When you watch a movie, you generally expect each character’s storyline to be completed by the end of the movie. Not necessarily wrapped up where you know the exact future of the characters you just got to know for over 90 minutes, but wrapped up where you at least have a general idea of how that story will come to an end. Many movies don’t close the story neatly with a bow, but usually there’s an inkling of how a character’s story actually ends.
But just because the audience knows for sure or has a strong indication of how a character’s story ends doesn’t mean it’s a satisfying ending. It’s true that a movie doesn’t have to give its characters a perfect happy ending for the movie to be good or even for the character’s arc to be complete. The ending just has to make sense for each character’s personality and the decisions made throughout the story. Nevertheless, sometimes we as audiences just want to see certain characters have happy endings. Whether it makes perfect sense to the movie’s big story or not, there are just certain characters that we think deserve a happy ending, regardless of what happened in the movie. That said, here are eight movie characters who deserved a happy ending but didn’t get one:
8 Queen Amidala – Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005)
Queen Amidala’s death in childbirth Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith has been an upset for many fans over the years since its release. Amidala’s death while giving birth to twins to coincide with her husband Anakin becoming Darth Vader is truly heartbreaking. It should be a joyous moment for Amidala and also for Anakin as they both become parents, but it turns out to be a devastating ordeal.
Instead of feeling joy in a life-changing moment like childbirth, Amidala is left alone with no loved ones except the twins she had just brought into the world. Her husband eventually chose the dark side over his family, and the looming threat of his actions looms over Amidala and her newborn children. She deserved better from Anakin and she deserved to be able to live and see her kids grow up.
7 Leslie Burke – Bridge to Terabithia (2007)
bridge to Terabithia is a fantasy adventure that follows a young boy and girl who escape their problems by creating a magical world in the woods near their homes. Together they battle fantastical monsters while also fending off bullies in the real world.
The friendship between Jess (Josh Hutcherson) and Leslie (Anna Sophia Robb) is incredibly sweet and innocent. They understand each other in a way that the other children and even their own families don’t understand. They can both be themselves with each other while simultaneously pretending to be superheroes in their own imaginative realm. So when Leslie dies trying to make it back to their kingdom on her own, it comes as a shock to both Jess and the audience. Everything about her death is heartbreaking and undeserved. She was only 11 years old and she died trying to reach Terabithia without her best friend by her side. She deserved way more than the short life she got, but there’s some comfort in knowing she was always happy when she was with Jess.
6 Satin – Moulin Rouge! (2001)
In many of Baz Luhrmann’s films, the characters are thrown into chaos and killed unjustly. This certainly applies to the bohemian musical of the eccentric director, Moulin Rouge! The film follows the budding relationship between the new writer, Christian (Ewan McGregor), and courtesan Satine (Nicole Kidman), who still has to fight for her spot on stage and hide her relationship with Christian from the ultra-controlling Duke, who is in love with her. That’s not even the worst part, because she was battling illness the entire time they were rehearsing for their new show.
Aside from the fact that she and Christian were practically made for each other, Satine had so much potential to accomplish greater things. She was talented enough to get out of the Moulin Rouge and maybe become famous outside of Paris. She also hadn’t had to hide her true self from the Duke for fear he would interfere with the show they’d all worked so hard to create. Most importantly, she didn’t deserve to die of tuberculosis on stage. She deserved to live the life she wanted with the man she loved.
5 Jack Dawson – Titanic (1997)
There has been a debate over the ending of Jack Dawson’s story in Titanic for years now. People are still arguing over whether he and Rose could have both shared the door she was floating on after the ship sank. While that debate has gotten tiresome over the years, it doesn’t change the fact that Jack still deserved better.
Jack was a working-class man who had the potential to do something great with his life. He was smart, charming and a talented performer. He could have made a name for himself in the art world if given the chance. Jack loved Rose, so it makes sense that he’d let her use the door to keep her out of the freezing water, but it doesn’t change the fact that he deserved the chance to make something special of his life.
4 Lee Abbott – A Quiet Place (2018)
It is a parent’s job to protect their children, whatever the cost. That’s exactly how John Krasinski’s Lee Abbott operates A quiet place, written and directed by Krasinski himself. The world in which Lee and his family live is filled with monstrous creatures lurking in the shadows. Any sound just loud enough for another person to hear can cause these vicious creatures to attack. The only way to stay alive is to stay still.
This is a bit of a challenging task for Lee’s oldest child, Regan (Millicent Simmonds), who is deaf. Lee worked tirelessly to design a hearing aid that would allow his daughter to hear real sounds that will make her life a little more full and protect her from the constant threat of danger that threatens their family. Lee’s sole purpose in life was to protect his family, and he died doing just that. He distracted the monsters that invaded his house so his children could get away unharmed, which is probably one of the noblest things a parent can do. Lee made the right decision to sacrifice himself for his children, but it’s disturbing that he even had to make the choice. He deserved to see his children grow up and raise his newborn son.
3 Black Widow – Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, has played an important role in the MCU over the years. She went from being a Russian spy to working as an agent for S.H.I.E.L.D. and then becoming a founding member of the MCU’s Avengers team. She literally put her blood, sweat and tears into being an Avengers and helping them save the world over and over again.
Black Widow always gave her all when fighting alongside the Avengers, but her character was never treated with the same respect as some of the other original Avengers. Her characterization was different in every movie she appeared in, leaving the character without any consistency. Fans have been begging for a solo Black Widow movie for years and she finally got one in 2021, but it came two years after her character’s death. Avengers: endgame. This left her solo film with no significant stakes as her character’s fate was already sealed. Her death itself was disappointing. She sacrificed her life on Vormir for the Soul Stone and was not even given a funeral or memorial service. She deserved better than what the MCU gave her.
2 Han Solo – Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
Space villain Han Solo is one of the most loved by Star Wars fans. His grumpy, sardonic nature is part of his charm and one of the reasons fans around the world have loved him since the original. Star Wars came out in 1977. That, and Harrison Ford’s equally sardonic performance that catapulted him to stardom.
Fans rejoiced when they saw the original space cowboy back on the big screen Star Wars: The Force Awakens came out in 2015. Despite Harrison Ford himself wanting to kill off the character, most fans didn’t feel the same way. Especially when Han’s death came at the hands of his own flesh and blood, his son Ben Solo. Han deserved to see Leia again and help her bring their son back to light.
1 Mathilda – Leon: The professional (1994)
Adding another character, played by Natalie Portman, to the mix, Mathilda van Leon: The professional had a hard life. Her father was a drug dealer for some pretty bad people, which subsequently killed her entire family. As the only survivor of her family, Mathilda sought refuge with a highly skilled assassin who trained her in the trade so she could exact revenge on the corrupt DEA agent who left her orphaned.
Mathilda and Leon eventually bonded over their time spent together and essentially developed a father-daughter relationship. He became the only other person in the world she cared about, and he realized he would do anything to protect her. So when Leon was killed and Mathilda was left alone again, it was heartbreaking. She was able to take care of herself better than before she met Leon, but she was only 12 and left another orphan. She deserved to live out the rest of her childhood happily with Leon as her parental figure.