10 Dead Characters Returning For Future Movie Sequels

7. George Kirk - Star Trek 4

How He Died

George Kirk died heroically in the prologue to JJ Abrams Star Trek. When The USS Kelvin is left captainless and badly damaged by the attacking Narada ship, helmed by Nero, Kirk stayed behind as he ordered an evacuation in order to ram the attacking ship and protect the evacuating shuttles.

His death would forever impact his son's life, not least because of the weight of expectation on him to be a good man.

But Wait...

In the wake of Star Trek Beyond's release (and baffling underachievement at the box office - seriously, it's bloody great!), it was announced that the fourth film in the Kelvin series would reunite Chris Pine's Kirk with his father. Despite him being dead.

For now, the film is on hold as Paramount and Chris Pine and Chris Hemsworth work on a contract dispute that has so far held it up. But there is some hope that it will still happen.

Will It Be Explained?

This being Star Trek, it'll no doubt involve some sort of time travel device or a wormhole or a temporal anomaly... Basically, it's a high-concept sci-fi franchise, so they could write whatever explanation they'd like and it could logically work.

If they were honest, the real explanation is that Chris Hemsworth got really famous after he appeared as Kirk Snr originally and now they'd like to take advantage of some of that transferred appeal.