16 cancelled TV shows that were brought back from the dead

There are few things worse for a TV fan than investing loads of time into a show, only for some studio suit to pull the plug before it’s reached its conclusion. Getting axed doesn’t have to mean the end, however, as numerous cancelled TV shows have come back from the dead to fight another day – some have even gone on to become bigger than they were before the plug was pulled.

There are loads of ways an abandoned series can make a comeback. Some cancelled TV shows are picked up by a new network that sees untapped potential in a series –top space drama The Expanse was deemed surplus to requirements by Syfy, yet Amazon Prime picked it up again. Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Lucifer also found new homes after the axe fell. 

Others cancelled TV shows, like Doctor Who and Arrested Development, make a comeback years later, because the holders of the purse strings decide that absence has made audiences yearn for more. Some, like Family Guy, have been saved because they’ve done amazing business as box sets. And others, like Sense8, are simply given a chance to deliver the final episode that will wrap up their remaining plot threads.

So we’ve looked back through TV history to pick out some of the best (and worst) cancelled TV shows for whom the end wasn’t actually the end, everything from Doctor Who to Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Veronica Mars to Community…

By Richard Edwards