No, he’s not officially back, but Jon Snow (Kit Harington) being alive is just about the worst kept secret in Westeros. You can thank eagle-eyed fans and airport paparazzi for this non-mystery, as well as Harington’s much scrutinized hair.
Fan-favorite Glenn (Steve Yuen) had managed to survive “The Walking Dead” for six seasons, but that appeared to come to an end as he was attacked and buried under a zombie horde. But using the recently deceased Nicholas’ body as a human shield, he survived – though it took three weeks for the show to answer the “Is he dead?” question.
The mother of all shocking death fake-outs, Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy) died in a car accident, setting the story arc for an entire season of “Dallas” — only for it all to have been a dream.
On a show with a magical pit of water that brings people back to life, “Arrow’s” dead are usually just “mostly” dead. So far, the Lazarus Pit has been used twice, to bring back Thea Queen (Willa Holland), and the then Sara Lance (Caity Lotz).
Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) appeared to commit suicide in the Season 2 finale of “Sherlock,” but since it’s a show named after him, fans were skeptical that there wasn’t something more afoot. And their suspicions were proved correct when the Season 3 premiere explained how and why he faked his own death.
“Family Guy” killed off its talking dog Brian, and he seemed to stay dead — for a while at least and the Griffins even got a new dog. But Stewie has a time machine, and Brian is his best friend, so this death was probably always meant to be temporary.
“What’s in the box?” It appeared to be Sara’s (Sarah Wayne Callies) head, but “Prison Break” brought the character back anyway, and explained away the apparently decapitation by saying that it really wasn’t her head after all.
“Scandal’s” Jake (Scott Foley) got the Jon Snow treatment — that is, stabbed multiple times and left for dead — in Season 4, and the actor even prolonged the con by tweeting ominous goodbye-sounding messages, but it was all part of the scam as Jake was patched up in no time.
Persuaded to die in order to battle his hallucination of Patty (Ann Dowd) in the after-life, Kevin (Justin Theroux) willingly allowed himself to be killed, not realizing the guy who was supposed to bring him back decided to off himself seconds later. But by the next episode, he persevered, defeated his nemesis, and was seen digging himself out of his own grave. Just another night in Miracle, Texas.
Season 1 of “The 100” ended with Isaiah Washington‘s Chancellor Jaha making a noble sacrifice, staying behind on a dying space station in order for his people to make it safely to Earth and that appeared to be the end of him – until Season 2, when Jaha made one more last-ditch effort to get himself off the Ark, and succeeded.
Katee Sackhoff‘s Starbuck appeared to have died toward the end of “Battlestar Galactica’s” third season, but she miraculously returned episodes later in the season finale. Her resurrection is never fully explained, and it only becomes more confusing when she discovers her own dead body in the final season.
When he seemed to be cured of his deadly aversion to sunlight, “True Blood’s” Eric (Alexander Skarsgard) went nude sunbathing — just in time for the cure to end and things appear to come to a fiery end. It was the Season 6 cliffhanger but by the Season 7 premiere, he was being rescued.
The mystery of Alison’s murder was the throughline for much of the ABC Family teen drama “Pretty Little Liars,” but she turned out to not be so dead after all, as was revealed in the Season 4 summer finale. She also turned out not to be the show’s elusive villain “A,” so the mystery continued.
When Colin Farrell‘s Ray was shot in the chest by a creepy bird-costume-wearing bad guy, it seemed like Season 2 of “True Detective” had just done something shocking – killed off its leading man 3 episodes in. But by the very next episode viewers saw that Ray was just fine.
“Teen Wolf” brought back the wrong Argent when Jill Wagner’s Kate returned for Season 4. Her throat was ripped out in Season 1 and that seemed like the end, but it was later revealed that she survived by becoming a werejaguar instead.
“Bates Motel” appeared to kill of Norma Bates (Vera Farmiga) in the penultimate episode of Season 4, but chances are you will be seeing her overbearing mother figure again