TV The 22 most shocking TV moments of 2024 From "The Boys" to "The Bachelorette," here are the twists we're still talking about. By EW Staff Published on December 4, 2024 09:00AM EST Comments There are so many ways a television show can shock viewers. There are the classics: The deaths, the cliffhangers, the breakups, etc. Then there are the (usually unplanned) behind-the-scenes methods: Cast exits, set drama, etc. And every year, there's at least one or two we never see coming — like a main character in a romance being a secret horse. To celebrate the end of 2024, we've rounded up the TV moments that fit into those categories and a few that don't — but they all have something in common: We're still thinking about them. 01 of 22 Billy made the Road, 'Agatha All Along' Joe Locke on 'Agatha All Along'. MARVEL Even with fans rightly predicting Teen’s real identity, and even with Aubrey Plaza’s true character leaked (by a Funko Pop toy, of all things), Agatha All Along still managed to execute one last rug-pull. The clues were there all along, tucked away in Billy’s (Joe Locke) room: the seaside painting on the wall, the Lorna Wu and the Coral Shore posters, the Wizard of Oz figurines on the shelf, etc. These all were inspirations for the Witches’ Road, which Billy haphazardly created out of thin air in a moment of panic. Like mother (Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff plunging the entire town of Westview into a TV-inspired reality), like son. But the biggest, and most delightful, clue of them all is the title itself: it was Agatha all along (i.e. Ms. Harkness using the Road as a centuries-long con to lure witches to their doom). —Nick Romano 02 of 22 Daniel's a vampire, 'Interview With the Vampire' Eric Bogosian on 'Interview With the Vampire'. AMC Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian) finally got his wish — albeit many decades later, and after he seemed to no longer want it — on Interview With the Vampire. The season 2 finale jumped ahead in time to reveal the jaded journalist’s book (called, natch, Interview With the Vampire) was a commercial success but critically panned … but Daniel no longer cared. He had bigger things to worry about in his new bad boy era, because he had been turned into a vampire by none other than a pissed off Armand (Assad Zaman). While this twist wasn’t shocking for fans of Anne Rice’s books, the way in which it’s revealed in the finale was absolutely perfect as Daniel telepathically communicated with Louis (Jacob Anderson) and took off his sunglasses (at night) to show those tell-tale eyes. Daniel’s revenge arc in season 3? We’d love to see it. —Sydney Bucksbaum 03 of 22 Devin dumps Jenn, 'The Bachelorette' Jenn Tran and Devin Strader on 'After the Final Rose'. Disney/John Fleenor Memo to future Bachelorettes: When multiple guys tell you someone isn’t there for the Right Reasons™, believe them. The Bachelorette’s Jenn Tran learned this the hard way after accepting a proposal from Devin Strader, a 28-year-old freight company owner from Texas. As a sobbing Jenn told the live studio audience during After the Final Rose, Strader started “pulling away” almost the moment cameras stopped rolling — and ultimately broke up with her over the phone. If that weren’t bad enough, the jabroni made things worse when he joined a devastated Jenn on stage in the Tealight Candle Thunderdome. “When we left the show, I had a lot of doubts,” he claimed. “I was regretfully late on letting you know.” Two weeks after the Bachelorette finale, news broke that an ex-girlfriend took a restraining order out against Devin in 2017. Jenn may have lost a fiancé, but karma is still her boyfriend. —Kristen Baldwin The Bachelorette star Jenn Tran says Dancing With the Stars was her 'distraction' from breakup 04 of 22 'All American' exits Daniel Ezra; Samantha Logan; Cody Christian on 'All American'. Ser Baffo/The CW; Troy Harvey/The CW (2) Crenshaw is going to look very different when All American returns. Daniel Ezra was the first to announce that would no longer play Spencer James, but the real shock came when a handful of his costars joined him in exiting. Samantha Logan (Olivia Baker), Cody Christian (Asher Adams), Karimah Westbrook (Grace James), Monét Mazur (Laura Fine-Baker) and Chelsea Tavares (Patience) won't return as series regulars next season. (Michael Evans Behling, Greta Onieogou and Bre-Z are the only ones who’ll be back as Jordan, Layla and Coop.) Some of the changes makes sense — Logan and Westbrook as Spencer’s wife and mother respectively — but others leave major questions about the future. How will Jordan’s sister and mother not being around impact his life with his new wife Layla? What does Patience not returning mean for her future with Coop? There will be a crop of new characters, but All American viewers are stepping into an uncertain future. —Alamin Yohannes 05 of 22 Tek Knight's sex dungeon, 'The Boys' Tek Knight's sex dungeon on 'The Boys'. Amazon Prime For three previous seasons, The Boys fans saw such visuals as a cocaine-raddled, size-shrinking man bursting out of his lover’s penis; Homelander (Antony Starr) getting his sexual kinks from a shapeshifter posing as himself; and a cephalopod performing oral sex on the Deep (Chace Crawford). So when this show’s Spider-Man equivalent came on the scene and shot web fluid out of a second butthole, we were prepared. But there’s was something about watching Hughie (Jack Quaid) almost get forcibly sodomized in Tek Knight’s (Derek Wilson) underground sex dungeon, while an aroused Ashley (Colby Minifie), in her dominatrix era, watched, that took the entire thing over the edge. —N.R. The Boys season 5 adds Daveed Diggs in mystery role (exclusive) 06 of 22 Sugar is an alien, 'Sugar' Colin Farrell in 'Sugar'. Apple TV+ The first five episodes of Apple TV+'s genre-bending detective series Sugar saw Colin Farrell's mysterious John Sugar pointedly refuse to disclose almost anything about his past. The titular detective has a fascination with human behavior — which he constantly makes clear via noir-y narration of his inner monologue — but never fully assimilates into Los Angeles in a way that feels natural. We have a vague sense that he's much stronger and more durable than other people, and he repeatedly shows that he can't get drunk. Then, at the very end of episode 6, Sugar takes a load off… and reveals that he's a blue alien who's been disguised as a human the whole time. This is a series about an alien that does not reveal it's about an alien until three-quarters of the way through its first season. If that's not audacious, nothing is. —Wesley Stenzel 07 of 22 All the BTS drama, 'Yellowstone' Kevin Costner on 'Yellowstone'. Paramount Network Yes, it was shocking when Yellowstone decided to kill John Dutton (Kevin Costner). And yes, it was shocking that Jamie (Wes Bentley) was behind the staged suicide. But perhaps the most shocking thing the Paramount Network drama did this year happened when the cameras were off. As fans waited (a very long time) for the show to return, everything started to unravel. First, there were rumors that Costner would only give the show a week to film the rest of season 5. Then, Costner claimed that production shut down for a year because creator Taylor Sheridan hadn't finished the necessary scripts. There was a lot of back and forth — so much "he said, he said" — but in the end, Yellowstone announced its end ... without Costner. —Samantha Highfill The 10 best Yellowstone episodes 08 of 22 Madeline's true agenda is revealed, 'Matlock' Kathy Bates on 'Matlock'. CBS The first 40 minutes of the Matlock premiere are immediately engrossing, as Kathy Bates' Madeline "Matty" Matlock instantly endears herself to the audience as a folksy charmer in stark contrast to the cold, corporate world of New York law. Matty says she's getting back on her feet after divorcing her two-timing husband and moving into a crummy apartment. In the last five minutes, however, Matty returns home after her first day at work — revealing that she lives in a massive mansion with a doting, not-two-timing husband who has helped her concoct an elaborate plan to infiltrate the law firm and destroy one of its top lawyers from the inside out. It turns out that Matty's daughter died after battling addiction, and one of the lawyers at the firm played a key role in defending Big Pharma during the height of the opioid epidemic. —W.S. 09 of 22 Kwon dies, 'Cobra Kai' Brandon H. Lee (center) on 'Cobra Kai'. Netflix Welp, now we know that the “Chekhov’s gun” principle applies to knives, too. When Cobra Kai sensei John Kreese (Martin Kove) brought his ancient eunjangdo to Barcelona, he no doubt planned to threaten one (or more) of his karate nemeses: Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio), Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka), or Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith). Instead, he accidentally dropped the blade during a rowdy brawl at the Sekai Taikai tournament, and it wound up in the hands of one of his star students, Kwon (Brandon H. Lee). Faster than you can say “there’s no WAY Cobra Kai would kill our favorite season 6 villain, right???”, Kwon lunged at rival Axel (Patrick Luwis), only to wind up impaling himself on his sensei’s blade. Turns out, pain does exist in this dojo. —K.B. 10 of 22 John Cena shows up, 'The Bear' John Cena on 'The Bear'. FX The Bear consistently serves up delicious surprise guest stars, and season 3 was no different. From Josh Hartnett to Dexter alum (and husband to The Bear star Liza Colón-Zayas) David Zayas to even Bradley Cooper, the FX drama was cooking yet again. But the most shocking — and perfect — surprise was John Cena’s debut as yet another chaotic Fak sibling. The Peacemaker star stole the show in episode 5, "Children," as Neil (Matty Matheson) and Ted’s (Ricky Staffieri) intimidating brother "Sammy f---ing Fak." Don’t ask this guy to come buff your floors unless you’re prepared to be "haunted." —S.B. Every surprise guest star The Bear cooks up for season 2 11 of 22 Jordan Chiles' bronze medal drama Jordan Chiles at the Olympics. Jamie Squire/Getty Hey, we're talking about sports! Because if anything was the must-see television event of the year, it was the Paris Olympics! Although there are plenty of memorable moments, if we're talking about shocks, we have to discuss the twist that even surprised Jordan Chiles. After everyone had competed in the Women's Individual Floor Exercise gymnastics competition, Chiles thought she hadn't made the podium and had resigned to her fate ... until U.S. gymnastics coach Cecile Landi challenged the difficulty score, and suddenly, Chiles had won bronze. Of course, the drama didn't end there, but the initial shock surely did. —S.H. 12 of 22 Asher heads to space, 'The Curse' Emma Stone and Nathan Fielder on 'The Curse'. Jeff Neumann/A24/Paramount+ with SHOWTIME I have no idea. Absolutely no clue. No hunches. No theories. No educated guesses. And I will not embarrass myself by attempting to explain any sort of meaning behind the events of The Curse season finale. It happened almost a full year ago and I’m still flummoxed. Why did Nathan Fielder’s Asher all of a sudden wake up one morning… ON THE CEILING?!? Why could he not get down? Why, when he somehow made his way outside, did he then instead of dropping down to the ground, fly up into a tree? And then for the love of Isaac Newton and all the apples in the world, what are we to make of his character ascending anti-gravity style into outer space? Like I said, no clue. But when it comes to wonderfully weird season finales, this one wins by a mile… and climbing. —Dalton Ross 13 of 22 Yasmin lets her father die, 'Industry' Marisa Abela and Adam Levy on 'Industry'. Nick Strasburg/HBO Industry's Yasmin (Marisa Abela) sort of told the truth when she said she killed her father. While she may not have murdered him, she did leave Charles (Adam Levy) to drown. Specifically, after she walked in on him having sex in her room on their yacht, the pair got into a vicious fight, which ended when she wished he would die and the sleazy publishing titan jumped overboard. He expected her to jump in to save him or scream for help, but the inappropriate behavior, sexual antics, and hurled insults were clearly too much because a frozen Yasmin just watched as her father screams for help were left unheard as the party continued onboard. It was wild even by Industry’s high standards. —Alamin Yohannes 14 of 22 JJ dies, 'Outer Banks' Rudy Pankow and Madison Bailey on 'Outer Banks'. Jackson Lee Davis/Netflix Listen, it was definitely time for one of the Pogues to pay the ultimate price after four seasons of death-defying stunts and near-impossible saves on Outer Banks. For a while, it seemed as if they were truly invincible — and for a bunch of teens who accidentally fell into the treasure hunting life, that was getting less and less believable as time went on. But the way in which JJ (Rudy Pankow) died in the supersized season 4 finale was too devastating. After successfully finding the Blue Crown halfway around the world, he willingly gave it up to his evil biological father, Chandler Groff (J. Anthony Crane), to save his girlfriend Kiara’s (Madison Bailey) life … but then his dad stabbed him anyways?! Even Outer Banks co-showrunner Shannon Burke called JJ’s death “gratuitous,” and we don’t know if we’ll ever get over watching him die in Kiara’s arms. —S.B. Outer Banks to end with season 5: 'It will be our best yet' 15 of 22 Oz kills Vic, 'The Penguin' Rhenzy Feliz, Colin Farrell on 'The Penguin'. Macall Polay/HBO When you build an entire eight-episode season of television around a villain, you may start to sympathize with the individual; nay, even like the person. That was definitely the case with HBO’s spinoff series to The Batman (2022). Perhaps that’s why in one of Colin Farrell’s final acts as Oz Cobb, he decided to commit one more heinous act to remind everyone watching at home that he really is the bad guy. Narratively, Oz strangling his stuttering teenage sidekick and getaway driver Vic (Rhenzy Feliz) was meant to bleed himself of any potential weakness (i.e. his love for the kid). For the rest of us, it was the equivalent of gifting us an adorable puppy at the beginning of the show, only to make us put them down by the season finale. —N.R. 16 of 22 Anna Delvey joins 'Dancing With the Stars' Ezra Sosa, Anna Delvey on 'Dancing With the Stars'. Disney/Eric McCandless Over the years, Dancing With the Stars has certainly had some eyebrow-raising cast members (looking at you Sean Spicer). But they just might've outdone themselves in season 33 when they announced Anna Delvey, fake heiress and notorious con artist, would be a member of the cast. At the time of the announcement, Delvey was still on house arrest (and she had to wear a bedazzled ankle bracelet on the show). But perhaps most head-scratching was the show's odd attempt to rehab her image, billing her as an entrepreneur and only vaguely alluding to the elaborate scam that made her infamous. The only thing that wasn't surprising about Delvey's inclusion? The fact that she was sent home first (and met her elimination with a characteristically flippant and dismissive attitude). —Maureen Lee Lenker 17 of 22 Lord John proposes to Claire, 'Outlander' David Berry and Caitriona Balfe on 'Outlander'. Robert Wilson/Starz Outlander has pulled the proverbial rug out from under us more times than we can count, but this latest development might be their most shocking yet. When Claire (Caitriona Balfe) and Lord John Grey (David Berry) learn that Jamie's (Sam Heughan) ship has sunk and all passengers perished, they are distraught with grief. But in that sorrow, they must also find a way to protect Claire from a looming arrest for espionage. That's when noble Sir John makes Claire a proposal — marry him and gain the protection of his good name with the Crown. We're sure that they can hear us screaming, "What!!!" all the way in the 18th century. —M.L.L. Sam Heughan cuts a cake with a sword to celebrate 100 episodes of Outlander in exclusive photos 18 of 22 A mutual ex, '9-1-1' Lou Ferrigno Jr. and Oliver Stark on '9-1-1'. Disney/Ray Mickshaw You would have thought coming out as bisexual and dating Tommy (Lou Ferrigno Jr.) would be Buck's (Oliver Stark) big headline on 9-1-1 this year, but the first responder drama topped that season 7 development with a jaw-dropping reveal in season 8, episode 6. Appropriately titled “Confessions,” the installment of the ABC drama kicked off with the realization that Tommy is the ex-fiancé of Buck’s ex-girlfriend Abby (Connie Britton, who only starred on season 1) — a decision made after the writers realized they gave Ferrigno’s character the same name as Abby’s ex. Bonus shocking points for ending the episode with Buck and Tommy breaking up and Ryan Guzman's Eddie (still reeling after dating his dead wife's doppelganger) doing full Risky Business cosplay. —Patrick Gomez 19 of 22 Dudley's a horse, 'My Lady Jane' Edward Bluemel on 'My Lady Jane'. Amazon As a romp that rewrites history, we knew the only thing to expect from My Lady Jane was the unexpected. But even we weren’t prepared for the moment when Lady Jane Grey (Emily Bader) discovers that her handsome new husband, Lord Guildford Dudley (Edward Bluemel), is a stallion. That’s not a bedroom euphemism (though other scenes suggest it is applicable). He is literally a horse. When Jane follows Dudley into the barn, after oogling his naked body, she's startled when he suddenly transforms into an equine. It presents a dire, if also somewhat hilarious, challenge to their relationship — but through it all he remains her mane man. —M.L.L. 20 of 22 Dawn unravels, 'RuPaul's Drag Race' Dawn on 'RuPaul's Drag Race'. MTV (2) In the moments before the sun set on the evil elf of Drag Race season 16, Dawn, the New York City queen made it clear that she wasn’t going out without a mystical fight. Armed with a dream, impromptu sorcery, and an arsenal of magic spells guiding her through her lip-sync-for-her-life against seasoned dancer Morphine Love Dion, the petite beauty (awkwardly) railed against the thudding bass and sledgehammering beats of Megan Thee Stallion’s “Body” by raising her tiny hands to conjure a magic bolt of lighting to save her from elimination. In the end, though she lost the duel, she kind of also won, as fans quickly meme’d the shocking moment and framed it as an amusing tribute to the memorable — yet oddly enchanting — end for a seasonal fan-favorite. —Joey Nolfi 21 of 22 Emma Dies, 'One Day' Ambika Mod, Leo Woodall in 'One Day'. Netflix Book fans knew it was coming, but for so many, the ending of Dexter (Leo Woodall) and Emma's (Ambika Mod) love story was as surprising as it was outright devastating. The very premise of Netflix's One Day — much like the book on which it was based — was to follow Dex and Em for one day each year and watch the ebbs and flows of their friendship (but really, their love story). And after years of missed connections and poor life choices, they finally got together! They were happy! Until the penultimate episode saw Emma get on her bike and, well, she just didn't see that one truck coming. It was that one day that changed everything for them, and it's that one day that fans will never forget. —S.H. 22 of 22 Bucket list threesome, 'Doctor Odyssey' Sean Teale, Phillipa Soo, and Joshua Jackson on 'Doctor Odyssey'. Disney/Tina Thorpe Love triangles are so last year. Doctor Odyssey really said, “Why choose?” and “Why wait?!” when it came to the will-they-won’t-they tension brewing between the main threesome — emphasis on threesome — of Max (Joshua Jackson), Avery (Phillipa Soo), and Tristan (Sean Teale). It only took six episodes and a drunken night of bonding for the cruise ship medical team to fulfill their bucket list item of having a good threesome. And while it unfortunately didn’t lead to an actual throuple situation (so far… ), it did deliver a shocking pregnancy twist leading Avery (and us all) to wonder: Who’s the father? —S.B.