TV shows — particularly ones that involve crime, action, or other high-stakes plots — are no strangers to death. The sudden passing of a supporting or main character is a great way to inject some extra drama or suspense into a show, and it's a trend that can be seen in many of the most beloved dramas of the last few decades.
Death on TV can be totally shocking and unexpected: on the other end of the spectrum, some characters seem destined to meet their end before the show wraps up. However, this isn't a forgone conclusion, as even the most hapless and risk-prone characters make it to the journey's end. A handful of iconic TV characters best meet that description; all of them seemed like they could get clipped, but each made it to their show's finale — and then some — without shuffling off this mortal coil.
This article contains spoilers for the characters discussed.
Paulie Gualtieri from 'The Sopranos' (1999 - 2007)
In a show about a large group of characters who are pretty terrible (yet interesting) people, few were as bad as Paulie Gualtieri (Tony Sirico). A chief member of Tony Soprano's crew, Paulie was the main character who tended to get his hands the dirtiest, and always seemed the least phased by his actions, which often included murder.
Yet despite many of the show's characters perishing before the show concluded — many of them being closer to good people than Paulie — Mr. Gualtieri himself lived beyond the show's infamous final episode. Karmic retribution for his terrible deeds always seemed inevitable, but all-in-all, Paulie came from The Sopranos' six seasons relatively unscathed.
Saul Goodman from 'Breaking Bad' (2008 - 2013)
Discounting the brief scenes that depict Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) post-Breaking Bad in the character's prequel spin-off, Better Call Saul, it always seemed that Saul's immorality and risk-taking lifestyle would catch up with him.
Saul dealt with a host of incredibly dangerous people, and if he weaseled out of a difficult situation, it was almost always at the last minute. With a devastating final season of Breaking Bad in particular — which saw much of its cast perishing — Saul was lucky to be included among the living. Whether he survives those flash-forward scenes in Better Call Saul, on the other hand, is another matter entirely.
Rupert Giles from 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' (1997 - 2003)
The world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer has magic, sure, and can bring some people back from the dead (usually with consequences). Despite this, most characters who die in the show remain dead, often to the dismay of the show's fans.
Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) was the mentor of the titular Buffy, and it always seemed like he was expendable, especially in later seasons, once Buffy had graduated from high school and became an adult. But despite being knocked unconscious countless times throughout the show's seven seasons, Giles was lucky enough to live through every supernatural threat thrown his way. This is impressive, considering the show had 144 episodes, and in most of them, the world seemed to be ending.
Vic Mackey from 'The Shield' (2002 - 2008)
Death would have been too good for Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis). The ruthless and immoral crooked detective lived a high-risk lifestyle, was unafraid to hurt or even kill people, and generally abused his powers as an officer of the law throughout the show's seven seasons.
Ordinarily, this would set a character up for death by a show's end, even for a main character like Vic. But his punishment is a fate worse than death, as he's heavily demoted, loses his friends and family, and is last seen working a lifeless desk job. Most TV protagonists would consider that a better alternative than dying, but Vic Mackey was not like most TV protagonists.
Boyd Crowder from 'Justified' (2010 - 2015)
As a slick, post-modern take on the Western genre, there was no shortage of violence and death of Justified. And no main character was as conniving as Boyd Crowder, excellently played by the always compelling Walton Goggins.
Boyd was a character who lived life in the fast lane and was unafraid to take risks and get on people's bad sides. He was like this right from the show's start, to the point where he was initially going to die in the show's first episode. Thankfully, for Goggins and Justified fans, he didn't, and Boyd became a great character and would go on to dodge death for many more seasons.
The Baltimore PD from 'The Wire' (2002 - 2008)
The Wire is a tough and often brutally real show. It depicts life throughout Baltimore, including the way of life among its criminal gangs who deal drugs and fight for turf, which creates an atmosphere where life is cheap, and being a main character won't save you.
What does seem to save main characters, however, is working for the Baltimore Police. While many of those on the other side of the law die, gang members stress that it's never in their best interests to hurt or kill cops, and so aside from one close call late in Season 1, all the main characters who are in the police make it to the end of the show with their lives. Whether they walk away unscathed, though, is something else entirely.
Jack Bauer from '24' (2001 - 2014)
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With over 300 confirmed on-screen kills, 24's protagonist, Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland), might be the most deadly character in TV history. Across eight seasons (and a 2014 miniseries), he got into dozens of fist fights, shootouts, and car chases and walked away with his life every time.
Even a Season 2 episode where he was declared legally dead for about a minute couldn't slow him down, and Jack became an infamously unstoppable killing machine. With so much taken from him throughout the show, it's possible his penchant for violence was something of a death wish which Death itself never seemed keen to grant him.
Tormund Giantsbane from' Game of Thrones' (2011-2019)
Game of Thrones infamously had its main character killed before the end of its first season and never looked back when it came to bumping off characters. And no group of characters was hit harder than the Wildlings, most of whom died in a series of battles that occurred in Westeros' north throughout the show's run.
This made fan-favorite character Tormund Giantsbane (Kristofer Hivju) lucky, as he makes it to the final, eighth season and survives the two massive battles that claim the lives of many others. Perhaps it would have been too much for viewers to see all the main Wilding characters get killed off...
Don Draper from 'Mad Men' (2007 - 2015)
Death seemed like it could be the logical endpoint for Don Draper's (Jon Hamm) journey in Mad Men. The charismatic yet troubled protagonist always felt like something of a doomed individual, and that's even before taking into account how frequently he did unhealthy things, like chain-smoking and day drinking.
But Mad Men's finale gave Don a relatively peaceful ending, but what happens afterward is anyone's guess. It's also possible the series ending with Don dying would have been too clichéd or obvious, and Mad Men proved to be a show that was more than happy to subvert expectations and challenge its audience.
Alexander 'Tig' Trager from 'Sons of Anarchy' (2008-2014)
The dialogue and characters of Sons of Anarchy might not have been Shakespearean, but the show's death count certainly was. It was possible to get numb to just how many people died, certainly by Season 5, to the point where the main character dying in the show's finale might have elicited a shrug at best.
But Tig (Kim Coates) — the Vice President of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club — surprisingly didn't meet a violent end. He ended many other people's lives, yes, and was one of the show's most chaotic characters, but he inexplicably survived every single episode himself.