10 Characters Who Survived The Movie (Only To Suddenly Die In The Sequel)
6. Count Dooku - Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones
Count Dooku is one of the most badass villains in all of Star Wars, portrayed by legendary actor Christopher Lee. He appears for the first time in Attack of the Clones and is the leader of the Separatist movement against the Galactic Republic.
His presence is overwhelming, and there’s a fantastic lightsaber battle at the end where he fights Obi-Wan, Anakin Skywalker and Yoda. At one point Anakin is wielding two lightsabers at once, and even that isn't enough to stop Dooku. This guy can't be defeated that easily.
And then he suddenly dies pretty easily in the opening sequence of Revenge of the Sith. Dooku dying was obviously a vital plot point that was always going to happen, and of course this prequel trilogy is really like one giant story rather than Revenge of the Sith being some hastily thrown together sequel.
But like most of these other examples, Dooku seems to just suddenly shrink in importance between movies. In Episode II, he's a totally unstoppable force who seems like he's going to take a lot of effort to overcome, and when he survives the movie, you figure there's going to be some epic battle against him in Episode III. But nope, the film just tosses him aside and moves right along.