Actors Who Desperately Want To Return To Their Fan Favorite Roles

In Hollywood, actors can often get inextricably linked to their most iconic roles, whether that's Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker or Michael Richards as Kramer, audiences will always connect them with their on-screen personas. Some are fortunate enough to return to their biggest roles over and over, and some still get lucky decades later when a fan favorite is brought back in a long-awaited sequel or TV revival. Other actors just can't seem to let go and move on, always hoping for one last hurrah, to tell one last story in the life of their fictional counterparts.

For some, it's a case of getting that itch later in their career to step back into the shoes of a character they love. For others, their star might be waning and they want to recapture their glory days. Maybe their character was killed off before their time or their franchise didn't do well enough at the box office to receive a sequel. It could be they just have a passion for the role and want to relive the fun they had playing the character years before. Now, with the era of sequels, reboots, and reimagining in full swing, and with revivals to old movies and shows breathing new life into long-forgotten franchises, there are a number of actors who have made it clear that if given the opportunity, they'd jump at the chance to return. Here then is a list of actors who are desperate to return to their fan-favorite roles.

Liam Neeson was already an award winning Hollywood star when he took the part of Qui Gon Jinn, the wise, sagely Jedi Master in George Lucas' long-awaited "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace." Unfortunately, Qui Gon would be killed off in the movie's exciting climax, providing a devastating emotional ending, and the impetus to propel legendary hero Obi Wan Kenobi to train the future Darth Vader. As necessary as his character's death might have been for the overall story, it doesn't sound like Neeson was ready to say goodbye to the role, even more than 20 years later.

In 2020, when Disney's "Obi Wan Kenobi" standalone streaming series began filming with Ewan McGregor, rumors began swirling that we could also see Neeson return as Qui Gon Jinn, this time as a "Force Ghost" — the mystical spirit of a dead Jedi that fans have previously seen in the "Star Wars" saga. Asked about a possible return for his character, Neeson denied the rumors, but said with a big smile that he would love to come back. Neeson has reprised the role as a cartoon character, in Disney's "Clone Wars" animated series, but it sounds like Neeson wants to come back in the flesh — or "Force Ghost" as it were. Given Neeson's fading stardom over the last decade, its no surprise that the actor would want to return to his most iconic part — and when an Oscar Winner says they want to be a part of your franchise again in a fan favorite part, you don't say no — so it's probably just a matter of time before he does.

For seven years Michael Dorn played the stoic Klingon warrior Lieutenant Worf on the "Star Trek" franchise revival, "Star Trek: The Next Generation." From there, Dorn would make the leap to the big screen, appearing in four "Next Generation" feature films. In an attempt to boost ratings, the "Star Trek" spinoff "Deep Space Nine" saw him reprise the role and be back on the small screen for its final four years, making Michael Dorn the actor with the most appearances in "Star Trek" history. You'd think after 277 episodes and 4 movies across two shows would be enough for the actor, especially under all that heavy makeup, but Dorn has been campaigning to return as an older, wiser, Captain Worf since at least 2012.

Only in 2017, when CBS launched "Star Trek: Discovery" and began building an entire universe of "Star Trek" spinoffs for their streaming service did the idea of headlining his own show really become a possibility, and Dorn is excited about what it could mean. In 2021, Dorn sat down with "TrekMovie.com" and said he was even able to meet with Paramount and pitch his proposed series that would see Worf take the captain's chair aboard a Klingon ship. "Basically, the script I wrote was, instead of looking at the Klingon Empire from Starfleet, we look at Starfleet from the Klingon Empire." It sounds like a compelling idea, and the actor is clearly frustrated by Paramount's seeming lack of interest.

"I chuckle because sometimes I think that they are going, 'You know, we need something on this [streaming app] 'We need somebody that's done more "Star Trek" than anybody. God, who do you think?' 'What about Michael Dorn?' 'No, he's not right.'"

Mads Mikkelson was already a star and had at least one iconic role under his belt — as the villain in the James Bond blockbuster "Casino Royale" — when he took on the part of Hannibal Lecter in the small screen adaptation of Thomas Harris' long running series. Created by showrunner Bryan Fuller, "Hannibal" was a reimagining of the characters featured in "Red Dragon,"and "Silence Of The Lambs" and set before the stories in the books, fleshing out the relationship between young FBI agent Will Graham and psychologist Hannibal Lecter. The dark and disturbing series received universal acclaim from critics, as much as for its incredible performances as its bold storytelling. For Fuller, Mikkelson, and the cast, the excitement surrounding the series reached fever pitch when it became clear that, in the timeline of the show, they were slowly coming up on adapting the stories in the later books, most notably "The Silence Of The Lambs."

In the hit TV series, the latter half of the third season had already translated "Red Dragon" in its entirety, and everyone was gearing up for a potential fourth season that would feature Hannibal helping Graham hunt down a new serial killer named Buffalo Bill, when the series was abruptly canceled. There has long been talk of a revival to finish that part of the story, and Mikkelson has said he's ready, willing, and waiting, telling Vulture, "I would love to go back. Everybody wants to go back, and if there's only one season and we're sure about that, [Bryan Fuller] can finish it in a proper, surprising, stunning way." Our fingers are crossed he gets his wish.

Stephen Amell has never quite gotten over the death of Oliver Queen, better known as the DC superhero Green Arrow in the long-running CW comic book-inspired franchise starter, "Arrow." The popular series kicked off the so-called "Arrowverse" of DC superhero shows in 2012 that included "The Flash," "Supergirl," "The Legends Of Tomorrow" and "Superman & Lois." But Amell doesn't seem content to leave the role for good after the end of the series in 2020, even after the series killed off his character. 

During the Covid-19 pandemic just months after the series finale, when it looked like studios for shows like "The Flash" might be shutting down due to travel restrictions, Amell was eager to help, and made an appeal to producer Greg Berlanti, telling Michael Rosenbaum on his podcast, "I called Greg up and ... I said, 'Look, I hope this doesn't happen, but if everything goes to sh*t and you guys can't get actors up here because of issues about mostly American actors crossing into Canada, and if things can't be figured out, here's the deal man. I'm here and if I have to stay here, I want to work. If I'm going to work, let's just figure out a way to bring Oliver back from the dead.'" And that wouldn't be the last time he'd mention returning as Oliver Queen, returning on Rosenbaum's podcast in 2021, saying "If the opportunity ever came up to like, do 6 to 8 episodes of Arrow as, like, a limited series on Netflix or HBO Max — or something like that, or on The CW, as the case may be — I think that would be amazing."

There was a time in the career of William Shatner that he may not have fully embraced his fame as James T. Kirk. The infamous "Saturday Night Live" sketch in 1986, in which he jokingly mocked "Star Trek" fans, telling them to "get a life" caused a stir in the fandom at the time. So when the producers of "Star Trek: Generations" wished to bring Kirk back one last time and kill off Captain Kirk in the process, Shatner seemingly had no qualms, probably ready to say goodbye to the character.

But he almost instantly regretted the decision to allow his character to die, because in 1995 he co-wrote the first in a series of novels that brought Kirk back from the dead, and has, for the better part of the last two decades, campaigned for a return to the franchise that made him famous. In 2004, Shatner himself suggested an idea to producers of "Star Trek: Enterprise" that would have seen him return as an alternate reality version of Kirk, and in 2008 he expressed dissatisfaction with J.J. Abrams for bringing back Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock, but not himself as Kirk. In 2017, with the new series "Star Trek: Discovery" debuting, Shatner said all it would take to get him to return would be "a great deal of money," and while that may not seem like a great deal of enthusiasm, he recently remarked that he'd love to come back as Kirk for the upcoming movie scheduled for 2023.

The good news is, with at least three live-action "Star Trek" series' currently in production, and more on the way, there's any number of opportunities to make Shatner's dream a reality.

Patton Oswalt has a long career that encompasses everything from sitcoms to big budget feature films, and many years of stand-up comedy. Perhaps what makes him unique among many of his peers is that he is a fan in addition to being an actor. After years working in Hollywood, Oswalt now has enough of a career that he can pick and choose his roles, with a tendency to select projects he's already a fan of. This is evident when looking at his recent work, where he has appeared in not one but three Marvel projects: "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D," "M.O.D.O.K." and "The Eternals," as three distinctly different characters; all the way down to the independent no-budget feature "Space Cop" from RedLetterMedia, with appearances in multiple episodes of their Youtube movie review shows. So it goes without saying that when Oswalt expresses excitement for a role it comes from a sincere place, especially when it's one he's already done before. The part he seems most keen to revisit is Pixar's "Ratatouille," the animated epic about a rodent chef in Paris.

 In an interview with "Deadline," Oswalt was asked if he would ever have interest in a Ratatouille series or a movie sequel. "Oh absolutely," he told the outlet, "any sequel to 'Ratatouille' hinges on Brad Bird coming up with an idea that he likes and would want to pursue. I love that Pixar goes with the pace of the creators. They wait until something amazing happens. So, if he drew up something, that would mean that a truly big inspiration had hit him and he wants to do it. I would absolutely run and do that."

Mayim Bialik may be better known today as Dr. Amy Fowler, neuroscientist and geeky love interest for Sheldon on "The Big Bang Theory," but long before her stint on the show that brought geekiness to the mainstream, Bialik was better known as Blossom, the smart, sassy, eccentric teen with a unique fashion sense. Far from the awkward Amy, Blossom was a cool and funky, emotionally self-aware teen who dished out wisdom and advice each week. Possibly more famous for featuring one-time Hollywood hunk Joey Lawrence as her cooler, dimmer older brother, "Blossom" was a slow starter in the ratings but eventually became a hit, running five years on NBC, where it got good reviews for its touching family stories about the life of a 90s teenager. Save for a handful of voice acting roles, Bialik left acting after "Blossom" ended its run to pursue her education, eventually earning her PhD in 2007.

Now starring in the Fox sitcom "Call Me Kat," Bialik clearly still holds a special place in her heart for "Blossom," as the actress has been pursuing a return to the screen as the once teenaged character. Working with original series creator Don Reo, Bialik has been developing a new "Blossom" series, but has struggled to find an interested home for the project. As Bialik told Entertainment Weekly, "Don Reo and I do have a limited reboot that we would like to do," but adding that "We've had a lot of trouble getting our network on board." What would we find Blossom up to 30 years later? Bialik says she'd probably be "a civil rights attorney or someone working with children who were removed from their homes. She'd be doing something humanitarian."