Home TV TV Features 'Euphoria' is the latest TV series to kill off a major character. Here are some of the biggest small-screen fatalities over the decades. Published on May 31, 2026 From left: Steven Yeun in 'The Walking Dead,' Patrick Dempsey in 'Grey's Anatomy' and Drea de Matteo in 'The Sopranos.' Gene Page/AMC; Bob D'Amico/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images; Anthony Neste/Getty Images [Warning: Spoilers ahead. Yes, some of these episodes aired years ago, but others are from more recent — very recent — history.] For fans, TV characters sometimes feel like old friends. That’s why their death often hits hard — even in the fictional world they live in. Over the years, several hit shows have killed off major characters at the peak of their popularity, for various reasons. Maybe an actor was ready to leave; perhaps the storytelling necessitated it; maybe the writers were following the original source material; or, in some cases, there was some bad behavior going on behind the scenes.…