10 Most Brutal TV Show Deaths Of All Time, Ranked

Over the past several years, the level of graphic violence permitted on television has been raised considerably from what was traditionally permissible in the medium. This surge has been driven by premium cable networks and streaming platforms, which often feature fewer content restrictions than their broadcast television counterparts. But recently, even network television shows have upped the gratuitous brutality on screen to keep audiences on the edge of their seats. This heightened viciousness is especially apparent in death scenes, sometimes veering into emotionally devastating and sadistically shocking territory.

With that in mind, we're focusing on the most intense and graphic death scenes in the history of scripted television. Several of these scenes proved controversial and divisive among viewers, with even some of the respective shows' ardent fans feeling a line may have been crossed. Sensitive readers beware, because we're delving into some grim and macabre subject matter thanks to the very premise of this article. These are the 10 most brutal TV show deaths of all time, ranked by sheer intensity and carnage. (Spoilers ahead.)

Though there are plenty of violent anime shows with deaths that could earn a spot on this list, there's something especially grim and gruesome about "Attack on Titan." The show starts out with protagonist Eren Yeager witnessing his mother get devoured by a carnivorous Titan, and it only gets more brutal from there. The show's second season opens with arguably its most horrific death as the valiant Miche Zacharius is killed during an encounter with the Beast Titan in the season premiere. The intelligent behemoth crushes Miche's legs and interrogates him before leaving him to be eaten alive by other hungry Titans as the soldier screams in despair and agony.

"Attack on Titan" is considered one of the best anime shows of all time, and moments like Miche's death highlights how emotionally affecting it is. Miche was highly regarded by the series' main characters, and to see how outmatched he is in the Season 2 premiere ups the show's stakes. Moreover, while the series always carried a merciless reputation, the bleak nature of Miche's killing serves as a reminder to the audience that no one is safe. "Attack on Titan" has plenty of more heartbreaking deaths, but none as torturous and cruel as Miche's demise.

The "Game of Thrones" prequel series "House of the Dragon" revolves around messy familial squabbling for the fate of Westeros. This drama begins with King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine) obsessively determined to produce a male heir to succeed him. When Viserys' wife Queen Aemma Arryn (Siân Brooke) experiences complications during childbirth, he decides to sacrifice her in an attempt to save the baby through a bloody cesarean section. But not only does Aemma die from the procedure, but her newborn son, Baelon, dies shortly thereafter, leaving Viserys bereft.

This extreme "House of the Dragons" scene was intended to be difficult to watch, highlighting the dangers of a post-Roe v. Wade world as a woman's autonomy is taken away. Politics aside, it's just an incredibly unsettling way to begin the series, a sanguine scene just as shocking (if not moreso) as any violent battlefield sequence. Aemma had been positioned as a main character for the story only to be cut down by a husband who was more interested in an heir at any cost. Starting off "House of the Dragon" on an excessively grim note, Aemma's death informs viewers what they're in for in their return to Westeros.

It never ceases to amaze just how graphic "Hannibal" could get with its grotesque killings, considering it aired on network television. Among the most grotesque occurs early in the second season, with a murderer (Patrick Garrow) who sews his victims into a mural of corpses. The muralist's final victim, Roland Umber (Ryan Field), finds himself sewn into the twisted piece of macabre artwork in the season premiere. In the following episode, Umber tears himself out of the mural, losing a disturbing amount of skin and a chunk of his face, before fleeing and falling to his death.

Though the weakest "Hannibal" season, Season 2 kicks things off with a morbid nightmare through its muralist murderer. The show's sound design really sells how painful and flesh-tearing Umber's attempted escape is, shrouded in just enough darkness to stay on the air but definitely still horrifying. Even just the concept of being physically attached to dozens of corpses is a particularly skin-crawling sight, something the episode plays up in unnerving fashion. A brutal start to "Hannibal" Season 2, the muralist and Umber's ordeal is definitely one of the most haunting moments in the series.

In trying to capture the nuances of medieval Scandinavian culture, the History series "Vikings" didn't shy away from the more vicious elements of that society. Among the most harrowing scenes across the series' six-season run was its depiction of the intense blood eagle execution. The lethal punishment involves cutting open the recipient's back, breaking out the ribs to resemble wings, and pulling out the lungs, killing the target if they're not dead already. This execution ritual occurs twice in the series, with the death of Jarl Borg (Thorbjørn Harr) in Season 2 and King Ælla (Ivan Kaye) in Season 4.

Of the two blood eagle executions seen in "Vikings," Borg's killing is the more graphic sequence, though both are incredibly intense and gruesome scenes. The sequences usually focus a bit more on the recipient and crowd reaction, but there is still on-screen gore to be had. And the actors sell the painful spectacle well, helping viewers realize how excruciatingly brutal the procedure truly is. Easily the most torturous scenes in "Vikings," the blood eagle executions always have us cringing whenever they unfold.

Among the most twisted adversaries in "Game of Thrones" is Ramsay Bolton, played with delicious wickedness by Iwan Rheon. After brutalizing the Stark family, sacking Winterfell, and sadistically emasculating Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen), Ramsay finally gets his comeuppance in the sixth season. Defeated by Jon Snow (Kit Harington), Ramsay is imprisoned in Winterfell's kennels, where Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) finally gets her revenge. In the episode "Battle of the Bastards," Sansa unleashes Ramsay's own ravenous hounds on him, with the notorious figure viscerally torn apart and devoured.

Ramsay Bolton is among the favorite deaths in "Game of Thrones" of series creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, paying back seasons of murderous cruelty committed by the character. There is a grim satisfaction in seeing Ramsay realize that he intentionally starved his hounds for just such an assault, not knowing that he himself would be the recipient. Payback or not, the scene is an appropriately vicious one, with the camera cutting back to close-ups of Ramsay as his face is torn apart. No tears were shed for Ramsay getting what he deserved, but it is an especially graphic retribution for the cunning sadist.

"American Horror Story: Roanoke," the sixth season of FX's anthology series, takes cues from the growing popularity of true crime documentaries, with a little "Blair Witch Project" thrown in. The season's penultimate episode features vloggers, inspired by a hit documentary about the lost colony in Roanoke, Virginia, filming footage around the area for their fan site. This amateur crew includes Sophie Green (Taissa Farmiga) and Milo Briggs (Jon Bass), filming from cameras on their helmets. The pair are hunted at night by the spectral colonists, who impale the duo and burn them alive at the stake.

Though "Roanoke" is about middle of the road when it comes to scariness on "American Horror Story," the deaths of Sophie and Milo are among the show's most disturbing. The first-person found footage presentation really elevates how unsettlingly real the sequence plays out as Sophie and Milo fruitlessly beg for their lives before painfully dying. The scene also feels directly inspired by the infamous found footage horror movie "Cannibal Holocaust," right down to the tragic fate of its characters. As merciless as "American Horror Story" has ever gotten so far, Sophie and Milo's deaths will leave viewers in shock over what they just witnessed.

Easily the most horrific moment in the FX crime drama "Sons of Anarchy" is its closing killing in the sixth season finale. Gemma Teller Morrow (Katey Sagal) would do anything to protect her family's motorcycle club, including murdering her daughter-in-law Tara Knowles (Maggie Siff). Suspecting Tara of becoming a federal informant against the club, Gemma brutally kills her in her own kitchen. This sequence involves Gemma hitting Tara with an iron, drowning her in the kitchen sink, and stabbing her with a roasting fork repeatedly.

Family turning on family is a recurring hallmark throughout "Sons of Anarchy," but it's never more shocking than Gemma murdering Tara. There is just something palpably cruel with how Tara is betrayed and killed by her mother-in-law, including the use of household kitchen items in the murder. To make matters worse, Tara wasn't a federal informant at all, making the killing and Gemma's disastrous cover-up all the more heartbreaking. This betrayal marks the beginning of the end for "Sons of Anarchy," with its surviving characters just as shaken as the audience.

Yes, Beverly's actual death takes place off-screen, but the viewers certainly get to see what became of her shortly thereafter. At the end of the second season episode "Takiawase," forensic investigator Beverly Katz (Hettienne Park) suspects colleague Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) of being a killer. Breaking into his home, Katz is ambushed and murdered by Hannibal, with her remains found in the following episode. Echoing her work in forensics, Hannibal has Katz's body sliced into vertical sections and displayed in tall transparent slides.

"Hannibal" always put a terrifying twist on procedural TV, and that subversion is never more clear than in the crime scene around Katz's vivisected corpse. What makes the killing all the more brutal is that Katz had been a fixture on the team since the start of the series. Her death was a betrayal and added insult to injury considering how much Hannibal desecrated her body, leaving it tauntingly displayed to his surviving colleagues. One of the most disturbing deaths on "Hannibal" (which is really saying something), Beverly Katz deserved far better.

The second half of "The Walking Dead" Season 6 introduced a hostile faction of survivors known as the Saviors, led by the mysterious Negan. Played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, the charismatic faction leader finally debuts on screen in the season finale, "Last Day on Earth," executing an unseen victim with his barbed baseball bat, nicknamed Lucille. The Season 7 premiere, "The Day Will Come When You Won't Be," reveals that Negan didn't just beat one fan-favorite character to death, but two. The episode opens with Negan murdering Abraham Ford (Michael Cudlitz) and Glenn Rhee (Steven Yeun), both of their craniums gruesomely disfigured by the blows before dying.

We're focusing on the death of Glenn Rhee here because it feels especially excessive, considering Negan murders Abraham first. This initial execution proved to be a cruel fake-out for the most upsetting death in "The Walking Dead," killing off a likable character that had been around since the start. What's worse is that Glenn's death isn't a quick demise, but viscerally drawn out as he uses his last breath to reaffirm his love for his wife, Maggie (Lauren Cohan). "The Walking Dead" was never quite the same after Glenn died, and as much as Negan has since tried to rehabilitate, placed the sneering antihero beyond redemption.

The role of Oberyn Martell was a star-making one for Pedro Pascal, though like many fan-favorites in "Game of Thrones," his character wasn't long for this world. The fourth season episode "The Mountain and the Viper" centers on Oberyn dueling Gregor Clegane (Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson) in a lethal trial by combat. Though Oberyn fatally poisons his hulking opponent, his confidence gets the better of him as Gregor trips and grabs his opponent by the head. As he taunts Oberyn about murdering the Viper's sister and her daughters, Gregor gouges out Martell's eyes before crushing his skull with his bare hands.

Though Pedro Pascal was sleeping during the filming of his "Game of Thrones" death scene, we were certainly at full attention. The sequence is not only a sudden and shocking reversal of fortune for the Martell prince, but an excessively gory end to the character. The camera doesn't shy away as Gregor plunges both thumbs into Oberyn's eyes before squashing his skull before a horrified audience. "Game of Thrones" has a long history of shocking moments, but the gruesome killing of Oberyn Martell is the show at its most deliriously grotesque.