2023 was an exciting year for TV, but it also delivered several devastating losses.

As the year comes to an end, we’re looking back at the most dramatic TV character

deaths from some of our favorite primetime shows, including Fire Country, Law & Order:

Organized Crime, 9-1-1: Lone Star and more.

While TV deaths are always hard on fans, who get so attached to the characters, One Chicago co-creator and former showrunner Derek Haas described them as a “necessary evil” in a 2019 interview with TVLine. “There is an evolution to the show,” he explained of NBC’s hit procedural Chicago Fire. Haas continued, “It has to go on. So yeah, you do have to freshen things up with your characters from time to time. Every TV show does it, because you kind of have to. You can’t keep telling the same stories over and over … The hardest thing that we do as writers and producers on TV is make changes to the cast.”

From heartbreaking deaths that we still can’t get over to shocking murders no one saw coming, we’ve rounded up the worst TV deaths of 2023. Check out our gallery on the most heartbreaking TV deaths below. The list features major spoilers, so make sure you’re caught up on all the drama or read at your own risk.