If you get me invested in a character and then kill them, you've lost me on the spot, and forever.
There was a series started in 2015 which went for 21 books, and I binned it at the end of the sample because the first character was great, and is killed just to set up a plot point for the real main character, who wasn't as likeable. I never read that series, and haven't read anything else from that author.
Maybe in a genre where such things are truly unexpected. But not in a genre where characters tend to die. There are no life and death stakes if all the characters you like have plot armor.
I hate to bring up Game of Thrones (enough with the sexual violence already), but that is why the show caught fire. There were many reasons yes, but it really came down to the main guy not having plot armor. He was in a situation where he should have died and people expected him to make it, because we're used to beloved characters having plot armor. When he didn't... woah.
I'm not a fan of high death counts, but if you're going to put your characters in constant peril, and lean on the life and death stakes, then you're going to have to off some to keep the tension. You can't threaten death and never deliver or people will stop taking your threats seriously.
Now, if you don't kill anyone for three seasons, then you suddenly kill a beloved character... that's going to be a little different. It can be very effective, if, as LilyBLily points out, you actually deal with the grief and fallout. See
The Good Wife Season 5 (I won't say more because spoilers, obviously). The death is random, the way death is, and that's the point. The characters struggle with their grief, in ways that don't necessarily make sense, because that's what grief is like.
But, of course, when the point is randomness, and struggle that is real and not narratively satisfying... it's often not narratively satisfying.
People die - so do characters. As with everything else, it's all in the execution. Do it well, and your fans will ugly-cry while simultaneously singing your praises. Do it badly...well, try not to do it badly.
Alien 3 is an example of doing it extra-badly - let's call it Rian Johnson Syndrome. Aliens was amazing. Exciting. Edge of your seat suspense. And in the end...by the sheer strength of Ripley's will, and no small amount of luck, Newt, Hicks and Bishop survive. Alien 3 opens with all of them dead. Du Fuq is that about? It totally negates the previous movie and all of the emotion that went with it. We were invested in those characters.
Han Solo's death is another example. If you're going to go there - earn it.
Hah, Rian Johnson Syndrome. That's a definite thing. I'm not a fan of Aliens, myself. Too much a silly action movie. I much prefer Alien. But I think both do a good job with the monster movie trope. Someone has to die for the monster to be scary.
I really could not hate the ST more, but the constant killing of old heroes feels like a kid who can't share their toys. If I can't have them, no one can!
I write romance, so I rarely kill people. Only a few maternal figures and their deteriorating state was part of the plot (i.e. guy marries to convince his dying mother he's happy). I've often wanted to pull a
Looking for Alaska across a series, but I haven't been able to do it yet.
