From "Avatar" To "Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows" – 17 Deleted Scenes That Should Have Never Been Taken Away From Us

The alternative opening to the first Avatar is soooo wild.

You know when you watch a film and it's like, "I could watch another hour of that."

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Well, the annoying thing is a lot of the time they've filmed excellent scenes that never made the original cut.

So here are 17 deleted scenes that were worthy of making it in, but didn't.

1. The Lord of the Rings

New Line Cinema

There are loads of scenes in the extended version of Lord of the Rings that deserved to make the original cut (I know I know they're already like three hours long each). But this scene had the most significant case for making it in. 

Saruman, while becoming less relevant after the end of Two Towers, was one of the primary antagonists, and a key player in the battle for Middle Earth. Thus you'd think his death would be reasonably important, right? Well, it never made the original edit, but thankfully we got to see Saruman's (and Gríma Wormtongue's) fate in the extended version!

Here's how the scene looked:

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2. The Avengers

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

This scene, while not exactly necessary for the film's plot would have served an important role in portraying the difficulty for Steve to adapt to new modern life, something that we later saw play out further. 

Instead, we got the sequence of Steve just hitting the punchbag in the gym, which, while portraying his frustration, didn't touch on his uncomfortable out-of-place feeling like this scene did. Also, we were robbed of a classic Stan Lee cameo, who cajoles Steve into getting the waiter's number. 

Finally, it also explains why, during the battle, we keep seeing this waiter seemingly for no reason. But this scene would have been a callback for this character, and it would have made a bit more sense. 

Check out the scene here:

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3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Warner Bros. Pictures

There's no point in being bitter about the things that the movies left out from the books, but the fact that they actually filmed this one and didn't add it is even worse! In the movie we see Harry watching the Dursleys pack up and leave Privett Drive, but there is a deleted scene that stays closer to the book, where Dudley and Harry have a much longer goodbye. 

In the scene, Dudley says that he doesn't believe Harry is a waste of space and asks why he isn't coming with them. This short scene shows us how Dudley has changed over the years and has now developed a respect for Harry that started when Harry saved him from the dementors. 

Check out the scene here:

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4. Almost Famous

DreamWorks Pictures

There were a number of good deleted scenes in Almost Famous, but the one that annoyingly evaded me for so long was the scene where they play all eight minutes of Stairway to Heaven by Led Zepplin. No, it's not because I just love the song, but because Frances McDormand's facial expressions and her uncomfortable, awkward silence are just a joy to behold. 

It may not have great relevance to the plot, it may add eight minutes to the running time with zero dialogue, but it would have been totally worth it. 

Here's the scene:

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5. Start Wars: Return of the Jedi

20th Century Fox

One of the puzzling aspects of the Star Wars movies was always the question of why Obi-Wan didn't just tell Luke that Darth Vadar was his father, wouldn't that have been far more simple? 

Well, in a short deleted scene we got that answer. The scene shows Luke talking with Yoda, and Yoda says to Luke, “Obi-Wan would have told you long ago had I let him.” While it doesn't alter things drastically, we at least would have gotten to the bottom of that particular question. 

Watch it here:

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6. Avengers: Endgame

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

People rightly say that Tony's death is perfect, and there's actually another deleted scene, with Tony seeing his grown-up daughter that was also (rightly) deleted. But when he dies in Endgame, one cut sequence involved all of the other avengers taking a knee to honour him. 

While it doesn't add too much to the plot, the primary thing we get from it is Doctor Strange's guilt – something that we don't really see otherwise, because he, unlike anyone else, had seen Tony's death before and had to let it unfold.

You can watch it here:

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7. Bridesmaids

Universal Pictures

Bridesmaids is already a hilarious film, but what movie couldn't be improved by Paul Rudd rampaging around an ice rink, falling over, swearing at kids and throwing a hissy fit? 

Well, Bridesmaids had it all at their fingertips, and let it go. TBF, the scenes take up some time and don't really have much to do with the main plot so I get why they got cut, but seriously, I feel like we were kinda robbed. 

Luckily the deleted scenes were released so we got to see them in all their glory!

Here are the deleted scenes with Paul:

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8. The Devil Wears Prada

20th Century Fox

This unearthed deleted scene from The Devil Wears Prada got mixed reactions when it was posted on Twitter. The scene shows an awkward situation for Miranda, when her husband comes over and begins to make rude comments to the CEO of the magazine's parent company. As she steers her husband away, Miranda mouths "thank you" to Andy, for helping smooth the situation over, something quite out of character for her. 

Some fans thought it should have stayed in, saying "Why wasn't this in the movie?!?" While others were glad it was removed, suggesting that it would have undermined the character's personality: "Miranda's character was already softened compared to the book. This would have been a total departure on every conceivable level.

Whichever side you stand on, this scene undoubtedly would have been quite the curveball!

Take a look for yourself:

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9. Avatar

20th Century Fox

Of all the deleted scenes in Avatar, from tentacle sex to hallucinogenic trip – the alternative opening was the one that stuck with me as a "that should have been in there" moment. 

For some reason, seeing Jake's life before Pandora, and how contrasting it is to the paradise he ends up in really grounds his character, and puts his new life into perspective. In the deleted scene we get an idea of Jake's nature that acts as the basis for his character development once we get to Pandora. 

Watch the extended opening here:

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10. Kingdom of Heaven

20th Century Fox

Ridley Scott once again felt it necessary to release a director's cut with his movie, Kingdom of Heaven, as he previously had with Blade Runner. The biggest victim of the cutting was Sibylla, with her entire subplot being axed for the theatrical release. 

The subplot, with Sibylla's discovery that her son had contracted leprosy, and her decision to euthanize him was lost in the cutting of 17 minutes that Ridley would regret afterwards. On the decision to cut those scenes, he said this: "Because people are saying 'The film's long, why do you need this part,' and how wrong they were."

The scenes show Sibylla in a whole different light and give us a greater understanding of her actions later on in the movie.

Watch the scenes here:

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11. Thor

Walt Disney Studios Pictures

It's hard to tell whether the scenes that were deleted in Thor, and one scene, in particular, would have changed the movie significantly, but we would have had a better understanding of Thor and Loki's relationship. 

The scene shows Loki and Thor together and is probably the most brotherly exchange the two have in the entire movie (and subsequent others). It may have been cut in order to make Loki more villainous in the movie itself, but it also would have laid the foundations for the redemption arc that Loki has in later films, as it does show him having a far closer relationship with his brother than we'd seen before. 

Here's the scene:

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12. Independence Day

20th Century Fox

There was one significant question that arose while watching Independence Day, which was, how was David Levinson able to stop the whole alien invasion by uploading a computer virus? 

Well, a deleted scene offered a plausible explanation for this apparent plot whole. The scene shows David inspecting the crashed ship in area 51 and realising that the ship's programming language was similar to the signal that they'd detected and deciphered towards the start of the invasion. The scene tells us that David knows how the ships were programmed, and thus was able to upload the virus to the connected ships without being directly connected to the mothership. 

Here's the scene:

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13. Mean Girls

Paramount Pictures

At the end of Mean Girls, we all get that lovely moment when everyone forgives and forgets. We could, however, have gotten a scene that would have shown Regina's story arc completed before Cady's speech. 

In the deleted scene, Regina and Cady are shown in the bathroom before the dance, where Cady apologises, and Regina forgives her. It's a nice scene, especially as it sort of sets up the speech Cady makes at the dance. 

Here's their reconciliation:

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14. Aliens

20th Century Fox

There are various things we miss out on with this scene being cut, but primarily it's the nature of Ellen Rigbey's character. The scene depicted Rigbey, having been woken up from cryo sleep, being told that her daughter had died two years ago, at the age of 66. 

Rigbey opens up, saying how she'd promised to be home for her 11th birthday. Knowing what she went through gives more depth to RIgbey's character, and may suggest why she gets so close to Newt and feels protective over her. 

Watch the scene here:

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15. Blade Runner

Warner Bros.

Blade Runner had so many versions (seven) that it's hard to know what to describe the original as. The added scene that I found most poignant, and one that has quite the effect on the story, is the one in the Director's Cut and The Final Cut, where Deckard has a dream about the unicorn. 

This scene added more fuel to the replicant vs human debate because later, in the movie, Deckard's partner, Gaff, leaves a small origami unicorn for him to find. This suggests that Gaff knows what Deckard has been daydreaming about and that Deckard is, indeed a replicant.  

Check out the daydream here:

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16. The Lion King

Buena Vista Pictures Distribution

Alright, I'm not saying it's a bad thing that this scene was left out, I mean, it's frankly quite creepy. An early version of The Lion King gave us a bit of background as to why Nala was running away – essentially, the whole reason why she bumps into Simba and we get our story. 

The scene reveals Scar, who has taken over after getting Simba to flee, talking about his desire to get a wife, and that he will choose Nala to be his queen. It's honestly kinda disturbing, and they probs got this one right, but it DOES explain why Nala is exiled, as her rejection of Scar's advances must have led to her being exiled. 

Here's the deleted scene:

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17. Terminator 2: Judgement Day

Tri-Star Pictures

This is a scene that I believe would have added a lot, particularly for the development of the Terminator's character. When being questioned by John and Sarah, the scene reveals that the Terminator can only learn if the chips in their brain are manually changed. 

We then see John and Sarah, with the Terminator's help, going into his brain and removing the chip themselves. This has particular significance for later in the movie, where the Terminator shows empathy – something he couldn't have without John and Sarah changing the chip in his head. 

Check out the scene here:

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What are your favourite deleted scenes? Let us know in the comments below!