9 Beloved Movie Characters Who Were Killed Off-Screen Between Sequels

Undeniably, Laurie Strode is one of the most popular final girls of them all from the horror genre. Played by Jamie Lee Curtis in the original Halloween from 1978, the teenage babysitter was one of the first adversaries of Michael Myers along with Dr. Loomis. She reprised the role in Halloween II and had a voice cameo in the standalone film Halloween III: Season of the Witch, but when producers asked her to come back for The Return of Michael Myers, Curtis wasn’t interested.

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Going without Laurie Strode meant bringing in a new protagonist, introducing Danielle Harris as Laurie’s daughter Jamie Lloyd. The sequel also establishes that Laurie had died in an automobile accident since the events of Halloween II, which is why Jamie lives with a foster family in Haddonfield. Of course, Laurie would ultimately be resurrected twice for the sequel Halloween: H20 and David Gordon Green’s 2018 movie, and it could also be argued her off-screen death in Part 4 was still better than her on-screen death in Resurrection. 

Oy, what a confusing timeline…

There may not be any man sharks fear more than Martin Brody from Steven Spielberg’s horror classic Jaws. Portrayed by Roy Scheider, the police chief is tasked with taking on a giant great white shark after the hungry sea creature starts eating swimmers at the beach. He enlists the help of a marine biologist (Richard Dreyfuss) and a shark hunter (Robert Shaw) to deal with the shark, ultimately managing to defeat the beast at the climax of the film. Still, that wouldn’t be the end of battling sharks for Brody, as Scheider came back to reprise the role for the 1978 sequel Jaws 2.

Because Scheider had no interest in appearing in Jaws 3-D, the third film follows Brody’s children while leaving the police chief out of the story entirely. While not appearing in the film, the character is clearly still alive. However, the fourth installment in the franchise, Jaws: The Revenge, decided the time had come to kill Brody off. In the sequel, it is revealed Brody had passed away from a heart attack shortly before the start of the film, leaving his wife Ellen a widow.

One of the greatest sequels of all time is, without a doubt, James Cameron’s 1986 sci-fi hit Aliens. Featuring Sigourney Weaver returning as Ellen Ripley from Alien, the film is arguably even better than the first (which is also amazing). The film also offers a very satisfying ending by keeping four of its most likable characters alive, sparing Hicks (Michael Biehn), Newt (Carrie Henn), and Bishop (Lance Henriksen) along with Ripley. In the sequel’s closing moments, the four enter a state of hypersleep as their escape pod ventures back to Earth.

“Not so fast,” says Alien 3. In the controversial sequel, which does not boast the same reputation as its predecessors, Ripley wakes up to discover Hicks and Newt have both died. The two had apparently perished when their escape pod crash-landed, and a scan shows that a face-hugger can even be seen attached to one of their faces. This creative decision is chief among the complaints of Alien 3, as nobody wanted to see the two of them survive Aliens just to die off-screen.

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There is now an alternative way to continue the story of Aliens for fans unhappy with the third Alien movie. Michael Biehn reprises the role of Hicks for the audiobook version of writer William Gibson’s unused Alien 3 screenplay, along with Lance Henriksen as Bishop. It’s audio only, but you’ll still probably enjoy it much better than the film if Hicks and Newt’s deaths got under your skin. You can listen to it on Audible.

The odds have always been against Sarah Connor’s survival in the Terminator movies, as the character was the very first target of Skynet back in the 1984 original. Portrayed by Linda Hamilton, Sarah mostly relied on the protection of time traveler Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) to keep her alive. The sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, shows just how much Sarah has since evolved, as she has become a very prepared and formidable foe to the dastardly killer robots from the future.

When Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines was released in 2003, Hamilton was not interested in appearing. Rather than recast the role of Sarah Connor as they did with her son John, the T3 team chose to simply kill her off instead. According to dialogue in the film, Sarah died from acute myeloid leukemia, but not before leaving behind a casket filled with weaponry for John and his protector Terminator to use.

It was disappointing to see one of sci-fi’s most beloved movie characters written off in this fashion, but by ignoring this and the other sequels of the series, Terminator: Dark Fate resurrects Hamilton as Sarah to give the actress proper closure for her run as Sarah Connor.

Played by Marcus Chong, Tank was a fun character from the original Matrix movie who proves his worth by saving Neo from the traitor Cypher. As the pilot of the hovership Nebuchadnezzar, Tank was still alive by the movie’s end, and it seemed like he would be all set to reappear in the next installment of the series. However, negotiations with Chong to return fell through, and the studio opted not to bring him back. Chong later filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. for breaching an agreement for him to reprise the role in the film.

Trouble behind the scenes may have led to Chong’s exit from the franchise, but a much worse fate would await his character. In The Matrix Reloaded, it is revealed Tank died sometime between the first movie and the second, as his sister Zee casually mentions she “lost two brothers” – referring to Tank and Dozer. Taking his spot as the new ship operator is Tank’s brother-in-law Link, played by Oz star Harold Perrineau.

Devon Sawa stars as Alex Browning in the first Final Destination movie, which spawned a successful horror franchise. In the film, Alex envisions the aircraft he’s on blowing up mid-flight and killing everyone on board. Frightened by the experience, he escapes the plane along with a few friends, only to see it burst into flames in the sky just as he predicted. With the grim reaper finishing its work by taking out the survivors one by one, Alex spends the film trying his best to find a way out of his inevitable death, seemingly succeeding by the end of the movie.

Sadly for Alex, the character is nowhere to be seen when Final Destination 2 was released. Although it featured the return of fellow survivor Clear Rivers, the film notes that Alex has died before the start of the sequel after a brick had fallen on him from above. Now, it’s obviously possible for a person to be killed by an object falling from the sky, but this death just seems so… simple, given the character’s prominence in the first film and just how creative the invisible grim reaper has proven to be with its other kills.

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Of course, it’s not uncommon for the main characters to die in Final Destination movies. That’s apparently part of the game with this franchise. But at least they usually manage to have proper death scenes by dying in the same film (or even a sequel in Ali Larter’s case), unlike the original star of the story. Does it not seem underwhelming to be so easily killed by a falling stone after cheating death in such a grand fashion?

Vin Diesel is now probably best known for continuously starring in the ongoing installments of The Fast and the Furious franchise, but fans of his earlier films will certainly remember 2002’s xXx. Created by Rich Wilkes, the action film stars Diesel as stuntman Xander Cage, who becomes a spy for the NSA to infiltrate a terrorist group. It’s a fun popcorn flick that turned out to be very successful, topping $277 million at the box office.

When the first sequel, xXx: State of the Union, was released in 2005, it starred Ice Cube as a new agent adopting the “xXx” moniker. Reportedly, this was because Diesel had dropped out of the project after reading the screenplay, leading to a rewrite with a new character. In the film, Diesel’s absence is touched on by way of explaining Xander Cage had died during a mission gone wrong. A short film included in the DVD’s special features depicts the character’s death with Diesel’s stunt double in the role, but all we see in the sequel itself is Xander casually killed off with a line of dialogue.

Fortunately for the character and fans of the original film, the 2017 sequel xXx: Return of Xander Cage corrected this mistake by revealing Xander had, in fact, faked his death. Diesel is also set to play the role again in a fourth film currently in development.

The classic 1976 drama Rocky might be a boxing movie, but at the heart of the plot is a touching love story between a lowly fighter and a pet store worker. Although initially apprehensive, Talia Shire’s Adrian Pennino falls just as hard for Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa as he does her, and the two are together by the movie’s end. The following sequels would explore the relationship and marriage between Adrian and Rocky all the way through his boxing career, with Shire reprising the role in each installment up to Rocky V.

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Sadly, when Stallone returned to step into the ring one last time as the Italian Stallion for 2006’s Rocky Balboa, it was revealed the character had since become a widower. In the sequel, it’s explained Adrian died from cancer four years prior to the start of the film, and Rocky has opened a restaurant named after her in her memory. It deepens Rocky’s development and makes for a very moving story, but it’s certainly depressing as hell.

Whenever any of us may think of the 1996 sci-fi classic Independence Day, chances are Will Smith will be the first name that comes to mind. Considering Jeff Goldblum is in the same film, that’s certainly saying a lot. Nobody can forget the way Smith’s character taunts an invading alien with a snarky one-liner with a stogie in the corner of his mouth, nor could any of us ever hope to be that damn cool. The character was a total badass, and nobody on the planet had to worry too much about aliens with Steven Hiller on their side.

When Independence Day: Resurgence was released twenty years later, Goldblum was back in the same role he played in the original, but Smith was nowhere to be found. According to the director, Smith was “too expensive” to bring back, while Smith would claim he had to turn the role down due to scheduling conflicts with Suicide Squad.

In any case, Resurgence killed off one of our most beloved movie characters by explaining that he had died nine years prior while test-piloting an experimental prototype fighter built with alien technology. It makes for a really disappointing end for the seemingly-unstoppable hero.