
It was hard to choose just nine characters since dying and coming back to life is such a natural occurrence on soap operas, so below is a compilation of the most memorable characters that have come back to life, once, twice, three times – you get the point.
9. Philip Chancellor III on the "Young and the Restless" is back from down under!
This was one of the biggest shockers in The Young and the Restless history! Philip, who was declared dead in the 80s, leaving his wife Nina a single mother to their son Chance, returned to Genoa city and revealed that he was alive and in Australia the whole time! While in Australia under the name Langley, Philip had sent Cane to Genoa City to take his place because he was ashamed to let his family know he’s gay. The Chancellor family welcomed Philip back with open arms – until he left for Australia again.
8. Lucky Spencer on "General Hospital" is pretty lucky!
For almost a year, everyone thought Lucky Spencer was dead after his body was found following a large fire. It actually turned out that Helena Caasadine hired Cesar Faison to kidnap Lucky and hold him captive. Helena had Faison program Lucky and they began mind control. Eventually, Lucky’s love for Elizabeth got him through the dark days and all was right in Port Charles again - for a bit, anyway.
7. John Black 4.0 on "Days of Our Lives:"
Perhaps since it was revealed that John is actually half-DiMera, he had the inner "phoenix" ability to rise from the ashes time and time again. John went from being a priest, to an art thief, to a spy, to a businessman, to a robotic pawn. The last time John died, it was in a random hit-and-run accident that left Marlena and soap fans in tears. It turned out that Stefano DiMera was behind the whole thing and resurrected John as a socially awkward, sarcastic, robot. Stefano had extracted John’s memories onto a single disc, and after Marlena finally got the old John back, she and John left Salem together. Fans still hope that these characters will come back to Salem soon!

Soap opera fans know to hold their breaths when a character is killed off, or to take a death with a grain of salt - case in point: Roger Thorpe. Roger was presumed dead after being shot by Holly Thorpe and another time, after falling over a cliff. In 2004, he actually died of an illness. Many fans, however, thought the possibility of Roger coming back to life wasn't a crazy notion. We all know the story of the boy who cried wolf, don’t we? Incidentally, Roger was named one of "Guiding Light's" greatest villains.
5. Crazy Sheila Carter on The Young and the Restless/The Bold and the Beautiful:
After stealing Lauren Fenmore's baby on The Young and the Restless, Sheila held Lauren and her own mother captive in a cabin. When Scott and Lauren were finally reunited with their baby, everyone thought that Sheila died in a fire. She then crossed over and wreaked havoc on the Bold and Beautiful for awhile, before returning to Genoa City to terrorize and kidnap Lauren. When Paul Williams and Michael Baldwin finally got Lauren back, Sheila managed to escape. A year later, Sheila came back to Genoa City, looking like Phyllis Summers in her attempt to steal Lauren's baby, Fenmore. Paul caught Sheila in her own trap and she ended up dying...but does Sheila ever really die?
4. Patrick Thornhart's heart of steel on One Life to Live:
Patrick Thornhart was hunted down by a terrorist name Mahoney who thought that Patrick could implicate him in the bombing of Lord Whiting. After Mahoney unsuccessfully tried to shoot Patrick at his own wedding reception, Mahoney went to Todd Manning's place to try to kill him. Patrick followed him and they were both shot and appear dead. As Marty escorted Patrick's lifeless body in the ambulance, he actually came back to life and Marty helped him flee town!
3. The Great Victor Newman on "The Young and the Restless:"
A man that will never die in his business life also seems like he’d never die, period. Victor Newman has reinvented himself as a “new man” time and time again. Over a decade ago, after Jack took Nikki away from Victor, he ended up in Kansas, where his family thought he died. To Jack's dismay, The Moustache came back to Genoa City stronger than ever. A few years ago, after Victor lost his young wife, Sabrina, in a car accident, he set out to Mexico to find the mobster that killed her. It was in Mexico that he was presumed dead at sea. Of course Victor was fine and came back to Genoa City as healthy as a horse until he was shot and needed a heart transplant. Luckily for Victor, he was given Colleen Carlton’s heart and now truly is young at heart. Mr. Moneybags has gone through many bullets, epilepsy, and "deaths," but the resilient Moustache always comes back for more…“You got that?!”
2. Stefano DiMera, aka: the Phoenix, on "Days of Our Lives" always rises from the ashes!
One of the most well-known villains in daytime, Stefano DiMera is notorious for dying and coming back to life repeatedly. He is truly the phoenix that rises from the ashes. This man has overcome all sorts of deaths from stroke, car crash in the Salem harbor, getting shot by Marlena Evans, car explosion, drowning, plane explosion, blown up and buried under a collapsing tunnel, and drugged by Marlena and left in a catatonic state for what was supposed to be the rest of his life. But of course, nothing could keep Stefano DiMera down! We even saw his decayed corpse, yet Stefano always came back to life, wearing his trusty Phoenix ring, to wreak havoc on our beloved Salemites!
1. The Salem Stalker and Melaswen Island on "Days of Our Lives."
How could this storyline not be number one? One can simply not leave this plot out when discussing characters re-emerging after death. This plot saw half of Salem heart-wrenchingly killed off by a serial killer. It started out as an edge-of-your-seat whodunit, with characters succumbing to horrid deaths, like Tony DiMera being mauled by a tiger, or Alice choking on donuts. Eventually, Marlena Evans appeared to have gone crazy and randomly started killing off our beloved Salemites. It turned out that all the "dead" characters were actually put on Melaswen Island (aka: new Salem), an exact tropical replica of Salem. Fans eventually learned that Andre DiMera was behind this whole plot and had brain-washed Marlena into "killing" off half of Salem!
- Rolla Bahsous
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