While Laurent did not enjoy a major role in the completed Twilight saga, the underutilized villain received a stronger character arc in earlier drafts. Across the saga as a whole, Twilight did not invest an inordinate amount of time into humanizing its villains. Although the Volturi's Marcus came with a tragic backstory involving a murdered mate, this was never fleshed out in the Twilight saga's movie adaptations, and the rest of the villainous coven remained one-dimensional, sneering villains. Similarly, the vengeful Victoria and bloodthirsty James were not particularly complex in the original novel, and Twilight's 2008 movie failed to make their motives any more meaningful.
The original two-book version of the saga fixed this by giving underrated Twilight villain Laurent a vastly improved role. Played by Edi Gathegi in the Twilight movies, Laurent was a duplicitous, power-hungry vampire who was disarmingly honest about his amoral outlook. Laurent would side with whoever he believed was strongest in any given fight, not caring about the motivations of the Cullen family or the Volturi. Laurent died in New Moon when he was killed by Jacob's pack of werewolves but, in Stephenie Meyer's original, unreleased sequel, Forever Dawn, the character defected to the side of the Cullens in a much more compelling twist.
Laurent Originally Survived The Twilight Saga
Laurent was killed after making an attempt on Bella Swan's life and his death is, alongside James', partly why Victoria targets Bella in Eclipse. In Forever Dawn, however, Stephenie Meyer skipped the events of New Moon and Eclipse and jumped straight from Twilight to Breaking Dawn's ending. As a result, Laurent never tried to attack Bella and was never killed by Jacob Black and his family of werewolves, with the minor villain instead switching sides and fighting against the Volturi alongside the Cullens. This unexpected redemption felt truer to Laurent's character, since he is supposed to have an uncanny knack for sniffing out who will win a fight.
Laurent's biggest strength is his ability to make compromises with any faction depending on what benefits him. As such, his Twilight death always felt oddly forced. Twilight jumping straight to the ending of Breaking Dawn would have fixed this problem, as Laurent's survival would have proven he could play both sides off each other. Instead, Laurent served Victoria and paid the ultimate price for this mistake, which never seemed a fitting end for a supposed master pragmatist. Laurent's jarring death was likely added to give New Moon tangible stakes, as little else of consequence happens in the sequel, but the decision cost the criticized Twilight movie sequels one of their most intriguing villains.
Why Twilight’s Sequels Killed Off Laurent
Justifying Laurent's death in New Moon is tricky - even when the sequel's need for stakes is taken into consideration. Killing off Laurent gave Victoria greater motivation to target Bella, but left Twilight one less interesting villain as a result. Laurent's lack of powers, however, may have meant that the Twilight franchise had little use for him, since the villain was unable to cause as much damage as Victoria, James, and the Volturi. With this in mind, it is easier to see why Stephenie Meyer abandoned her original plan and ended up killing Laurent instead of letting him live in the final edit of her Twilight saga.