Amid all of io9’s lists looking back at the year’s best books, movies, TV shows, and more, there’s always one melancholy round-up: the big names across the realms of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror that we lost.
In 2025, we said goodbye to luminaries in art, movies, television, music, and beyond, and take comfort in the fact that their legacies will always be with us.
Bob Burns III
Burns, the overseer of “Bob’s Basement”—a collection of historically significant sci-fi props and memorabilia, like the titular time machine from George Pal’s 1960 adaptation of the H.G. Wells story—also worked as an assistant to special effects great Paul Blaisell on American International Pictures classics, including 1957’s Invasion of the Saucer Men.
James Carter Cathcart
A voice actor best known for bringing multiple characters to life across the Pokémon franchise.
Kenneth Colley
The actor behind Star Wars character Admiral Piett, an Imperial officer serving under Darth Vader who managed to survive 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back and return in 1983’s Return of the Jedi—where he met his end during the Battle of Endor.
Stuart Craig
A three-time Oscar winner for art direction, Craig was also the production designer on all eight Harry Potter films, plus all three Fantastic Beasts films.
A two-time Oscar-winning art director (with Norman Reynolds) for Star Wars – Episode IV: A New Hope and Raiders of the Lost Ark, Dilley’s other impressive credits include art direction on Alien, The Empire Strikes Back, and The Abyss, and production design on The Exorcist III, Casper, and Deep Impact.
Samantha Eggar
An actress who brought her refined glamour to a number of fantasy and horror films, including Doctor Doolittle (the 1967 original), Sherlock Holmes riff The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, and David Cronenberg’s The Brood. She also did the voice of Hera in Disney’s animated musical Hercules.
A comedian and voice actor known for playing Sheen Estevez, the main character’s best friend, in Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and its spin-off Nickelodeon TV shows, he was also part of the casts of animated films Barnyard and Rio, among others.
Gil Gerard
An actor forever remembered as Captain William “Buck” Rogers in sci-fi adventure series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, which ran from 1979-1981 on ABC.
An actor whose talent brought him widespread, mainstream recognition in both TV and films (including an Oscar nomination for Dances With Wolves), genre fans in particular will recall Greene from roles in The Green Mile and The Twilight Saga: New Moon.
Peter Greene
He made an impact playing the main villain in The Mask, but may be best-known in pop culture for playing the equally unsavory Zed in Pulp Fiction.
Jimmy Hunt
An actor best-known for his child-star turn as David, the kid who sees the flying saucer land in 1953’s Invaders From Mars. Hunt also played the police chief in Tobe Hooper’s 1986 Invaders From Mars remake.
Olivia Hussey
Forever loved by horror fans for her starring turn in 1974’s Black Christmas, Hussey frequently returned to genre throughout her career, including roles in Psycho IV: The Beginning and the original It TV miniseries opposite Tim Curry. She also did voice work for multiple Star Wars video games.
Peter Jason
A character actor whose many credits included supporting roles in multiple John Carpenter films, including Prince of Darkness, They Live, In the Mouth of Madness, Village of the Damned, and Escape From L.A.
David Johansen
A member of groundbreaking 1970s band the New York Dolls, Johansen was also a character actor with an array of memorable performance, including the Ghost of Christmas Past who takes Bill Murray on a wild taxi ride in Scrooged, as well as Freejack and Tales From the Darkside: The Movie.
Udo Kier
Kier’s mile-long filmography saw him paired him with some of cinema’s greatest directors, including Dario Argento (most notably in Suspiria), Werner Herzog, and Lars von Trier. A character actor who could make even a few minutes of screentime memorable, Kier also appeared in Johnny Mneumonic, Barb Wire, Armageddon, End of Days, Shadow of the Vampire, Grindhouse, Rob Zombie’s Halloween, and many more.
Take your pick: Top Secret!, Real Genius, Willow, Batman Forever… and those are just a few of Kilmer’s genre movies, not even mentioning his much-loved work in Top Gun, Heat, Tombstone, and other Hollywood standouts. He also had a fair array of quirkier films between the blockbusters, like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, but he was too much of a movie star to ever be called a cult actor.
Diane Ladd
One of this acclaimed actress’ three Oscar nominations came for David Lynch’s Wild at Heart, in which she played the deranged mother of a character played by her real-life daughter, Laura Dern. She also co-starred in Something Wicked This Way Comes and the Lars von Trier-Stephen King TV series Kingdom Hospital, among many others.
Lar Park Lincoln
A forever scream queen thanks to her role as the telekinetic Tina Shepherd in Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood, Lincoln also appeared in House II: The Second Story and (crossing over the horror-franchise line) the Freddy’s Nightmares TV series.
June Lockhart
A Golden Age of Hollywood veteran, Lockhart’s sci-fi bona fides include playing Maureen Robinson on the Lost in Space TV show. Alongside other wholesome roles (Lassie, Meet Me in St. Louis, lots of “mom,” “aunt,” and “grandma” parts), she also popped up in cult horror flicks like Deadly Games, Troll, and Chud II: Bud the Chud.
A filmmaker and special effects artist, Logan brought his VFX talent to such visually dynamic sci-fi works as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars – Episode IV: A New Hope, and Tron.
George Lowe
An actor and comedian best known for voicing Space Ghost on Space Ghost Coast to Coast and Cartoon Planet, as well as performances on other animated series like Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Squidbillies, and Robot Chicken.
David Lynch
A visionary cinematic master whose impact, influence, and body of work are really too huge to compress into this tiny blurb, so we’ll just name some titles and let your imagination and memories fill in the rest: Twin Peaks, Eraserhead, Mulholland Drive, Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart, Lost Highway, and yes, even Dune.
Kelley Mack
An actress who appeared on The Walking Dead and in the underrated 2021 thriller Broadcast Signal Intrusion, Mack also worked as a voice double for Hailee Steinfeld’s Spider-Gwen in the first two Spider-Verse films.
Michael Madsen
A frequent Quentin Tarantino collaborator with roles in Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill, and more, Madsen also appeard in several genre titles, including Species, Sin City, and Scary Movie 4, alongside more mainstream films including Free Willy and Thelma and Louise.
Anime fans will remember Mayfield as the voice of Dr. Kureha and Boa Marigold on One Piece; she also appeared in Black Butler and Fruits Basket.
Beginning with 1965’s Thunderball, McGinnis went on to create art for multiple James Bond films, including You Only Live Twice, Diamonds Are Forever, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Live and Let Die, and the 1967 parody Casino Royale. He also created the posters for Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Barbarella, and more.
McMahon’s fame included both TV, with roles on Charmed, Ryan Murphy’s Nip/Tuck, and the FBI franchise, as well as the big screen, most notably his turn as Victor von Doom/Doctor Doom in 2005’s Fantastic Four and 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. At the end of his career, he popped up as a sinister beach guru The Surfer, an underseen and unhinged Nicolas Cage movie that came out last year.
A prolific, successful screenwriter and producer, Orci was best known for collaborations with Alex Kurtzman, including their work on Mission: Impossible III, Star Trek, Transformers, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and more.
Music legend, reality-show pioneer, video-game fan, and cultural superstar, Osbourne freaked out pearl-clutching parents during the 1980s “Satanic Panic” as much as he delighted kids who wanted to rock out as hard as the playfully self-styled Prince of Darkness.
James Ransone
After coming to widespread attention for his role on HBO crime drama The Wire, Ransone appeared in multiple horror films, including Sinister and Sinister 2, It Chapter Two, V/H/S/85, The Black Phone, and The Black Phone 2.
Lorna Raver
Her standout role is one that haunts us still: the vengeful elderly woman who chases after a callous loan officer in Sam Raimi’s Drag Me to Hell. Thanks to her eerie, powerful performance we believed Mrs. Ganush could and would drag any of us to hell, given half the chance.
He brought movie-star cool to SHIELD in Captain America: Winter Soldier and Avengers: Endgame, but Redford’s impact on the industry—decades of starring roles and acclaimed turns as a director and producer, not to mention co-founding the Sundance Film Festival—was far more massive than the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
As a director, This Is Spinal Tap, Stand by Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, Misery, A Few Good Men, and more. As an actor, All in the Family, Sleepless in Seattle, The Bear, and more. And that’s just scratching the surface; Reiner’s impact on entertainment, in genre and beyond, cannot be overstated.
Lalo Schifrin
He could have only composed the Mission: Impossible theme and called it a career, but Schifrin also wrote the music for Dirty Harry, THX 1138, Enter the Dragon, The Amityville Horror, and many more.
Danny Seagren
Hey you guys! Seagren played the first live-action Spider-Man in 1970s kids’ TV show The Electric Company. He was also a puppeteer who was the first stand-in for primary Big Bird performer Carroll Spinney on Sesame Street.
Jim Shooter
Marvel Comics’ editor-in-chief for nine years starting in 1979, Shooter oversaw such influential titles as the Chris Claremont-John Byrne Uncanny X-Men run, Frank Miller’s Daredevil, Walt Simonson’s Thor, Roger Stern’s Avengers and The Amazing Spider-Man, and more.
Composer of the instantly recognizable X-Files theme, Snow also worked on Millennium, Smallville, Ghost Whisperer, and many more.
Spiegel co-wrote the screenplay for Evil Dead II with his high school buddy Sam Raimi, after appearing in Raimi’s Evil Dead predecessor Within the Woods. He also directed From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money and Hostel: Part III, while cameoing in Raimi’s films including as “Rooftop Pizza Thief” in Spider-Man 2.
Terence Stamp
He played General Zod in Superman and Superman II, then returned to the DC superhero world on Smallville, this time as Jor-El. Stamp’s long career included lots of non-genre titles, too, but he seemed to have a fondness for sci-fi and fantasy, appearing in Star Wars prequel The Phantom Menace, Red Planet, The Haunted Mansion, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, and more.
Lynne Marie Stewart
Stewart’s long career was stuffed with “where have I seen her before?” roles that sent viewers racing to Google to check her filmography—but to us, her most indelible part was as Miss Yvonne on Pee-wee’s Playhouse, forever “the most beautiful woman in Puppet Land.”
An artist and illustrator whose gorgeous posters became forever identified with the movies they advertised—and surely enticed plenty of would-be audience members to buy tickets, especially in the pre-internet days. His great works include Blade Runner, E.T. the Extraterrestrial, The Thing, Back to the Future, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Goonies, and of course, multiple Star Wars films.
Jeannot Szwarc
You may not immediately recognize this director’s name, but you surely know his filmography, which includes the original Supergirl, Jaws 2, Somewhere in Time, as well as Santa Claus: The Movie and episodes of Fringe, Heroes, Supernatural, and more.
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
A prolific actor whose roles spanned action movies and beyond (but were often villainous), including Shang Tsung in Street Fighter. His other genre roles included Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes, Elektra, Tekken, 47 Ronin, The Man in the High Castle, the Netflix remake of Lost in Space, and Blue Eye Samurai.
She played Buffy’s younger sister, Dawn, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and also had roles in Gossip Girl, EuroTrip, the 2006 Black Christmas remake, Mysterious Skin, 17 Again, and more.
Voice actor Ward played Captain Qwark in Insomniac Games’ Ratchet & Clank franchise; he also played Diamondhead on Ben 10 and Doug Dimmadome on Fairly OddParents.
Harris Yulin
Many fans will rightfully remember this veteran character actor for his scene-stealing turn as the judge in Ghostbusters II, but Star Trek fans will never forget his role as a conflicted Cardassian in standout Deep Space Nine episode “Duet.”
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