History Main / DeadStarWalking

* In ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}!'', Creator/MasakazuMorita's character gets his face blown off [[GoryDiscretionShot during the closing]] of [[SacrificialLamb the very episode he first shows up in]]. Except [[spoiler:said character is Claire Stanfield, who not only survives but becomes a major player in the plot.]]

* In the ''LightNovel/TheEminenceInShadow'' anime, this is inverted. The first episode follows a {{DecoyProtagonist}}, only for the main character to be killed off and sent to another world.

* Manga/{{Barrage}} is named after a character who only lasts 5 pages in the first chapter before he's unceremoniously killed. [[spoiler:Subverted, as the reason he’s killed so fast is that he’s not the real Barrage. The actual one shows up later.]]

* Hampnie Hambart in ''LightNovel/SundayWithoutGod''. He dies at the end of the first arc after his wish for a happy death comes true.

* In the Creator/MarvelComics series ''Comicbook/{{Exiles}}'', Magnus was one of the six characters gathered in the first issue as a team of dimension-hoppers who must SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong. He was also clearly the most powerful of the six. In the second issue he dies, and it eventually became clear this was an inherent gimmick of the series to allow logical cast changes.

* The '90s animated ''WesternAnimation/XMen'' series mirrored Thunderbird's death on the modern team's second mission by including Morph, a character apparently introduced in the first episode just to be killed off immediately (he actually turns out to have survived in a later episode, whether that was intended in his "death" episode is debatable). The character was based on Changeling, the first X-Man to die in the comics.

* Like ''Series/{{Spooks}}'', FX Network's ''Series/{{Thief}}'' had a 6-episode first season. Like ''Series/{{Spooks}}'', it bumped off a name performer by the 2nd episode: Linda "''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' 1 and 2" Hamilton as the handler. Unlike ''Series/{{Spooks}}'', Hamilton was just the latest in a rather misogynistic streak. Including the handler, there were three surprising deaths in the first two eps -- all women. Unlike ''Series/{{Spooks}}'', ''Thief'' was not renewed beyond its initial 6 ep run.

* Prof. Heinz Schneider in ''Anime/ElCazadorDeLaBruja''. And he is voiced by [[NamesToKnowInAnime Shinichiro Miki]], to boot.

* ''Almost'' happened on ''Series/{{Lost}}''. The original plan was to have a reasonably well-known movie actor, such as Michael Keaton, be cast as Jack. All the promotions, released information, cast photos, and interviews would indicate that Keaton (or whoever was cast as Jack) was a permanent part of the show and would be the main character throughout. Then, halfway through the pilot episode, he'd be killed by the monster, thus putting everyone on notice that ''Series/{{Lost}}'' was a show where AnyoneCanDie and where crazy stuff happens all the time. Kate (possibly played by Yunjin Kim) would then become the leader and the show's hero. The network [[ExecutiveVeto vetoed]] the plan, believing the audience would feel manipulated and resentful. As a result, Matthew Fox was cast as Jack and the character of the pilot (played by Greg Grunberg) was created to die in Jack's place.

* Subverted in ''Series/StarTrekPicard'': publicity and trailers suggested that Dahj, played by Creator/IsaBriones, a mysterious young woman who seeks Picard's protection against equally mysterious assassins, would play a major role in the show. Dahj is caught and murdered by her pursuers at the end of the first episode, but the focus of the show then shifts to her identical twin Soji, who is [[PlayingYourOwnTwin also played]] by Briones.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Epic}}'': Despite being heavily promoted in promotional material, Queen Tara (voiced by Music/{{Beyonce}}) dies partway through the movie and gives the MacGuffin to the female lead. A lesser example happens with Dagda, son of the BigBad, who was also played up in promotional material but got killed earlier in the movie.

** The second season, meanwhile, opens with Creator/LelePons appearing as the opening victim in ''Murderville'', the [[StylisticSuck terrible movie]] that had been [[RippedFromTheHeadlines based on the Lakewood massacre]]. It's subverted within the "real" world, however, where the Ghostface trying to kill Audrey turns out to be a harmless prankster, though not before Audrey stabs him in self-defense.

** The second season, meanwhile, opens with Lele Pons appearing as the opening victim in ''Murderville'', the [[StylisticSuck terrible movie]] that had been [[RippedFromTheHeadlines based on the Lakewood massacre]]. It's subverted within the "real" world, however, where the Ghostface trying to kill Audrey turns out to be a harmless prankster, though not before Audrey stabs him in self-defense.

* The ''Series/{{Scream}}'' TV series.

* Creator/MinamiTakayama voices one of the four main leads of ''Anime/SenkiZesshouSymphogear'', Kanade who dies in a flashback in the first episode.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Epic}}'': Despite the promotional art and being voiced by Music/{{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 BigBad, who also got promotional art but gets killed earlier in the movie.

* In the ''ComicBook/LargoWinch'' series, Creator/DavidCarradine plays Largo's father Nerio. Naturally, [[PlotTriggeringDeedath he gets killed five minutes into the opening]]. Carradine later returned for two episode to play an evil impersonator.

* In the ''ComicBook/LargoWinch'' series, Creator/DavidCarradine plays Largo's father Nerio. Naturally, [[PlotTriggeringDeath he gets killed five minutes into the opening]].

* Games in ''VideoGame/TheDarkPicturesAnthology'' — where the whole point is that anyone can die or survive based on player choices — always feature a recognisable InksuitActor on the cover art and in one of the five leading roles. However, it's about a fifty-fifty chance whether they'll be [[PlotArmor incredibly hard to kill]] or will be one of the first characters who can bite the dust.

* Creator/PeterCook appeared in the first episode of ''Series/{{Blackadder}}'' as Richard III. As in the play and real life, he gets decapitated in battle, though he ghost haunts Edmund.

* NaiveNewcomer Holly hardly got to have any time to get to know her ''Series/{{CSI}}'' buddies before getting offed.

*** HBO gleefully marketed Creator/SeanBean as the [[DecoyProtagonist "main character"]] of the first season. He gets his head chopped off in the penultimate episode. [[ChronicallyKilledActor Bean]] was pretty famous for getting killed off in anything he was a star of (or co-star, or extra... okay [=ANYthing=] he was acting in) up to this point. So if it was a shock to anyone it shouldn't have been.

* The character Mia Fey is killed off in the second chapter of the first ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' game. Never mind the fact that her little sister is a channeler, making one wonder why they even bothered to have her killed.
** While the game was being developed, the producers felt that Phoenix had too many partner/support characters. Thus they combined two of them into one by having Mia die and be channeled by Maya. By the time games 2 and 3 roll around, channeling's gone from a simple way to talk to Mia to an actual plot device anyway.
** There's also a variation with Kristoph Gavin in ''Apollo Justice'', who appears on the box, is set up to be the mentor of the game, and turns out to [[spoiler: be the murderer in the first case.]]
*** He still ended up being a major character of a sort, though [[spoiler: (and the culprit in the game's final case).]]
* Near the start of ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoChinatownWars'' you meet Ling, an ActionGirl who is featured prominently on the game's box art and is quite clearly set up to be the main character's love interest. Then she gets killed in the second mission, and the rest of the game features no more female characters - yep, not only is the main character pretty much a ButtMonkey for the rest of the Triads, the very game itself cockblocks him!
* Eve in ''VideoGame/DeadToRights'' gets offed immediately after your EscortMission with her.

* In ''Series/KolchakTheNightStalker'' Creator/PhilSilvers guest starred in an episode, and was set up as an ally of Kolchak who would assist him through his adventure. Instead, he gets killed off about 15 minutes in.

* ''Series/The100'' was going to do this with Jasper. They set him up as a main character and had him speared in the chest at the end of the pilot- before deciding that they liked him too much and saving him.

*** Prior to the fourth season, Jack Gleeson (Joffrey) was put front and center in the show's publicity campaign, giving the most interviews and featuring heavily in the trailers and commercials, only for his character to be poisoned in the second episode.
*** Prior to the sixth season, Creator/NatalieDormer (Margaery) was put front and center in the marketing, giving far more interviews about the show than any of her co-stars, to the point of it being referred to as a "one-woman publicity tour", while Finn Jones, who played her brother, Loras, had recently been announced as the lead of Netflix's ''Iron Fist'', indicating that his future filming schedule wouldn't have much time for ''Game of Thrones''. Their characters were incinerated in the season finale.

** In ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'', Suzie Costello, played by Indira Varma, is the second-in-command of Torchwood Three... for most of episode one. Then she explains how she can't live without the job but is going to get fired when they find out she's been killing people for Resurrection Gauntlet test subjects and [[DrivenToSuicide puts a bullet in her skull]]. She comes back, though, and is revealed to have had a goddamn amazing GambitRoulette going ''which planned for her death and resurrection as a crucial stage'', in the episode "They Keep Killing Suzie". She was also featured heavily in the promotional material. ''Torchwood'' is an odd example in that its leading man and star gets killed several times a season. He [[ResurrectiveImmortality doesn't stay dead]] for long, though.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Creator/JossWhedon wanted to do this for Creator/EricBalfour as Jesse in the first episode, but was [[ExecutiveMeddling denied permission by the network.]] He ultimately got his wish in Season 6, when after thirty-nine appearances as a guest star Creator/AmberBenson was finally promoted to the show's full credits - just in time for her character Tara to be shot dead.
* Elias Koteas's character in ''Conviction'' appeared to be major, but when he was billed as a guest star in the first episode, it made it pretty obvious he was getting killed.

* Creator/ArchiePanjabi guest-stars in the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheBadBatch'' as the voice of Jedi Master Depa Billaba. Within the first few minutes, she gets gunned down during [[Film/RevengeOfTheSith Order 66]].

* The narrator of the Christmas episode of ''WesternAnimation/StrokerAndHoop'' was voiced by none other than moderately famous character Eli Wallach. He also turns out to be a turkey about to be taken to the slaughter.