13 Iconic Movie Characters Who Were Supposed To Die (But Didn't)

9. Poe Dameron - Star Wars: The Last Jedi

The Original Plan

No matter how much you love his dynamic with BB-8, or how hard you ship him and Finn, Oscar Isaac's Poe Dameron wasn't supposed to make it past the first act, despite how heavily he was featured on, like, ALL of the marketing materials.

Much like his role in The Bourne Legacy, Isaac's Dameron would have opened the whole movie, but when he crashed in the desert he was supposed to die, in a typical JJ Abrams switcheroo (he tried to pull the same thing with Jack on Lost, remember).

Isaac related his experience with Abrams to GQ:

“He’s amazing!” said Abrams.“Sounds good!” thought Isaac, whose first experience in a movie theater had been seeing The Empire Strikes Back.“He opens the whole movie!” said Abrams.“Sounds great!” thought Isaac.“And then,” Abrams went on. “He dies.”“Oh,” thought Isaac.“I’d done that before...Set up the plot for the main guy and then die spectacularly.”

What Happened Instead?

Luckily for Isaac, his reluctance to sign on to another character who dies (he's a bit of a low-key Sean Bean) didn't put Abrams off hiring him, and the director/writer instead changed the script to keep Poe alive.

He's now set to reappear in at least one sequel, while everyone wonders when the axe that is definitely hanging over his head will swing down...