When we compare 2025 with previous years, the number of deaths hasn’t been that high. At least, not when broadcast comes into play.
Sure, shows like Chicago PD, NCIS, and FBI have routinely included homicide victims for the teams to work out, we haven’t had to face the heartbreak from some of our favorite characters that we’ve had to in the past.
Now, there are some shows that ended on cliffhangers and were abruptly canceled. Maybe they would have included a death by the next season had they been allowed to continue. There are other shows that ended and haven’t come back yet, so we could end up facing some shocking deaths based on 2025 events.
For this, we’re focusing on the deaths that happened in 2025 — confirmed death — that were shocking in nature. Either we didn’t quite see them coming, or we didn’t quite see the way they would happen.
Monica Beltran from Grey’s Anatomy
I will be the first to admit that I saw Monica’s death happening a mile off. There was so much focus on whether Link would die or not, that everyone seemed to forget that Monica was also close to Amelia and was on the OR floor at the time of the explosion.
Now, going into the season, I didn’t see the death happening the way it did. Throughout the episode, I could tell what the writers were going to do, but it didn’t quite take from the shock element of it. Monica died without telling anyone she was injured. Her focus was on saving her patient and making sure Jules had the teacher needed at the time.
There’s a lot of heartbreak when you think of the way this all played out, and it’s the silence of the death that made this one shocking.
Vince Leone from Fire Country
Since the Fire Country season 3 finale, we knew that Vince was likely to die. After all, as soon as the episode wrapped, we learned that Billy Burke wouldn’t return to the series, and he was rather silent about the whole thing, telling us he wasn’t happy with the decision. Neither were we.
When we just knew what was going to play out, it was all about how the death would happen. And even knowing it was coming, we weren’t quite ready for it. Fire Country gave us a story of a wife and chief trying to save her husband and subordinate. Yet, he ended up staying behind, because that was the type of man he was.
Vince’s death sent shockwaves throughout the firehouse. Sharon’s grief, broken down as suffering on two levels, really hit home what this loss meant.
Marco from Will Trent
It’s easy to forget some of the guest stars of an episode, but there is no way to forget Marco, played by Tony Aparicio. This 14-year-old boy had his whole future taken from him, and it wasn’t even because of anything he did. This boy didn’t deserve what happened to him, and it was a tragedy that sat with Will after that — and it still will.
While Will and Faith were chasing an armed suspect, they had no choice but to fire on the suspect. The bullet ricocheted and accidentally struck a teenager in the next apartment. Will and Faith tried to get this boy to the hospital, but he ended up bleeding out in the back of their car in Will’s arms.
While the death was ruled an accident, it didn’t take from the shock factor. We know Will didn’t mean to do it, and we also knew he would punish himself for that. He still hasn’t really recovered from the tragedy.
Will LaMontagne Jr. from Criminal Minds
After Will didn’t return to Criminal Minds: Evolution for season 2, we knew that there was a good chance that he wouldn’t make it through season 3 alive. After all, there were clear-cuts, and so, we feared that something would happen to one half of the best cop couples on TV.
Sure enough, we were hit with shock as JJ walked into the kitchen to find her husband had collapsed. He had just made it through a cancer scare, and then he ended up dying suddenly from an aneurysm. To make matters worse with this one, it happened off-screen, as Josh Stewart didn’t even come back for his character’s death!
While it did mean the return of Reid in the next episode, it wasn’t enough to justify this death. We just weren’t expecting the events that would occur.
Monica Pascal from Chicago Fire
Sticking with the spouses of main couples, one death we definitely did not see coming in 2025 was that of Monica Pascal on Chicago Fire. Monica was introduced at the start of Chicago Fire season 13, along with her husband Dom. Dom Pascal was the new Chief at Firehouse 51, and while he took time to grow on us, eventually, we could see that he wasn’t a threat to Herrmann’s future as Chief at all — Herrmann was his own threat!
Dom and Monica had their ups and downs, but they loved each other. And so, when it came to finding out that she had died, our hearts broke. It just seemed like so much had been left unsaid and undone for them, but isn’t that what life is?
This kicked off a bigger story with Dom finding out whether his wife’s death was an accident or not. However, the most heartbreaking part was probably the shake of the head from Violet as Dom rushed into the hospital for his wife. She knows that loss all too well.
Dani Rhodes from FBI
When we started FBI season 8, all eyes were on whether Isobel would make it through. She had been left with her life on the line at the end of FBI season 7, and the season 8 premiere continued to make us wonder whether she would be written out. So, it was a huge shock when there was still a death, but not Isobel.
Instead, Emily Alabi’s time on the series came to a devastating end. Dani saved other agents, including her partner, Scola, as shots were fired. She thought her vest would protect her, but it turned out that the shot hit lower than the vest covered. She later died with Scola by her side, leaving a mark on him as he realized that she sacrificed herself for him.
There were no hints that this would happen, and it marked the first time FBI had killed off one of its main team members. It would also have a lasting effect on Scola, who would need to deal with the loss.
Nikki Batista from Alert: Missing Persons Unit
The third season of Alert: Missing Persons Unit did something that did not go down well with viewers. It killed off its strongest character on the series — the female lead you know we were all tuning in for! To make matters worse, everything was handled off-screen.
During the second episode of Alert, Nikki became the victim for the team to find. Of course, with her new husband and her ex-husband on that team, there were plenty of personal feelings as they raced to find her, especially once they learned that mob boss Charlie McGannon had taken her to make sure she didn’t hand over evidence of his illegal activities to the FBI.
In the end, Jason and Mike found her body in the middle of the woods. It told us that Nikki was most definitely dead, and it left us all devastated. The show wasn’t the same after that, and arguably, it wasn’t surprising that the ratings went down, and it was canceled after season 3.
Bobby Nash from 911
Look, we knew there was a chance that we were losing Bobby Nash. The leaks were all out there from the funeral procession, but we hoped that it was all just a dream. Sadly, it wasn’t, and 911 brought its most shocking and devastating death of 2025 — and we still don’t agree that it should have happened!
When an incident happened at a research facility, a virus was released. This wasn’t just any virus, though, and as Chimney was infected by a fast-killer, the race was on to find cure. There was only one cure, though, and Chimney got it in time. That’s when the shocking reveal came.
Bobby had also been infected, but he didn’t tell anyone. As the captain, he had to be the one to make the ultimate sacrifice, and it meant Athena and Bobby didn’t even get the goodbye they deserved. It was all done through a window. Bobby collapsed from his organs shutting down in a moment that still has us sobbing just thinking about it, and we’re still angry at 911 for doing this. We're still not even sure why 911 killed Bobby Nash!