Graphic: When TV characters die Graphic First-season viewers of "Game of Thrones"were shocked when, just over midway through the series, protagonist Ned Stark lost his head - quite literally. And while Stark's demise was true to the book the series is based on, other series in recent years have ensured that no one is really safe - remember Bobby Simone on "NYPD Blue," Adriana trying to crawl away from her fate on"The Sopranos" or evil Mags Bennett and her poison on"Justified"? Sometimes this is a way to release an actor who wants off a show, but sometimes by eliminating that character's story, the writers get fresh ideas out of the newly reshuffled deck. Here's a look at some of TV's most affecting demises, and how both writers and actors dealt with the fallout. The Walking Dead Two and a Half Men The Wire Dexter Deceased: Deceased: Shane Walsh (Jon Bernthal) and Dale Horvath (Jeffrey DeMunn) Roles: Shane and Dale were not on the same page about this zombie apocalypse thing. Dale was older and the conscience of the group, while Shane was the extra alpha male who didn't like taking orders - even from onetime best friend Rick. Method: A zombie went to town on Dale's soft underbelly; Dale was shot before he turned into one himself. Shane died twice: Once by Rick's hand, then by Rick's son Carl after Shane turned undead. Why: "It was always our intention to kill Shane," says show runner Glen Mazzara. Dale was someone we decided on after I became show runner because we needed to keep the show scary and the stakes as high as possible. Effect: "By eliminating Dale as the social conscience of the group, it puts more focus on Rick," says Mazzara. And having those two deaths back-to-back showed that we're a show that takes chances. Grateful dead? "When I got the job, they were clear that Shane would be meeting his demise," says Bernthal. He still means a lot to me - I realized I've been walking around in Shane's boots the last two years. It's time to take them off. Charlie Harper (Charlie Sheen) Role: Womanizer and drinker Harper's playboy lifestyle got complicated when his brother and nephew moved in. Hit by a train. "The whole thing was very "Seinfeld"-esque," says Tim Brooks, a former network executive at NBC, Lifetime, Syfy and Lifetime. You never saw the death, and it was almost cartoon-like. Sheen imploded in early 2011, leading to the season's early end; he was fired in March for criticizing show creator Chuck Lorre and studio Warner Bros. Moving forward with Sheen in the role seemed out of the question, so Harper had to meet his maker. Ashton Kutcher signed on to play Walden Schmidt, and the show picked up more or less where it left off. Kutcher recently signed on for another season. Sheen has been resurrected for a new comedy called"Anger Management." James "Jimmy" Darmody (Michael Pitt) Angry and haunted after a stint in World War , Darmody slipped into organized crime and tried to take over Nucky Thompson's turf, a deadly mistake. Lured out on a rainy night, Darmody faced off with Thompson and his henchmen. After a short chat, Nucky, the man who had been a father figure to him, shot him. "We debated about killing Jimmy from the end of Season 1," says creator and show runner Terence Winter. I have probably not spent more time discussing anything in my life. This was the best version of the story, and you just have to go with it. As yet to be seen: Jimmy died at the end of last season. But, says Winter, "It forces you to think of new stories. You have to constantly reinvent the show. It forces you to be more on your game creatively. Pitt did not learn of Darmody's demise until "very late," says Winter. But "he saw where things were going and wasn't completely shocked. As a storyteller, he totally got it. Omar Little (Michael Kenneth Williams) A stickup man who lived by his own strict rules (no profanity), Little was a bad ass who also lived life on the down low. "Omar was unpredictable," says Williams. I loved that he had the freedom to be who he was. A young boy new to gang life shot Omar in the head in a convenience store. "The show was winding down," says Williams. They were doing a lot of cleaning up. That was my last day at the office and I felt a little sad. What shocked audiences proved amusing to many other characters, but the police ended up chasing another case based on what they found on Omar's corpse. "Omar had a lasting effect on me," says Williams. He was my first regular character in a series, and it was so intense and dark - and me being so green, I didn't know how to leave it at the office. A few years later I'm still struggling to get that mind-set out of my psyche. Rita Bennett (Julie Benz) Single mom with two kids who became the in-the-dark wife of serial killer Dexter Morgan and mother to his child. Murdered in her bathtub by the Trinity Killer, who left baby Harrison wailing in a pool of her blood, a scenario that echoed Dexter's own childhood experience. "Killing someone like Rita wasn't just so we'd have a big season finale but so we could start the show over in a slightly different direction," says executive producer Scott Buck. Dexter had become more domestic, and we needed to find a way to shake that up. Dexter is a different person after Rita's death - no less averse to killing, but now he has something worth protecting. "Julie was not told that Rita would die until fairly close to the end," says Buck. Hearing a character you've grown to love is going to end in a violent way is always difficult, but Julie is a professional, so she understood why it had to happen.