Spoilers Ahead
Nobody likes a spoiler and yet everybody likes a spoiler. Some of these you'll know and others you won't. So, one more time....SPOILER ALERT!
The Empire Strikes Back
Where else to begin than maybe the greatest reveal/spoiler of all time. Ready for it? Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's father.
Lucasfilm, Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
The Sixth Sense
This one established M Night Shyamalan as one of the masters of the plot twist: Bruce Willis' character is killed at the beginning of the movie and is dead the whole time.
Hollywood Pictures, The Sixth Sense (1999)
Black Swan
In Black Swan, the ballet world isn't just cut throat, it's stabbing. But when it appears that Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) stabs Lily (Mila Kunis) the night of the big performance, it's later revealed to be a hallucination and in actuality, Nina stabbed herself.
Searchlight Pictures, Black Swan (2010)
The Prestige
A magician never reveals his tricks. But in The Prestige, the tricks are revealed to involve identical twin and clones.
Warner Bros., The Prestige (2006)
Fight Club
Brad Pitt and Edward Norton's characters are complete opposites in Fight Club. Well, actually, they are opposite personalities of Norton's character.
Twentieth Century, Fight Club (1999)
Final Destination 5
The characters who escape death at the beginning of the film eventually all perish in a plane explosion at the end. But not just any plane explosion—the one that Alex Browning (Devon Sawa) has his vision of in the first Final Destination film.
New Line Cinema, Final Destination 5 (2011)
Oldboy
Oh Dae-su escapes after being held captive for 15 years. While on his revenge tour, he meets and falls in love with a younger girl named Mi-Do. Sweet right? WRONG! Turns out his captor had set up the meeting—Mi-Do is Oh Dae-su's daughter.
CJ Entertainment, Oldboy (2003)
Saw
Adam and Lawrence are chained up in a room with a lifeless body and a saw and instructions that they must kill the other one if they want to live. At the end, the lifeless body in the room rises and is revealed to be Jigsaw (their captor).
Twisted Pictures, Saw 1 (2004)
Primal Fear
In the role that made him a star, Edward Norton plays a man accused of murder who pleads innocent on account of having a split personality. Richard Gere plays his lawyer and gets him off the hook. It is only then that Norton reveals his true nature as the evil part of his personality (the quiet, innocent part was all an act).
The Village
Another M Night Shyamalan movie—The Village, which appears to take place in the early 1900s, is actually in the present day (the leaders of the village have just opted out of the modern world).
Touchstone, The Village (2004)
The Usual Suspects
Who is Keyser Söze? Kevin Spacey's character, Verbal Kint, tells the authorities all about the mysterious Keyser Söze—when in fact, it is him the whole time.
PolyGram, The Usual Suspects (1995)
Dallas
Season 3 ended with JR Ewing getting shot, and all summer people were asking—"Who shot JR?". It was his sister-in-law, Kristin Shepard.
Gossip Girl
So, who was Gossip Girl? Turns out it wasn't a girl at all. It was Dan.
Warner Bros., Gossip Girl (2007–2012)
Squid Game
Oh Il-nam was just an old man participating in the Squid Games as a fun thing to do before he perished—and we were all sad when he lost the game and was slain. Until we found out that he wasn't slain and he wasn't just some sweet old man. He was, in fact, the mastermind behind the Squid Games and the man running them for years.
Netflix, Squid Game (2021–2025)
Westworld
Season 1 of Westworld had multiple interesting storylines and a number of shocking moments—but none more shocking than when Bernard was revealed to be a Host.
Supernatural
Chuck is God.
Warner Bros. , Supernatural (2005–2020)
Twin Peaks
Who killed Laura Palmer? The answer was finally revealed in the seventh episode of season 2 when we all learned that it wasn't exactly Bob like many thought—it was Laura's father, Leland Palmer, who was possessed by Bob.
Breaking Bad
Vince Gilligan—the creator of Breaking Bad—often talked about how Walter White's journey was set up as a character arc going from Mr Chips to Scarface. And just like Scarface, Walter White perishes at the end from machine gun fire.
Now You See Me
FBI agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) was in on the scheme the whole time.
Summit Entertainment, Now You See Me (2013)
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Steve Martin and Michael Caine play con men working to trick Glenne Headly out of $50,000. But in the end, it is they who are swindled by Headly, who turns out to be a con artist herself.
Orion, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)
Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince
Snape kills Dumbledore.
Warner Bros., Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part One
Dobby the elf dies.
Warner Bros., Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)
The Sopranos
The final moment of the series sees Tony and the family sitting at a table at a diner when a man in a Members Only jacket walks through the door. Tony looks up and the screen cuts to black (the assumption being, by many, that Tony was slain—probably by the man in the Members Only jacket).
Seinfeld
Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer are found guilty of criminal indifference (they watched a man get mugged and did nothing to help) and sentenced to a year in prison.
Murder On The Orient Express
They all did it.
Twentieth Century, Murder on the Orient Express (2017)
Crazy, Stupid, Love
Ryan Gosling starts dating Emma Stone who we later find out is Steve Carell's daughter.
Carousel Productions, Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011)
Memento
Leonard Shelby has memory problems. As he searches for the person who killed his wife, he eventually learns that he is the one that killed her via an insulin overdose.
Newmarket Capital Group, Memento (2000)
The Others
Grace Stewart (Nicole Kidman) and her two kids are actually ghosts.
Orphan
The adopted child Esther is really Leena—a murderous, stunted-growth, 33-year-old woman.
Phone Booth
The man the authorities take down at the end isn't the person who had made the phone call and held Stuart captive in the phone booth.
Twentieth Century, Phone Booth (2002)
Planet Of The Apes
When we see the Statue of Liberty sticking out of the sand at the end of the movie, we realize that they have been on earth the whole time.
Twentieth Century, Planet of the Apes (1968)
The Good Place
They are actually in the Bad Place.
Fremulon, The Good Place (2016-2020)
Friends
The end of season 4 is the wedding of Ross and Emily. During the "I dos," Ross says "Rachel" instead of "Emily". Ooooops!
Warner Bros., Friends (1994–2004)
Game Of Thrones
Ned Stark is beheaded in the ninth episode of the first season.
HBO, Game of Thrones (2011–2019)
Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.
S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Ward was actually working for HYDRA.
Marvel, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013–2020)
24
Nina was working for the enemy.
The Mandalorian
Luke Skywalker shows up in the season 2 finale.
Lucasfilm, The Mandalorian (2019-)
How I Met Your Mother
After his mother passes, Ted pursues the love he always had for Robin—and they end up together.
20th Century, How I Met Your Mother (2005–2014)
St. Elsewhere
This critically-acclaimed medical drama ran for six seasons on NBC in the '80s. But guess what? In the final episode, it is revealed that the entire show actually took place in the head, and imagination, of an autistic boy.
