10. Verna, Scandal
OK, so she was dying from cancer and we knew this for awhile, right? What we didn't know is that the Supreme Court Justic would be the one to order a hit on Fitz's life! Oh, and then she would come clean about the election rigging on her deathbed, resulting in Fitz, the President of the United States, suffocating her. Yes, only Shonda Rhimes would and could make POTUS a killer.
9. Brian, Family Guy
The greatest fakeout in TV history belongs to this Fox animated sitcom after they killed off the Griffins' bloeved dog Brian, a move that inspired fan outrage, petitions and many, many angry tweets. Cut to a few episodes later when Stewie, missing his canine BFF, traveled back in time to save Brian's life.
8. Andrea, The Walking Dead
After being bitten by Milton, Andrea went out on her own terms, shooting herself in front of her BFF Michonne (Sob!) so she wouldn't come back as a zombie. (Still, Andrea was a polarizing character amongst the show's fanbase, so some viewers welcomed this death.)
7. Detective Carter, Person of Interest
Without any warning or buzz of a major death, the CBS hit procedural killed off its female lead after Carter was shot by Simmons and then died in Reese's arms. Talk about a twist no one saw coming...except for Taraji P. Henson, who revealed she knew Carter would die when she signed on for the series three years ago. Well played, POI. Well played.
6. Clay, Sons of Anarchy
You know Kurt Sutter is truly a mad genius when he kills off the show's second male lead...in the series' penultimate season...before the season finale. SAMCRO's former president was killed by its current president Jax courtesy of a few gun shots to the neck. Why? So the club could pin the deaths of their Irish rivals on him. Way harsh, Jax!
5. Matthew, Downton Abbey
Ugh, Julian Fellowes. You would have Matthew Crawley die in a car crash just after he and Lady Mary married and had a baby. You would. (Of course, this isn't all Fellowes' fault as Stevens asked to be written off the show. But still, Fellowes chose to have the character die during the Christmas special!)
4. Tara, Sons of Anarchy
Oooh, this one hurt like a mother, which is ironic considering it was Jax's mother Gemma, Tara's longtime foe, who ended up killing her daughter-in-law with a meat hammer after thinking she had turned on the club in the season six finale. The image of Jax cradling Tara's dead body still haunts us.
3. Brody, Homeland
Though producers had already revealed they've considered killing Brody, the series' male lead, since the season one finale, it was still gut-wrenching to see him die in a public hanging as a horrified Carrie watched in the season three finale.
2. Red Wedding Casuatlies, Game of Thrones
RIP Robb Stark. RIP Catelyn Stark. RIP Talisa Stark. RIP our tearducts after this freakin' episode.
1. Walter White, Breaking Bad
If we had to see Walter White die, we wanted him to go out in a blaze of glory. Our Heisenberg went out in truly Heisenbergian fashion: taking out Todd and his uncle's gang with a remote-operated machine gun he created and saving his long-suffering partner Jesse in the process. Walter, one of TV's great anti-heroes, bled out in his lab (aka his home) just as cops swarmed the place. Chills!