14 Times A Show Revealed A Character Was Actually Alive And We Were Like “GO BACK TO YOUR GRAVE”

FX

Netflix

Okay, hear me out: I love Hopper as much as the next Stranger Things fan. I didn't want him to die. And yet, having him not actually be dead really robbed the narrative of a lot of emotional weight, and his actions of their meaning. Also...his storyline was the real weak point of last season, and we could have done without it. 

Netflix

Big John was already dead (or so we thought) before Outer Banks began, and his absence was a driving force for John B, making it a huge shadow hanging over him and the show. When it was finally revealed that Big John was alive and he actually became part of the plot, it sucked a lot more than it should have. It turned out Big John was just as terrible as almost every other father in the Outer Banks world, and his presence totally threw off the group dynamics we actually want to see. 

Freeform

Ali was an iconic villain on Pretty Little Liars, and her being alive was a huge (if not entirely unexpected by fan theorists) plot twist. The problem was the show then tried to redeem her character for some reason, and made her a weak, boring hero who didn't remotely resemble the evil Ali we all loved to hate. 

Fox

Sara was straight up DECAPITATED in Season 3, so it felt all the more cheap when it turned out she was still alive — apparently, the head in the box was someone else. Way too convenient, and the start of a downhill slide for the quality of the show. 

Fox

One good thing about the end of the original Prison Break was the rather cathartic plot point of Michael dying. Then, the revival totally reversed that. Apparently, he totally faked his death! Like Sara's resurrection, it felt too convenient and boring. 

CW

Although it's all very telenovela, it was frustrating to see Michael come back from the dead in Jane the Virgin. We had already mourned him alongside Jane and became invested in her renewed relationship with Rafael. Having Michael back in the picture not only complicated her connection with Rafael, it also undermined her original relationship with Michael. It was lose/lose. 

AMC

Glenn's "death" seemed a sure thing after a zombie attack, but when it turned out viewers had been fooled by deliberately misleading camerawork — that was another guy's intestine's being devoured! — it was particularly maddening. When he was actually killed off later, it just added insult to injury. 

HBO

ABC

Rumplestiltskin was a villain on Once Upon a Time that the show tried to redeem, but honestly, he was just the worst! He seemed to die in Season 3 when he'd already overstayed his welcome, but alas, he was resurrected, and continued to be the worst right through to the end. 

Warner Bros

Spike is one villain whose redemption arc was incredibly strong — he soon became a fan favorite, and for good reason. When he sacrifices himself in the series finale, it felt like a fitting culmination of his story. The fact he then showed up in Angel — another show entirely — really watered down his original arc in a disappointing way.

CW

Bart Bass faking his own death was a Gossip Girl plot twist no one asked for. The subsequent journey of Chuck and the way his father's return — and ultimate actual death — impacted his relationship with Blair was just dissatisfying to fans of the ship (which was, like, everyone who watched the show at the time). 

CBS

Bobby comes back from the dead in perhaps the most boring trope in history: His death — and everything that followed — turned out to be a dream. Like, a whole season's worth of story. It's probably one of the most frustrating moments in TV history. 

HBO

For awhile, Game of Thrones wasn't afraid to let its characters stay dead — even if they were pretty significant. But toward the end of the show, characters kept coming back to life with increasing frequency. Some of these were more exciting than others, and your mileage may vary on the most famous one of all — Jon Snow — but one that felt really pointless was The Mountain. He was the most cartoonish villain in Westeros, and became even more so undead. 

BBC

The whole premise of Red Dwarf was that it was a small band of misfits stranded in space, with everyone else on their ship dead. It set up the main tension of the plot, and a lot of the comedy. So, when the rest of the crew were miraculously revived in Season 8, it totally changed the premise of the show, not to mention the character dynamics we tuned in for — and not for the better. It became one of the worst seasons in the show's decades-long run.