TAKING STOCK

REDSHIRTS

Celebrating the standout stock characters in movies…

Gene Roddenberry never meant for red shirts to signify death; the Star Trek creator chose the colour to simply show a security officer’s low rank aboard the USS Enterprise. And yet, due to the nature of low-ranking officers being prime cannon fodder, the majority of characters who died during the sci-fi series’ original run were wearing red shirts. In fact, of the 55 crew members who perished throughout those three seasons, 24 wore red shirts while only nine wore gold and seven donned blue. The term ‘redshirts’ has since become a well-known trope across media, used in reference to anyone who’s introduced and then killed off all too soon. A redshirt’s duty is to die, often to move the plot along – but sometimes just because someone has to die. They are the sacrificial lambs that litter our favourite films and franchises, and here we salute eight of our fallen comrades.

PHIL COULSON

THE AVENGERS (2012)

Killing off an Avenger was never going to be easy, so instead Phil Coulson had to die. Indeed, Coulson’s death leads to the superhero team coming together to defeat Loki, making him the MCU’s first great sacrificial lamb. However, Coulson can only really be seen as a redshirt when siloing off 2012’s The Avengers – because, of course, the character, played by Clark Gregg, also appeared in Iron Man, Iron Man 2 and Thor, and then, later, in the prequel Captain Marvel. Oh, and then there’s the small matter of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., in which Coulson plays a leading role, post his Avengers ‘death’. A redshirt who proved so popular he got his own spin-off; perhaps that makes him the ultimate redshirt.

PORKINS

STAR WARS: EPISODE IV – ANEW HOPE (1977)

Poor Jek Tono Porkins. Someone from Red Squadron was going to perish first, and it wasn’t going to be Luke Skywalker. While attacking the Death Star, Biggs and Porkins take aim at a laser cannon. Although the enemy shooter is quickly destroyed, Porkins’ X-Wing is damaged. He can’t eject and it explodes. It’s a heroic death that cemented Porkins’ place in Star Wars history: despite having around 10 seconds of screen time, he has appeared in multiple spin-off media. The part also confirmed actor William Hootkins – who later appeared in minor roles in Flash Gordon, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Tim Burton’s Batman – as a mainstay of comic conventions the world over. Ultimately, Porkins’ sacrifice was Luke Skywalker’s (and Hootkins’) gain.

HAWKINS

PREDATOR (1987)

Half an hour into Predator, the eponymous alien finally kills someone: the comedic radio operator Hawkins. While the youngster may not have the same screen time as some of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s other squaddies, Hawkins has a certain brotherly charm. After mounting an attack on a jungle camp, Arnie’s team capture Elpidia Carrillo’s Anna, who quickly attempts to escape after Bill Duke’s Sergeant Eliot is distracted by something in the forest. It’s up to Hawkins to apprehend her, but his body is swiftly decimated by the camouflaged Predator. Hawkins is played by Shane Black, who did uncredited work on the script and later directed The Predator, the 2018 sequel, and a few minor films you may know: Iron Man 3, The Nice Guys and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

HALLORANN

THE SHINING (1980)

What defines a redshirt? Often, a character’s surprise demise can be the ultimate telltale. Scatman Crothers’ Hallorann plays a memorable role in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining; he’s the Overlook Hotel’s head chef who communicates with Jack Torrance’s son, Danny, using their shared telepathic abilities. Danny eventually contacts Hallorann for help when his father starts acting strange. And here’s where the character fulfils his redshirt destiny. Arriving at the hotel, Hallorann’s murdered almost immediately after stepping through the door by Jack Nicholson’s crazed character. What makes this truly surprising is that, in the original book, Hallorann helps Danny and his mother escape. It perhaps comes as no shock, then, that author Stephen King has spoken many times about being unimpressed by the changes Kubrick made to the source material.

GOOSE

TOP GUN (1986)

Arguably one of the most famous redshirts of all time, Goose died so Maverick could soar. The plucky young Top Gun co-pilot, played by Anthony Edwards, was the victim of a plane malfunction, yet Maverick took moral responsibility for his death; the incident happened just after Maverick’s own feud with Iceman went a turn too far. Goose’s passing becomes one of Maverick’s motivating factors, and his ghost haunts not only the frames of Top Gun but also the sequel, Top Gun: Maverick (2022), in which his son, Miles Teller’s Rooster, holds a grudge against Tom Cruise’s high-flyer for his father’s early demise. It’s those ramifications – plus Edwards’ warm performance – that make Goose an almost perfect redshirt and a character who lives long in the memory.

GUY FLEEGMAN

GALAXY QUEST (1999)

This list could have been filled with Star Trek officers, but that would lead to the impossibility of choosing just one. A better pick is the person who knowingly plays a redshirt: Sam Rockwell’s Guy Fleegman. In the original (fake) Galaxy Quest series, Fleegman appeared briefly as Crewman #6, quickly perishing in the action. However, when the Galaxy Quest crew are taken (for real) into outer space, Fleegman tags along with Tim Allen, Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver and co, later uttering the eternal line: ‘I’m the guy in the episode who dies to prove the situation is serious.’ Despite it all, Fleegman survives the adventure until the end and even lands a central role in the revived (fake) Galaxy Quest series. Somehow, Fleegman became the redshirt who not only survived but thrived. Other redshirts, take note.

DAMIEN COCKBURN

TROPIC THUNDER (2008)

Often, a redshirt has to die to show the others what’s at stake, and in Tropic Thunder, that duty falls upon Damien Cockburn, the inexperienced director played by Steve Coogan. Except, no one believes he’s actually dead. The film begins with Cockburn struggling to control his actors as they attempt to make a Vietnamese war epic. Things soon go wrong after a local heroin-producing gang starts apprehending crew members. Cockburn’s fate is sealed when he steps on a landmine, yet Ben Stiller’s Tugg Speedman, an actor, believes Cockburn faked his death to get better performances from the cast. It’s only after Tugg’s capture that he realises the director’s really gone. Cockburn was inspired by Richard Stanley and his chaotic experience making 1996’s The Island of Dr. Moreau.

MOUSE

THE MATRIX (1999)

Another comedic young’un who becomes one of the first to fall. Mouse, a member of the Nebuchadnezzar’s crew who was born outside of the Matrix, is perhaps best remembered for introducing Keanu Reeves’ Neo to the tantalising Woman in Red, a component of the training programme that would eventually help Neo defeat Agent Smith. He later goes out, guns blazing as he’s shot and killed firing dual-wielded machine guns at a SWAT team. A mighty redshirt death if ever there was one. Matt Doran portrays the character and his fleeting moments in the Wachowskis’ masterpiece led to a role in Attack of the Clones as the death-sticks salesman Elan Sleazebaggano, often rated one of the funniest (and worst) names in all of Star Wars history.