12 Predictable TV Plot Twists We Saw Coming A Mile Away

The art of crafting the perfect plot twist is a delicate one. A good plot twist doesn't even have to come at the very end of the series. A great pilot episode twist can immediately hook viewers so that they'll want to see how it unfolds from there, but regardless of when it comes, it doesn't always land with the same impact.

If a twist comes out of nowhere, then audiences will feel like they've been cheated; however, signaling it too aggressively so that the twist is obvious will take all the fun out of it. Over the course of TV history, there have been plenty of the latter where audiences knew something big was coming but had to wait weeks or even months to see it inevitably play out. 

An obvious plot twist doesn't mean the show as a whole is bad. It doesn't even mean the twist is uninteresting, but when there are countless message boards with fans speculating on every possibility within a show, it's only natural that people will guess the twist well ahead of time. Spoiler warning for a bunch of TV shows ahead, although you probably don't need us to tell you how these storylines were going to play out.

Comic book adaptations have the tough mission of surprising fans despite there being years of source material to speculate on. But when it came to "WandaVision," everyone and their mothers could've guessed that the nosy neighbor Agnes (Kathryn Hahn) would turn out to be the famous witch Agatha Harkness from the comics. Even TVLine predicted Hahn's character was hiding something and suggested just getting it over with rather than waiting until the final three episodes to bring Agatha to the forefront.

The clues were obvious. Firstly, there's the name "Agnes," which sounds like a shortening of "AGatha HarkNESS." Comic book fans also would've noted that Agnes wears a brooch similar to the one Agatha sports in the comics. Beyond comic book references, there's the fact that Agnes clearly has an agenda throughout the first half of "WandaVision." Anytime something unusual happens that could make Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) realize she's in a false reality, Agnes miraculously pops up to get her mind off it, since she needs Wanda to be at ease so that she can eventually try to steal her powers. Fans may have been wrong about Mephisto being the big bad, but everyone knew Agnes was Agatha all along.

"Stranger Things" has no problems with having characters brutally die in the same season they were introduced. But for much of its run, it's been hesitant to kill any main cast members, which is why we had to give pause during the "Stranger Things" season 3 finale. A giant explosion takes out the Russian lab at the Starcourt Mall, and Hopper (David Harbour) tragically finds himself on the wrong side of the blast. Everyone assumes he dies within the show, but there's a brief teaser where we're taken inside a Russian prison, and one of the cellmates is referred to as the "American." 

That was probably enough to suggest Hopper was alive all along and simply taken prisoner by the Russians, which is precisely what we discover at the beginning of "Stranger Things" season 4. Instead of dying in the explosion, he simply fell onto a lower platform, which might be convenient, but it's a good enough explanation for this show. Even before then, the impact of Hopper's supposed death may have been blunted by people realizing the twist that the show wanted to pull off next season, because you can't just get rid of a character as beloved as Hopper just yet.

After 26 seasons, it's hard for a show to feel fresh, so "The Simpsons" kicked off its 26th year with the announcement that one character would die. The show's killed characters before, from Bleeding Gums Murphy to Maude Flanders, but the series gave fans a clue ahead of time. An image that spread across social media presented a slew of character heads along with the text: "On September 28th, one will die." Who could it possibly be? Surely not any members of the Simpson family, nor beloved side characters like Apu or Moe. Strangely, there was the face of Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky (Jackie Mason), who had only popped up a handful of times throughout the series, so this twist felt like a no-brainer.

There's also the fact that the episode was titled "Clown in the Dumps," suggesting Krusty the Clown (Dan Castellaneta) would be super sad. Executive producer Al Jean told TVLine that many people thought Krusty himself would die, which feels like a stretch. Krusty's too iconic to get rid of, but Hyman barely factored into the show by that point. No one watches "The Simpsons" for its intricate plot twists, but this one was a far cry from Maggie shooting Mr. Burns, which no one could've foreseen.

"The Flash" really leaned into the idea of twist villains in its first couple of seasons. The first one revealed that Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh) was actually Eobard Thawne, aka Reverse-Flash. He merely posed as an ally initially to gain entry into Barry Allen's (Grant Gustin) inner circle. It was a tad predictable, but surely, the show wouldn't go back to the same well by having an ally turn out to be the primary villain, right?

Nope! "The Flash" season 2 introduces a new villainous speedster named Zoom (Teddy Sears). At the same time, a speedster named Jay Garrick (John Wesley Shipp), who hails from Earth-2 across the multiverse, gets introduced, and everyone could tell how this was going to play out. Jay's backstory is that he's the good speedster in his reality who fights Zoom on Earth-2 before he hopped dimensions. By the way, the alternate version of Jay that exists on Earth-1 is named Hunter Zolomon, and you can't spell "Zolomon" without "Zoom." The betrayal didn't land as hard as season 1's twist because everyone had seen this before and knew Jay would probably wind up revealing his true nature.

The following slide includes discussions of suicide.

Plot twists tend to materialize more frequently in horror and thriller projects. "American Horror Story" has made good use of plot twists over the years, with each season telling a new, unique story, but the first season, "Murder House," remains one of the best installments the show has pulled off. That doesn't mean you couldn't see the twist ending of Violet (Taissa Farmiga) having died earlier coming from a mile away.

In episode 6, Violet attempts suicide but is saved by Tate (Evan Peters). While the audience is led to believe she survived, episode 10 reveals that, tragically, she died at that time, which explains why she can now see ghosts. However, in the episodes between those events, there were numerous clues that Violet had already passed on. She doesn't go to school or leave the house, which is explained as her being depressed and not wanting to go anywhere. There's also how the house becomes infested with blowflies after episode 6, foreshadowing the fact that her corpse is rotting underneath the building.

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There's one question running throughout "Gossip Girl," and it's "Who is Gossip Girl?" A mysterious blogger is chronicling the events of the wealthy main characters, and by the end, we learn that it was really Dan (Penn Badgley) the entire time. He's a scholarship student, meaning he doesn't have the same kind of money anyone else does, making him the prime outsider to write about everyone's deepest, darkest secrets on an online forum.

Of course, fans who paid attention throughout the show's lengthy run could've guessed that, even going back to the pilot. There's a moment where Dan is on his laptop as the voiceover narration states, "Who am I? That's one secret I'll never tell." Of course, this might just be a happy accident, as there's plenty of evidence to counter the idea that Dan would wind up being Gossip Girl, such as his reacting to things the blogger posts when he's all by himself (and would have no need to "act" in front of anyone). Even if fans couldn't guess this plot twist, it's one that leaves you scratching your head.

"How I Met Your Mother" is often regarded as having one of the worst TV show finales ever, in no small part due to the Mother (Cristin Milioti) dying shortly after we meet her. The show built up this big reveal only to pull the rug out from under viewers who probably would've liked to see some kind of happy ending for her and Ted (Josh Radnor). But across nine seasons, there were ample hints that the Mother, aka Tracy, wasn't long for this world. 

For starters, there's the entire framing device where an older Ted is telling his children the story of how he met their mother. It's a little strange he's going through this epic saga, yet the mother just ... isn't around to offer any input. Season 7's "Tailgate" has a scene of Marshall (Jason Segel) at a cemetery, and if you look closely, there's a tombstone that simply reads "Mother." 

Additionally, season 8's "The Time Travelers" presents a dream-like sequence where Ted rushes to meet Tracy 45 days before he actually will, claiming, "I want those extra 45 days with you. I want each one of them. If I can't have them, I'll take the 45 seconds before your boyfriend shows up and punches me in the face." It's romantic, but there's a tinge of sadness because this fake version of Ted knows he won't have long with Tracy, so he wants whatever extra time he can get.

You didn't need to have read Jean-Paul Sartre's "No Exit" to see the twist at the end of "The Good Place" season 1 coming. After an entire season of Eleanor (Kristen Bell) trying to stay hidden in the Good Place (when she should've gone to the Bad Place after a life of selfishness), she discovers that the version of the afterlife she's been in was the Bad Place the entire time. 

There were plenty of clues that this was the case, including how stressed everyone was all the time despite being in a supposed Good Place. This includes the central pairings of Eleanor with Chidi (William Jackson Harper), with Eleanor's secret causing Chidi a massive amount of stress and torturing him, too. 

Despite all this, it's worth mentioning that a plot twist you can see coming doesn't make it any less effective. It's a great way to end the season, and "The Good Place" would carry on for three more seasons, exploring fascinating concepts related to ethics and capitalism. The show moved well beyond its first-season twist and became a thoughtful and hilarious examination of what it means to be a good person. 

We almost feel bad including the Joe Kessler (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) twist from "The Boys" season 4 on this list, become it seems so transparent. Throughout the season, Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) has frequent run-ins with an old buddy of his named Joe. The only thing through all of this is that Butcher's the only one who ever speaks or acknowledges Joe's existence. It takes until episode 6 for Butcher to realize that Joe has been dead this whole time, and in fact, he's been his mind's excuse to give in to his darker impulses.

Leading up to the reveal, it became something of a joke on "The Boys"-related Reddit threads that Joe would wind up being a figment of Butcher's imagination. Everyone seemingly saw it coming to the point where it would've been a bigger twist if Joe was alive and real the whole time, and it just so happened no one else ever wanted to talk with him. While everyone knew the truth about Joe Kessler well before the revelation, "The Boys" is fortunately the kind of show that has plenty of other surprises up its sleeve to keep fans on their toes. 

At first, it appears as though Eren (Yuki Kaji/Bryce Papenbrook) had the unique ability to transform into a monstrous Titan. While these beasts wreak havoc across the world, Eren joins the Survey Corps and discovers that he can turn into a Titan himself to fight the other ones off. While it seems like he might be the only one who possesses this power initially, season 1 of the anime shows how Annie (Yū Shimamura/Lauren Landa) has the power to turn into the Female Titan, who's been annihilating entire squadrons of the Survey Corps.

It would've been a surprising revelation if not for one big thing: The Female Titan looks exactly like Annie if she was a giant lacking any skin. On top of that, Annie is always mysteriously absent whenever the Survey Corps has to contend with the Female Titan. The twist might've been obvious, but it's easy to overlook, considering how it expanded the Titans' lore. 

Pretty much anyone could tell that the mysterious Halbrand (Charlie Vickers) would wind up being the big bad of "The Lord of the Rings" franchise, Sauron, from his earlier appearances. He befriends Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), which lends itself to the idea that Sauron is a master deceiver and could make anyone follow his ways. He also immediately becomes obsessed with the forge in Númenor and convinces the elves to create three rings to preserve their power and beauty, but in reality, it's all part of Sauron's plot to make the elves, dwarves, and men create rings that will allow him to enslave them all. 

The revelation at the end of season 1 of Halbrand's true identity likely didn't surprise too many viewers, but according to showrunner J.D. Payne, pulling the rug out from under the audience wasn't the intention. He appeared on "The Official The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power Podcast" (via Forbes) to clarify, "The minute you see this guy, and he says a thing that Galadriel later says to Frodo, you go, 'I bet that's Sauron.' You know what? You're going to have, hopefully, as great and valid a viewing experience as someone who has no idea until it suddenly happens."

When Ned Stark (Sean Bean) dies in season 1 of "Game of Thrones," it was like the show providing a thesis statement on how no character was safe, even the protagonist. But no one was planning on fan-favorite Jon Snow (Kit Harington) ever biting the dust due to his immense popularity. That made the season 5 finale, "Mother's Mercy," all the more shocking when Jon kicks the bucket. 

But, of course, fans knew he couldn't stay dead for long, and indeed, he is resurrected in season 6, episode 2, "Home." It could've been a shocking moment if fans hadn't suspected he'd come back the entire time. Fans knew well in advance Jon would return, seeing as online reports pointed out how Harington had shown up on the "Game of Thrones" season 6 set. Granted, he always could've swung by for a flashback, but it's interesting how much the internet can spoil certain plot points by virtue of an actor being spotted. 

Additionally, the show hadn't yet explained his lineage, with that question materializing often throughout the series. Jon Snow may know nothing, but eagle-eyed fans knew this plot twist months in advance.