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(#1) Kenny McCormick
- South Park
One of South Park's longest-running jokes is that Kenny can never die. The parka-wearing elementary school student has been microwaved, beheaded, killed by a bear, and tortured in countless other ways, but he always returned the following episode good as new. So when he dies again of muscular dystrophy in Season 5, fans assumed he'd come back the next season like always - but then he didn't.
After fans complained non-stop about Kenny being gone for all of Season 6, creators Trey Stone and Matt Parker finally brought him back to life for good.
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(#2) Brian Griffin
- Family Guy
Cartoons are more than fair game for deaths and resurrections but in this case the fans would have none of it. The death itself was clearly a ratings grab. Family Guy's Brian just so happens to die in Season 12 right after Stewie destroys his time travel device and is unable to bring him back. The show was likely never going to leave Brian dead, but just in case there was any doubt fans got real vocal about bringing him back. Sure enough, two episodes later Stewie steals the time travel device from his past self and gets Brian back.
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(#3) Agent Phil Coulson
- Ultimate Spider-Man, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
When veteran Marvel Universe character Agent Coulson died in the first Avengers movie, many couldn't believe their eyes - which was fine for when Coulson came back to life for his own TV show, Marvel's Agents of Shield. While Joss Whedon felt the move cheapened Coulson's death, creators (and fans) believed the character to be too popular to kill off.
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(#4) Optimus Prime
Granted, this beloved character death happened in a movie, but the character in question, Optimus Prime, was resurrected on TV. A fan-favorite of children everywhere, this semi-truck transforming hero fought the Decepticons to keep earth safe. Then those same bright-eyed children watched tearfully in Transformers: The Movie (1986) as the Autobot fought his last fight and was killed. Not only were millions of children scarred, they were outraged. Optimus was practically a father-figure.
Needless to say, the character arose from the dead in 1988 on the Transformers cartoon.
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(#5) Spike
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Longtime fan-favorite Spike met his supposed end in the series finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but he was such a beloved character that he ended up coming back to life in the Season 5 finale of Angel. No one complained, of course. And a show about the supernatural is always given a bit more leeway.
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(#6) Catwoman
- Maggie
When Catwoman, as played by Julie Newmar, first appeared on the 1960s Batman TV series, she was meant to be a one-shot character. But after she fell to her death at the end of her second episode, fans began sending in mail asking for her to return. They had such a negative reaction to her death, in fact, that creators decided to bring back the character in the Batman movie - and then later in the second season of the TV show.
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(#7) Carol Hathaway
- ER
Juliana Marguiles's career might have been over before it begun if not for the outcry of audience members. Originally, the pilot episode of ER was supposed to show Head Nurse Carol Hathaway committing suicide and dying permanently, but this didn't test well with viewers. After they reacted positively to the actress, the show's creators resurrected her for the official pilot - and thus kicked off one of television's most beloved, longest-running primetime dramas.
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(#8) Jaime Sommers
- The Bionic Woman
Jaime Sommers, AKA The Bionic Woman, first appeared in two episodes of ABC's mid-70s series The Six Million Dollar Man. Her character rekindled a love affair with the Six Million Dollar Man only to suffer from a parachuting accident and die in an experimental bionic surgery. However, the character proved to be so popular with fans that she was brought back to life in her own spinoff series, The Bionic Woman, the following season. The rest, of course, is history.
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(#9) Carson Beckett
- Stargate Atlantis
This Scottish doctor started out as a recurring character on Stargate Atlantis, a spin-off of Stargate SG-1, but soon became a main character after fans fell in love with him. When producers decided to kill him off to make a point about the brutality of war, critics called the move "boneheaded" and fans quickly rallied around the character.
In addition to making a fan site begging for the character's return, they also took to protesting outside Atlantis' Vancouver, BC studio - complete with bagpipes. Their fervor was so overwhelming that the show's creators brought Beckett back as a clone in Seasons 4 and 5.
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(#10) Davy Crockett
TV's first hit series and first hit character actually started out as a marketing ploy. ABC's 1955 Disneyland series was originally meant to test out the new frontier of television while simultaneously promoting the soon-to-be unveiled Disneyland theme park in Anaheim, CA. But the series' main character - Davy Crockett - proved too popular to ignore.
After the frontiersman-turned-politician died in an episode about the battle of the Alamo (as Crockett did in real life), execs decided to bring the character back for multiple revivals after realizing how popular Crockett was with American audiences.
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(#11) Bobby Ewing
- Dallas, Dallas
In the late '80s no show was mining the depths of event television more than Dallas. The show had basically invented the season finale cliffhanger with the attempted murder of J.R. Ewing. Then in Season 9 the show killed off a beloved character Bobby Ewing and the show immediately had a drop-off in audience interest. The series fell from being number one in the ratings to number seven.
This being the '80s, fans didn't get the instant gratification of taking to the Internet to voice their dissatisfaction, but the ratings dip was enough to scare CBS executives into bringing Bobby back. Of course, his return - showing up unexpectedly in a steamy shower - is now associated with one of the biggest blunders in television. His death was explained as the dream of his wife, basically negating half of the previous season's plot.
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About This Tool
When a classic character returns to a cameo on a TV show, it can be a gimmick, especially when the series ending upsets the audience. The death or loss of some famous characters made the audience very angry, although it is known that the production team may have overrun the budget or the actors have other work arrangements, it is too important for fans to see the return of their favorite characters again.
Some characters return for more than a came, all fans may still look forward to a new season of their favorite TV series or spin-off movie. The random tool lists 11 popular TV characters returned.
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