10 TV Shows That Got Better After The Main Character's Death
8. Boardwalk Empire - Jimmy Darmody
When Boardwalk Empire began in 2010, the two lead characters of this latest HBO spectacle were Steve Buscemi's Nucky Thompson and Michael Pitt's Jimmy Darmody. For so much of the series' first two seasons, the focus was often on the father/son relationship of Nucky and Jimmy, with Darmody becoming more and more troubled and erratic as the show went on.
That behaviour would eventually lead to Jimmy's death at the end of Season Two, with him shot dead by Nucky after embarking on a dark, destructive spiral fuelled by booze and heroin.
A World War I veteran who, as he himself put it, never mentally made it home from the war, Darmody's death was both inevitable and surprising at the same time. It seemed destined to happen, yet Nucky surely wouldn't really pull the trigger on his protégé?
Once Nucky did pull the trigger on his protégé, Boardwalk Empire grew as a show. With Jimmy out of the picture, other characters were afforded more time in the spotlight. Likewise, the series' third season also introduced some fantastic new faces, with Bobby Cannavale's Gyp Rosetti a particular standout addition to butt heads with Nucky.