As you may or may not have heard, there’s a rumour doing the rounds on the mill that the presumed dead father of the incest twins and grand papi to the King, Tywin Lannister, may make an epic comeback in season five of Game of Thrones. Whether or not Tywin’s role in the upcoming season will be a resurrection or only in a flashback capacity has yet to be confirmed. In light of this new information, I thought it was fitting to revisit some of those classic TV characters who just should have stayed dead. In case you haven’t already guessed the following has MAJOR SPOILERS from a whole lot of TV shows, so proceed with caution:

6. Lex Luther – Smallville

The dramatic death of Lex Luthor at the end of season seven in Smallville should have been the last hoorah for Lex and Clark. Instead, the series that believe it or not went so far down hill it fell on it rested gently at the bottom after the death of iconic villain Lex Luther and decided, ‘Hey, let’s give him another shot.’ Then after almost three seasons they slowly re-integrated Lex back in to the last season, desperately manipulating a story that would seem only slightly legitimate in explaining Lex’s comeback. This resulted in arguably the worst season of Smallville. Firstly, he should have quit while they were ahead, and secondly, if they didn’t devote the whole season to some convoluted Lex resurrection, it could have actually been a great end to an awesome series.

5. Phil Coulson – Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Although the death of beloved S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson was in the film The Avengers, his resurrection takes place in the TV series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. so the premise still applies. Coulson’s death was one of the more sentimental moments in The Avengers with this classic last words from Coulson, ‘This was never going to work if they didn’t have something to…’ Logic says fill the blank with ‘avenge’. Based on this fact alone the resurrection of Phil Coulson undermines the the whole basis for the uniting of different heroes to become the Avengers team. Although Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. could have definitely functioned without Coulson, the fact that Coulson is a lovable favourite makes it easy to look past his shaky stance for a revival.

4. Spike – Buffy / Angel

Spike, the vampire we all love to hate from Buffy The Vampire Slayer died in the last episode in a noble act, ending his forbidden romance with Buffy. He later returns in the spinoff series Angel and is a potential flaw in reformed vampire Angel’s quest for mortality. Although Spike’s quick witted sarcasm and a moral compass that is grey at best is entertaining, his comeback — although well written and explained — was pretty pointless and his overall reason for revival was never really obvious. Though I have suspicions it was a stepping stone to have him feature in the Buffy and Angel comics.

3. Either one of the Winchester Brothers – Supernatural

They’ve just died so many times!

2. Keith Mars – Veronica Mars

Everyone loves Keith Mars and if you’ve watched any Veronica Mars, you know that the chemistry with his daughter on the small screen is palpable; but in a show lacking any major writing risks his death could have been something beautiful. In the last episode of season two, Keith — Veronica’s dad — appears to die in an explosion on an airplane. This is of course devastating, for about four minutes when he rocks up at home to a grieving daughter! Seriously a missed opportunity for season three.

1. Sara Trancredi – Prison Break

This one is probably the worst. I mean, how do you come back from a beheading? Next thing you know, Ned Stark will be coming out of the woodwork. The main love interest in Prison Break, Trancredi — who is not only assumed, but pretty much confirmed dead — is MIA for a whole season and this provides motivation for main character Michael Scofield in season three. In season four she comes back with her head perfectly in tact and she has been fine the whole time. I guess we will never know whose head was actually in the box that Scofield saw with his own eyes… Weird. The whole thing smells of pungent money hungry Hollywood.

Cordelia

To juxtapose, here’s a quick list of characters we wished to come back but didn’t:

Cordelia – Angel (still cursing this)

Marissa Cooper – The O.C

Lexi Grey – Grey’s Anatomy

Every character – Game of Thrones

Any TV deaths or resurrections I’ve forgotten, or if you agree or disagree, let us know below in the comments or on Facebook or Twitter.