Grief Dreams in Pop Culture

Paul McCartney talks about his grief dream of his deceased mother at the 5 minute mark of this interview.

Paul McCartney talks about his grief dream of his deceased friend (John Lennon).

Matt Damon talks about a dream he had of his deceased father at the 4:57 mark


Some Movies, TV shows, and Music on Grief Dreams

  • The NeverEnding Story (1984)

    Braveheart (1995)

    Mortal Kombat (1995)

    Courage Under Fire (1996)

    Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)

    Ram Dass: Fierce Grace (2001)

    The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers (2002)

    The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

    Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)

    War (2007)

    Semi-Pro (2008)

    Everybody’s Fine (2009)

    Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)

    Inception (2010)

    Shutter Island (2010)

    The Wolverine (2013)

    Gravity (2013)

    Oblivion (2013)

    Hercules (2014)

    The Good Dinosaur (2015)

    Collateral Beauty (2016)

    Pete's Dragon (2016)

    Manchester by the Sea (2016)

    A Monster Calls (2016) (anticipatory grief dream)

    Skiptrace (2016)

    The Shack (2017)

    The Dark Tower (2017) (mentions topic)

    Ghost in the Shell (2017)

    Beauty and the Beast (2017)

    King Arthur (2017)

    War of the Planet of the Apes (2017)

    Thor: Ragnarok (precognitive grief dream) (2017)

    Justice League (2017) (only in the trailer)

    The Upside (2017)

    Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

    Extinction (2018)

    The Happytime Murders (2018)

    The Sisters Brothers (2018)

    Peppermint (2018)

    Widows (2018)

    Captain Marvel (2019)

    Robert the Bruce (2020)

    The Old Guard (2020)

    Bloodshot (2020)

    Canvas (2020)

    Army of the Dead (2021)

    Blue Miracle (2021)

    Sweet Girl (2021)

    Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard (2021)

    The In Between (2022)

    Dirty Daddy: The Bob Saget Tribute (2022)

    Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)

    Pinocchio (2022)

    Samaritan (2022)

    Slumberland (2022)

    Medieval (2022)

    Beast (2002)

    The Pale Blue Eye (2023)

    Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)

    Damsel (2024)

    Road House (2024)

    Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)

  • The Big Bang Theory (Season 7, episode 22)

    The Big Bang Theory (Season 9, episode 11)

    The Big Bang Theory (Season 11, episode 6)

    The Big Bang Theory (Season 12, episode 5)

    Game of Thrones (Season 3, episode 2)

    The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (Season 1, episode 17)

    The Kominsky Method (Season 2, episode 5)

    Sherlock (Season 3, episode 4)

    Lost (Season 2, episode 21)

    Futurama (Season 7, episode 23)

    The Young and the Restless (many times)

    Empire (Season 2, episode 1)

    The Sopranos (Season 5, episode 11)

    House (Season 2, episode 23; Season 3, Episode 5; Season 4, Episode 16)

    The Crossing (Season 1, episode 5)

    Monk (someone said this has some, not sure about the episode or season)

    Titans (Season 1, episode 1)

    The Last Kingdom (Season 3, episode 2 and 6) (Season 4, episode 3)

    After Life (Season 1, episode 2)

    Sorry For Your Loss (Season 2, episode 2, 7, 9 and 10)

    Black Lightning (Season 1, episode 13)

    Cursed (Season 1, episode 5)

    Marco Polo (Season 1, episode 3)

    This is Us (Season 4, episode 11)

    Star Trek: Enterprise (Season 3, episode 20)

    Numbers (Season 2, episode 24)

    Surviving Death (Season 1, episode 5 and 6)

    Jupiter’s Legacy (Season 1, episode 5)

    Ragnarok (Season 1, episode 6) (Season 2, episode 3 and 5)

    Sweet Tooth (Season 1, episode 3)

    Marvel’s Iron Fist (Season 1, episode 3)

    Arcane: League of Legends (Season 1, episode 8)

    Obi-Wan Kenobi (Season 1, episode 1)

    The Sandman (Season 1, episode 7, 8, and 9)

    Mo (Season 1, episode 3 and 8)

    Narco-Saints (Season 1, episode 6)

    Grey’s Anatomy (e.g., Season 15, episode 6; Season 17, episode 4, 10, and 13)

    Love Is Blind (Season 3, episode 12)

    Only Murders in the Building (Season 2, episode 7; Season 4, Episode 4)

    The Hardy Boys (Season 2, episode 1)

    The Witcher (Season 3, episode 7)

    Testament: The Story of Moses (Episode 1)

    The Chosen (Season 4, Episode 2)

    Those About to Die (Season 1, Episode 5 and 10)

  • The below news story on CBC Vancouver features Dr. Joshua Black

    The below TED Talk was done by Dr. Christopher Kerr from Episode 73 of the Grief Dreams Podcast. In this video he discusses his research on Grief Dreams at the end-of-life.

This news story on CBC Vancouver features Dr. Joshua Black discussing grief dreams

Do you have a pop culture reference to grief dreams that isn’t listed here? Send it to griefdreams@gmail.com

This TED Talk features Dr. Christopher Kerr who discusses his research on dreams of the deceased at the end-of-life

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