When TV Villains Get What They Deserve: Five Deaths That Had Audiences Cheering

The useful part

5 TV Character Deaths That Had The Show's Audience Cheering Television Primetime TV Drama 5 TV Character Deaths That Had The Show's Audience Cheering By Russell Murray Sept. Preferred Source Google Discover The annals of television history are filled with fictional deaths so heartbreaking they almost test our will to keep watching. As cathartic as the pain of a tragic demise can be, there's just nothing like the thrill of watching a fan-hated monster get what's coming to them.

How it works

• Season 4 made the Governor the most hated antagonist in the show's run up to that point.
• Ralph Cifaretto (The Sopranos) HBO Ralph Cifaretto is, albeit intentionally, the most insufferable, disgusting, and reprehensible character on a show already filled with such low-lifes.
• Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
• If you've somehow still not gotten around to watching the show, the death of Jack Gleeson's young king will surely feel mercifully quicker than it did when we had to wait for a new batch of episodes every year.
• Outside this analysis, it was miserable to watch him whine and win for three-plus years.

What to take from it

The kind of bad guys we're talking about were beautifully written and portrayed to be as intentionally loathsome as possible, both because they're plausibly formidable within their respective worlds and because the story has the audience viscerally invested in their hero's mission to stop them. For their deaths to be meaningful, it comes down to much more than the misdeeds these villains carried out in life (see the demise of the "Brain Surgeon" in the final season of "Dexter"). Executing deaths like these is a truly rare feat worth celebrating — plus, who doesn't want an excuse to relive the "Purple Wedding" one more time?

Example or evidence

• Joffrey Baratheon (Game of Thrones) HBO Joffrey Baratheon is the character that inspires articles of this kind.
• "I just couldn't believe it," Morrissey recalled in 2022 at Fandemic Tour Atlanta.
• "I was like, 'Oh no, I'm never going to be able to walk down the street again.
• Beheading Hershel in front of his daughter, Maggie (Lauren Cohan), was just the tip of the katana — he also destroyed the most stable stronghold Rick's group had found, out of sheer pride and selfishness,...

Details worth keeping

25, 2026 5:12 pm EST AMC Add TVLine on Google: For the time being, we aren't interested in any of those. This is going to kill me.'" His fears were not unfounded.

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