We watch movie characters suffer, survive, scheme, love, and hope, sometimes for two straight hours, only for the story to reward them with an ending that feels rushed, unfair, or emotionally unfinished. Even long after the credits roll, there are characters we are convinced are owed more.
This list isn’t about bad movies; it’s about unforgettable characters whose journeys deserved clearer or gentler conclusions, or at least a little mercy. From tragic heroes to misunderstood villains, these are ten Nollywood characters who did everything right or wrong, depending on who you ask, and still didn’t get the ending they truly deserved.
Asake in O Le Ku (1997)
Asake (Feyikemi Abodunrin) is a schoolteacher and Ajani’s (Yemi Shodimu) longtime girlfriend. She’s deeply in love with him but is unaware that he’s also in relationships with two other women. Her father tries to separate her from Ajani, but she refuses and later gets pregnant.
Ajani refuses to claim it. It makes sense that the next reasonable step for Asake is foetus deletus, though the abortion almost takes her life. Not only is she now single, but she’s also left to pick herself up and move on from a philandering piece of shit who left her to go be with someone else. Asake loses out despite loving Ajani wholeheartedly and even going against her family’s wishes. Honestly, she deserves better.
Bernice and Rhyme in Beyoncé & Rihanna (2008)
Bernice (Nadia Buari) is a singer and jealous girlfriend who lives in constant fear that her music-producer boyfriend, Jay (Jim Iyke) will cheat with and leave her for one of the numerous aspiring female artists throwing themselves at him for a come up.
We’re introduced to Rhyme (Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde), a singer and Bernice’s longtime rival. The two ladies’ paths cross again in a minor accident that leads to renewed enmity, and Bernice steals Rhyme’s car key and drives away with it. Jay hears what happened and returns the car to Rhyme, but it quickly becomes more than an apology on his girlfriend’s behalf. Jay starts dating Rhyme, while Bernice still lives in his house, and the tension between the two women becomes heated.
The franchise literally ends with them fighting over Jay, but he’s cheating on them with some random girl outside. They deserve better, not Jay or the unnecessary beef.
Watch Beyonce & Rihanna on YouTube.
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Funmi in Farmer’s Bride (2024)
Funmi (Gbubemi Ejeye) is a young maiden who is trapped in a marriage. She yearns for education, but ends up a wife to Odun (Femi Branch), an old and wealthy farmer in a neighbouring village after her parents marry her off in exchange for a few plots of land. Funmi is apparently terrified of her aging husband; she isn’t in love with him and didn’t consent to the marriage arrangement. She finds escape in a steamy romantic relationship with Femi (Tobi Bakre), her husband’s handsome nephew — the guy who’ll change her life’s trajectory.
He’s everything she wants in a man: educated, attractive and young like herself. She was young and with a bright future ahead of her, and could have been more. But the unwanted marriage, sudden pregnancy that belongs to Femi and the tragedy that comes afterwards, truncates her journey. A victim of her circumstances.
Watch Farmer’s Bride on Netflix.
Ify (Pana) in Gangs of Lagos (2023)
Ify, AKA Pana (Chike), isn’t a saint. Neither meek nor gentle. As a typical kid from the rough part of Isake Eko, he rolls with gang members — a product of his environment. But he seems like the better person and has the potential to beat the ghetto-crime life. Unfortunately, proximity to crime makes him a victim and a target in a gang war. He’s a talented musician who is supposed to be his friends’ ticket out of the hood, but he becomes a victim of his environment.
Ify deserves better. Though if he’s kept alive, I doubt we’d have gotten the impeccable performance from Chioma Akpotha as Mama Ify during the funeral scene. Anyways, sleep well, Ify — Isale Eko is still the same.
Watch Gangs of Lagos on Prime Video.
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Inem in Shanty Town (2023)
Inem (Ini Edo) has never had it good. As a child, she is brutally separated from her sister after an attack on their hometown claimed their father’s life. She’s thrown into prostitution, and her sister Amanda ends up at an orphanage. After a busted drug operation by the police, she ends up in jail as collateral damage. She’s left in prison until a terminal illness takes her life.
But all these aren’t revealed to us until the tail-end, that Inem is dead, and it’s been Amanda all along, playing undercover. Amanda is a special agent trying to avenge her sister, Inem, take down crimelord Scar (Chidi Mokeme), and burn down Shanty Town. This plot suddenly comes out of nowhere and could have been written better. Or it could have just remained Inem coming out of jail to bring down her enemies. The idea of her twin sister coming to take revenge doesn’t change the fact that her ending is quite sad.
Kemi from King of Boys (2018)
Kemi (Adesina Etomi-Welkington) is basically the voice of reason for her fearful mother, Eniola Salami (Sola Sobowale). Being brutally killed alongside her brother in broad daylight by her mother’s opponents is excessively cruel. At the core of things, it feels like she dies for sins that aren’t hers. Once again, she is young, and her life could have turned out very differently.
Watch King of Boys on Netflix.
Teju in Man of God (2022)
Teju (Osas Ighodaro) and Samuel (Ajah Nnani) are friends in uni. Teju clearly likes Samuel, but he doesn’t see it, and she doesn’t exactly tell. A babe named Joy (Atlanta Bridget Johnson) comes around, and Samuel is smitten with her like mad. It takes time, but he and Joy get together. Teju is heartbroken and just kind of vanishes from the movie’s plot.
Joy is a year ahead of Samuel, so she graduates before him. They plan to wait for each other, but Joy ghosts him and goes off to marry some muscular pastor she met in the real world. Samuel is super depressed, but then runs into Teju. Teju helps get him out of his depression, and they end up dating and getting married, even though it’s clear to both parties that she’s his consolation prize.
Tony in Nneka the Pretty Serpent (2020)
In the remake of Nneka the Pretty Serpent, Tony (Kenneth Okolie) is a frequent patron at the restaurant where Nneka (Idia Aisien) works. After flirting for a while, they start dating, and he’s completely unaware of the supernatural baggage she comes with. So, when Queen Mother (Ndidi Obi) is pissed at Nneka for going against her orders, the first thing Queen Mother does is drag Tony into the supernatural wahala by hurting him. His only crime is being in love.
Watch Nneka the Pretty Serpent on Netflix.
Uche and Toyin in A Sunday Affair (2023)
Two best friends, Uche (Nse Ikpe-Etim) and Toyin (Dakore Egbuson-Akande) fall for the same man, Sunday (Oris Erhuero), a married one. Sunday cheats on his wife with Uche at Uche’s sister’s wedding. Then he flirts with Toyin on a flight one day. At this point, the two friends are attracted to Sunday, and Toyin eventually becomes pregnant for Sunday.
Even though it’s just a harmless emotional escape, it becomes a love triangle that tests the two friends’ loyalty, friendship and self-control. Clearly, the women let their pleasure get the best of them, but they don’t deserve an adult fuck-boy who’ll be in any skirt and doesn’t care who gets hurt.
Watch A Sunday Affair on Netflix.
Victor in Behind the Scenes (2025)
Victor (Uzor Arukwe) in Funke Akindele’s latest movie, Behind the Scenes, is a lawyer and best friend to Ronke Fernandez (Scarlet Gomez). Ronke is a real estate mogul diagnosed with lupus. She navigates her health crisis with her family’s responsibilities as the breadwinner. But she becomes tired and overburdened with her health and her family’s manipulation and unending leeching.
So, she meets with Victor and his wife to plan her death. Her plan is to see how her family reacts to her death. One day, Victor runs into a robbery and tries to play a hero but is gunned down, unfortunately. It’s a meaningless death, as Victor’s only job in this movie is just to be by Ronke.
Behind the Scenes is currently showing at the cinema.
