Off-Screen Deaths That Still Haunt Us In 2023
Vote up the off-screen deaths from these movies and TV shows that still don't sit right.
One of the most unsettling things that can happen in an on-screen narrative is an off-screen death. Whether it's in a TV show or a movie, a character meeting their end when our attention is being pulled elsewhere is shocking, heartbreaking, and infuriating all at once. It's no wonder that these moments stick with us.
In 2023, we're looking back at some of the off-screen deaths that still seem to linger. In some cases, these characters face brutal, violent demises, while other times they simply slip away in the background, only to be acknowledged with an unceremonious eulogy. Regardless of how they unfold, these deaths always leave a lasting impression.
- 148 VOTESPhoto: New Line Cinema
In the twisted David Fincher-helmed Seven, grizzled veteran Detective Lieutenant William Somerset (Morgan Freeman) partners up with intense younger cop David Mills (Brad Pitt) to investigate a series of brutal murders inspired by the biblical seven deadly sins. Somerset befriends Mills's pregnant wife, Tracy (Gwyneth Paltrow), who voices her trepidation about raising a kid in their rain-soaked metropolis, and reveals that she has not yet told David about the baby.
As Mills and Somerset close in, the killer, John Doe (Kevin Spacey), shows up to surrender at their office, his hands soaked in blood. He instructs them to drive him to a desert location, which he claims houses his final two victims (representing the sins of envy and wrath). When the team arrives, a delivery van drops off a box marked "Fragile." As Somerset opens the box, Doe informs Mills that it contains the severed head of Tracy; it is David's "normal life" that John Doe himself envied. Tracy's off-screen demise is probably the single most memorable and poignant moment in an incredible movie.
(From Ranker contributor Alex Kirschenbaum)
- Photo: 20th Television
In Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 5, episode 15, titled "I Was Made to Love You," Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) arrives home to find her mother, Joyce (Kristine Sutherland), on the couch and unresponsive. It's later revealed she passed away from a brain aneurysm.
While Joyce's brain tumor had become a part of the storyline throughout Season 5, her surgery had been considered successful, and fans presumed the worst was behind her. After she'd been an anchor for Buffy since the beginning of the series, Joyce's loss was devastating for both her daughters, Buffy and Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg), and the fans.
The silver lining to this abrupt off-screen death is that the following episode, “The Body,” which follows Buffy dealing with the aftermath of her mother's death in heartbreaking detail, was critically acclaimed and touted as one of the best television episodes of the year.
(From Ranker contributor Sergio Pereira)
- 346 VOTESPhoto: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Taika Waititi's subversive film Jojo Rabbit pushes the limits in many ways, starting with its core concept of following young Hitler Youth member Jojo Betzle (Roman Griffin Davis), who happens to have Hitler himself (Waititi) as an imaginary friend. His mother, Rosie Betzle (Scarlett Johansson), is a covert member of the German resistance to Nazis near the end of WWII, though the audience is likely to pick up on this before Jojo does. Rosie has been harboring Jewish teen Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie) for her protection, much to Jojo's chagrin.
The Gestapo begin to look into Rosie's affairs as she heads into town. Jojo later discovers the dead body of Rosie, hung up in the town square. The reveal is downright chilling, as Rosie's distinctive shoes come into frame just beside Jojo's head, signaling the tragedy to the audience moments before Jojo sees her.
(From Ranker contributor Alex Kirschenbaum)
- Photo: Warner Bros.
During the pivotal Battle of Hogwarts in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2, the eighth chapter in the Harry Potter film saga, so much harrowing action goes down that not every death can be documented.
That extends to wizard-werewolf Remus Lupin (David Thewlis), who, along with his beloved wife Nymphadora Tonks (Natalia Tena), is slain by Death Eaters while fighting to protect the world from Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) and his cronies.
Lupin is a key character in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, a fan-favorite franchise installment, but is less present in later series entries. Killing off Lupin and Tonks so we could see that they died together battling for what they believed in is a powerful choice that shocks the fans and communicates the cost of war, even when the forces of good emerge victorious.
(From Ranker contributor Alex Kirschenbaum)
- 523 VOTESPhoto: RADiUS-TWC
It Follows has a chilling opening that previews the brutality, violence, and extreme tension of the film, without showing its central monster. Frightened teen Annie Marshall (Bailey Spry), running out of her house, then slowly walking backward down her street, all while keeping her eyes on something unseen behind the camera. She insists she's fine to concerned onlookers, but she continues retreating, as if drawing something away from her house. She then sprints around the street and runs back inside for a tense few seconds before reemerging with car keys.
She drives off to the beach, where she sits in her car's headlights as night falls. She leaves a phone message for her father saying how much she loves him. She seems to notice something moving in the distance. Then, a quick cut to the morning reveals her horrifically mutilated corpse laying on the beach, her leg snapped at the knee. It's a tense and gruesome start to the film that leaves the audience wondering what on Earth could have done that to her.
(From Ranker contributor Griffin Peters)
- 620 VOTESPhoto: 20th Century Fox
It’s one thing to die at the hands of a killer monster, but to die before the action even begins? That's a major bummer, and one that fans of the Alien franchise had to deal with when Newt (Danielle Edmonds) and Hicks (Michael Biehn) both die while in cryosleep during their escape pod’s crash landing. These losses are upsetting for plenty of reasons, but Newt's loss hurts more since she's just a child. Movies usually stick to the golden rule of not killing children, but at least Alien 3 has the decency to do so off-camera.
Additionally, it's heartbreaking, as Newt and Hicks are the only other two humans aside from Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) who survived the massacre of the previous film, Aliens, and the three of them became a type of found family. It's painful to watch Ripley perform an autopsy on Newt's adolescent body to ensure there are no alien eggs inside of her. Then, Newt and Hicks's cadavers must be burned to guarantee they won't be re-animated by the body-possessing aliens terrorizing Ripley. The off-screen losses pack even more of a punch since, under the dire circumstances, Ripley is unable to pay them the proper respects.
(From Ranker contributor Griffin Peters)
- 728 VOTESPhoto: Paramount Pictures
In the Coen Brothers' remake of True Grit, a special bond is formed between young Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) and US Marshal Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges). Mattie hires Rooster to avenge the murder of her father - a job he takes on begrudgingly but, ultimately, in noble fashion.
Twenty-five years after their adventure together, Cogburn invites a now-adult Mattie (Elizabeth Marvel) to check out a traveling Wild West show, where he is set to enact some stunts. Poignantly, an adult Mattie is informed that Cogburn passed three days prior to her arrival, and reflects on her life choices. It's bittersweet and painfully realistic to know they didn't get to reunite after growing so close.
(From Ranker contributor Alex Kirschenbaum)
- 825 VOTESPhoto: 20th Century Fox
As Major Alan “Dutch” Schaefer (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and his team are dispatched to South America on a mission, they soon learn the dangers of the titular creature in Predator. At one point, Billy (Sonny Landham) bravely chooses to sacrifice himself and fight off the creature that's been hunting him and his squadmates. As the rest of his remaining crew try to run away from the deadly Predator chasing them, Billy, without saying a word, drops his gun before taking out his long hunting knife and slowly slicing himself across the chest, hoping to draw the creature out.
Just a few moments later, the team hears his blood-curdling scream, signifying his quick death at the Predator's hands. Billy's noble off-screen sacrifice is even more wrenching knowing that the Predator still continues pursuing his allies.
(From Ranker contributor Griffin Peters)
- 917 VOTESPhoto: 20th Century Fox
Alien's Captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt) naturally tries to take responsibility for his crew, resulting in what can only be imagined as a brutal death.
After a spaceship is infiltrated by an alien that attaches itself to human faces before birthing more creatures inside the person's body, the being flees into the vast hallways of the ship, leaving the remaining crew members to hunt it down. They determine the creature must be in an air vent, and so Captain Dallas takes it upon himself to venture into the ducts, where he hopes to find and kill the creature.
Dallas begins searching the ducts, but when his team thinks the alien is heading right towards him, he climbs down a ladder. At the bottom of the ladder, he finds the creature waiting for him in the shadows. It pops out with its arms extended while screeching, and that's the last time the audience sees him. It's both a jump scare and an unsettling off-screen end that leaves viewers unsettled, not certain of exactly how grisly his end is.
(From Ranker contributor Griffin Peters)
- 108 VOTESPhoto: Universal Pictures
The Thing is a superb piece of storytelling that still leaves some things to the imagination. For instance, the research facilities chef, Nauls (T.K. Carter), disappears off-screen, and the audience is left wondering what may have happened to him.
The film is about an strange creature that infiltrates an Antarctic research lab and begins morphing into copies of various crew members after it kills them. This, of course, leaves everyone wondering who's real and who's fake. Tensions are sky-high, as it seems as though the second you leave the group, you're no longer safe - in fact, you're likely the Thing's next victim.
Nauls learns this the hard way when he goes off to investigate a noise he hears, never to be seen or heard from again. His death can be chalked up to yet another kill for the Thing, which is almost more chilling for not being directly explained.
(From Ranker contributor Griffin Peters)
- 1112 VOTESPhoto: ABC
In between the ninth and tenth seasons of The Goldbergs, patriarch Murray Goldberg passes away off-screen. His son, Adam, mentions early in Season 10, “Just a few months ago, out of nowhere, we lost my dad,” with no further insight into how it occurred.
In 2021, allegations surfaced that actor Jeff Garlin (who played Murray) had behaved inappropriately on the set of The Goldbergs. Garlin exited the show before filming of Season 9 concluded, so archival footage, CGI, and clever angles were used to keep the illusion of Murray's presence through the end of the season. When the show began production on its tenth and final season, the writers opted to briefly acknowledge his disappearance in order to focus on other members of the family - though it's jarring for viewers who aren't aware of the real reason Murray had to go.
(From Ranker contributor Sergio Pereira)
- 1213 VOTESPhoto: Fuji Television
When Kite goes down in Hunter x Hunter, it's after a major confrontation with Neferpitou, during which he manages to buy time for Gon and Killua to escape. Viewers don't get to see the rest of the battle as it cuts away. However, the next scene reveals the outcome in a devastating way, by showing Pitou sitting cross-legged on the ground with Kite's severed head in her lap.
The fact that we don't see the powerful Chimera Ant rip Kite apart makes it possible to believe in Gon's optimistic insistence that his mentor survived. This makes it all the more painful for the audience when Gon finds out his animated remains cannot be restored, and he's so devastated that he completely loses control of himself.
(From Ranker contributor Anna Lindwasser)
- 139 VOTESPhoto: MAPPA
When Ymir decides to go back to Marley with Reiner and Bertholdt in Attack on Titan, the audience knows it won't end well for her. Although Ymir's farewell letter to Historia served as closure for her character arc, it still wasn't enough to satisfy fans as her death was barely touched upon.
Instead of seeing her get eaten by Porco's titan in Marley, we only get a brief shot of her face as Porco talks about her death. Ymir may not have been a character with a lot of screen time, but we still wish we got to see her final moments properly.
(From Ranker contributor Anna Lindwasser)
- 1415 VOTES
Pixar's Coco is named for the frail, elderly Mamá Coco Rivera (Ana Ofelia Murguía), who struggles with memory issues but remains a mirthful and ebullient figure for her young grandson Miguel Rivera (Anthony Gonzalez). Near the end of the film, after Miguel's adventures in discovering the true identity of his great-great-grandfather, Mamá Coco dies off-screen. Her picture is given a venerated location on the family's ofrenda.
In the afterlife, Coco gets to reconnect with her family members who have passed on. The family is able to journey from the Land of the Dead to the Land of the Living to observe their still-breathing family perform a closing music number. This is certainly a bittersweet death, softened by the image of Coco's spirit at peace.
(From Ranker contributor Alex Kirschenbaum)
- 153 VOTESPhoto: HBO
In Succession Season 4, episode 3, titled “Connor's Wedding,” Logan Roy (Brian Cox) is onboard a flight to Sweden when he collapses in the plane bathroom. The flight turns around, but he passes away before it lands.
Though the grumpy patriarch had experienced numerous health issues throughout the series, and plenty of viewers thought we might see his end in the final season, few expected it to come so early and unceremoniously. Considering he and his children were still locked in heated debate over whether to sell Waystar RoyCo, many expected that conflict to reach more of a conclusion with one side or the other winning. Instead, he drops dead surrounded by Tom (Matthew MacFadyen) and the other sycophants in his entourage. The unexpected blow is delivered with classic Succession dramatic irony - if Logan had attended his son Connor's (Alan Ruck) wedding rather than skipping it for a business trip, he may well have gotten adequate medical attention and survived.
(From Ranker contributor Sergio Pereira)
- 163 VOTES
Donna Gable, 'Kevin Can Wait'
Photo: CBSIn between Seasons 1 and 2 of the Kevin James sitcom Kevin Can Wait, Donna Gable (Erinn Hayes) mysteriously dies. The show offers no explanation for how the main character's wife passed, with only one blink-and-you'll-miss-it line in the Season 2 premiere that indicates it has been over a year since she died.
Donna's strange, unexplained death was due to Hayes being let go from the sitcom after the first season for unspecified “creative” reasons. The decision seemed to be motivated to pave the way for Kevin James's co-star from previous sitcom The King of Queens, Leah Remini, to step into the secondary lead role after a guest appearance towards the end of Season 1. In retrospect, losing Donna - especially in such an abrupt, off-screen way - may have been a creative misfire, as Kevin Can Wait was canceled at the end of Season 2.
(From Ranker contributor Sergio Pereira)
- 178 VOTESPhoto: Toei Animation
Absalom is certainly an engaging character, a member of the Thriller Bark pirates who causes plenty of problems for Luffy and his crew in One Piece. After the Thriller Bark Saga, he pops up occasionally in later arcs, which makes it very shocking when his recurring appearances abruptly come to an end off-screen.
During the Wano Country arc, Absalom is kidnapped by Blackbeard so that he could take his life and take his Devil Fruit, the Clear-Clear Fruit. Viewers don't see this happening - in fact, it kind of seems like Absalom might actually be alive at first. His old friend Gecko Moria goes looking for him, and finds himself talking to someone he thinks is Absalom at first... but he soon realizes that it's actually an imposter, and Absalom hasn't been alive for a while. Naturally, the poor guy is shocked and devastated.
(From Ranker contributor Anna Lindwasser)
- 188 VOTESPhoto: Orion Pictures
It's no secret that some pretty nasty deaths have occurred at the hands of Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), the famed psychiatrist-turned-cannibal from The Silence of the Lambs - not to mention all its sequels and spin-offs. But one of Dr. Lecter's worst killings actually occurs off-screen after his first interaction with Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster).
While leaving her initial interview with Dr. Lecter at the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, Starling is disgustingly violated by Hannibal's next-door cellmate, Miggs (Stuart Rudin), when he throws his bodily fluid onto Starling's face. Lecter takes extreme offense to this act and decides Miggs needs to be punished. Lecter - known for his extraordinary mind and hypnotic speaking voice - convinces Miggs to swallow his own tongue, which kills him shortly after.
This is the first sign that Lecter has taken a strong interest in Starling, and it also shows the kind of person and mind she's now dealing with - shortly after this incident, Hannibal tells her he will, in fact, assist in finding Buffalo Bill, just as she originally requested.
(From Ranker contributor Griffin Peters)
