15 Most Heartbreaking TV Deaths Of 2025 (So Far)

Parting is always sweet sorrow, and TV has given us plenty of reasons to feel sorrowful in 2025.

With the end of the calendar fast approaching, TVLine is taking stock of the biggest events on the small screen this past year. Today's look back includes a rundown of the 15 most heartbreaking deaths on the biggest shows across broadcast, cable and streaming.

Our wide-ranging list of losses includes everything from a heroic first responder who sacrificed himself in the line of duty, to a misunderstood beast from another planet entirely. When we mourn, we contain multitudes.

Because this is a list of (mostly) unexpected TV deaths, we should remind you that you're about to enter a spoiler minefield. You might want to turn back now if you aren't fully caught up on any of the following shows: "9-1-1," "Andor," "Daredevil: Born Again," "Dexter: Resurrection," "The Four Seasons," "Gen V," "The Gilded Age," "Grey's Anatomy," "The Last of Us," "Paradise," "The Pitt," "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," "Task," "The White Lotus" or "Will Trent."

Read on to see all of TVLine's picks for the 15 most heartbreaking TV deaths of 2025, then drop a comment with your own additions. Which small screen tragedies would you add to our list.

DATE OF DEATH: April 17

CAUSE OF DEATH: While responding to a lab explosion, Bobby contracted Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, aka "Ebola's nastier cousin." Knowing there was only one antidote left, he lied about having a working breathing apparatus so Chimney would take the dose himself.

"This was entirely a creative decision on my part," showrunner Tim Minear tells TVLine. "I've been thinking about it for a while. ... If the stakes are never real, if there's really no chance that any of this peril in which these characters find themselves amounts to anything, I think the show could die."

DATE OF DEATH: May 6

CAUSE OF DEATH: A relentless Imperial bureaucrat determined to crush the Rebellion, Syril wasn't exactly a warm and cuddly guy. But he was just beginning to see how evil the Empire was and seeming like he might actually redeem himself when he spotted Cassian in the midst of a riot and saw red, attacking the man he'd been chasing for two seasons — and taking a fatal blaster to the head. His death was made even more tragic, too, when we saw how deeply it affected his former love Dedra and his mother Eedy.

DATE OF DEATH: Aug. 29

CAUSE OF DEATH: The writing was on the wall for Batista the moment Dexter gave him that chilling warning in Episode 7, yet we were still unpleasantly surprised just two episodes later when Zayas' character was shot and killed by Prater, managing to eke out four little words as he bled out: "Dexter Morgan, f**k you." The silver lining here? At least the actor has no hard feelings about his character's untimely demise. "I think that with the circumstances these great writers wrote for Dexter: Resurrection, with the momentum of where Batista [was] going — to try and get justice from Dexter — I think it's the right way to tell the story," Zayas tells TVLine.

DATE OF DEATH: March 4

CAUSE OF DEATH: Marvel fans celebrated Daredevil's return via Disney+ after being canceled by Netflix back in 2018, but their victory was short-lived. The first episode included the tragic, unexpected death of Foggy, who took a bullet from Bullseye while protecting Karen outside of Josie's.

"It was in the material that I inherited [from the show's previous showrunners], but unfortunately it was off-screen," showrunner Dario Scarpadane tells TVLine. "And I felt really strongly that if we were to do something that earth-shattering and something that was going to cause such a ripple effect in Matt's life, we had to see it and we had to feel it."

DATE OF DEATH: May 1

CAUSE OF DEATH: Continuing Carell's terrible string of luck with car accidents (remember what happened to him on "The Morning Show"?), Nick experienced a fatal crash in the penultimate episode of the Netflix comedy's first season. Not only was Nick a beloved member of the show's core friend group, but his girlfriend Ginny also recently learned that she was pregnant with his child. So in a small way, Nick will live on.

DATE OF DEATH: Sept. 17

CAUSE OF DEATH: This one was especially tragic, as Andre was only written off the show due to the real-life death of his portrayer. More than one year after Perdomo died due to injuries sustained from a motorcycle accident, we learned that Andre suffered a stroke while attempting to escape from Elmira; he overexerted himself trying to open a huge steel door with his powers, and his body simply couldn't handle it.

"We wanted to honor him, and in order to honor the person that Chance was, we have to treat this like what it is, which is grieving someone who is gone," showrunner Michele Fazekas tells TVLine. "But knowing that you're doing a television show about superheroes at college, how do you fit that very real, very serious emotion into the world of this show? The answer is that you just fit it into the world of the show, like people fit grief into their lives. Sometimes people are inappropriate, sometimes people are cracking jokes and sometimes people are angry."

DATE OF DEATH: July 27

CAUSE OF DEATH: Mere moments being thanked by Oscar, his secret lover, for helping to restore his good standing in society, John stepped off the New York City sidewalk... and was immediately, fatally struck by a speeding horse carriage. Though John wasn't the show's most important character, his death was a heartbreaking experience for Oscar, whose devastation led him to (more or less) come out to his family.

It was an extreme way to give Oscar a more nuanced storyline, but co-showrunners Julian Fellowes and Sonja Warfield stand by the decision. "Those shocking things are true in life," Warfield tells TVLine. "I've certainly experienced those traumas. They change you, and we wanted to bring about that change in Oscar." Adds Fellowes, "I jumped out of my skin when I watched it for the first time."

DATE OF DEATH: Oct. 9

CAUSE OF DEATH: Monica succumbed to injuries she sustained during the explosion that rocked Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital in the Season 21 finale. In her final moments, she was able to coach Jules through performing a successful surgery on a young child, giving her a heroic (but still very tragic!) send-off, like so may "Grey's Anatomy" doctors before her.

"I wanted to see someone die selflessly saving someone's else's life, and she was not only saving that little kid on the table, she was saving Jules," showrunner Meg Marinis tells The Hollywood Reporter. "It really speaks to the kind of character Monica was. I didn't want to. It was very difficult. It was very painful. I cried on that phone call. I love working with Natalie Morales. ... But also, just going through the impact and consequences on Jules and Amelia, that is where we landed."

DATE OF DEATH: April 20

CAUSE OF DEATH: After revealing herself to be the daughter of the Firefly doctor, whom Joel killed in the Season 1 finale, Abby admitted that she'd been hunting Joel for a while with plans to end his life. And that's just what she did, first by shooting him in the leg, then by beating him with a golf club, and finally by stabbing him in the neck with the sharp end of the broken club. Sure, we got to see Joel again via flashbacks later in the season, but the sting of his loss continued.

DATE OF DEATH: Feb. 4

CAUSE OF DEATH: We first had our concerns about poor Billy the moment we realized that the Hulu drama named this particular episode after him, a rare (and often foreboding) occurrence. Sure enough, he met his maker after drinking from a poisoned beer bottle provided by his girlfriend Jane, who was ordered by Sinatra to take him out. And the nerve of her to just sit there and lick powdered sugar off her fingers while he choked to death! The next time we eat funnel cake, we'll think of Billy.

DATE OF DEATH: March 27

CAUSE OF DEATH: Despite his best efforts, Dr. Robby was unable to save Jake's girlfriend Leah, who was shot in the chest during a mass shooting at PittFest. Robby was already barely holding it together, so the guilt of this loss — among other previous traumas — resulted in an physical and emotional meltdown. "To whatever degree Jake holds Robby responsible, Robby holds himself 10 times more responsible, even if there is nothing he could have done," star and executive producer Noah Wyle tells TVLine. "Just the fact that he couldn't perform the miracle is enough to put him into a shame spiral."

DATE OF DEATH: Sept. 4

CAUSE OF DEATH: We weren't expecting to fall in love with a Gorn, and neither was Ortegas, but she bonded with the bloodthirsty beast when they were both marooned on a barren planet, relying on each other to survive. They established a rudimentary language and even played board games together, but their friendship ended in tragedy when La'an shot the Gorn dead, thinking it was attacking Ortegas. Nice Lady Gorn, we hardly knew ye.

DATE OF DEATH: Oct. 12

CAUSE OF DEATH: Robbie was ostensibly a bad guy — he was a thief and a killer, after all — but we were still gutted when he lost a fight with his hated enemy Jayson and took a fatal knife to the ribs. We sympathized with Robbie's tender heart and desire to take care of his family, and we were kind of rooting for him to escape to Canada and leave his life of crime behind.

DATE OF DEATH: April 6

CAUSE OF DEATH: There was something tragically poetic about this two-for-one death in the HBO drama's third season finale. Not only was Chelsea killed by a stray bullet during a shoot-out involving Rick and his father, who was previously believed to be his father's killer (it's a long story, OK?), but Rick was then carrying Chelsea's body in his arms when he too was gunned down by a security guard. We figured this toxic couple wasn't destined for a happy ending, but we didn't expect them both to end the season face-down in the water. "It's a classic theme of Greek tragedy: somebody killing the thing that they love trying to get some revenge," series creator Mike White says of Rick and Chelsea's untimely end.

DATE OF DEATH: March 25

CAUSE OF DEATH: What began as a standard police foot chase with an armed parolee took a devastating turn when one of Will's bullets ricocheted and killed a 14-year-old bystander named Marco, who died in Will's arms en route to the hospital.

Despite Will being cleared of any wrongdoings after an internal investigation, Rodriguez says the damage to his character's psyche cannot be understated. "He has never done anything like this," Rodriguez tells TVLine. "It's one of those moments that is going to change him forever. It is something that will continue to haunt him."