History Main / DeadStarWalking

* In ''Film/ChildrenOfMen'', Julianne Moore is the second-billed actress after the star Clive Owen (possibly misleading some viewers into thinking she is the last pregant woman who Theo has to escort to safety). She gets introduced early on, and being Theo's ex-wife, starts setting up a sub-plot about the two of them reconnecting their lost love. Then they try to drive a young girl out of the country and Julian gets shot through the throat. All this happens in the first 20 minutes, and the rest of the film is centered around Theo helping said young girl after discovering she is pregnant.

See also BillingDisplacement, DeathByCameo and at times DecoyProtagonist.

** JamieBamber, period. Hoban is just one of ''many'' of his characters to be killed off--the very first of whom,[[TheScarletPimpernel Tony Dewhurst]], basically kicked off this trend by dying in the first episode of the series, just like Hoban did. Then, two others ([[HoratioHornblower Archie Kennedy]] and [[LawAndOrderUK Matt Devlin]]), perished in an eerily similar fashion (BloodFromTheMouth, HeroicSacrifice), and still another two (on ''Series/ColdCase'' and ''Series/GhostWhisperer'') bit the dust even faster than either Hoban or Dewhurst--they were onscreen throughout the entire episode, but had actually been killed off [[PosthumousCharacter within the first few minutes of the show]].

* In ''ChildrenOfMen'', Julianne Moore is the second-billed actress after the star Clive Owen (possibly misleading some viewers into thinking she is the last pregant woman who Theo has to escort to safety). She gets introduced early on, and being Theo's ex-wife, starts setting up a sub-plot about the two of them reconnecting their lost love. Then they try to drive a young girl out of the country and Julian gets shot through the throat. All this happens in the first 20 minutes, and the rest of the film is centered around Theo helping said young girl after discovering she is pregnant.

* Both Guy Pearce and Ralph Fiennes in ''TheHurtLocker''.

* William Hurt gets top billing as Duke Leto Atreides in SciFi Channel's ''{{Dune}}'' miniseries, despite his character getting killed at the end of part one (of three). Similar thing for Susan Sarandon in the sequel, but they did elevate her character more from the books.

* ValKilmer and Christian Slater in ''{{Mindhunters}}''.

* Aaron Eckhart plays the redneck boyfriend of the title character in the 2001 comedy ''Nurse Betty''...for all of 20 minutes, until he gets half his scalp ripped off and is shot as he pitifully tries to run away from the contract killers played by Creator/ChrisRock and MorganFreeman.
* In ''Film/OlympusHasFallen'', Ashley Judd plays Margaret Asher, the wife of President Benjamin Asher (AaronEckhart). At the end of the opening sequence, she dies when the limousine she's in crashes down into an icy river just after Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) rescues the President.
* Sophia Loren got top billing for ''Operation Crossbow''. She appeared for about 15 minutes and then was murdered by [[LaResistance the Resistance]] because she could compromise the mission.

* Eren Jaeger in {{Attack on Titan}} subverts this. He's eaten by a Titan fairly early on, but survives by turning into one and smashing his way out.

* Eren Jaeger in Attack on Titan subverts this. He's eaten by a Titan fairly early on, but survives by turning into one and smashing his way out.

** [[Film/{{Scream 4}} The fourth film]] kills off five characters -- including LucyHale and AnnaPaquin -- before the title card. (Though Paquin was not killed in the movie, but in the [[ShowWithinAShow movie within a movie]].

** In ''Film/{{Alien 3}}'', Dr. Clemens (played by CharlesDance) is set up to be the main male character, but gets killed about an hour in, and Dillon takes over the role for the rest of the film.

* Alexander Skarsgård of ''TrueBlood'' fame is billed as one of the main characters in the ''Film/{{Battleship}}'' film. He is killed by the aliens' opening volley. Surprisingly, Liam Neeson, who also gets top billing, survives until the end, but only because he remains outside of the action and doesn't even get a chance to be in danger.

* Jennifer Lopez in ''Jersey Girl''; not only does Lopez get second billing in promotional material, but upon first glance she appears to be the title character of the movie. Ten minutes in, she dies during childbirth -- and we find out that her ''daughter'' is arguably the title character. After the "Bennifer" craze sprung up, the studio made KevinSmith film more scenes so that they could push J-Lo's death to halfway through the film, which would have totally undone the whole point of the story. Fortunately the failure of ''{{Gigli}}'' combined with Creator/BenAffleck and Lopez ending their relationship let Smith go back to his original idea. It also meant they had to spoil the death in the advertising to make it seem less like ''{{Gigli}}''.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Epic}}'': Despite the promotional art and being voice by {{Beyonce}}, you thought her character, Queen Tara, would stay alive throughout the whole movie except that she dies and gives the MacGuffin to the female lead, which drove the main plot. This also goes the same with Dagda, son of the BigBadm who also got promotinal art but gets killed earlier in the movie.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Epic}}'': [[spoiler: Gee, you thought Queen Tara (voiced by Beyonce) is going to do a lot of ass-kicking throughout the whole movie except that she dies and gives the MacGuffin to MK. This also goes the same with Dagda who gets killed by Ronin earlier in the movie.]]

** JamieBamber, period. Hoban is just one of ''many'' of his characters to be killed off, to the point where two of them ([[HoratioHornblower Archie Kennedy]] and [[LawAndOrderUK Matt Devlin]]), died in an eerily similar fashion (BloodFromTheMouth, HeroicSacrifice), one ([[TheScarletPimpernel Tony Dewhurst]]) died in the first episode of the series, just like Hoban did, and two others (on ''Series/ColdCase'' and ''Series/GhostWhisperer'') bit the dust even faster than this--they were onscreen throughout the entire episode, but had actually been killed off [[PosthumousCharacter within the first few minutes of the show]].

** JamieBamber, period. Hoban is just one of ''many'' of his characters to be killed off, to the point where two of them ([[HoratioHornblower Archie Kennedy]] and [[LawAndOrderUK Matt Devlin]]), died in an eerily similar fashion (BloodFromTheMouth, HeroicSacrifice), one [[TheScarletPimpernel Tony Dewhurst]] died just as rapidly as Hoban did, and two others (on ''Series/ColdCase'' and ''Series/GhostWhisperer'') technically bit the dust even faster than this--they were onscreen throughout the entire episode, but had actually been killed off [[PosthumousCharacter within the first few minutes of the show]].

** FreemaAgyeman was heavily involved in the promotion of the remake of ''Series/{{Survivors}}''. She dies halfway through the first episode. To add to the impact, the character she played was, in the original, the only one to survive for the entire show.

Basically, a subversion of ContractualImmortality. This trope is occasionally used to effect (or ''[[MauveShirt affect]]'') AnyoneCanDie. In pilot episodes, it's also an early indicator of SacrificialLamb. It tends to be less surprising in television because it's generally assumed that MelGibson isn't going to be sticking around your family sitcom forever.

See also BillingDisplacement, DeathByCameo and at times DecoyProtagonist. A warning to budding directors: can be ''slightly'' undermined by casting a ChronicallyKilledActor, however A-List they may be... unless careful.

See also BillingDisplacement, DeathByCameo and at times DecoyProtagonist.

** JamieBamber, period. Hoban is just one of ''many'' of his characters to be killed off, to the point where two of them ([[HoratioHornblower Archie Kennedy]] and [[LawAndOrderUK Matt Devlin]]), died in an eerily similar fashion (BloodFromTheMouth, HeroicSacrifice), one (in TheScarletPimpernel) died just as rapidly as Hoban did, and two others (on ''Series/ColdCase'' and ''Series/GhostWhisperer'') technically bit the dust even faster than Hoban did--they were onscreen throughout the entire episode, but had actually been killed off [[PosthumousCharacter within the first few minutes of the show]].

* BruceCampbell in ''FromDuskTillDawn 2: Texas Blood Money''. He received top billing, but not only does he die very quickly, his "death" is part of an in-film movie that a character is watching.