The death of the wise doctor, Hershel, during the finale of "The Walking Dead" left fans stunned. It's not the only character death that's a shocker. (There are some SPOILERS here, so you've been warned.)
On the November 24 episode of Seth MacFarlane's long-running "Family Guy," fans were stunned to watch one of the animated comedy's central characters bite the dust. The family dog, Brian, lost his life after being hit by a car.
According to reports in the United Kingdom, author Helen Fielding has killed off Mark Darcy in her latest Bridget Jones novel, "Mad About the Boy." Fans are reportedly not happy about the loss of Darcy, played by actor Colin Firth, in the films.
Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and Lori Grimes (Sarah Wayne Callies) didn't have a chance to live happily ever after on "The Walking Dead" since she died in childbirth.
The character of medical student Lucy Knight (played by Kellie Martin) was stabbed to death by a mentally disturbed patient on "ER."
Heath Ledger starred as the Joker and Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes in "The Dark Knight." The death of Rachel hit Bruce Wayne/Batman hard.
The birth of her daughter should have been a joyous time for Lady Sybil Branson (Jessica Brown Findlay) and her husband, Tom (Allen Leech), on "Downton Abbey," but fans were shocked when tragedy struck.
The death of Kevin Spacey's character Lester Burnham in the 1999 movie "American Beauty" is accompanied by poignant words at the end of the film.
The revival of John Travolta's career via playing hit man Vincent Vega in the 1994 film "Pulp Fiction" was almost as surprising as the way his character gets taken out in that film. Toaster pastries, anyone?
Killing off a popular character early on has almost become a trademark of HBO shows (remember Stringer Bell on "The Wire"?) so fans really shouldn't have been stunned when Sean Bean as Eddard "Ned" Stark lost his life during the first season of "Game of Thrones."
Viewers didn't actually witness the death of Gwyneth Paltrow's character Tracy in the 1995 film "Se7en," but "The Box" was enough to shock Detective David Mills, played by Brad Pitt -- and us viewers.
Tara Maclay (Amber Benson) and Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan) were a happy couple on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" until a bullet felled Tara, which led to much outrage from fans. (But what else is new?)
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Michael K. Williams plays Omar Little, who was a bit of a Robin Hood on the critically acclaimed series "The Wire." His death in season five was more shocking for the manner in which it happened than that it happened in the first place.
Peter Krause starred as Nate Fisher, who was expected to survive after a brain hemorrhage but ultimately died -- like the rest of the cast -- on "Six Feet Under."
Is there any character on TV who's died as often as poor Kenny on "South Park"? The hooded kid has met his maker via death by tree, chicken pox, mosh pit and even giant bird. By some counts, Kenny's bid farewell roughly 89 or 90 times.
- "The Walking Dead" fall finale features multiple deaths
- Social media erupt in reaction
- Next episode airs February 9, 2014
(CNN) -- [The following contains spoilers for the December 1, 2013, episode of "The Walking Dead."]
The promos all promised a deadly fall finale for "The Walking Dead" -- and boy, did it deliver, in one of the most shocking episodes of the series on Sunday night.
Midway through the episode -- despite Rick's pleas to the Governor (whose name, we recently learned, is actually Brian) to let go of his hostages, Hershel and Michonne, so his group and theirs can learn to coexist in the prison -- Hershel, the wise old doctor, was brutally beheaded by the Governor.
Thus began the biggest action sequence since the end of season two, with Rick's group of survivors (including Maggie and Beth, who just saw their own father murdered) in a shootout with the camp the Governor recently took over.
As this was happening, the Governor learned that the little girl he swore to protect, Meghan, had recently been killed by a walker, and he shot her in the head without even flinching, to keep her from turning.
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It was the Governor and Rick in hand-to-hand combat, and as soon as it looked like Rick was a goner, Michonne ran the Governor through with her sword, and Meghan's mother, Lilly -- the Governor's new girlfriend -- later finished him off.
If that wasn't enough, we saw Tyreese (who was killed at this point in the comic books) saved by two young girls who had been trained in using firearms by Carol.
Speaking of Carol, her closest friend in the prison, Daryl, soon got over his anger at the fact that she had been banished and went to work, using grenades and a walker's body, to take down the Governor's people and his tank, before the members of the group abandoned the prison, before it became completely infested with walkers.
The stunned reactions to all of this on Twitter carried through the night, with various (humorous, of course) GIFs of people with dropped jaws and passed out on the floor.
Celebrities weighed in as well, with "Modern Family's" Sarah Hyland saying, "I blame @WalkingDead_AMC for Haley crying on #ModernFamily till February because the tears will not stop. Really. I'm ruined."
"I am going to need a minimum of 6-7 months to get over this episode of The Walking Dead," said actress Leslie Grossman ("Popular," "What I Like About You").
"Speechless," tweeted Yvette Nicole Brown of "Community," also a regular on the "Talking Dead" post-show.
"I'm going to bed. Watching @WalkingDead_AMC is an hour of pure crazy cardio," said Melissa Gilbert. "I'm exhausted! One question: where's Judith?!!"
Where indeed? The episode ended with Rick and Carl coming upon an empty baby car seat, devastated to see that little Judith Grimes was nowhere to be found. This raised the possibility that she had been killed or somehow, someone (Beth?) was able to rescue her in the melee.
But the question remains, why Hershel and why now? (Putting aside the fact that he died in the comic books at this point.)
"It's a very important part of the story that Hershel died; it isn't just shock death," executive producer Scott Gimple explained to The Hollywood Reporter.
"We're going to see now with all these things taken away from Rick if he can come back from this. Moving into the next season and a half, the loss of Hershel will be felt and will be this driving element toward Rick's character."
Fans will have to wait until February 9, when the show returns, for the next chapter of the story.
