Nostalgia is a powerful tool. As Hollywood relies more and more on the franchises of yesteryear, studios bring back treasured characters from across fiction. That pattern obviously leads to many familiar faces as actors sign contracts for endless sequels. Audiences get used to seeing the same guys over and over. Not every appearance is so predictable, though.

Certain stars revisit their characters years after their debut. They might spend upward of a decade on other projects while the franchises evolve in their absence. Despite those diverging paths, these actors somehow find their way back to their onscreen icons. That time away from the roles usually results in tremendous fanfare upon their return. Good things are far more satisfying after a long wait, and the same goes for fan service.

Related: 10 Actors Who Wanted to Be Killed Off Popular TV Shows

10 Claudia Wells

Although the Back to the Future trilogy largely maintained the same cast for multiple characters, one of the few changes occurred with the hero’s love interest. Claudia Wells played Marty McFly’s girlfriend, Jennifer, in the 1985 original. She didn’t have many scenes, but her warm charisma provided an endearing contrast to all the wacky misfortune. Sadly, her mother’s cancer diagnosis prompted Wells to step away from the role. Elizabeth Shue replaced her in the sequels, and that seemed to be the end of her tenure.

That was until Back to the Future: The Game in 2010. Assisted by series co-creator Bob Gale, this episodic adventure title continued the heroes’ time-traveling exploits. Their actions inadvertently led to an alternate version of 1985, where the town was a totalitarian police state. Wells returned to voice Jennifer, who was now a punk rock anarchist. Such a radical shift suited her surprising reprisal.^[1]

9 Leonard Nimoy

Leonard Nimoy accumulated a vast character catalog over his career, but he was practically synonymous with Spock. With dry humor and meticulous nuance, he played the Vulcan science officer for numerous entries in the Star Trek franchise. His tenure across the TV shows, movies, and games initially lasted until 1993. At that point, the focus shifted to other crews across the galaxy. Later years saw a drastic reset, however.

Star Trek (2009) altered the series’ history and took the focus back to the original Enterprise crew. Obviously, new actors assumed these roles, but Nimoy also joined in the fun. He appeared as the future version of Spock, who partly caused this new timeline and strove to guide his younger friends. The position was a symbolic passing of the torch—both for the character and the franchise.^[2]

8 Harrison Ford

Though limited as an actor, Harrison Ford has headlined some of the biggest movies in cinematic history. The most famous was Star Wars. His turn as the roguish Han Solo charmed audiences in the original trilogy from 1977 to 1983. He seemed done with the franchise until 2015 when The Force Awakens brought back the old cast as backup for the younger players. The franchise’s sister series had gotten a grand return a few years earlier.

Arguably as iconic was Indiana Jones. Ford played this plucky archaeologist for three historic adventures from 1981 to 1989, but he made two belated returns: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in 2008 and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny in 2023. Of course, he didn’t stop at Lucasfilm properties.

Blade Runner was nearly as iconic. The 1982 neo-noir film positioned Ford as Rick Deckard, a detective tasked with hunting down rogue androids. The dystopian world was more interesting than the star, leading the 2017 sequel—Blade Runner 2049—to focus on a new cast. That said, Ford showed up as an elderly Deckard in the third act. Revisiting past hits has become a habit of his, possibly due to his lack of range.^[3]

7 Linda Hamilton

Few action heroines have matched the heights of Sarah Connor. With her son destined to lead the humans to victory against genocidal machines, this unassuming woman had to grow up fast to defend herself and her child from time-traveling assassins. Linda Hamilton lent intense pathos to that journey in The Terminator (1984) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).

Unfortunately, subsequent films marginalized or omitted Sarah entirely, so Hamilton’s only contribution afterward was a vocal cameo in Terminator Salvation (2009). With other actresses taking over the character, her turn seemed to be firmly in the rearview mirror.

Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) surprised everyone in that respect. The sequel/reboot altered the timeline to feature a new robot apocalypse along with a new savior. Despite those changes, Hamilton stepped back into Sarah’s shoes as a guiding figure. Her presence provided valuable perspective on the temporal struggle, cementing how eerily familiar it all was.^[4]

6 Michael Keaton

Michael Keaton has mirrored Harrison Ford in revisiting multiple roles, albeit with more varied results. Many comic fans came to know him as Batman. His dark, gothic take in Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992) redefined the character’s onscreen image and ushered in countless other portrayals. As many as there were, Keaton always maintained a special place in fans’ hearts.

That esteem led to an eventual return in The Flash (2023). This movie tossed multiple DC eras into a blender via time-traveling antics. The multiversal premise enabled Keaton to play an elderly Dark Knight. His gruff demeanor contrasted wildly with the speedy superhero at the center, but he got to have far more fun with his other major return.

Nearly as beloved in Keaton’s filmography was Beetlejuice. He first played this clownish ghoul in the 1988 film of the same name. His unpredictably sleazy energy made for equal parts horror and comedy. What’s more impressive is that he maintained that energy years later. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was a 2024 sequel where Keaton once again donned the grotesque getup. Even amid ever-crazier undead hijinks, he didn’t miss a beat. These distinct icons cemented his strength as a character actor.^[5]

5 Stephanie Nadolny

Goku is one of the most beloved anime heroes of all time. Considering his storied history, he’s had numerous actors voice him at various stages of his life. For his younger years, though, the mainstay English portrayal came courtesy of Stephanie Nadolny. Her slight rasp made her convincing as a little boy, but she also perfectly captured the wholesome enthusiasm inherent to this energetic fighter. Beginning in 1999, she played the child version of Goku (and his son, Gohan) in Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, and all the accompanying movies and games.

Dragon Ball Z Kai appeared to end that run in 2010. This show abridged and remastered DBZ, recasting several characters in the process. Thus, Colleen Clinkenbeard took over as Kid Goku/Kid Gohan and remained in the role for fourteen years.

2024 saw a radical shift in the series’ story with Dragon Ball Daima. This show turned the seasoned heroes into kids as an ode to the IP’s long history. To complement that legacy, the English dub brought back Nadolny as Goku. This shocking return was an inspired move. Many longtime Dragon Ball fans grew up with her portrayal, so her presence was fitting for such a tribute.^[6]

4 Wesley Snipes

Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) brought back several legacy characters, but the one with the longest absence was Blade. Wesley Snipes played this vampiric hero in three films: Blade (1998), Blade II (2002), and Blade: Trinity (2004). His cool, stoic performance solidified the Daywalker in pop culture and spearheaded the modern age of superhero blockbusters.

Sadly, the films’ declining quality and the actor’s legal troubles made a continuation less and less likely. The announcement that Marvel would reboot the character with Mahershala Ali seemed to be the final nail in the coffin. Imagine fans’ surprise when the immortal slayer showed up in the Deadpool sequel.

In a typically meta twist, he’s one of the heroes in purgatory after 20th Century Fox’s acquisition by Disney, but he’s no less effective at killing bad guys. He even took a shot at the reboot in development hell, saying that there’d only ever be “one Blade.” After over twenty years of costumed crime-fighting flicks, his triumphant return was a full-circle moment for the genre.^[7]

3 Willem Dafoe

Another multiverse misadventure saw another slew of happy returns. Spider-Man (2002) was equally instrumental in jumpstarting the superhero movie boom. Not only did it faithfully adapt the web slinger’s origin, but it also did justice to his greatest enemy. Willem Dafoe seamlessly embodied the deranged duality of Green Goblin, his manic talents brilliantly fitting the baddie’s twisted menace. Plenty of Spidey villains came afterward, but none left quite the same impact.

That’s why the Goblin once again took center stage in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). This movie combined the three live-action Web Heads (and their villains) into one chaotic adventure. Dafoe was the antagonist with the longest absence. Sure, he’d popped up for cameos in Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007), but he hadn’t suited up as the crazed killer for almost twenty years. That said, his maniacal laugh made it seem like yesterday.^[8]

2 Ghostbusters

Pop culture has given us several paranormal investigators, but the Ghostbusters succeeded in star power. The 1984 classic brought Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, and Ernie Hudson together as quirky exterminators. Their comedic talents bounced beautifully off each other, turning these no-name losers into household names. Although the actors only returned for one sequel in Ghostbusters II (1989), fans constantly clamored for more spooky escapades.

They got their wish twice over. First came Ghostbusters: The Video Game (2009). Not only was this title an approved sequel from the series’ creators, but it sported the voices and the likenesses of all four actors.

2021 saw an additional follow-up in Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Although this film introduced a new generation of supernatural fighters, the old guard appeared to aid them in the climax. The only exception was Harold Ramis, who had sadly passed away by then. Regardless, he and his teammates left a palpable impact.^[9]

1 Miranda Otto

The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001–2003) was full of unassuming souls stepping up to fight evil. Éowyn was a fine example. A shieldmaiden of Rohan, she was desperate to prove herself and protect those she loved. That love drove her to fight fiercely on the front lines.

Miranda Otto brought enormous empathy to that journey, blending bravery and vulnerability to create an endearing heroine worthy of song. As engaging as she was, though, Éowyn was mortal. That fact meant that Otto was absent as the fantasy franchise dove into other periods of Middle-earth history. Thankfully, fleshing out the heroine’s homeland found a way for the actress’s return.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (2024) fashioned a prequel tale about Rohan’s heroic king, Helm Hammerhand. Though not a major player, Éowyn bookended the story as a narrator. The film’s anime format meant that Otto could voice her character. Her inclusion was appropriate for the setting and provided palpable authenticity, settling fans into this new format.^[10]

“Freedom or death” is an often-used phrase that shows just how highly we humans value our right to self-determination. We find comfort in making our own choices and going as we please, even to the point where death is preferable to losing freedom. However, when put in captivity as a criminal in a prison, a POW in an internment camp, or a slave under the yoke of a master, those freedoms are shackled right along with us. Being in captivity seems to go against the very nature of human desire.

Still, there are some people who, even after they’ve experienced life in captivity, willingly choose to return to that existence, seemingly against all natural human drive. These are ten such cases of individuals who, after escaping captivity, willingly returned to it.

10 An 81-Year-Old Returns To What’s Comfortable

Robert Francis Krebs spent more than 30 years in prison for embezzling money as a bank teller in Chicago, for bank robberies in Florida, and for theft and armed robberies. When Krebs was arrested and sentenced to prison, Ronald Reagan was the president of the United States, and the Commodore 64 computer hadn’t yet hit the market. He finished serving his combined sentence in 2017 and was set free.

Only six months later, he was robbing a credit union in Tucson, Arizona. During his Florida robbery in the 1980s, Krebs was disguised with a wig and cotton in his cheeks to hide his identity and even varnished his fingers so that he wouldn’t leave behind prints. During his 2017 Tucson robbery, Krebs didn’t even wear so much as a mask, saying he “kind of wanted to get caught.” He said his $800-a-month Social Security check wasn’t enough to live on, so he purposefully got back on the wrong side of the law because there’s no need to make a living in prison.

Krebs has pleaded not guilty to the Tuscon robbery.^[1]

9 Texas Man Tries To Bring Back A Home-Cooked Meal

In 2018, an inmate in Beaumont, Texas, managed to escape his detention facility and made a break for a nearby ranch. Once on this private property, 25-year-old Joshua Hansen made a fortunate discovery—a duffel bag loaded with several bottles of alcohol, tobacco, and “a large amount of home-cooked food.” He grabbed this picnic for himself, but instead of going home or hiding, he turned right around and made a run back to his prison.

What his motivations were remain a mystery, but he was caught on his way back to the facility from which he had just escaped, having only succeeded in adding an escape charge to his rap sheet. Mr. Hansen is but one of many such hopeful escapees. A local rancher reported that he’d had to deal with more than one criminal runaway on his nearby property.^[2]

8 The King Of France Couldn’t Pay His Own Ransom

At the Battle of Poitiers in 1356, John II, king of France, faced off against Edward, the Black Prince of England, but lost in a humiliating defeat and was taken prisoner by the English army. While held in captivity, John was treated well. He was afforded royal levels of care and given allowances to purchase horses, pets, and clothes. He even hired and kept an astrologer and a court band on hand. All the while, his country was struggling to assemble enough funds to defend itself.

Eventually, France and England signed the Treaty of Bretigny, which set John’s ransom at 3,000,000 crowns. He was even allowed to go back to France in order to raise money for his own ransom, but he had to leave his son, Louis of Anjou, in England as a collateral replacement hostage. Louis was offered all the same royal courtesy his father was, but he chose to use that leeway to escape. Having no hostage in England to hold up their agreement and being unable to raise the needed 3,000,000 crowns, an angry King John returned to confinement in England willingly and died there shortly thereafter.^[3]

7 Escaped Only To Go To The Dentist

In 2013, a 51-year-old Swedish man escaped his low-security facility in Vaners­borg in Southwest Sweden after complaining about a toothache. He said, “My whole face was swollen. I just couldn’t stand it any more.” After being unable to convince his guards to provide him dental care, he took matters into his own hands. The pain was so unbearable that he escaped captivity only two days before he was scheduled for release. He found a dentist and got the upset tooth removed.

Even though he was wearing an electronic tracking device as part of his stay in prison, authorities were unable to track him down after his escape, but as it turned out, doing so was unnecessary. After his dental work, he called the police and turned himself in for his escape. He was given a ride back to his detention facility, given a warning, and had a single day added to his sentence to make up for the day he spent on the lam.^[4]

6 Woman Freed From Terrorists

Boko Haram (also known as the Islamic State in West Africa) is an Islamist militant group operating in Nigeria. In the native Hausa dialect, Boko Haram means “Western education is forbidden,” but the group has also called itself by yet another name: Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati Wal-Jihad, which means “People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad.” Boko Haram is responsible for thousands of deaths in many different attacks as well as kidnapping several hundred teenage girls. In 2013, they were added to the US list of terrorist organizations.

A number of the teenage girls and women kidnapped have been freed, including 25-year-old Aisha Yerima. Aisha was held by Boko Haram for four years, during which time she married one of their commanders, who showered her with gifts and sang her love songs. Still, she had been kidnapped into this life. After being freed, she went through a de-radicalization program run by psychologist Fatima Akilu, executive director of the Neem Foundation.

After the program, Aisha said, “I now see that all the things Boko Haram told us were lies. Now, when I listen to them on the radio, I laugh.”

Still, less than five months after Aisha returned to her family, she left them to go back to a Boko Haram hideout to continue the life she had with them. While free, she had boasted about how many slaves she had while with Boko Haram, how much influence she had over the commander who was her husband, and the respect she had from the other commanders.

Dr. Akilu said of the situation, “These were women who for the most part had never worked, had no power, no voice in the communities, and all of a sudden they were in charge of between 30 to 100 women who were now completely under their control and at their beck and call. It is difficult to know what to replace it with when you return to society because most of the women are returning to societies where they are not going to be able to wield that kind of power.”^[5]

5 Routine Escapes And Returns ‘For Love’

Jaye L. Thomas, 37 years old, was housed in a minimum-security camp in Southeast Atlanta in 2016. He and other inmates managed to sneak in contraband like cell phones—which then helped them succeed in even further illegal contraband deliveries. Mr. Thomas used his cell phone to arrange for meetups with two different women who he had been flirting with from behind bars. The woman couldn’t come to him, but as it turned out, Mr. Thomas could go to them. The camp was poorly guarded and maintained, and he was able to slip out through a hole in the facility’s chain-link fence.

Once outside, he met up with the women to receive more contraband and have sex. This became so routine that he escaped on three separate occasions and weaseled back into prison after each one, albeit with more and more luxury items. Finally, his getaways were discovered when he was caught with the illegal contraband. Whether it was the lobster, steak, Mexican takeout, alcohol, cell phones, barbecue sauce, frozen shrimp, garlic-flavored mashed potatoes, scotch whiskey, cigarettes, rib eye steaks, clams, or sushi that gave him away is unknown.^[6]

4 Setting Fire To A House To Go Back

Randall Lee Church of Texas was arrested for a fatal stabbing when he was 18 years old and spent 26 years in prison. It was a drunken argument over $97, and Mr. Church claimed self-defense. Toward the end of his prison term, Church was looking forward to freedom. Inmates warned him that he would be in for a shock upon his release in 2011, but he dismissed them as envious.

“It was so overwhelming.” Church later said, admitting that the other inmates were right. “I was constantly embarrassed by simple things I just didn’t know.” He added, “I didn’t know how to use computers or cell phones or the Internet. The weirdest thing was walking into a store, like Walmart, and have parents hide their children from me, like I was supposed to jump at them.”

Eventually, it became too much for Church, and he set fire to an old abandoned home on the property he was staying at, owned by relatives of a friend he had made in prison. At first, he kept his new crime a secret: “I didn’t tell anyone it was me. It was my ticket to go back [to prison] if I wanted.” He said, “I know it was wrong, and I am sorry for it now.”

Three days later, he went to a restaurant and ordered a hamburger, fries, and two chocolate shakes. He couldn’t pay, nor did he intend to. He asked his server to call the police and said that he had committed a crime, and he waited there for them to take him back to the only home he knew.^[7]

3 Marcus Atilius Regulus Returns To The Enemy To Spite Them

Marcus Atilius Regulus served as a general in the war against Carthage known as the First Punic War. During the course of the war, he defeated the opposing army and demanded unconditional surrender from the Carthaginians. This demand angered them so much that they redoubled their war efforts and eventually succeeded in capturing Regulus.^[8]

Eventually, the lust for war cooled among the Carthaginians, and they proposed that Regulus return to Rome on parole and negotiate a peace between the two countries. The general agreed to these terms and returned home. Once there, in stark defiance of the Carthaginians’ wishes, he adamantly urged his fellow Romans to refuse any offers of peace from Carthage. Afterward, against the recommendations of his own people, he returned to Carthage to honorably uphold the terms of his parole. Understandably, his captors were not happy. He is said to have died after being tortured to death. (There is some dispute over this.)

2 Free American Slaves ‘Willingly’ Return to Be With Their Families

Slavery in the United States was a disturbing institution, to say the least. There was an option for a slave to buy their own freedom, but it took decades to accumulate enough funds. Once free, they could easily be returned to slavery at a whim if they were reported for an infraction as minor and vague as “immorality” or “idleness.” There were also expulsion laws in place that forced free slaves to leave the state within a year, but since buying even their own freedom would take decades, that meant that in many cases, a free slave who bought his freedom would be forced away from his family.^[9]

For some of these family men, that was too much to bear, and they chose to return to slavery to be with their families rather than to live free but alone. For example, in the 1830s, one man bought his freedom and was forced out of Virginia. He lived instead in Ohio, where “he remained some time, but not being reconciled to live without his wife.” He had “lately returned to Virginia and [was] anxious to remain,” and the reason given was simple. He “would prefer returning to slavery to losing the society of his wife.”

1 British Officer Keeps His Word

During World War I, a British officer, Captain Robert Campbell, was captured by the German army and held at a prisoner-of-war camp in Magdeburg, Germany. While in the camp, Campbell received word that his mother was dying. Motivated by love for his mother, he wrote an unorthodox letter addressed to the German emperor himself. In his letter, he requested that he, an officer of the opposing army, be freed and allowed to visit his dying mother. As ridiculous as the request seemed, the answer was even more surprising—the Kaiser agreed. Captain Campbell was allowed to leave on the stipulation that he was duty-bound to return to captivity after seeing his mother.

Captain Campbell was released and made it home via the Netherlands. Because he was an honorable man, he kept his word to the Kaiser and returned to his prisoner-of-war camp after spending a week with his mother. Once he’d fulfilled his word to the Kaiser, he resumed his duty as a captured British officer and immediately set about trying to escape.^[10]