10 Movies That Mysteriously Lost A Main Character In The Sequel

The sequel to 2012's Snow White and the Huntsman hits theaters this Friday. Curiously, the film is titled The Huntsman: Winter's War. "Snow White" has been appropriately dropped, as there is no longer a Snow White to speak of. That's right, the co-star of the original is MIA in round two. This isn't one of those situations where it's a new film with an entirely different cast masking as a sequel, either — pretty much the entire original cast is in the film. Chris Hemsworth stars as the titular huntsman, Eric, while Charlize Theron reprises her role as Evil Queen Ravenna. Even trusty dwarf Nion (Nick Frost) and Snow White's childhood BFF, King William (Sam Claflin), are returning.

It's not been made entirely clear why Kristen Stewart was booted and the sequel rebranded, but it's not a stretch to imagine her affair with the original director, Rupert Sanders, had something to do with it. (At the time, Sanders was married and Stewart was dating Robert Pattinson.) This theory makes the most sense, given that Sanders, too, has been replaced with Shawshank Redemption director Frank Darabont.

While we've yet to see how The Huntsman plans to explain Snow White's absence, if history is our guide, then the omission will get a passing mention or lame quasi-explanation at best — if it's not ignored entirely. Sequels have a habit of unceremoniously dropping main characters without bothering to justify the absence. The reasons range from scheduling conflicts and creative decisions to on-set tiffs. Here are 10 times Hollywood lost a movie character and apparently just hoped we wouldn't notice.