‘Family Guy’ Death: Brian Griffin and Other TV Characters Brought Back to Life

Brian, “Family Guy”

Image Credit: Photo Credit: FOX

After the Griffin family's beloved pooch Brian was shockingly struck by a car and killed, poor Stewie made it his Christmas wish to bring his best friend back to life. Thanks to the family's new dog, Vinnie, Stewie discovers a time-traveling version of himself and swipes his time machine to go back to the moment before Brian's crash. Executive producer Seth MacFarlane, who voices Brian, used the story as a holiday "lesson," tweeting to "never take those you love for granted, for they can be gone in a flash."
Agent Coulson, “Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD”

Image Credit: Photo Credit: ABC/Kelsey McNeal

SHIELD agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) not only made a trip back from death, but also made the big leap from film to TV. In the blockbuster The Avengers, Coulson appeared to be stabbed to death by Loki (Tom Hiddleston). His supposed death is the motivation the Avengers need to get their act together and save the world. But when ABC launched new series Marvel's Agents of SHIELD in September, Coulson was back, leading the team of agents. He says he was dead for eight seconds before being revived, but much mystery still surrounds his miraculous return.
Alison, “Pretty Little Liars”

Image Credit: Photo Credit: ABC FAMILY/Eric McCandless

For much of the ABC Family series, Alison (Sasha Pieterse) had been presumed dead, with the bulk of the mysteries and quests honing in on the real story behind her death. But it was the Halloween episode in season four that revealed that Alison (brought back with a simple "Did you miss me?") was in fact alive.
Bonnie, “The Vampire Diaries”

Image Credit: Photo Credit: Blake Tyers/The CW

Bonnie (Kat Graham) brought Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) back to life in the season-four finale, sacrificing her well-being to do so. She was technically dead for the first half of season five, but viewers saw her communicating with Jeremy on the other side. It wasn't until midway through the season that she was resurrected.
Denny, “Grey’s Anatomy”

Image Credit: Photo Credit: ABC/SCOTT GARFIELD

Jeffrey Dean Morgan's beloved Denny Duquette went from patient to Izzie's (Katherine Heigl) love interest before the doc made a career-threatening decision to get her husband-to-be a new heart. Sadly, a heart transplant couldn't save his life and he died of a stroke. The character, one of showrunner Shonda Rhimes' favorites, returned to appear as a ghost to Meredith and later Izzie, as she battled cancer. "Denny dying was really difficult for us. I didn't want to do it, and he didn't want to come out of his trailer. I cried and everyone at the table read cried," Rhimes told THR.
Jeremy, “The Vampire Diaries”

Image Credit: Photo Credit: Annette Brown/The CW

Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) was killed in the middle of season four after Elena (Nina Dobrev) heeded Damon's (Ian Somerhalder) advice and shut off her humanity, burning down the Gilbert house with Jeremy's body in it. However, he didn't stay dead for long; Bonnie (Kat Graham) brought Jeremy back to life in the finale, sacrificing her own well-being to do so.
Kenny, “South Park”

Image Credit: Photo Credit: Comedy Central

"Oh my God! They killed Kenny! You bastards!" became one of South Park's catchphrases for its weekly offing of Kenny McCormick in various ways — from getting his head bitten off by Ozzy Osbourne to getting beaten by spastic monkeys — over the course of nearly 80 episodes. But in 2001, co-creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker killed the hooded fourth-grader for good with a slow, painful death related to a muscular disease. Still, he's popped up in episodes of the Comedy Central series since then.
Lydia, “Revenge”

Image Credit: Photo Credit: ABC/Richard Cartwright

Emily Thorne's (Emily VanCamp) first target for revenge, Lydia Davis (Amber Valletta), was presumed dead following a plane explosion that occurred in the season-one finale. But two seasons later, she returned to wreak havoc on the lives of both Emily and her own former best friend, Victoria Grayson (Madeleine Stowe). It's revealed that Victoria saved Lydia but ordered her to go into hiding.
Sara, “Prison Break”

Image Credit: Photo Credit: Florian Schneider/FOX

Sara Tancredi (Sarah Wayne Callies) was decapitated in the third season of the show, but viewers learned the following season that her severed head, which had been placed in a box, was fake, and she was reunited with her love, Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller). "Frankly, I think the fans convinced the writers to make sure that she came back," Callies said. "I think it teaches us that those old ideas of what makes a guy's show and what makes a girl's show don't work so much anymore because it's not just the women who are interested in relationships and it's not just the guys who are interested in things blowing up and being chased."
Shane, “The Walking Dead”

Image Credit: Photo Credit: Tina Rowden/AMC

Yes, it's a bit of a technicality since everyone who dies on The Walking Dead is brought back to life unless they're put down with a blow to the head, but it took the death of Jon Bernthal's Shane for everyone beyond Rick (Andrew Lincoln) to learn the key fact in the deadly post-apocalyptic world. Plus, killing one of the show's two male leads twice in a few short minutes was pretty amazing.
Tony Almeida, “24”

Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard) went from being one of Jack Bauer's (Keifer Sutherland) most trusted allies to among his greatest foes. After Tony's wife is killed — and he himself (seemingly) dies at the hands of Christopher Henderson (Peter Weller) in season five, we don't hear from Tony again until season seven. As it turns out, he spent that time infiltrating the deepest corners of the criminal underworld, all in order to gain access to the man responsible for his wife's death and avenge her. Unfortunately for Tony, his brutal methods find him at odds with Jack, who stops him before he achieves his goal.
Bobby Ewing, “Dallas” (original)

After his sister-in-law, Katherine Wentworth (Morgan Brittany), broke up Bobby Ewing's (Patrick Duffy) marriage to Pam (Victoria Principal) and then ran him down with her car, Bobby died in a hospital. But it was revealed the following season that the entire incident was nothing more than Pam's dream, and Duffy was back on the show.
Buffy, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”

During the sixth season of the Joss Whedon cult favorite, Sarah Michelle Gellar's Buffy was trapped in what Willow and the Scooby gang believed to be hell. Together, they performed a spell to bring her back from the dead — only, as it turns out, she was really happy in heaven.
Jaime Sommers, “The Six Million Dollar Man”

While out skydiving with love interest Steve Austin (Lee Majors), tragedy struck when Jaime's (Lindsay Wagner) parachute ripped. Both of her legs and right arm were crushed, and she also suffered head trauma. Her legs, arm and inner ear were replacing with state-of-the-art electronic prostheses, but her body rejected them and she died. However, an experimental cryogenic procedure was used to save her body, and she was brought back to life as the Bionic Woman and starred in her own spinoff.
Jack McKay, ‘Beverly Hills, 90210’

Dylan McKay's (Luke Perry) estranged and formerly imprisoned father Jack, played by Josh Taylor, was seemingly killed in a dramatic car explosion toward the end of the third season of Beverly Hills, 90210, after the two reconciled and were living together on a yacht. But Jack surprisingly re-emerged toward the end of the series' final season when Dylan saw a man that looked like him leaving a plane at LAX. After some digging by Kelly (Jennie Garth), Dylan discovered that Jack faked his death to escape his mob enemies and had been living in Arizona as a member of the Witness Protection Program.
Kimberly, “Melrose Place”

After Michael (Thomas Calabro) proposed to Kimberly (Marcia Cross), a drunken Michael lost control of their car, which crashed. She went into a coma, while he was paralyzed from the waist down. After her mother took Kimberly back to Ohio to be near her family, she informed Michael several weeks later that Kimberly had died. Sydney (Laura Leighton) then blackmailed Michael into marrying her. One night he awakened to find Kimberly alive; she revealed that her mother had lied to keep Michael away from her.
Spike, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”

The series’ second vampire with a soul (James Marsters) died in a blazing bit of redemption that bought Buffy time to escape the destruction of Sunnydale. (Oh, yeah, spoilers if you’ve never seen the finale.) Then the punk bloodsucker popped up on the spinoff Angel: first as a ghost, then as a full-on corporeal being. And, it must be said, a hero.
Lt. Tasha Yar, “Star Trek: The Next Generation”

When actress Denise Crosby decided to leave Gene Roddenberry’s series halfway through the first season, her character was quickly dispatched on the surface of some alien planet. And there was a funeral. She was totally dead. But thanks to the vagaries of sci-fi, Crosby returned as both Yar (thanks to time travel) and the half-Romulan villainess Sela.

Brian, “Family Guy”

Agent Coulson, “Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD”

Alison, “Pretty Little Liars”

Bonnie, “The Vampire Diaries”

Denny, “Grey’s Anatomy”

Jeremy, “The Vampire Diaries”

Kenny, “South Park”

Lydia, “Revenge”

Sara, “Prison Break”

Shane, “The Walking Dead”

Tony Almeida, “24”

Bobby Ewing, “Dallas” (original)

Buffy, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”

Jaime Sommers, “The Six Million Dollar Man”

Jack McKay, ‘Beverly Hills, 90210’

Kimberly, “Melrose Place”

Spike, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”

Lt. Tasha Yar, “Star Trek: The Next Generation”