9 TV ‘Deaths’ Like ‘NCIS’s Ziva That Were Just Fake-Outs (VIDEO)
Miraculous resurrections aren’t just soap opera fodder: Primetime dramas also love to bring beloved characters back from the dead.
NCIS, for example, recently revealed Ziva (Cote de Pablo) is not, in fact, dead. Now scroll down to see nine other small-screen Lazaruses. (Spoilers ahead!)
Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock)
The famed detective (Benedict Cumberbatch) certainly appears to jump to his death at the end of the show’s second season … before returning right as rain for the third season premiere, which offers a series of far-fetched theories — a bungee system, an airbag — to explain away his alive status.
Sara Tancredi (Prison Break)
The evil operative Gretchen Morgan (Jodi Lyn O’Keefe) claims to have decapitated Sara (Sarah Wayne Callies) in Season 3, and even sends a head in a box to Lincoln (Dominic Purcell), but Season 4 reveals it was all a ruse — the head wasn’t hers.
Starbuck (Battlestar Galactica)
Kara “Starbuck” Thrace (Katee Sackhoff) dies in Season 3 when atmospheric pressure crushed her Viper like a tin can, but both she and the fighter spacecraft reappear in pristine condition in the season finale — and fans still have no idea how.
Michael Vaughn (Alias)
Despite being riddled with bullets at the start of Season 5 and “dying” with a sobbing Sydney (Jennifer Garner) at his hospital bedside, Vaughn (Michael Vartan) somehow survives and — with the help of future father-in-law Jack (Victor Garber) — hides in Nepal to avoid the nefarious organization Prophet Five.
Fox Mulder (The X-Files)
Three months after Mulder (David Duchovny) is laid to rest following his alien abduction, a fellow abductee comes back to life in a Season 8 episode, and Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) orders the exhumation of his body. And whaddayaknow, Spooky Mulder has vital signs!
Jon Snow (Game of Thrones)
A Night’s Watch mutiny results in the stabbing death of Jon Snow at the end of Season 5, but when actor Kit Harington kept his long Game of Thrones locks during the hiatus, fans knew what was up. Sure enough, Melisandre (Carice van Houten) brings the character back to life in Season 6.
Emily Prentiss (Criminal Minds)
Prentiss (Paget Brewster) gets the business end of a table leg in a fight with Ian Doyle (Timothy V. Murphy) in Season 6, and while the BAU team mourns the tragedy, JJ (A.J. Cook) meets up with the very much alive Prentiss in Paris and gives her fresh passports.
Glenn Rhee (The Walking Dead)
Glenn (Steven Yeun) appeared to be ripped to shreds by a walker horde in The Walking Dead’s sixth season, and producers waited a good long while to reveal that the flesh being consumed was actually that of Nicholas (Michael Traynor), whose corpse acted as Glenn’s human shield.
Michael Cordero (Jane the Virgin)
In true telenovela fashion, Michael (Brett Dier) comes back from the dead in Season 4 after “dying” of an aortic dissection one season prior. Turns out, the villain Rose (Bridget Regan) staged his death.
