# You can't make a Sequel -- You killed off the Character! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 3, 2020, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-a-sequel-you-killed-off-the-character/924670 "2020-11-03T19:56:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-a-sequel-you-killed-off-the-character/924670/141 "2021-01-09T02:35:55Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Who hasn’t died and come back in Supernatural? Bobby, Mary, Castiel, Lucifer, Rowena, Ketch, Charlie, Kevin Tran… it’s easier to list who hasn’t returned from the dead. Jessica, Jo, Ellen, Bela, Ruby, Anna, Pamela, Tessa, Mrs. Tran, Kelly…it sure helped to have a penis if you wanted to be resurrected on _Supernatural_. ---
**Author:** ![TiberiusNeroClaudius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f04885/32.png) [@TiberiusNeroClaudius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TiberiusNeroClaudius)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2021, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-a-sequel-you-killed-off-the-character/924670/142 "2021-01-10T02:16:10Z")
In the three 1930s Buster Crabbe-Flash Gordon serials, arch-villain Ming the Merciless (Charles Middleton) is killed off in all of them. Yet he appears in all of them without any explanation how he was saved. Although in the last one “Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe” one character says thete is a way Ming can escape the locked room that is about to be destroyed by an oncoming rocket but he won’t think of it in time. But no fourth sequel appeared to use it. The soap opera “All My Children” had some characters like writer Mike Roy and policeman Jessie Hubbard killed but a few years later came back. There is a secret government agency (CONTROL?) takes saves some people who are about to die, has the hospital announce their deaths, so they can use them as secret agents with every one thinking they are dead. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2021, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-a-sequel-you-killed-off-the-character/924670/143 "2021-01-10T07:12:00Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Jessica, Jo, Ellen, Bela, Ruby, Anna, Pamela, Tessa, Mrs. Tran, Kelly…it sure helped to have a penis if you wanted to be resurrected on _Supernatural_ . Does that mean it’s a handle? ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2021, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-a-sequel-you-killed-off-the-character/924670/144 "2021-01-13T16:42:45Z")
> [@TiberiusNeroClaudius](#): > > The soap opera “All My Children” had some characters like writer Mike Roy and policeman Jessie Hubbard killed but a few years later came back. There is a secret government agency (CONTROL?) takes saves some people who are about to die, has the hospital announce their deaths, so they can use them as secret agents with every one thinking they are dead. [I guess they didn’t get to Bobby Martin in time…](https://whatculture.com/tv/10-tv-characters-who-disappeared-without-a-trace?page=3) ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2021, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-a-sequel-you-killed-off-the-character/924670/145 "2021-01-18T07:22:28Z")
Almost everyone died on Supernatural. Just about the only one who was on more than one or two episodes who didn’t is Jody. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2021, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-a-sequel-you-killed-off-the-character/924670/146 "2021-02-23T03:04:57Z")
I had never heard of this until, for laughs/curiosity, I picked up The Book of the Dead at a used book store, not knowing that it was one of a giant series. I’m now addicted and about four books back from the latest novel. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2021, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-a-sequel-you-killed-off-the-character/924670/147 "2021-02-23T04:36:41Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > Dawn French’s “Murder most horrid” just didn’t give a damn. Dawn was back in the next episode, playing the murderer, or the victim, or the detective. You may quibble that Dawn French isn’t a character, but truth is, Dawn French has been a character for many years, and her character can handle being murdered and being back again next week 🙂 The episode with Amanda Donahoe is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen, and the death toll had to be at least a dozen. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2021, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-a-sequel-you-killed-off-the-character/924670/148 "2021-02-23T15:01:14Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > The bottomless pit is the harder sell, but the setting does have cheap and abundant anti-gravity - presumably, there’s an anti-gravity field at the bottom of that shaft for some reason. Maybe that’s what they use in SW instead of hand rails? Maul probably got sucked into a side pipe like Luke did at the end of TESB. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-make-a-sequel-you-killed-off-the-character/924670.md?page=7)