanded and outright immoral nastiness throughout, sadistically targeting underlings and the families of rival gangsters without second thought. So when the unpredictable ringleader was ultimately (and literally) poisoned by his newfound business partner, fans were absolutely elated to see the bad guy who tormented their favorite characters dispatched in a similarly wicked way.
9.Jack Hoskins, The Outsider
HBO
HBO's adaptation of Stephen King's The Outsider was bolstered by many stellar performances, but one that was really unforgettable was the slimy turn from Marc Menchaca as the possessed Jack Hoskins, whose devious behavior evolved into cold-blooded murder over the course of the limited series. The character is a prime example of one that you're rooting for to meet his maker with every subsequent episode, and his death in the series finale acts as a huge breath of relief in the fact that he simply can't do further damage to the beloved Holly Gibney.
10.Gemma Teller-Morrow, Sons of Anarchy
Gemma Teller-Morrow has always toed a line between protagonist and antagonist on Sons of Anarchy, having been not-so-subtly complicit in her husband's death and a catalyst for SAMCRO's most tumultuous times. However, the character became a heat-seeking missile after murdering Tara in Season 6, which ultimately turned her eventual comeuppance into one of the most highly anticipated revenge angles in television.
11.Walder Frey, Game of Thrones
HBO
Walder Frey certainly ranks high on the all-time fictional asshole list, from his taunting of the Starks at the Red Wedding to the myriad of cruel and misogynistic barbs he would throw at the women in his own family. So when Arya Stark decided to feed him his own sons in a meat pie before slitting his throat, you might have equated the hooting and hollering from Game of Thrones fans to the same reaction as winning the lottery.
12.Jang Deok-su, aka Player 101, Squid Game
Netflix
A remorseless gangster who largely advanced in Squid Game through murder, cowardice, and manipulation, Player 101 quickly cemented himself as a character that fans would love to hate throughout the international sensation. Of course, karma prevailed in the "Glass Stepping Stones" game, as his ruthless treatment of other contestants proves too much for Player 212, who grabs Player 101 and throws them both off the bridge to their doom in an incredibly satisfying (and slightly heartbreaking) moment.
13.Janice, Mr. Robot
The villains of Mr. Robot are plentiful and often despicable, but few really tread water into unconditional hatred among the fanbase as much as Janice, the cold and menacing goon of the Dark Army who bullied and threatened Dominique DiPierro into doing her bidding. A taxidermist by trade, Janice escalates in her callousness and willingness to threaten harm to innocent people, making the moment that Dom turned the tables on the villain to a permanent degree all the more gratifying.
14.Warren Mears, Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Mutant Enemy Productions
In a show filled with demons, vampires, and other supervillains, it's a testament to the character of Warren Mears' utter shitbaggery that he's somehow the most hateable character from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Initially debuting as a roboticist before moving on to becoming the most maniacal member of "The Trio," Warren gets a horrific death at the hand of Willow, which was a shockingly welcome development for Buffy diehards.
15.Richard Horne, Twin Peaks: The Return
Showtime
The son of Audrey Horne and the evil doppelgänger of Dale Cooper, Richard Horne was unarguably one of the biggest monsters in the third season of Twin Peaks, assaulting women, running over a child, and threatening to kill his own family members. Eventually finding his biological father, Horne died in a ghastly manner when he was electrocuted and disintegrated by otherworldly forces, a scene that was as disturbing as it was satisfying (especially given how few well-deserved payoffs the series had provided by that point).
16.Ralph Cifaretto, The Sopranos
Phil Leotardo might have been the character every Sopranos fan wanted to die, but Ralph Cifaretto was definitely the character that most deserved to die. After killing his pregnant girlfriend and ordering the death of Jackie Aprile Jr., Ralph still couldn't muster enough empathy from the audience even after showing a little remorse following a surprising injury to his son. There will definitely cheers as Tony choked the life out of the contemptible mafia captain.
17.Vernon Schillinger, Oz
There are no characters in Oz that are entirely good in nature, with most of the characters being dangerous, abusive, and outright disturbed, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a television character as outright evil as neo-Nazi Vernon Schillinger on Oz. Personally dedicating his life to torturing fellow inmate, Tobias Beecher, in every physical and psychological manner possible, Schillinger dying, albeit largely accidental, at the hands of Beecher is a demise that was more than merited.
18.Bev Keane, Midnight Mass
Netflix
Is there a character from recent television that you can despise as instantaneously as the sanctimonious and selfish Bev Keane from Midnight Mass? It'd be hard to argue anyone else is as bad as this character, who is responsible for the deaths of many innocents in the name of her own egocentric fanaticism. Fans of the series soaked in the moment where the character burns up while desperately attempting to dig a hole to save herself from the incoming sunlight.
19.Todd Alquist, Breaking Bad
In the blink of an eye, Todd went from being just another random, quirky side character on Breaking Bad to becoming one of the most hated characters on television. However, fans didn't know just how much they'd grow to hate Todd, as he effortlessly descended further and further down into villainy until his neck was snapped in a moment of agency by Jesse Pinkman as revenge for his longstanding enslavement as a meth cooker.
20.And finally, Ramsay Bolton, Game of Thrones
Imagine how much of a fictional monster you need to be to overshadow Joffrey Baratheon as the most loathsome character on your show, and double it; this might give you a picture of how much Game of Thrones fans hated Ramsay Bolton. While fans wanted to truly see how "The Battle of the Bastards" would unfold, ask any Game of Thrones fan and they'll tell you that the real reason to watch that landmark episode was to see just how the series would kill off the most abominable member of House Bolton.
