This article obviously contains spoilers for different character deaths.So your hero or heroine has made it through to the end. Better yet, their story is continued in the sequel. And then, like that, they’re killed off before your very eyes. While not entirely common, it’s not totally out of place, with the horror genre (and its many sequels to flagship originals) especially prepared to kill off their main characters for a nostalgic boost mixed with an opportunity to move on with the story. These deaths can be throwaway, they can kick off a story, or they can be built up to an emotional climax to really bring it home that, yes, this probably is the last one in the series (or until that character is miraculously revived somehow). This list will go through some of the more shocking character deaths in sequels.
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Here’s the ground rules:
When we say “Main characters,” we are referring to the main cast of the previous film(s). This includes the main character, supporting cast in ensemble pieces, and/or their love interests. This does not include series villains (i.e. Voldermort, Freddy Krueger, Blowfeld).
In addition to direct sequels, parts three or higher of a series count. However, the character needs to have been featured in the original.
They have to die on screen. A mention of their death does not count (see: Sarah Connor in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Donna in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again).
Extra points if they’re killed off in the very first scene.
Professor Charles Xavier in X-Men: The Last Stand
20th Century Studios
When does it happen? 49 minutes 31 seconds in.
As a stalwart of the series, and having been such a rock throughout, Professor X’s death was a big one. Showing the tremendous power of Jean Grey and The Phoenix, she effortlessly lifts a whole house above the neighborhood. Xavier, in an attempt to reason with her, is caught in the crossfire, while the two mutant factions clash. Magneto and Wolverine will both attempt to stop it, but Charles can’t do anything more than accept his own fate with a final heartbreaking smile.
In a final moment of teaching, Xavier brings time to a halt to warn Jean: “Don’t let it control you.” X-Men: The Last Stand gets a lot of hate, but also brought in fan favorites like Beast, Angel, and The Juggernaut. In the end credits, however, perhaps he isn’t as dead as we first thought…
Vanessa Kensington in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
New Line Cinema
When does it happen? 4 minutes 05 seconds in.
Taking place immediately after the end of the first film, and after a long night of honeymoon shagging, Austin realizes that the beautiful Vanessa (Liz Hurley) is actually a nefarious Fembot sent by Doctor Evil in an assassination attempt.
Talk about retconning a story — this means that throughout the entirety of the original film, Austin was falling in love with an android. New love interest Felicity Shagwell would be drafted in for Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (and our personal favorite of the trilogy), played with aplomb by an incredibly game Heather Graham. On Vanessa’s head exploding, there is a brief moment of mourning for Austin, before it dawns on him: “That means I’m single again!”
Everyone Who Survived Aliens in Alien 3
20th Century Fox
When does it happen? Hicks and Co. at 7 minutes, 50 seconds, and Ripley at 2 hours, 17 minutes and 36 seconds.
Showing that Ripley really can’t catch a break, in the opening title sequence of Alien 3, we see that a face-hugger has stowed away on the ship, impregnated our heroine, and that in the landing, Hicks, Newt and Bishop didn’t make it. The heroic survivors, including the adorable and fierce Newt, all unceremoniously perished.
With her new family gone, Ripley finds herself stuck inside a prison with any number of nasty inmates and something much worse. Come the third act, rather than give herself up to The Company, Ripley dives into a vat of molten ore, killing herself and the Xenomorph queen inside her.
Alien 3 is another movie that gets a load of hate (even director David Fincher would go on to disown the movie), but we think it’s a darkly claustrophobic thriller with a really neat prison setting that stands out in the franchise. It’s an icky black sheep cousin to the movies that had come before it, but expands on the universe nicely. Michael Biehn, who plays Hicks, was noticeably unimpressed with his character being offed in the way they were.
Alice in Friday the 13th Part 2
Paramount Pictures
When does it happen? 11 minutes 46 seconds in.
After a direct recap on how the previous film ended, Friday the 13th Part 2 opens with final girl Alice awakes from a nightmare. She is living alone, and between getting calls from her worried mother and drawing frankly terrible self-portraits, the camera follows her silently around the house. Confusingly now a grown man (despite being seen as a child at the end of part one), Jason has left a severed head in Alice’s fridge, and with her back turned he sneaks up on the girl and plunges an ice pick into her temple.
We think this is a sequel that coherently improves on an original, and finally gave us Jason as a killer. This also features one of the best ever title cards in a movie, as the text “FRIDAY THE 13TH” physically explodes, making way for “PART 2.”
Randy in Scream 2
Miramax
When does it happen? 1 hour 5 minutes, 15 seconds in.
The Scream series has never pulled its punches when killing off fan favorites, with Scream 3 and Scream 5 both killing off some major players. Scream 2, a meta dissection of sequels and the horror genre, rivals its original and comes in with a bravado of confidence.
Now set on campus, murders have started up again. The gang splits up while film geek Randy keeps the killer on the line, but Ghostface is unfortunately closer than he thinks… This one hurts, but Randy’s final back and forth between the killer is some of the best of the rat-a-tat dialogue that the series has on show. And Randy would actually return in a video tribute in the third film as well.
Laurie Strode in Halloween: Resurrection
Dimension Films
When does it happen? Way too soon.
One of the worst sequels of all time, Jamie Lee Curtis’ desire to be done with the Halloween movie franchise led the people behind Halloween: Resurrection to kill her off near the very beginning of the movie. Not only is this entirely unceremonious and a pathetic death scene for the star protagonist of the franchise, but the rest of the film follows D-grade actors like Busta Rhymes and Tyra Banks kill screen time with no suspense or life whatsoever.
The New York Post aptly wrote, “It’s so devoid of joy and energy it makes even Jason X look positively Shakespearian by comparison.” Fortunately, Strode would be back with future films, which completelly retconned this mistake of a movie.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
When does it happen? 1 hour 42 minutes, 48 seconds in.
Improving on the original movie in every single way, Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan would give us the Enterprise crew at their best, and a fan favorite villain out for revenge. Coming in right at the end of this one, with The Enterprise on its last legs and in need of warp speed, Spock sacrifices himself to bring the ship back online.
In the process, he suffers from a heavy dose of radiation and dies. What follows is one of the most famous funeral scenes in all moviedom, and William Shatner’s voice breaking as he gives the eulogy is heartbreaking. But like many of the others on this list, Spock’s death wouldn’t last long. Star Trek 3, released just two years later, even came with the subheading The Search for Spock.
