Personally I found it obvious that saving Rey would make him die, and the kiss didn’t change my mind (though it is possible they were aiming for a “will he?” sort of suspense there). At least when it comes to my edit I’d like to have two versions, depending on which the viewer wants - one where he dies and we see him later as a ghost, and another where we don’t see what happens to him after the kiss, and the suspense remains until he shows up at the homestead, alive. I think merely cutting his death and never showing him again would just make it seem like something was obviously missing.