No matter how many times "The Walking Dead" features sudden deaths of its beloved characters, the midseason finale of the popular zombie drama last Sunday still turned out to be a shocker. As what was predicted by many as the fifth season progresses, one of the protagonists of the AMC show met a grisly death.

The midseason finale, titled "Coda," ended on a sad note as Beth Greene died at the hands of Grady Memorial Hospital's leader Dawn Lerner. The character, portrayed by Emily Kinney, was shot to death by Dawn after Beth stabbed her with a hidden pair of scissors. After she shot Beth fatally on the head, Daryl (Norman Reedus) sprung into action and gunned down Dawn himself as an act of revenge.

According to Entertainment Weekly, the eighth episode started quite dramatically, beginning with Rick in a police car chasing Bob. When the latter refused to stop running, Rick rammed the car into Bob and then shot him.

Meanwhile, Father Gabriel made the mistake of leading the walkers in the church, where Michonne, Carl, and baby Judith are staying. They only managed to escape unscathed because of Michonne's fighting skills. Eventually, they were reunited with Abraham's group as they were returning from Washington, D.C. Seeing as the church was now overrun with walkers, the reunited party decided to join and help out Rick's group in Grady Memorial, where they were trying to rescue Carol and Beth from Dawn's clutches.

Rick made a proposal to Dawn to swap his two hostages in exchange for Beth and Carol. Dawn insisted that she wants Noah back as Beth's replacement, and he agreed, but Beth didn't. She stealthily stabbed Dawn, which led to her own tragic end. Daryl carried Beth's lifeless body out of the hospital, and as soon as Maggie saw what happened to her sister, she broke down.

Entertainment Weekly pointed out that Kinney's character went through a huge development this season of "The Walking Dead," and even had two big episodes with Reedus' Daryl on Season 4. She was previously a background character, but emerged "as a strong-willed survivor willing to speak her mind and take action while being held captive at Grady Memorial Hospital."

In an interview with TV Line, Kinney was emotional about her character's death. She said that she wasn't ready to say goodbye to her character yet.

"I think the writing throughout has been great, but I wasn't ready for it to be over," she said, according to the news outlet. "I think the Beth character, in particular... more could've been done with a teenager growing up [in that world]. I did not see it coming at all, especially this season."

"The Walking Dead" will return on February 8, according to AMC. Watch the episode's promo below.