Some of the most shocking TV moments of 2024 came from shows such as Outer Banks, My Lady Jane, 9-1-1, Monsters and more.
Netflix’s Outer Banks started out on a high with the friend group back together solving their newest treasure hunt. With the season being split up into two parts, the first half ended on an interesting note when JJ (Rudy Pankow) discovered that newcomer (and season 4 villain) Chandler Groff (J. Anthony Crane) was his biological dad.
Things went south in the second half of the season, which was released weeks later. As JJ’s story line separated him from the other Pogues and his girlfriend Kiara (Madison Bailey), he embarked on a downward spiral that led to a last-minute redemption arc and abrupt death.
The Outer Banks creators claimed JJ’s death was planned from the very start but fans had their doubts. Ultimately JJ’s confusing exit overshadowed most of the season — except for that very predictable pregnancy reveal with Sarah (Madelyn Cline) and John B (Chase Stokes).
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Monsters, meanwhile, attempted to take inspiration from Lyle and Erik Menéndez‘s infamous murder trial to mirror key moments from their lives both before and after they were sentenced to life without parole for shooting their mother and father. Episodes 4 and 5 received critical and fan praise for introducing Erik and Lyle’s claims that they killed parents Kitty and Jose Menéndez in self-defense following years of alleged physical, emotional and sexual abuse.
Ultimately, Monsters sparked a back and forth between creator Ryan Murphy and the real Menéndez brothers over claims of inaccuracy and backlash after the show leaned into sexualizing Lyle (played by Nicholas Alexander Chavez) and Erik’s (played by Cooper Koch) relationship in promotional material.
Keep scrolling for more of TV’s most shocking moments from 2024:
Grotesquerie’s It Was All a Dream Revelation
Murphy’s newest FX series felt like a season of American Horror Story as it followed Detective Lois Tryon (Niecy Nash). Lois was working with local nun Sister Megan (Micaela Diamond) to figure out who was behind a series of heinous crimes in their community — until she wasn’t. More than halfway through the season, fans were asked to forget what they saw in the first six episodes: none of it took place anywhere except in Lois’ mind because she was the one who was actually in a coma.
The rest of the season — in typical Murphy fashion — didn’t make a lot of sense and Lois ended up exactly where she started.
Matty’s Real Identity on ‘Matlock’
When Kathy Bates‘ character was introduced on Matlock, she was a fictional lawyer hoping to get hired at a prestigious law firm — and she just happened to share the same last name as the iconic Matlock series from the ’80s. The ending, however, revealed that it was all an act.
Matty is actually the wealthy Madeline Kingston, who has gone undercover at the firm to track down who is responsible for her daughter’s death. The suspects on Matty’s list included Olympia (Skye P. Marshall), Julian (Jason Ritter) or Senior (Beau Bridges) — all of whom could have had access to documents that would have taken opioids off the streets before her daughter died from an overdose.
‘Outer Banks’ Kills Off JJ Maybank
The Outer Banks creators — Josh Pate, Jonas Pate and Shannon Burke — never publicly stated that no Pogues would ever die, but it certainly felt that way. Four seasons in, the show tried something new by killing off Pankow’s character, which sparked online outrage. The fan-favorite character’s death came out of nowhere — despite the showrunners claiming it was planned all along.
There were also those rumors about tension between Pankow and Bailey leading up to his exit. The costars never publicly addressed fan speculation but it continued to spread in the weeks after Outer Banks’ lackluster season 4 finale.
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‘My Lady Jane’ Isn’t Just a Historical Reimagining
Based on historical YA novels, My Lady Jane was promoted as a radical approach to Lady Jane Grey’s (Emily Bader) very brief time as monarch after King Henry VIII’s son Edward (Jordan Peters) death from tuberculosis. In this version, Jane and her husband, Guildford (Edward Bluemel), weren’t beheaded and Edward didn’t get killed off.
There was more to the story though, as the series premiere revealed Guildford turned into a horse during the day. He was one of many shapeshifting humans who were persecuted by the royals — before Jane got involved through her love story with Guildford.
‘The Acolyte’ Introduces Their Big Villain — And the Internet’s Newest Boyfriend
When The Acolyte initially premiered, Manny Jacinto was introduced as a smuggler named Qimir. He entertained viewers with his antics, which made him seem harmless. The fifth episode, however, turned out to be one for the history books when the Jedi warriors met The Stranger and an epic battle revealed Jacinto’s character Qimir as the man behind the sinister helmet.
The twists kept coming as The Stranger developed more fans thanks to a shirtless scene, a sad backstory and Jacinto’s heated chemistry with Amandla Stenberg. It didn’t seem to be enough though and The Acolyte got cancelled way too soon.
‘Rivals’ Strays From the Source Material
Based on Jilly Cooper‘s novel of the same name, Disney+ and Hulu’s Rivals centered around a feud between two men fighting for control of a television station in 1980s Britain. The first season ended with several major cliffhangers including Tony (David Tennan) learning about Cameron’s (Nafessa Williams) relationship with Rupert (Alex Hassell) and lashing out by attacking her.
Cameron defended herself, and it remained unclear whether Tony was still alive by the end of the season 1 finale. (That was a major change from the book in which Cameron didn’t fight back.)
Bridgerton’s Departure From the Books With a Gender-Swap
A narrative shakeup took place during the season 3 finale when Francesca (Hannah Dodd) met her future love interest. In the When He Was Wicked book, which focuses on Francesca’s journey, Francesca fell in love with now-husband John’s (Victor Alli) cousin Michael. The series swapped Michael out for Michaela (Masali Baduza) — to mixed results from fans.
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Buck’s Personal Journey on ‘9-1-1’
Where do we start with 9-1-1? First fans got to see their wish come true when Evan “Buck” Buckley (Oliver Stark) came out as bisexual. That paved the way for him to date Tommy (Lou Ferrigno Jr.), who it turned out was once engaged to Buck’s ex-girlfriend Abby (Connie Britton). Buck and Tommy didn’t last, and the final moments of the season 8 midseason finale hinted that Buck could be developing feelings for his best friend Eddie (Ryan Guzman).
‘Agatha All Along’ Unmasks Who Actually Created the Road
Before Agatha All Along even premiered, fans were predicting how Joe Locke‘s character, Teen, connected to Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen). That buildup was a red herring since Teen a.k.a Billy being Wanda’s son was only the beginning. The bigger twist was that the Witches’ Road never existed — until Billy haphazardly created it in a moment of panic similar to his mother turning Westview into a fictional TV world in WandaVision.
‘Doctor Odyssey’ Explores a Threesome — and a Paternity Scandal
The ABC series initially introduced separate connections between Avery (Phillipa Soo) and Max (Joshua Jackson) and Avery and Tristan (Sean Teale). There was a subtle flirtation between Max and Tristan, however, and that ultimately turned into a threesome. The situation only got more messy when Avery realized she was pregnant — but didn’t know whether Max or Tristan was the father.
‘NCIS: Origins’ Unravels Gibbs’ Journey to the NIS
The prequel series picked up less than a year after Gibbs’ (Austin Stowell) wife and daughter were killed. The other agents at the NIS Camp Pendleton office thought he was still trying to hunt down the person responsible for their deaths a.k.a cartel leader Pedro Hernandez.
But through flashbacks — and a case that took Lala (Mariel Molino) and Gibbs to Mexico — it was revealed that Hernandez died months prior. Gibbs killed Hernandez before he ever joined the team and kept it a secret.
‘The Bear’ Seemingly Divides the Plot Across 2 Seasons
The past two seasons of The Bear set up an arc for each character and ended in a way that set up the next chapter in the story. Season 3, however, received a lackluster response because of a “To Be Continued” message that came after 10 episodes that felt like it was just building up to the next season.
Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) spent the season pushing The Bear — and the employees — to a level of success not all of them wanted. Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and others in the kitchen found it tough adjusting to the higher caliber of service and that led to new rifts and challenges. Carmy’s volatile behavior led Sydney to consider leaving The Bear for another opportunity and the final scene of the season showed Carmy reading The Bear’s first review, which appeared to be mixed.
Luckily, reports surfaced that FX quietly renewed the show for more episodes. Reportedly seasons 3 and 4 were filmed at the same time due to the busy schedules of cast members such as White, Edebiri and Moss-Bachrach.
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Stephen Gets the Last Laugh on ‘Tell Me Lies’
Season 2, which debuted in August, picked up months after Stephen (Jackson White) blindsided Lucy (Grace Van Patten) by ending their toxic relationship. That split was just the beginning because by the end of her sophomore year they were once again an item. In the present day, Stephen and Lucy crossed paths again and had sex despite both being in serious relationships with other people.
Stephen also had something up his sleeve though because it turned out he knew that Evan (Branden Cook) and Lucy hooked up in college. While at the time he seemed cool with it, he waited until Evan’s wedding to Lucy’s friend Bree (Cat Missal) to blow everything up with a voice message.
‘All American’ Exits
Ahead of All American‘s seventh and final season, Daniel Ezra announced his exit from the show but is expected to remain a director and guest star.
Samantha Logan, Cody Christian, Karimah Westbrook, Monét Mazur and Chelsea Tavares subsequently departed as series regulars as well, which only left Greta Onieogou, Michael Evans Behling and Bre-Z on the CW series as series regulars. To balance out the departures, Osy Ikhile and Nathaniel McIntyre joined as new characters.
‘The Diplomat’ Ups the Suspense
Season 2 was all about trying to figure out who hired a mercenary to shoot at a British warship. Turns out it was the vice president (played by Allison Janney) and a plan was set in motion to replace her. Before that could happen, the President of the United States died after learning about Grace Penn’s involvement in the major political attack, which left her to take off as the new leader of the nation.
The ‘Sugar’ Alien Reveal
Apple TV+ introduced Colin Farrell as a mysterious detective John Sugar who kept details of his past close to his chest. Flash forward six episodes where Sugar revealed he was a blue alien who’s been disguised as a human the entire time.
‘9-1-1: Lone Star’ Attempted to Write Sierra McClain Off
After contract renegotiation issues, Sierra McClain left 9-1-1: Lone Star before the fifth and final season. The Fox series explained her absence by having McClain’s character Grace go abroad to volunteer with Mercy Ships — an organization that provides global surgeries.
Grace’s sudden departure left Judd at home with their 2-year-old daughter and caring for his son, Wyatt Harris, whom he welcomed in a previous relationship, while he recovered from an accident that left him paralyzed. Later in the season, Owen (Rob Lowe) discovered that Judd (Jim Parrack) developed a drinking problem due to Grace’s exit, which wasn’t meant to happen before McClain departed 9-1-1: Lone Star.
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The ‘Quantum Leap’ Conclusion
The revival of the ‘90s science-fiction series followed Ben (Raymond Lee) after he made a secret leap through time and got lost in the past. With help from his now-ex Addison (Caitlin Bassett) and the rest of the Quantum Leap team, Ben tried to figure out what caused him to alter history.
Season 2 introduced a three-year time jump that initially created more distance between Ben and the Quantum Leap team. During the season finale, which became the show’s last episode, the Quantum Leap team figured out a way to bring Ben home by swapping him out for Addison.
Addison did end up being taken back in time but Ben had also leaped into that moment instead of returning to present time. The couple reunited for the first time in years and were finally able to be together again.
Ryan Murphy’s Take on the Menendez Murder in ‘Monsters’
Erik and Lyle were originally arrested in 1990 on two counts of first-degree murder after their parents, José and Kitty Menéndez, were found dead in their own Beverly Hills home. They received separate life sentences despite maintaining that their mother and father were physically, emotionally and sexually abusive and that their actions were that of self-defense.
Season 2 of Murphy’s Netflix series Monsters provided a dramatized new look at the high-profile murder case. Similar to season 1 of Monster — which was centered around Evan Peters‘ portrayal of Jeffrey Dahmer — the show came under fire for several inaccuracies about the Menéndez brothers, including the insinuation that they were in a sexual relationship.
Murphy stood by the vision that came together on screen after plenty of research despite Erik speaking out against the series. The renewed interest in the case subsequently resulted in the Los Angeles District Attorney to recommend in October that a judge re-sentence Erik and Lyle to 50 years.
‘Bad Monkey’ Connects Its Story Lines
Initially Bad Monkey was split up with former police detective Andrew Yancy (Vince Vaughn) looking into why a severed arm washed up in Florida. This led him to the deceased ma Nick’s (Rob Delaney) wife Eve (Meredith Hagner), who he considered the prime suspect in his death. A separate story line then revealed a young fisherman in the Bahamas named Neville (Ronald Peet) was at risk of losing his home due to a greedy developer.
The twist? The stories were connected. Nick wasn’t really dead and he was the man threatening to take over Neville’s land after relocating to the Bahamas in an attempt to fake his death.
