We're Still Not Over These Heartbreaking TV Deaths

It's never easy when a cast member leaves your favorite TV show, especially if their character is killed off, effectively destroying any hope of a return someday. We can't even count the number of times a fictional death has left us shocked, heartbroken, and in some cases, unable to move on. Here are some iconic TV deaths we're *still* not over. Spoiler alert, obviously, even though it's been months — and in most cases, years — since these characters left us. (Photos via Curtis Baker/Netflix + Randy Holmes/ABC via Getty Images + Mark Levine/ABC via Getty Images + Heather Wines/CBS)

Jack Pearson (Milo Ventimiglia), This Is Us: After teasing the cause of the beloved Pearson patriarch's death for almost two full seasons, This Is Us finally revealed that he died of a heart attack due to smoke inhalation from the family's house fire. Yes, we knew it was coming. No, it didn't make it any easier. (Photo via Ron Batzdorff/NBC)

Rayna James (Connie Britton), Nashville:Perhaps more surprising than Rayna's out-of-nowhere death from car crash complications in season 5 is how good the show continued to be afterward — no easy feat when the star and moral center of the show is gone. And even better than that? Connie Britton taking to social media to thank fans for their support of the character over the years even as the episode had barely finished airing. She cares not for the rules of spoiler culture. (Photo via CMT)

Will Gardner (Josh Charles), The Good Wife:Like many of TV's most memorable deaths, Will's end came as a complete shock when, in season 5, one of his clients grabbed a gun and opened fire in the courtroom. Will was caught in the line of fire. (Photo via Heather Wines/CBS)

Derek "McDreamy" Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), Grey's Anatomy:There have been a lot of dramatic deaths on Grey's Anatomy, but it only seems right that Derek's takes top honors for breaking viewers' hearts. Just as Meredith and Derek seemed to finally, fully be getting on the same page and moving forward together with their new family life, Derek was involved in a fatal car crash at the end of season 11. Cue endless tears for one of TV's all-time great love stories. Long live MerDer. (Photo via Danny Feld/ABC via Getty Images)

Denny Duquette (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Grey's Anatomy:The other Grey's loss we can't get over? Izzie's fiancé, Denny. After Izzie helped rush along his badly needed heart transplant, he proposed. She said yes, but he died a short while later of a stroke. Denny would later reappear as a hallucination, both to Meredith, in a near-death drowning experience, and to Izzie, as a result of the tumor in her brain. (Photo via Scott Garfield/ABC via Getty Images)

Poussey Washington (Samira Wiley), Orange Is the New Black:Season 4 of OITNB ended with one of the show's most shocking turns to date: the death of fan-favorite Poussey Washington at the hands of guard Bailey. Her death spurred the entire arc of season 5, which saw the prisoners take the guards hostage and issue a list of demands as they had control of Litchfield for three chaotic days. (Photo via JoJo Whilden/Netflix)

Lori Grimes (Sarah Wayne Callies), The Walking Dead: The Walking Dead practically made its name on its gruesomeness, and yet this scene was still hard to watch. After Lori delivered baby Judith by emergency C-section, her son, Carl, knew she would die from the surgery and reanimate as a zombie. And so he took the matter into his own hands, shooting her in the head. Yikes. (Photo via Gene Page/AMC)

Glenn Rhee (Steven Yeun), The Walking Dead:After the show led fans to believe Glenn was dead under a pile of inescapable zombies in season 6, it was revealed he had narrowly escaped by hiding under a dumpster. PHEW. But not so fast: He later died at the violent hands — and barbed-wire-wrapped baseball bat — of Negan at the beginning of season 7. (Photo via Gene Page/AMC)

Jon Snow (Kit Harington), Game of Thrones: In the season 5 finale, GoT upped its devastating death count when Jon Snow was stabbed to death by his fellow Night's Watch brethren. But just when you thought you were finally getting over the heartbreaking death, he gasped back to life in season 6 at the divine hands of the Red Woman. (Photo via HBO)

James Novak (Dan Bucatinsky), Scandal: James' death was one in which the aftermath was almost as riveting as the event. After Jake shot him, a reporter, and an NSA employee, he sat with James as he died in the street. If you wanted to know exactly what it's like to be killed off as a major character on a major show, actor Dan Bucatinsky actually wrote about it in great — and hilarious — detail. (Photo via ABC/Mitch Haaseth)

Michael Cordero Jr. (Brett Dier), Jane the Virgin: Just as Jane and her husband Michael were settling into married life and thinking about having more kids, Michael died (or so we thought) from a heart attack related to his shooting injury. Tragic, and yet, a part of why this show is as good as it is — always pushing Jane forward. (Photo via Colleen Hayes/The CW)

Jen Lindley (Michelle Williams), Dawson's Creek:Jen never had it easy as the "bad girl" sent to live in a small town with her conservative grandmother, and in the finale, we learned she not only that she was a single mother — but that she was dying of an undiagnosed heart condition. Oof. Everyone took their turns saying goodbye, and Jen recorded a tear-jerking goodbye message for her little girl. Then, as Jen slipped away, Grams — who was battling breast cancer — told her she would see her soon. Still. Sobbing. (Photo via Columbia/TriStar International Television)

Walter White (Bryan Cranston), Breaking Bad: Walter White masterminded an entire drug organization, tearing his life apart and turning into the ultimate villain in the process. To see him get taken down by a stray bullet wasn't so much shocking as it was satisfying — not even just to see him pay for the awful things he'd done, but to wrap up a truly riveting and shocking-at-every-other-turn series. (Photo via Ursula Coyote/AMC)

Zeek Braverman (Craig T. Nelson), Parenthood: As if every second of every episode of Parenthood didn't make us bawl uncontrollably anyway, the show TRULY pulled out all of the stops for its last season — including the absolutely crushing death by heart problems of the Braverman family patriarch. (Photo via Justin Lubin/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton), The O.C.: Oh, the ever-tragic Marissa Cooper — never able to escape her own bad luck and drama. In the finale of the show's third season, she finally got a chance at a fresh start as she accepted her dad's invite to live on his boat in Greece with him. Ryan was driving her to the airport when her drunk and angry ex Volchok ran their car off the road, killing Marissa. In her famous last scene, she was carried off in the arms of her true love, Ryan, as Imogen Heap's cover of "Hallelujah" played. Iconic. (Photo via Fox/Contour by Getty Images)

Donna Gable (Erinn Hayes), Kevin Can Wait: File this one under one of the stranger recent TV deaths: Fans of Kevin Can Wait were shocked to learn that the show would be killing off title character Kevin's wife, Donna, in season 2, only to bring in Leah Remini. They were even more shocked to see how they addressed her death in the season 2 premiere — which is to say, hardly at all. And they were more maddened still to learn that Donna was killed off because, as star Kevin James put it, the show was "literally running out of ideas." (Photo via Michael Parmelee/CBS via Getty Images)

Barb Holland (Shannon Purser), Stranger Things: Barb became the breakout star of season 1 of Stranger Things. She was heralded as an under-appreciated underdog who was unjustly killed in the Upside Down. The show’s creators guaranteed, though that Barb wouldn't be forgotten. (Photo via Curtis Baker/Netflix)