Top Three Characters That Should Have Lived (Spoilers)

Ranking the fan-favorites that deserved another shot at life

Jan 05, 2026

It’s time to get serious about the ultimate ranking of fiction and pop culture’s most important subjects.

Top Three Characters That Should Have Lived:

Spoilers ahead, obviously.

Number Three: Mitch Leery from Dawson’s Creek. It’s not really the fact that John Wesley Shipp was written off the show - his onscreen death added more drama to the series and contributed to Dawson’s overall growth as a character. It was the way Mitch bit the dust in an ice cream run that took a fatal turn. I’ll never get frozen treats to-go again! Alright, we all know that’s not true, but that episode was still traumatizing.

Number Two: huge spoiler warning for any Dexter fans - Angel Batista from Dexter: Resurrection. David Zayas had such an incredible performance that I would have honestly watched a Batista spin-off series but Paramount and Showtime (and whoever else may be involved at this point) don’t seem to favor the idea of an extended Dexter universe anymore.

Much like Erik King as Doakes before him, Batista learned too much about Michael C. Hall’s killer character and, well, if we want there to be more Dex in our future, there’s really only one possibility for Angel. Saying that though, I think at that point in the season, Batista’s credibility had been ruined so maybe he could’ve continued his pursuit of Dexter as an old crackpot conspiracy theorist. To circle back, we all love Doakes but at least after he died we got Quinn, who is awesome. It’s the circle of life.

Number One: Richie Ryan from Highlander: The Series. RIP Stan Kirsch. In the finale of the fifth season, Adrian Paul’s immortal character Duncan MacLeod suffers from seeing vivid hallucinations which causes him to mistakenly attack his fellow immortal protege, Richie. Beheading his longtime friend in such a senseless way was intended to take Duncan to new dramatic depths, but in retrospect, the show could’ve shown other devastating ways to put Mac through the wringer without offing his sidekick. But, like they say, in the end there can be only one.

Let me know your top picks in the comments. Or just tell me I’m a big silly dum-dum.

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