From the hellish revelation in The Good Place to a certain blood-soaked wedding in Game of Thrones, these TV twists changed their shows for the better. Television is one of the best mediums for plot twists. A feature-length movie is confined to a couple of hours, so it can only really pack in one big surprise. Novels can be a great vehicle for twisty storytelling, but they require so much scene-setting that authors have to limit their twist quotient. But TV shows tell their stories visually, in installments, and on a massive canvas, so they can really shock their audience.
The ending of each episode has to leave viewers excited enough to tune in the following week. If anything, TV shows can sometimes overdo their plot twists and deliver twists just for the sake of it, because they need to keep fans hooked. Sometimes, a twist is thrown in purely for shock value — like Some TV twists are even better on a rewatch.
7 The Good Place Is Really The Bad Place
The Good Place (2016–2020)
At the beginning of The Good Place, Eleanor Shellstrop dies and finds herself in the afterlife. A supposed angel named Michael tells her she’s in “The Good Place,” a non-denominational depiction of the concept of Heaven, where all the good people go after they die. There’s also an analog for Hell called “The Bad Place,” where all the bad people are sent. Throughout the first season of the show, Eleanor’s experience in the Good Place is marked by baffling, inexplicable events that call the whole thing into question.
In the season finale, it’s revealed that Eleanor belongs in the Bad Place, and she has to pick someone else to send in her place. But then, Eleanor figures out that what they’ve been told is the Good Place is actually the Bad Place in disguise. Not only was this a jaw-dropping twist that no one saw coming; it actually strengthened the show by raising the stakes, adding a new dramatic conflict, and turning Michael into a villain.
6 Walt Poisoned Brock
Breaking Bad (2008–2013)
Toward the end of Breaking Bad season 4, Walt’s working relationship with Gus Fring became unsustainable. It was clear that one of them would have to die, and it was just a matter of which one of these drug-peddling geniuses would outsmart the other. Ultimately, Walt managed to get the upper hand by convincing Jesse that Gus had poisoned his girlfriend’s young son, Brock, to turn him against Walt and get him to okay his assassination. Jesse is persuaded, reaffirms his allegiance to Walt, and s his plot to kill Gus.
But the episode’s haunting final moments reveal that the opposite happened. Gus didn’t poison Brock to turn Jesse against Walt; Walt poisoned Brock to turn Jesse against Gus. This made Breaking Bad’s story even more harrowing, as it marked the moment Walt truly became a monster ahead of the final season.
5 The Red Wedding
Game Of Thrones (2011–2019)
In season 3, episode 9, “The Rains of Castamere,” Game of Thrones adapted one of the most iconic (and shocking) moments from the book series: the massacre frequently dubbed “The Red Wedding.” The episode revolves around the wedding of Edmure Tully and Roslin Frey, where Robb Stark and his banner-men are all gruesomely slaughtered. As horrifying as it was, this massacre made Game of Thrones an even more memorable and talked-about show.
The Red Wedding reinforced the idea that no Game of Thrones character was safe — even the grandfathered-in main characters like Robb — and that there was no line the show wouldn’t cross. Shows like The Wire and Breaking Bad had killed off kids like Wallace and Tomás Cantillo. But Game of Thrones went a step further and had a pregnant woman stabbed in the womb.
4 Bix Has Cassian's Baby
Andor (2022–2025)
Not all plot twists are harrowing and violent; sometimes, they can be hopeful and uplifting. When Lucasfilm first announced a series based on Rogue One side character Cassian Andor, some Star Wars fans were skeptical. Cassian seemed like the last character who needed his own show, and since Rogue One ended with his death, there was no ambiguity about how his story would end. But thanks to the incredible efforts of Tony Gilroy, Andor turned out to be the high point of Disney’s Star Wars: a politically charged masterpiece on par with the best of “Peak TV.”
When the series concluded with its second season, the writers found a way to surprise audiences without compromising the finality of Rogue One. Andor ended with the revelation that Bix Caleen had Cassian’s baby. So, while Cassian’s life will be cut tragically short, his legacy will live on. This twist ended the series by evoking the central theme of the Star Wars saga: hope.
3 Ellie Has To Die To Create A Cure
The Last Of Us (2023–)
The first episode of The Last of Us reveals that Ellie is immune to the zombie fungus Cordyceps, and that a revolutionary group called the Fireflies are hoping to turn her immunity into a cure for humanity. All throughout the first season, Joel and Ellie go through hell and high water to cross the post-apocalyptic wasteland and find the Fireflies. And in the season finale, they finally reach the Fireflies at a hospital in Salt Lake City. Their doctors are able to turn Ellie’s mutated Cordyceps infection into a cure, but there’s a catch: the operation will kill her.
Over the course of their journey, Joel has come to love Ellie as a surrogate daughter — and he already lost one daughter, so he’s not prepared to lose another one. So, Joel slaughters the Fireflies, saves Ellie, and dooms the human race. This twist presents all kinds of interesting moral conundrums: is it okay to take one life if it’ll save millions of others? Joel stopped the procedure without Ellie’s permission, but the Fireflies were operating without her permission. It’s a philosophical thought experiment dressed up as a zombie-infested thriller.
2 Lalo Kills Howard
Better Call Saul (2015–2022)
The first half of Better Call Saul’s final season was a Sting-style caper in which Jimmy and Kim had a ton of fun destroying Howard Hamlin’s reputation with a series of elaborate pranks. Through a handful of ruses, they led his colleagues to believe he was addicted to cocaine and regularly hiring sex workers. It came to a head in the midseason finale when they orchestrated a very public humiliation in Howard’s office.
Howard went over to Jimmy and Kim’s apartment to have it out with them, and the fun and games continued. But then, Lalo Salamanca showed up. Jimmy’s worlds came crashing together in haunting fashion as Howard tried to recuse himself and Lalo nonchalantly shot him in the head. This was a devastating twist — after I watched it, it was all I could think about for the next few days — but it also motivated Kim to leave Jimmy, which pushed Jimmy to go full Saul.
1 The "Flashbacks" Are Actually Set In The Future
Lost (2004–2010)
From the very beginning, Lost established a unique episodic structure in which each installment was split between a present-day A-plot set on the island and a flashback B-plot focusing on past events from one character’s life. But that all changed in the season 3 finale. The B-plot jumps to a depressed Jack attending the funeral of an unknown person. Based on the past three seasons of episodes, we just assume that these cutaways are flashbacks set in the past.
However, at the end of the episode, Jack meets up with Kate, who’s reluctant to see him, and tells her they have to go back to the island. This shockingly revealed that these “flashbacks” were actually flash-forwards set in the future. At some point, Jack, Kate, and possibly some of the other survivors would actually make it off the island. This switch to flash-forwards helped to keep the show engaging, because it shook up the show’s existing formula and teased an exciting, long-awaited storyline yet to come.