Top 10 Satisfying Deaths of Hated TV Characters

We waited in anticipation for them to kick the bucket—in some cases, for years! Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we’re counting down our picks for the top 10 most satisfying deaths of a hated TV character.

For this list, we’re looking at television characters that audiences honestly couldn’t wait to see get booted off of their favorite shows, whether they were just bad or really good at being bad. In short, when these characters finally bit the dust, sighs of contentment could be heard far and wide. And, this should be obvious but there are a few spoilers ahead, so SPOILER ALERT.

He started as the polished and fanatical mouthpiece of the anti-vampire movement. But by the end of Season 4, he was a vampire himself. With a grating personality and a penchant for a good double-cross, it was difficult to trust him, let alone tolerate him. So, when his fellow imprisoned vampires initiated their uprising, they decided they’d had enough. To ensure they saw the last of Newlin, Northman prevented him from drinking life-saving blood, then watched as the Reverend proclaimed his love for an unlikely person as he burned to death.

#9: Dr. Robert Romano “ER” (1994-2009)

He was a talented physician, but he sorely lacked in the “bedside manner” department—in fact, he was racist, prejudiced, homophobic, and any other bad word you could throw at him. He managed to weasel his way up the authority ladder within the hospital despite the fact that almost no one actually appreciated his presence. But they wouldn’t have to deal with him much longer. After almost losing an arm to a helicopter, "Rocket" Romano is faced with spinning blades once again on the hospital roof. It doesn’t end well.

Even as far as criminals go, he was unlikeable—and not just cause he was volatile and susceptible to outbursts. After Ralphie beat his pregnant girlfriend to death and killed a prized horse in a stable fire, Tony Soprano had been pushed to the limit. He ends up strangling this particularly annoying member of his crew to death and then has his cronies gruesomely dispose of his body parts. However, we admit, Ralph put up a better fight than Adriana; but in the end they met the same fate.

#7: Rosalind Shays “L.A. Law” (1986-94)

As an attorney, she was pretty aggressive, which is good when you’re handling a case but not that great when you’re trying to get along with your co-workers. She didn’t have much in the way of a sparkling personality, opting instead to try to manipulate and annoy her colleagues as she attempted various power grabs. She eventually got her comeuppance when she played out what had not yet become a soap opera cliché, when she became the victim of a curiously absent elevator car.

As an incredibly elusive serial killer and Agent Hotchner’s arch-nemesis, you knew these two were going to eventually have a showdown. Unfortunately for Hotch, that final confrontation did not come early enough to prevent the death of his wife. Unfortunately for the Boston Reaper, that particular death was enough to send Hotch over the deep end, spurring him to pummel his wife’s murderer to death instead of taking him into custody after he finds him in his home.

He was a horrible older brother, as far as older brothers go. He used his sister as a bargaining chip to gain access to an army; but his attempt at a power grab for the Iron Throne was doomed from the start. His loathsome personality proved to be his downfall, as—in a drunken stupor—he commits a number of fatal faux-pas in his powerful brother-in-law’s presence, threatening to murder Daenerys and her unborn baby unless he gets the crown he was promised. And y’know what, he does end up getting that crown.

This particular survivor of the zombie apocalypse seemed like he’d be more comfortable among the zombies. He had a strange obsession with control, and as the appointed—or self-appointed—“governor” of a seemingly idyllic survivor community, he used whatever tools he had at his disposal to maintain it—including murder. When this villain and his group descend upon our crew of protagonists at their prison home for a guns-out confrontation, the eye-patched one finally gets what’s coming to him: a bullet to the dome.

#3: Red John “The Mentalist” (2008-)

In true serial killer fashion, he went after, and killed, the family of one of the individuals on his trail. In this case, he murdered the wife and daughter of Patrick Jane, the show’s protagonist. Of course, that made him the antagonist of the entire show, meaning there would have to be a faceoff between the faux-psychic foes. After years of seeing Red John and his minions kill dozens of innocents, Jane finally has enough and personally ends the killer’s life by strangling him to death with his bare hands.

Walter White had few intellectual contemporaries in the drug world. And while his intelligence was certainly a component in his survival, Fring had something on Walt: a complete lack of conscience. It was what made him so dangerous to basically anyone who crossed his path. So when good ol’ Gus entered a nursing home to kill Hector Salamanca, it was a shock to him—and to us—that he ended up getting a face full of explosion.

Before we kill off our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions:

• Arthur Mitchell aka the Trinity Killer, Dexter (2006-13)
• Marissa Cooper, The O.C. (2003-07)
• Anthony Cooper, Lost (2004-10)
• DCI Ian Reed, Luther (2010-13)

It’s not every day that you wish death on a teenager, but for this character, we think almost everyone made an exception. As a king, this product of incest proved himself to be brutal, exceedingly sadistic, and viciously temperamental, which aren’t exactly the greatest qualities for someone with a butt-load of power. When he attempts to humiliate his uncle at his wedding feast, this awful kid suffers a much-awaited death right in his mother’s arms. That’s a shame.

Do you agree with our list? What do you think is the most satisfying TV death? For more entertaining Top 10s published every day, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.