10 Totally Unnecessary Deaths In Horror TV Shows

Season 8 of The Walking Dead saw hero-protagonist Rick Grimes' teenage son Carl (Chandler Riggs) bitten by a walker to bite the dust.

Even for a show that made a name for itself by butchering its cast, Carl’s death was always a head-scratcher. It was a significant departure from the original comics, which is not always a terrible thing: however, it also seemed to neuter a lot of upcoming storylines, including a budding relationship with Negan, and the fact that Carl was essentially the star of the upcoming Whisperers plotline.

By this point the show's ratings had truly begun to fall off a cliff, and it seems clear that the decision was made to provide a media talking point that might bring some of the show's lapsed fans back.

Riggs certainly didn't see it coming: the kid had just bought his first house in Atlanta, where the show was filmed, on the understanding that he'd be around for a while yet. The fans were even more appalled.

While it's telling that his send off episode saw ratings recover a little, the tactic didn't work in the long term, because the overall story being told simply wasn't as compelling as it used to be. Years of falling in love with characters only to see them brutally killed to further the bleak USP of the show had turned the audience off.

There was only so much they could take, and it can be argued that Carl's senseless, irritating death was the final straw.