10 TV Revivals That Totally Ruined Awesome Characters

What the hell did they do to Michael?

Claire Heroes
NBC Universal

The TV revival is an extremely tricky thing to get right, because whether or not the original run of episodes ended how the showrunners intended, there's no guarantee of recapturing the lightning-in-a-bottle magic of that initial go-around.

And while Breaking Bad's recent El Camino is proof perfect of how to deliver a respectful follow-up that deepens the meaning of the original material, too often revivals misunderstand what made their prior seasons so great in the first place, or exist simply to line the pockets of those involved.

Worse still, perhaps, is when a revived show ruins a previously beloved character, either by drastically altering their characterisation, wringing them through a woeful subplot, killing them off or, get this, maybe even resurrecting them unnecessarily.

These 10 TV revivals all made major missteps with vital characters, usually through careless writing but also occasionally due to some unfortunate timing in relation to real-world events.

Whatever the cause, and regardless of how it affected the show as a whole, these characters were seemingly tainted forever more in their belated returns to the small screen...

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.