Actors Who Accidentally Spoiled Their Own Character's Death
Hundreds of crew members work hard, and for a long time, to make the most spectacular movie or TV show possible. After months of production, these technicians and artists get to show off the fruits of their labor when those projects hit the screen. Of course, the job of getting audiences excited often falls to the actors — they're the most famous people involved with a movie or show, after all, and serve as the "face" of the operation as they talk it up on late-night chat shows, press conferences, entertainment news programs, and fan conventions.
One problem: the actors might be too excited to talk about the cool movie they just finished and can't wait for everyone to see. Sometimes, they're so jazzed that they speak a little too loud or a little too long...and wind up giving away the ending of the movie. Even worse, they might let the world know that the movie wraps up with their character's death. Here are some actors who couldn't keep their fictional fates a secret.
It's all just a Game to Ian McShane
In 2016, the cast of Game of Thrones, already populated by some of the greatest serious British actors of all time, added another: Ian McShane, best known for his legendary performance as Old West saloon owner Al Swearengen on HBO's Deadwood. McShane was a team player, hyping his new gig with a big media tour to discuss his role as Brother Ray. While most Game of Thrones actors try to tantalize audiences by not giving away too many plot details, McShane wound up putting it all on the table in an interview on BBC Breakfast. "I can give you one hint: my character is an ex-warrior who's become a peacenik," McShane said. "I bring back a much-loved character everybody thinks is dead." That wound up being the Hound, as actor Rory McCann was spotted on set.
McShane's words angered countless spoiler-averse fans, which he said was utterly ridiculous. "You say the slightest thing and the internet goes ape," he told The Telegraph. "I was accused of giving the plot away, but I just think get a f***ing life." And then McShane spilled another plot detail: he signed on to play Brother Ray because the showrunners assured him that "it would only be for one episode, so I said, 'So that means I must die at the end of it. Great, I'm in.'"
The L in Samuel L. Jackson stands for "loose lips"
Not too many Star Wars superfans would say that the three prequel films are as good as the original trilogy, but they still have their merits. The podracing sequence is pretty fun, for example, and Darth Maul's fight scenes are exceptional. Also, Samuel L. Jackson is in them, and he makes every movie he's in better. He portrayed a Jedi named Mace Windu, and he sat down for an interview with Now Playing in 2004, just before filming wrapped on the third and final prequel, Revenge of the Sith.
When asked what Windu would get up to in the film, Jackson said, "Dying!" As if to make sure that the interviewer and their readers knew he wasn't joking around, Jackson added, "Yeah, like all of the rest of the Jedi." The fall of the Jedi Order was already a known fact in the Star Wars timeline that predates the events of the original trilogy, but Jackson assured fans that at least his character's end would be "an awesome death."
Will Smith's goof is the stuff of Legend
Richard Matheson's 1954 novel I Am Legend is an influential and groundbreaking work of post-apocalyptic science-fiction. As such, it's been adapted for film several times, under different titles. It's the basis for 1964's The Last Man on Earth, 1971's The Omega Man, and the 2007 Will Smith thriller I Am Legend. It's not exactly a new story with a twist ending that's been carefully kept under wraps, but considering that the whole reason to remake a movie is to retell it to a new audience, it behooves the actors to keep their mouths shut.
The former Fresh Prince, though, was just so excited to tell people about his movie that he told people way too much. While promoting the film at a press conference in Japan, he carefully laid out the entire plot of the movie, up to and including its surprising (and tragic) ending. According to Reuters' news report of the event, the film's publicity handlers asked reporters present to not share the the information Smith divulged.
Hugh gotta be kidding
After 17 years and eight movies, Hugh Jackman hung up his adamantium claws for good in 2017, playing Wolverine for the last time with Logan, a superhero movie so personal and introspective that it was nominated for a screenwriting Oscar. The X-Men franchise continues on with a new generation of actors replacing Jackman's former co-stars as younger versions of their characters. Wolverine doesn't age, though, so there won't likely be a new version of him anytime soon. The only way Jackman could exit the series, then, was for the character to die in Logan.
Sure, fans could have probably worked that out, especially since Jackman announced before the film's release that he was done with the character, but it was still pretty egregious to do an interview with Entertainment Weekly — released the day after the film opened — that explicitly revealed the film's ending. "In the end, he must give his life to save someone else," Jackman shared, adding that he "thought that was really powerful." Sure, but you know what would have been even more powerful? Keeping his thoughts to himself...at least until more people had gotten around to seeing Logan.
Spoiling shows is how they do it in the O.C.
For a good while after its debut on Fox in 2003, The O.C. was the hottest teen show on TV. It depicted the soapy, steamy, 90210-like adventures of some rich kids in Orange County, California, along with new-in-town juvenile delinquent Ryan Atwood (Ben McKenzie). Privileged Marissa Cooper takes a shine to Ryan, and the role made Mischa Barton a star. By 2006, The O.C. wasn't as popular as it used to be, and Barton was apparently ready to do other things, because in the show's third season finale, Marissa Cooper died in a horrible car accident.
Of course, if any O.C. diehards also tuned in to Access Hollywood a few days before that episode aired, they already knew that, because Barton said so. "It's true, it's true. My character dies," she admitted. "We've had three great years and my character has been through so, so much and there's really nothing more left for her to do," Barton added. "I hope this fulfills everything that the fans want and everything that the people wanted for our characters." Maybe, but they probably would've appreciated the surprise.
Spider-Man, Spider-Man, spoiling movies like a spider can
Seeing how it's an overwhelmingly shocking twist that could change the course of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, the big moment in Avengers: Infinity War is probably the worst kept secret in movie history. But, just in case, spoiler alert: supervillain Thanos kills half of everything, including a bunch of Avengers. Among the casualties: Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Scarlet Witch, most of the Guardians of the Galaxy, and Spider-Man.
Spider-Man is portrayed by the youthful and winsome Tom Holland, who joined Infinity War directors Joe and Anthony Russo at a screening of the film at the ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood. The movie had been out for a few days at that point, but it stands to reason that most of the people in that theater had not yet seen the blockbuster. It's some kind of weird and rare honor, then, to have a movie spoiled by one of its stars. When the Russos introduced Holland before the film started, he came out on stage and quipped that, unlike his character, he was alive. Then he read the room, which is when he realized that the crowd hadn't seen the movie yet.
That's just Ruffalo
A lot of those poor folks at the ArcLight had probably dodged spoilers until they could see the movie for themselves, which is no small feat considering that other Marvel stars were ruining the ending in public long before Tom Holland could blurt out the first thing that popped into his brain. In July 2017, Marvel Studios' parent company, Disney, showed some sample footage of Avengers: Infinity War to fans at its annual D23 convention (sort of like Comic Con, but only for Mouse House-owned properties). A bunch of stars were in attendance, including Don "War Machine" Cheadle and Mark "The Hulk" Ruffalo.
That's the good news. The bad news is that Ruffalo gave another sneak peak, and he said too much. During an interview alongside Cheadle for Good Morning America, Ruffalo steered the conversation from Thor: Ragnarok to Infinity War. "Wait until you see this next one. Everybody dies." An alarmed Cheadle shouted, "Dude!" That's when Ruffalo realized what he had done and tried to back-pedal. "Not everybody, no," he sputtered...albeit accurately. "Can we rewind that part? Am I in trouble?"
Of course, the Hulk is fortunate enough to survive Thanos' finger snap, but spoiling the fate of half the universe remains a pretty noteworthy spilling of beans.
When the star of Narcos narced on Narcos
For fans familiar with the source material of Netflix's epic drug trade saga Narcos, the fate of Pablo Escobar was already known, as the series is based on actual (and very famous) true-life events. But it wasn't clear exactly when the character of Escobar on the show, portrayed by Wagner Moura, would get his comeuppance for running one of the biggest and most cutthroat cocaine cartels in history. The answer: at the end of the second season, as Moura freely discussed during his publicity tour just before that second season debuted.
"We knew he was going to die," Moura told the New York Times. "Narcos was not supposed to be a show about Pablo Escobar. It's a show about the birth of the drug trade." For good measure, Moura told the Times everything else that would befall his character in the episodes to come. "He's going to lose his money, his power, his allies," the actor revealed. "He's about to lose his family, as well, a very important thing for him."