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(#1) Finn Hudson
Finn Hudson’s passing would have left anyone with a heartbeat completely devastated. The tragedy becomes a million times sadder when we remember that the actor who portrayed him, Cory Monteith, perished unexpectedly.
The writers at Glee had the difficult task of dealing with Monteith's real-life sudden demise from an OD that occurred prior to the start of the show's fifth season. His character Finn was the heart of the series and one of the most well-liked characters on all of television.
It took producers until the third episode to figure out how to handle the character's death. In the episode "The Quarterback," the glee club performs the song "Seasons of Love" at Finn's funeral. Several weeks later, they hold a memorial for their friend and each sings a song in dedication to Finn.
Finn's girlfriend Rachel (Lea Michele) honors Finn by singing Bob Dylan's "Make You Feel My Love." It's an emotional performance made even more heartbreaking because Michele and Monteith were involved romantically off-screen, as well. Michele's tears and emotions are completely real.
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(#2) Tara Maclay
When Willow (Alyson Hannigan) and Tara (Amber Benson) began their relationship on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it was considered a landmark same-sex television coupling. Soon, young witch Tara became a popular and well-liked character on the show.
During a 2002 Season 6 episode, one of Buffy's (Sarah Michelle Gellar) enemies, Warren Mears (Adam Busch), shows up at her house. "The Trio" member fires off several rounds at Buffy, but one of the stray bullets winds up hitting Tara. Willow is there to witness the act. In a fit of rage, she goes after Warren and skins him alive, thus becoming Dark Willow.
Tara's sudden demise was devastating for Buffy fans. She was a kind and sweet character who played a key role in the battle of evil. Marti Noxon, who served as the series showrunner during Season 6, later admitted that she regretted what happened to Tara's character. Noxon explained:
There were parts of season six where I feel we went too far. We pushed into some categories that almost felt sadistic and that Buffy was volunteering for things that were beyond just “bad choices” and were almost irresponsible for the character. That may have to do with my own history. [Laughs.] The personal, right? It’s personal. And I think that killing Tara was - in retrospect, of all the people, did she have to die?
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(#3) Hannah Baker
We know right from the beginning of episode 1 that Hannah Baker (Katherine Langford) takes her own life. We find out the details of the teen's death over the course of the show's 13 episodes as Hannah leaves a cassette tape with a recorded message for each person she felt had some responsibility in her passing.
The viewer finds out that Hannah had been bullied, sexually assaulted, and abandoned by her friends. During the season finale, Hannah stands in front of a bathroom mirror, clearly thinking about all the humiliation and suffering she has endured. She is discovered, lifeless, by her mother in the tub.
Even though viewers knew about Hannah's outcome, it did not make her demise any less heartbreaking. Netflix decided to remove the scene of Hannah actually taking her life because it was too controversial. However, the removal did not happen immediately and many people saw the original edit.
The show's creator Brian Yorkey discussed the reasons they decided to remove the troubling scene:
Our creative intent in portraying the ugly, painful reality of suicide in such graphic detail in Season 1 was to tell the truth about the horror of such an act, and make sure no one would ever wish to emulate it. No one scene is more important than the life of the show, and its message that we must take better care of each other.
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(#4) J.T. Yorke
J.T. Yorke (Ryan Cooley) is everyone's friend at Degrassi Community School. He is well-liked and enjoys the role of class clown.
During Season 6 of the series, J.T. is a senior in high school with a bright future ahead of him. One night, Emma throws a party for Liberty's (Sarah Barrable-Tishauer) birthday, a girl with whom J.T. has unresolved feelings. At the party, J.T. chases after Liberty in an attempt to get back together.
J.T. goes outside to find Liberty, but spots two drunk Lakehurst teens, Johnny (Scott Paterson) and Drake (Brendan McMurtry-Howlett), next to his car. One of the boys appears to be peeing on J.T.'s vehicle. When he confronts them, Drake takes out a blade and stabs J.T.
Liberty discovers the injured J.T., and he is rushed to the hospital, but it is too late. All of his friends who rushed to the hospital are there to hear the devastating news.
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(#5) Allison Argent
- TV Character
In the Season 3 Teen Wolf episode “Insatiable,” Allison Argent (Crystal Reed) is taken out by an Oni demon. Her final scene is painful to see unfold as her poor father has just lost his wife and Allison is his only daughter.
Teen Wolf fans watched Allison go from a regular, run-of-the-mill teenager to a Hunter with excellent archery skills. She vowed to protect the weak, and her courage ultimately cost Allison her life.
After she is fatally wounded, Allison perishes in the arms of her first true love Scott (Tyler Posey). Before she drifts off forever, she tells him that she is still in love with him.
Allison's demise enraged Teen Wolf fans everywhere, but actress Reed wanted to leave the show to pursue other interests. It left the show's producers with a tough decision on how to handle the character's exit.
Executive producer Jeff Davis explained why they decided to off Allison in order to be true to her character:
We’d debated it many different ways, actually. The show is growing up, and it’s just like what they did on The Good Wife; it’s shocking and it changes the show. Death happens and everyone else is left behind. It spins the characters and the story in new directions. To be honest, we struggled to think of a reason why Allison would leave Beacon Hills. This was more true to her character. She’s not the kind of person who would just say, "OK, guys, I’m out of here. Take care." It was a powerful, painful moment. And to be honest, if we’d known Colton [Haynes] was going to leave after Season 2, I’m not so sure he would have survived. I have the utmost respect for Crystal, who sat me down and told me she was ready to move on and try new things. I’m proud of her and feel very fortunate to have had an actress like that.
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(#6) Jen Lindley
Jen (Michelle Williams) may have been the least appreciated character on Dawson's Creek. But she always proved herself to be a great friend and a kindhearted person with brilliant wit.
During the show's 2008 series finale, we flash forward five years. Jen is a single mom. She is living in New York City and managing an art gallery. She returns to Capeside for a wedding and lands in the hospital. Jen is diagnosed with a fatal heart condition called pulmonary congestion.
Jen's friends have to say goodbye to her. It's devastating to watch as she provides words of wisdom for her old pals. However, the sobbing tears really swell from the video that Jen makes for her 1-year-old daughter Amy. Jen passes with her grandmother by her side at the age of 24.
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(#7) Maya St Germain
Maya (Bianca Lawson) is trying to get her life back together after a stint in rehab. Her relationship with Emily (Shay Mitchell) suffers because of her substance use. On the night that Emily sees Maya getting high, the pair get into a fight, after which Maya decides to run away.
Emily grows concerned about Maya until she receives several text messages from her reassuring that she is fine. But she isn't - someone is actually texting Emily from Maya's phone. The Season 2 finale ends with the teen's body being discovered.
It's a devastating blow to Emily and the "Liars." Maya was Emily's first true love. It's discovered the next season that Maya's "cousin" Nate, who is actually a mentally ill stalker, is the true killer.
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(#8) Marissa Cooper
- Fictional Character
Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton) was not perfect - far from it. She had dependency issues and experienced depression. However, when her character perished in a car accident during the show's Season 3 finale, even the haters probably shed a tear or two.
Marissa was finally getting her life together when she passed away in Ryan's (Benjamin McKenzie) arms. Marissa's intoxicated, crazy ex-boyfriend Kevin (Cam Gigandet) caused the accident by running them off the road.
Her demise was totally shocking to viewers. The O.C. creator Josh Schwartz admitted years later that the decision to off Marissa was a difficult one that divided the show's fanbase.
Schwartz said, "There was a lot of anger and fan art that came our way."
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(#9) Chris Miles
- Fictional Character
In the mid-2000s, nearly every British teenager spent Monday night watching the high school drama Skins. The show was often funny, but it also tackled very serious issues like addiction and depression.
One of the most well-liked characters over the course of the show's seven seasons was Chris Miles (Joe Dempsie). His demise hit fans hard because of the character's sheer likability.
During Season 2, Chris suffers a subarachnoid hemorrhage, the same condition that claimed his brother. However, Chris survives the ordeal and even makes it home.
But the show takes a turn when Chris starts to feel unwell and can't remember his girlfriend Jal's name. He goes to lie down as his roommate Cassie telephones for help, but the teen suffers another hemorrhage and expires before anyone can arrive.
Chris's passing hit fans of the show especially hard. Series co-creator Bryan Elsley talked about the unexpected controversy surrounding the character's demise:
I think in actual fact I wasn’t experienced enough or clever enough to know that doing it was going to be controversial. I was very simply stupid and it was before social media, before people actually got to have opinions about what they were watching on telly. So I guess we just went ahead and were a bit surprised to discover that people actually had an opinion about it.
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(#10) Antonia Marchette
Dylan McKay (Luke Perry) finally finds love on Season 6 of Beverly Hills 90210. McKay falls for the kind and beautiful Antonia (Rebecca Gayheart) despite the fact that her father had tried to murder his dad.
Antonia distances herself from her father after finding out about his sordid past. Dylan and Antonia get married and plan to move away from Beverly Hills to start their new life together. But before they can leave, Antonia's father hires an assassin to get rid of Dylan. However, the gunman mistakes Antonia for Dylan due to the rain and the dark, and takes her out by mistake.
It's devastating for Dylan and the entire group of Beverly Hills pals. Dylan decides to leave town and not return for several years.
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(#11) One Tree Hill
- TV Program
Jimmy Edwards (Colin Fickers) is a depressed teenager who feels abandoned by his old friends. During a 2006 Season 3 episode of One Tree Hill, Edwards brings a gun to school.
The teenager feels alone and bullied when another student opens up Jimmy's time capsule and all of his ill feelings about his classmates are exposed. He reacts to the embarrassment by bringing a gun to school and firing off a round that hits Peyton (Hilarie Burton) in the leg.
The school goes on lockdown. Jimmy feels distraught about Peyton as Keith (Craig Sheffer) tries to talk him down. But because he thinks that he fatally wounded Peyton, Jimmy turns the weapon on himself. It's a devastating moment made even more heartbreaking when Keith's brother Dan Scott (Paul Johansson) picks up Jimmy's side arm and fatally shoots Keith.
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(#12) Scott Scanlon
Scott Scanlon (Douglas Emerson) knows all about the high school social ladder. Sure, the slightly awkward teen would like to hang at cool parties with the in-crowd. However, Scanlon doesn't try and be someone different than who he is in order to impress people he doesn't really know.
He does, however, have an issue with his best friend David Silver (Brian Austin Green) trying way too hard to be cool. David starts to hang with the popular kids at West Beverly and often ditches Scott in order to chill with the likes of Brandon Walsh (Jason Priestley) and Dylan McKay (Luke Perry).
During Season 2 of 90210, Scott accidentally fatally shoots himself at his 16th birthday party. David is there to witness the life-changing event. For David, Scott's passing is devastating because he knows that he wasn't being a good friend to Scott. Even though Scott's death is an accident, David feels responsible.
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About This Tool
Teenage TV dramas have become so popular that more people have begun to pay attention to the growth of young people. There is no doubt that this type of TV show mainly tells the life and experiences of teenagers, but this does not mean that only teenagers can watch. Maybe you will find that you have faced the same troubles as the characters, including first love, secret love, friendship, and even death.
Even if they are not real, some saddest deaths in teen dramas have dealt a heavy blow to us. The random tool lists 12 dead characters in teen dramas that make some fans heartbroken.
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