In Memoriam 2016: Honoring Television’s Fallen Characters
Join Hidden Remote as we celebrate and honor the television characters that have perished this year with a list that honors some of the biggest TV deaths of 2016.
When you welcome a television series into your home long enough, the characters featured on the series eventually become more than just another fictional character on your screen. They become family. You become attached to these characters, invested in their lives and well-being. You’re there when they hit rock bottom and you’re there to join in the celebration of their accomplishments. You never miss your chance to catch up with them once a week – sometime more than that if you’re lucky – to see what’s going on in their world.
Then one day, often without any notice, the “powers that be” decide to kill off your favorite characters.
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Like with any death, you’re left to go through the cycles of mourning as you try to process why your beloved character had to die so soon. After denying that the character is actually dead – this is television and characters come back from the dead all the time, right? – the anger sets in and you launch your own personal social media crusade against the series’ writers and the network.
Your anger then turns to bargaining as you attempt to sway the network and get them to rethink their decision which only leads to depression. This it when it hits you that your efforts are useless and that your favorite character is truly gone.
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After cycling through the first four stages of grief, you finally accept the sad truth that the character is not coming back. Instead of wallowing in your grief, you embrace the years you had with the character and all of the laughter and tears they brought you. Simply put, you’re finally ready to mourn the loss and remember the life they lived.
From long-time veteran characters to characters we were just getting to know, each year always features a wide variety of character deaths and 2016 is no exception. Due to the sheer number of character deaths that occur during a given year, it’s easy to lose track of those that we’ve lost.
That’s where we come in! Hidden Remote has launched this very special In Memoriam page in celebration and honor of the characters that we’ve lost this year. Think of this as an living, breathing obituary for your favorite fictional television characters.
Before we begin our list, here is a quick run-through of the criteria that must be met in order for a character to make the cut. Eligible characters must have been featured on a primetime series or streaming series and needed to have been a regular or recurring character or have played a significant role in a limited guest arc. Additionally, characters from series airing on higher profile networks are more likely to earn a spot on this list.
Join us now as we take a walk down memory lane to honor and remember the fictional men and women we’ve said goodbye to in 2016. Don’t forget to bookmark this page and check back throughout the year for updates to our list!
Warning Spoilers Ahead!
Update: Due to the overwhelming number of character deaths and our desire to include as many characters as possible on this list, have added a final slide dedicated to additional characters we’ve lost this year!
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