10 Actors Who Begged For Their Horror Movie Character To Die

So THAT's why a shark randomly killed Samuel L. Jackson.

samuel jackson deep blue sea
Village Roadshow Pictures

Sometimes, landing a dream role in Hollywood comes with a price. Often in the case of horror, it’s a swift and painful demise. However, some actors actually really want their character to shuffle off this mortal coil.

Whether it’s due to becoming disenfranchised with the character, thinking it would make the film better, contractual obligation or even used as a marketing ploy, actors have had a whole variety of reasons for wanting their character on the chopping block.

Hell, some only accepted a role only if their character would die afterwards. These have resulted in some of the most memorable death scenes in all of horror cinema, and also some of the saddest when fan-favourite characters finally bite the dust at the request of their actor.

For this list, many of these listed justifications will be included, as well some that have some external input too.

10. Simon Pegg And Edgar Wright - Land Of The Dead

samuel jackson deep blue sea
Universal Pictures

If it wasn’t obvious after the release of the fantastic zom-rom-com Shaun of the Dead in 2004, Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright are big zombie fans. They owe that love to the zombie overlord himself, George A. Romero. So much so, when it became apparent Romero was equally enamoured with the comedic pair, they were invited on the set of his upcoming film Land of the Dead.

That wasn’t all though. Pegg and Wright were actually offered small roles, and within a heartbeat they both begged Romero to be zombies. Their cameo is seen during the ‘zombie death match’ scene in which two zombies are chained up in a photo booth-style setup. Those two are Pegg and Wright, attempting to gnaw at the shoulders of the posers.

It’s obvious that they had an absolute blast on set, and in the full zombie makeup, as it was a bit of a dream come true for the both of them. Romero himself wore a Shaun of the Dead pin during production, and Pegg and Wright were deeply moved by his passing in 2017.

Not every day you get to ask your idol to, well, kill you.

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