While Sean Bean doesn't actually crack the top 10 most frequently killed actors of all time, he's nevertheless an actor who's become notorious for dying multiple times on-screen. He's been killed in well over 20 films and TV shows across his career, with most of them occurring before 2012. This is because in recent years, he's seeking out more roles that don't involve his character dying.
Whether it be because he often stars in action/thriller movies, or because he plays villainous roles fairly often, there are certainly a fair few iconic Sean Bean death scenes. That makes it morbidly entertaining to try and rank his best ones, and see how they all compare to each other. On that topic, here are 10 of his best death scenes, ranked from least to most grisly.
The following list contains spoilers for many Sean Bean films.
‘GoldenEye’ (1995) – Dropped onto a satellite dish + crushed by rubble
GoldenEye might well be the most popular James Bond film that doesn't star either Sean Connery or Daniel Craig. The plot sees James Bond trying to stop a group of Russian criminals from utilizing a devastating weapon from space, with Sean Bean playing someone who once worked with Bond, before seemingly dying, and then re-emerging as his nemesis some years later.
Given he emerges as a villain in a James Bond movie, Bean dying here was almost a guarantee. Admittedly, falling to death in a movie isn't usually too grisly or unusual, but it just sneaks into the top 10 because it actually shows Bean's character, Alec Trevelyan, colliding with the satellite dish he's dropped onto. Though he would have succumbed to these injuries, for good measure, he's then buried under fiery debris from an explosion, upping the level of violence this death scene involves.
‘The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring’ (2001) – Shot by multiple arrows
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring kicks off the beloved The Lord of the Rings trilogy in a truly epic fashion. It sets up stakes for the rest of the series by showing that the Fellowship's mission is not an easy one, given they suffer two causalities in the film, before the Fellowship is broken and go their separate ways.
Thankfully, Gandalf doesn't stay dead, as he's resurrected in the second film as Gandalf the White. However, Sean Bean's character, Boromir, isn't so lucky. In the first film's climax, he's shot through the chest with multiple arrows, eventually succumbing to the wounds in one of the trilogy's most prolonged (and emotional) death scenes.
‘Don’t Say a Word’ (2001) – Pushed into a grave and buried alive
A lesser-known Sean Bean film, but one that's still worth bringing up when discussing his deaths, Don't Say a Word is a movie that stars Michael Douglas as a psychiatrist who has to recover his kidnapped daughter. Sean Bean's character is the one behind the kidnapping. Naturally, this means things don't end peacefully for Bean.
After a confrontation in the film's climax, Douglas's character kicks Bean into a large hole, which effectively becomes his grave, as Douglas uses an excavation machine to drop the dirt from the hole all over Bean. It might not be truly gruesome, in terms of what we see, but it's a pretty awful way to go, and therefore deserves to be ranked among Bean's most iconic death scenes as a result.
‘Equilibrium’ (2002) – Shot point-blank in the head, through a book
A science-fiction/action movie about an oppressive dystopian future where emotions and artistic expression are outlawed, Equilibrium is a relatively well-known cult film. It takes a great deal of inspiration from The Matrix (as a lot of sci-fi/action movies in the 2000s naturally did), but remains a solid - if somewhat flawed - watch for action movie fans.
Sean Bean's death here is pretty quick, but its suddenness and the fact it happens so early in the film heightens its impact. He defies the rules of this dystopian society by reading, and is promptly executed by the main character for doing so. It helps establish the brutality of the film's world, and while many people have been shot in the head on screen, it seldom happens through a book.
‘The Field’ (1990) – Pushed off a cliff by stampeding cows
An early role in Sean Bean's filmography - and therefore one of his first death scenes - The Field is about the conflict between an Irish family's farmland, and a wealthy American businessman who wants to buy it from the family's stubborn, traditionalist patriarch in order to build a highway over the land.
Given this is not an action movie, and Sean Bean isn't the main antagonist, his death here is fairly surprising. It's also very novel, and maybe even funny, when divorced from the context of the actual movie. He's essentially run off a cliff by a pack of stampeding cows which, it's fair to say, is not a way that many people leave this mortal coil.
‘Caravaggio’ (1986) – Getting his throat cut
A simple but fairly gruesome death, Sean Bean's demise in Caravaggio also deserves credit for being the actor's first on-screen death. It's a semi-biographical film about painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, with Bean playing Ranuccio, one of the painter's muses, models, and lovers.
Due to a complicated love triangle and a great deal of romantic drama, things come to a violent conclusion, with Caravaggio slitting Ranuccio's throat near the end of the film. The passion behind the murder heightens its intensity, and while it's a style of death often seen in historical dramas, it's still undeniably personal, intimate, and bloody, making it among Bean's grisliest on-screen demises.
‘Henry VIII’ (2003) – Hanged in chains until dead
Henry VIII represents the point where Sean Bean's deaths start getting particularly violent. This one comes from a two-part miniseries that tracks the life of King Henry VIII, particularly his 38-year-long rein, and features Bean as Robert Aske, a real-life leader of an uprising who Henry VIII sentenced to death.
Treason was seen as an unforgivable crime back in 1537, which led to Aske being sentenced to death. In the miniseries, he's shown to be publicly hung up in chains, for all to see, essentially left in that position until dead. That's all that's shown in the series, which is grim enough, but apparently, Aske's death in real-life was far more gruesome and prolonged than implied here.
‘Game of Thrones’ (2011) – Beheaded
No list of Sean Bean deaths is complete without mentioning Eddard Stark's demise in Game of Thrones. The beloved character was seemingly set up to be the show's main character, only to be punished for his honor and desire to do what was morally right by King Joffrey, the young, tyrannical ruler of Westeros.
It's a death that's truly upsetting for several reasons. He was a likable character who most viewers surely wanted to see more of, he died before the first season was over, his execution was unjustified (he even confessed his "crimes" in order to be spared, but Joffrey refused to show mercy), and he was executed in front of his two daughters, in public. Beheading may be a quick death, but it's a violent and upsetting one to witness, making Ned Stark's death one of the hardest Bean deaths to watch.
‘Patriot Games’ (1992) – Impaled on an anchor by Harrison Ford
A political action-thriller starring Harrison Ford, Patriot Games sees Sean Bean in yet another villainous role. Here, he plays a revolutionary out for revenge against Ford's Jack Ryan, as Ryan thwarted a kidnapping attempt of his, killing his younger brother in the process.
The finale involves Ford's and Bean's characters fighting hand-to-hand on a boat, with Ford coming out on top by pushing Bean backward onto an anchor. The sharp metal point goes through his back and out his chest, killing him in what was likely a short amount of time... but perhaps not instantly. For the impactful way it's shot, and the fact it would be such a painful way to die, it ranks high on the Bean death list.
‘Black Death’ (2010) – Torn apart into multiple pieces by horses
It's no competition, really. One year before being beheaded in Game of Thrones, another Sean Bean character was graphically killed in a public execution... although this one was a good deal messier.
Sean Bean's death in Black Death emerges as the most gruesome for obvious reasons. His limbs are tied to two different horses who are then sent galloping in opposite directions, pulling his character apart in the process. It's a bloody and barbaric way to go, and the scene in question is not for the faint of heart, making it Bean's most brutal on-screen demise yet.