10 Doomed Movie Characters Saved By Reshoots

Filmmaking is a fickle, fragile process, and sometimes directors and studios don't quite realise how a movie is coming together until they've screened it for a test audience.

Though test audiences have famously ruined so many films over the years with their preference for unchallenging storytelling and happy endings, they've also saved a number of characters from a premature demise.

These 10 movie characters were all originally supposed to die in their respective films, but once it was screened for the studio or a test audience, it was made abundantly clear that this was the wrong way to go.

And so, the cast and crew returned for reshoots, to film an alternate sequence which kept the character(s) in question very much alive, in many cases ensuring they could return for a sequel or four.

Granted this isn't always a good thing, as at least one character on this list is one most fans probably wished had just stayed dead, but for the most part these characters got a welcome stay of execution in the months or even weeks before their movie hit screens...

A lot of people die in Deadpool 2, most notably Wade Wilson's (Ryan Reynolds) girlfriend Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), who is accidentally killed by a goon during an attempt on Wade's own life.

And then there's the much-loved schlub Peter (Rob Delaney), who briefly joins Deadpool's X-Force team in the middle of the movie only to be killed when the mutant Zeitgeist (Bill Skarsgård) accidentally spews acid all over him.

Originally both of these deaths were supposed to stick, but during post-production the filmmakers had a re-think and decided to resurrect Vanessa and Peter with some fleeting reshoots.

After test audiences expressed disappointment in Vanessa's death, director David Leitch suggested shooting a mid-credits sequence where Deadpool uses Cable's (Josh Brolin) time-traveling tech to go back in time and prevent it.

While consulting with writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick as well as Ryan Reynolds (who also co-wrote the movie), it was agreed that they could have some fun with the time travel concept, and so decided to also - among other things - bring Peter back from the dead.

Hilariously while Deadpool dramatically saves Vanessa in a do-over of her original death scene, in the case of Peter Deadpool simply tells him to go home before the X-Force mission kicks off in earnest. Amazing.

Considering many fans spent most of the film frustrated that Vanessa had been "fridged," and Peter had become a breakout character in Deadpool 2's trailers, it was certainly a smart move to undo their grim fates.