12 Brilliant Ways TV Characters Were Brought Back From The Dead

6. Dean Winchester €“ Supernatural

The Winchester brothers have died several times over the last nine years, so much in fact that when a season finale rolls in, there's a good chance that either Dean or Sam are going to meet their maker. Fans shouldn't worry; like a fellow slayer of demons, Buffy Summers, they'll always be back for more. Dean's resurrection at the start of season four is the most ingenious of them all as it paves the way for Lucifer and the apocalypse end game of season five. Killed by hell hounds the previous year, Dean awakens in his own grave and literally has to claw his way out. His new lease of life, it turns out, is all down to an angel called Castiel, working on the orders of God and who, as it turns out again, becomes the most beloved character on the show to date. What's so clever is the chain of events that surround his resurrection. Dean is charged with stopping Lilith from breaking the 66 seals and releasing Lucifer, the first seal being Dean himself, who was forced to torture an innocent soul in Hell. By being brought back into the fold, he gains a greater sense of purpose and goes from simple hunter to saviour of the world, even when all his friends fall in the battle to save humanity from the apocalypse itself. It was the turning point when Dean took center stage from his brother Sam, who until this point had been mostly connected to the ongoing story.