It happens year after year — the writers of our favorite TV shows decide to reward our loyal viewership by brutally killing off the characters we love. And yet we keep coming back for more!
2018 was chock full of on-screen deaths that made our blood boil and our tears flow, though this year, there were also a handful that occurred thanks to behind-the-scenes issues with actors that had us saying, “Honestly, good riddance.”
In no particular order, here are 40 TV characters who died (for better or for worse) in 2018. Spoilers ahead!
1. Roseanne Conner, Roseanne/The Conners
Roseanne Season 10 Episode 8 Netflix & Pill
Fans of the hit ’80s and ’90s sitcom Roseanne were thrilled when the series was revived last year. The tenth season — which premiered as a mid-season replacement in 2018, over 20 years after the original run ended — was a hit, so much so that ABC quickly renewed it for an eleventh season.
That all came screeching to a halt when Roseanne Barr, who played the title character Roseanne Conner, went on a racist Twitter rant in May. ABC’s network president reacted swiftly, declaring that Roseanne’s tweets were “abhorrent, repugnant, and inconsistent with [ABC’s] values.”
Roseanne was cancelled, and ABC later re-tooled the show as a continuing Roseanne-less spin-off called The Conners, focusing on the remaining family members. The former central character’s absence was explained with an off-screen death by opioid overdose.
