Tragic Ending: Brittany Murphy, Alan Rickman, Chadwick Boseman and More Stars Who Died Before Their Final Films Premiered

On June 9, 2017, Batman star Adam West died at the age of 88 following a short battle with leukemia. Four months later, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment released his post-humous animated film Batman vs. Two-Face, in which he voiced Bruce Wayne/Batman's character.

Alan Rickman marked his final performance in the 2016 film Alice Through the Looking Glass. The famed Harry Potter actor, who portrayed Professor Severus Snape in the film franchise, died on January 14, 2016, after suffering from cancer. He was 69.

Anton Yelchin died on June 19, 2016. The then-27-year-old actor, who starred in Star Trek Beyond, was killed in a freak car accident in Studio City while he was on his way to meet his friends, his publicist, Jennifer Allen, confirmed at the time.

"It appears he momentarily exited his car and it rolled backward, causing trauma that led to his death," said Los Angeles Police Department spokeswoman Jenny Houser.

Following his death, Star Trek Beyond studio Paramount Pictures released a statement which read: "All of us at Paramount join the world in mourning the untimely passing of Anton Yelchin. As a member of the Star Trek family, he was beloved by so many and he will missed by all. We share our deepest condolences with his mother, father and family."

His final film opened on July 22, 2016.

Brandon Lee died after he was accidentally shot with a prop gun while filming The Crow in March 1993. The revolver that his costar Michael Massee used was loaded with blanks, but a prop crew mistakenly left a live primer in the cartridge that later struck Lee's abdomen.

He was rushed to the New Hanover Regional Medical Center, where he underwent a six-hour surgery. However, he was pronounced dead at the age of 28 on March 31, 1993.

The Crow premiered in 1994.

Two decades before Brandon's death, his father, Bruce Lee, passed away at the age of 32 after he complained of a headache and took a nap. He was found unconscious afterward and was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Neurosurgeon Dr. Peter Wu said Bruce's cause of death was cerebral edema or swelling of the brain. However, theories later emerged, suggesting different contributing factors to his medical condition, including painkiller Equagesic, cannabis, and heat stroke.

In a 2022 study, kidney specialists in Spain said the swelling of Bruce's brain might have been caused by his kidney's failure to excrete excess water.

Bruce's posthumous film, Enter the Dragon, was released in 1973. Meanwhile, his unfinished project, Game of Death, premiered in 1978.

Brittany Murphy was only 32 years old when she died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, on December 20, 2009, after her mother, Sharon, and her husband, Simon Monjack, found her on the bathroom floor. Her final film, Something Wicked, was released in 2014.

On September 6, 2018, Burt Reynolds died shortly after working in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, released in 2019. He also completed filming Defining Moments, which premiered in 2020, amid his health battles before his passing.

Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher worked on several films that were posthumously released following her death after suffering a heart attack on December 27, 2016, at the age of 60.

In 2017, Star Wars: The Last Jedi hit the big screens. Meanwhile, Fisher's two other projects, Have a Good Trip: Adventures in Psychedelics and Wonderwell were distributed in 2020 and 2023, respectively.

Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman shocked his fans when news about his death on August 28, 2020, was announced. In a statement on Twitter, now X, his family confirmed he had battled colon cancer since 2016.

"From Marshall to Da 5 Bloods, August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and several more, all were filmed during and between countless surgeries and chemotherapy," said his bereaved loved ones.

Boseman's final film, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, was released in November 2020.

On January 22, 2008, Heath Ledger was found dead inside a Manhattan apartment following an accidental prescription drug overdose. The famed star, who played the role of Joker in Christopher Nolan's 2008 film The Dark Knight, was filming what would become his final movie, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, when he passed away.

Director Terry Gilliam ended up recasting three different actors to complete the project, which was released in 2009.

Emmy-winning actor James Gandolfini finished his three films – Animal Rescue, Enough Said and The Drop – before his death on June 19, 2013, following a heart attack. His then-14-year-old son, Michael, found him unconscious on the bathroom floor of their hotel room in Rome one hour before he was pronounced dead. He was 51.

John Hurt's wife, Anwen, issued a statement confirming that he died on January 25, 2017, nearly two years after he revealed his pancreatic cancer diagnosis. He was 77.

"John was the most sublime of actors and the most gentlemanly of gentlemen with the greatest of hearts and the most generosity of spirit. He touched all our lives with joy and magic and it will be a strange world without him. I ask that we are allowed to come to terms with our loss without further intrusion," Anwen said.

In the same year, his three last films – My Name Is Lenny, That Good Night and Damascus Cover – were posthumously released.

The films Bad Santa, Clifford's Really Big Movie, and Stanley's Dinosaur Round-Up arrived on big screens in the years after John Ritter's death.

The Three's Company actor died on September 11, 2003, due to an undetected aortic dissection after his doctors initially thought he had a heart attack.

"John didn’t have a chance," Ritter's wife, Amy Yasbeck, told Today. "He was never given that chance."

Another Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood star died after completing the film.

Luke Perry, also known for his roles in Beverly Hills, 90210 and Riverdale, was rushed to a hospital after suffering a massive stroke. He died on March 4, 2019, at the age of 52, after his condition further deteriorated.

Marlon Brando voiced Mrs. Sour in the unreleased film Big Bug Man before his death on July 1, 2004. His death certificate listed his cause of death as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Brando also completed The Score prior to his demise.

On November 29, 1981, Natalie Wood's dead body was found floating a mile away from Splendour, a 55-foot yacht, on the southwest coast of Los Angeles, California. The Coast Guard was only informed of her status hours after she went missing, leading to speculations she did not die by accident.

Meanwhile, the authorities at the time ruled Wood's death as an accident drowning, while the coroner noted she had been drinking when she slipped and fell from the boat.

Wood was not able to complete her final film, Brainstorm, leading the creators to tap her younger sister, Lana, to record the remaining scenes. The movie was eventually released in 1983.

Paul Walker failed to complete the filming of Furious 7 as he died after suffering major burns and trauma injuries in a car accident on November 30, 2013.

The then-40-year-old and his friend Roger Rodas succumbed to their injuries after crashing the Porsche Carrera GT at a speed of more than 100 miles per hour.

"For an unknown reason the driver lost control of the vehicle and the vehicle partially spun around and began to travel in a south-easterly direction," Los Angeles coroner's investigator Kristy McCracken described what happened.

She continued: "The vehicle then struck a sidewalk and the driver's side struck a tree and then a light post. The force of these collisions caused the vehicle to spin 180 degrees and it continued to travel in an easterly direction."

The report added: "The passenger side of the vehicle then struck a tree and it then burst into flames."

The Fast & Furious installment was released in 2015.

On February 2, 2014, Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in a Manhattan apartment following a drug overdose. He was 46.

His last film, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, posthumously premiered in the same year.

Richard Harris passed away on October 25, 2002, at the age of 72, following his battle with Hodgkin's disease. He played the role of Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore in his final film, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Oscar-winning actor Robin Williams worked on his last film, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, before he died by suicide on August 11, 2014. He was 63.

Williams' autopsy result determined he had a debilitating brain disease, Lewy body dementia, before his death.