Top 10 Movie And TV Characters Who DIED Too Soon

“Serenity” (2005)
Fans will tell you that everything about this franchise ended too soon. Although he’s not the only beloved “Firefly” character who dies in this movie, Wash’s death is by far the most shocking. After some incredible piloting through a vicious space battle, he successfully crash lands Serenity only to be immediately killed by a spear right in the middle of his moment of glory. It seems to come out of nowhere, and fans were left speechless and horrified. It’s amazing how attached you can get to a character after just one short season of TV and three quarters of a movie.

“House of Cards” (2013-18)
We understand that you want to open the second season of a TV show with a bang, but this character deserved better. Many viewers would argue that Zoe Barnes was what made the first season of “House of Cards” so compelling. That’s why her sudden murder came as such a surprise. It almost seemed as though the show’s writers were sabotaging themselves, since Zoe’s constant sparring with Frank was such a brilliant source of tension. Some fans felt that the show started to go downhill from this point. It was just never able to recapture the spellbinding drama of season one.

“X-Men: The Last Stand” (2006)
You could argue that the first two live-action movies in the “X-Men” franchise kicked off the golden age of the superhero genre. However, a lot of fans felt that Cyclops got short shrift, and it didn’t help that he was unceremoniously killed off at the beginning of the third film. The movie has to go to extremes to show us that Jean has lost control of her powers. But why not kill off a few innocent bystanders rather than the X-Men’s beloved leader? At least we got a glimpse of his beautiful eyes before Jean sucked the life out of him.

“The Wire” (2002-08)
Idris Elba’s criminal kingpin is one of the most compelling characters to appear on-screen in a long time. Brilliant, shrewd, and seemingly always three steps ahead, Stringer Bell often appears invincible despite the dangerous business he’s in. But in season three, he makes the mistake of pitting his adversaries against each other, and he pays the price. By this point in the series, Stringer was in his prime, building his business up into an empire through sheer force of will. The scene is oddly anticlimactic for the death of such a larger-than-life character.

“Godzilla” (2014)
We blame the trailers for this one. As the first American Godzilla movie since the critically panned 1998 version, there was a lot riding on this film. The future of the monster-verse was at stake! At the same time, Bryan Cranston was at the height of his powers, having just finished his brilliant five-year run as Walter White. It makes sense that the studios would want to play up his involvement in this movie. However, the marketing led viewers to believe that Cranston was the star, so it was quite a shock when his character was killed off less than halfway through. Worst of all, he dies off-screen in a totally underwhelming fashion. What a waste of a great actor.

“Downton Abbey” (2010-15)
Dan Stevens put the series’ writers in a tough spot when he decided to move on from the show. However, they could have found a more satisfying – or at least less pointless – way to write out his character. Just after the birth of his son, Matthew is in a random car accident and is killed. The scene lingers on his joyful wife and newborn baby while Matthew lies bleeding in the ditch. It feels not just emotionally manipulative, but inappropriate for a show that usually handled dramatic moments with a more skillful touch.

“Alien 3” (1992)
Even James Cameron was mad about this one. The third installment in the “Alien” franchise picks up right after the second left off, with Ripley and company forced to flee the Sulaco in an escape pod. They crash land on a strange planet, and we later learn that only Ripley survived. Neither she nor the audience even get a chance to react properly to this news, which seems to come completely out of left field. After everything they went through to survive and escape the Xenomorph queen in “Aliens,” these unceremonious deaths feel like an insult.

“The Walking Dead” (2010-22)
It’s extra jarring when a major character dies off-screen. In this case, not only does Carl die off-screen, he’s bitten off-screen too. A few episodes earlier, he and Siddiq encounter a group of walkers and seemingly fight them off with no issue. It isn’t until later that we learn that Carl was actually bitten and his death is imminent. After all that this poor kid has gone through in his short life, he deserves a better ending. That said, at least his final few scenes are effective at showing his maturity and his growth as a character.

“Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi” (2017)
The first episode of the sequel trilogy led us to believe that Supreme Leader Snoke was like a new version of the Emperor. He’s extremely powerful in the Force and a master manipulator behind the scenes. Then, in episode two, he dies, and we never learn anything else about him. Setting up a character to seem super important and then killing him off is pretty unsatisfying. How did Snoke rise to power? Why did Palpatine create him in the first place? And what happened to his face? Apparently we’ll never know. He’s not the only cool character that we wanted to see more of. Captain Phasma only gets a few scenes before falling to her fiery – and disappointing – death.

“Game of Thrones” (2011-19)
If you didn’t already despise Joffrey, you definitely will after what he does to Ned. We get that his death is basically the catalyst for all of the events that follow. It’s also accurate to the source material. But that doesn’t mean we have to like it. Ned is one of the few uncomplicated, honorable, and upstanding men in the series. He’s not interested in politics or drama, and just wants to do what’s right for his house and his family. When the little blonde creep forces him to make a false confession of treason and then has him beheaded anyway, everyone is outraged. Then again, it’s not like you can just let Sean Bean live.