Submitted by squirrrles t3_yboedy in television
I just think that’s an interesting phenomenon. They don’t have to come back permanently but return as a part of the show. Off the top of my head there’s Addison from Grey’s Anatomy & Private Practice, Cleveland from Family Guy & The Cleveland Show, and Denise from The Cosby Show & A Different World. Any others you can think of?
Kinda counts - Hunter and Bobbi from Agents of SHIELD left to do a spinoff that didn't end up getting picked up. Hunter showed back up again on Agents of SHIELD for a single episode.
Captain Jack Harkness was spun off from Doctor Who into Torchwood, and showed back up on DW after TW had run its course.
Tom from The Blacklist got spun-off to The Blacklist: Redemption, then when that show got cancelled, he was brought back to the main show for a bit.
don't know if this necessarily counts but criminal minds had a spin-off called beyond borders and once that got cancelled daniel henney went to the original and became a main character the last 3 seasons
tyler blackburn went from og pretty little liars to spin-off ravenswood then back to the og when it got cancelled
Unluckily for The Ropers, Don Knotts as Mr Furley was a huge success. No return for them.
Not exactly what you are asking for but Damon Wayans Jr left New Girl to be on Happy Endings and then when Happy Endings ended he came back to New Girl. There's a fan theory that Coach was leading a double life as Brad.
Antonio (Jon Seda) left Chicago PD for Chicago Justice. That lasted a season, was cancelled and back to Chicago PD he went.
It’s a loose fit but technically The Jay Leno Show was a spin-off of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Leno left, then came back.
Caleb from Pretty Little Liars left for a spin-off and when it got canceled he came back
Bobbi Morse/Mockingbird (Adrianne Palicki) and Lance Hunter (Nick Blood) both left Agents of Shield for a spinoff show called "Marvel’s Most Wanted". After they officially got rid of the characters and shot the pilot the head of ABC said "This show will never see the light of day" and killed it. They both came back to Agents of Shield for a few episodes. It really was unfortunate because both characters were great.
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Langly, Frohike, and Byers were characters ("The Lone Gunmen") who would occasionally appear on The X-Files. They were spun off into their own show called The Lone Gunmen, and when that show was cancelled they would return to The X-Files for an episode called "Jump The Shark," which finishes the cliffhanger the spin-off ended on. They also appeared in the second film "The X-Files: I Want to Believe" as well as in the continuation of The X-Files series (Seasons 10 & 11).
They returned in the Series 9 finale, and the first movie, but weren't in the second one.
I think Angel was in a few episodes of Buffy after Angel had ended, if I remember right.
Edit- I did not remember right.
Angel last season started after Buffy ended and even brought in a main character from Buffy.
Angel had one more season after he popped up in buffy's final season
James Marsters said when they approached him for Angel the amount of money he asked for significantly drained the budget. Which is apparently why the vast majority of Season 5 was shot on one set in daytime. As a fan of that show, I gotta say I never even noticed that transition at all. It made perfect since that Angel sold his soul to work for the evil law firm. I really liked that season.
>Which is apparently why the vast majority of Season 5 was shot on one set in daytime.
I don't really understand this, sets don't have window out to the real world. They have studio lights to make it day time or night time.
I think it was just the finale but yeah
Latter_Feeling2656 t1_ithj0np wrote
Florence briefly left The Jeffersons, then came back after her spinoff failed.
Same re Joanie and Chachi from Happy Days.