See Our Picks For Television’s Most Surprising Moments Of 2016

With there being more and more great TV shows premiering every year, networks find themselves scrambling to get their shows talked about, and what better way to do that then to surprise their viewers? Networks are getting better at keeping their surprises under wraps too, so really you don’t know what’s coming up even if you are an avid follower of the show online and read all the latest gossip. Here are our favourite shocking, surprising moments of the year.

Jon Snow’s Alive On Game of Thrones: Ok, did you really think HBO would keep Jon Snow dead? The popular character died in the season 5 finale, like he had in the books, but for the first time there were no books to fall back on to find out what happens next. HBO wasn’t talking either, other than to say he was dead, which was the same story actor Kit Harrington gave when asked about it as well. Fans of the show spent close to a year wondering about Jon Snow’s fate, and they weren’t disappointed when he rose from the dead. Even though Jon Snow survived, several other characters were killed in a particularly brutal finale, including Margaery and Loras Tyrell, The High Sparrow, Tommen Baratheon and Walder Frey.

That Shocking Gilmore Girls Ending: Fans of the Gilmore Girls were elated last year when it was announced that Netflix was reviving the popular series for 4 90 minute episodes, and when they were told that series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino would finally get to end the series the way she wanted to that couldn’t wait to get to the end of them. And when they heard Rory tell  Lorelai “I’m pregnant” as the screen fades to black, they gasped, along with everyone else.

Cottonmouth Dies in Luke Cage: Superhero shows tend to be pretty formulaic, and one of the biggest things they do is introduce a main villain to torment a hero for an entire season. In Luke Cage however the character we thought was going to be the main character, Cottonmouth, was killed by his cousin in episode seven. It was a powerful episode, and one that told everyone that watched it that anything could happen on the series at any time. At least when Netflix shocks you, you don’t have to wait a week (or months) to find out what happens next. You can just continue binge watching the series.

Mary Drake Is Spencer’s Mother: Pretty Little Liars have given us plenty of twists over the years, but even so we weren’t ready for the shocker in the season 7 finale that aired over the summer. As Spencer lies on the ground after being shot, the newest character in the series, Mary Drake, revealed that she is Spencer’s mother. Ummm, what? The soon to air final season will hopefully clear the rest of the show’s secrets up.

Wes Is Murdered In How To Get Away With Murder: In the first episode of season three you learn that someone died in an explosion in Annalise Keating’s home.Who that was was kept under wraps until the mid-season finale, when it was revealed that one the Keating Five, Wes Gibbons, was the victim. Wes was usually the moral compass of the group, and it seemed through a series of flashbacks that he was one of the people who survived the blast. Unfortunately the show writers were messing with you, and hopefully the second half of the season reveals who it was that killed him.

Negan Kills Not One, But Two Characters: When the fifth season of The Walking Dead ended you knew someone had died, but you didn’t know who. It was a pretty brutal cliff hanger to leave fans on, many of whom spent the summer speculating on who they’d seen for the last time. When the show came back you found out pretty quickly that Abraham had faced Negan’s bat and gone down, allowing many fans of Glenn to breathe a sigh of relief. (For those who don’t read the comic book, Glenn was the one who died in the comic book during Negan’s introduction.) Unfortunately however The Walking Dead producers had a trick up their sleeve, and shortly after Abraham dies, Glenn follows suit, and is killed as well.