While there are some actors out there who have contracts preventing them from losing on-screen fights, there are others on the opposite side of the spectrum who seem to have a death scene in every project of which they are a part. Sean Bean’s number of big screen deaths is legendary; Steve Buscemi’s record in movies from the Coen brothers includes a gun shot, a hotel fire, a heart attack, and an axe/wood chipper; and Lance Henriksen holds a special place in pop culture being the only performer who has been killed by a Xenomorph, a Terminator, and a Predator.
It’s a weird and special Hollywood legacy – and David Dastmalchian has earned his place as part of it. While Dastmalchian has not yet been a part of the Alien, Predator, or Terminator franchises, his collection of on-screen terminations is impressive, with titles including Dune, Bird Box, Blade Runner 2049, The Suicide Squad, Boston Strangler, and The Boogeyman (and those last two just came out in 2023). That’s quite a lot of dying on camera… and it’s not a trend that is lost on the actor.
