With the final episodes of the hit Netflix show Better Call Saul due to air this week, Breaking Bad fans are excitedly awaiting the return of characters Walter White and Jesse Pinkman.
It was confirmed in April that Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul would reprise their roles in the popular Breaking Bad spin-off.
But the actors are far from the first to reprise a popular role to say goodbye to a series, with Kylie Minogue and her real-life ex Jason Donovan recently reuniting for the final episode of Neighbours.
The blonde superstar, 54, brought back her iconic curls to reprise her role as Charlene Robinson to star alongside Jason, who plays her husband Scott, for the iconic soap’s final scenes.
Here FEMAIL reveals the A-lister actors who returned to the programmes that made them famous before they finished filming for the final time.
Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul – Breaking Bad and its spin-off, Better Call Saul
With the final episodes of the hit Netflix show Better Call Saul due to air this week, Breaking Bad fans are excitedly awaiting the return of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman
CHARACTERS: Walter White and Jesse Pinkman
DEPARTED SHOW: In the series finale in 2013
RETURNED: For the final episodes of the spin-off series Better Call Saul in 2022
Breaking Bad ran from 2008 to 2013 and garnered widespread acclaim from both fans and critics around the world.
It followed Walter White, a terminally ill high school chemistry teacher as he created a meth empire with Jesse Pinkman, his former inept student.
When we last saw Pinkman in the Breaking Bad series finale, he was speeding off in a hysterical frenzy in that El Camino after Walter White (Bryan Cranstan) saved him from his captors who had enslaved him to produce mass amounts of methamphetamine.
After White rigged a remote-control machine that wiped out the captors, the two partners in crime stared at each other in a tense standoff that resulted in Pinkman refusing White’s request for him to kill him.
The eventually parted ways with one last nod of respect to one another.
The spin-off, Better Call Saul, premiered in 2015 and focused on Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk), also known as Jimmy McGill, an attorney who appeared in the original series. But the two main Breaking Bad characters didn’t join the cast.
In April it was announced that Paul and Cranston would make an appearance in the show’s sixth and final season.
‘They’re coming back. #BetterCallSaul,’ the official Twitter account posted with a photo of the dynamic duo sitting in the front seat of the car.
The final six episodes of the spin-off will be released later this week – and it is still unknown in what format the duo will make their reappearance.
Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan – Neighbours
Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan rose to fame in Neighbours as Scott and Charlene before departing the show in 1988 (left). This week, Kylie snaps on her Instagram as she returned to the programme alongside co-star Jason for the final episode (right)
CHARACTERS: Charlene and Scott
DEPARTED SHOW: 1988 and 1989
RETURNED: For the final episode in 2022
Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan’s onscreen wedding in Neighbours as Scott and Charlene was watched by two million Australians on July 1, 1987.
Their on-screen relationship began after Scott mistook Charlene for an intruder at his neighbour Madge Ramsay’s house, before eventually learning she was Madge’s daughter.
Their union was an even bigger attraction when it aired in the UK a year later, drawing 19.6 million viewers, making it Britain’s third most-watched show of 1988.
After getting married, the pair left Erinsborough and moved to Brisbane.
Kylie and Jason, who were dating in real life at the time were household names in both countries, and would each go on to launch music careers in the UK.
Kylie quit Neighbours in June 1988, having become the first person to win four Logie Awards in one year and the youngest ever recipient of a Gold Logie.
She went on to launch a phenomenally successful music career, selling more than 80 million albums worldwide.
After leaving Neighbours in 1989, Jason, like Kylie, pursued a pop career and while he may not have been as successful as his on-screen bride, he had a string of hits including Too Many Broken Hearts and Sealed With A Kiss.
Off screen, the couple dated from 1986 to 1989 – famously sharing a night of passion in a Travelodge.
However the pair reunited this week for their final scenes on Neighbours, with Kylie sharing some sweet photos on Instagram on Monday.
The beleaguered soap opera faced an uncertain future following its cancellation by original network Channel 5, where it has spent the last 14 of its 37-years on British TV.
And Fremantle Media, the production company responsible for its development confirmed it would be taken off-air indefinitely over the summer after an ‘extensive search for alternative funding’ ended in failure.
In the snaps, Kylie, 54, brought back her iconic curls to reprise her role as Charlene to star alongside Jason for the iconic soap’s final episode.
Kylie captioned images of the pair together on her Instagram account, ‘Now we’re back together’, referencing their hit song, Especially For You.
The pint-sized pop star donned her character’s famous mechanic’s overalls for what would be her final appearance on the cancelled series.
Steve Carell – The Office
CHARACTER: Michael Scott
DEPARTED SHOW: 2011
RETURNED: For the final episode in 2013
Steve Carell has given us plenty of memorable performances over the years, but none so dear as Michael Scott in The Office
Steve Carell has given us plenty of memorable performances over the years, but none so dear as Michael Scott in The Office.
Carell starred as the often problematic manager of paper company Dunder Mifflin, from the show’s premiere in 2005, until he departed in 2011.
The Golden Globe winner left the show in its seventh season, which turned out to be an emotional moment for fans.
He would later reunite with his co-stars in the series finale of its nine-season run, which concluded in 2013.
In the episode, present and past employees of Dunder Mifflin gathered for the wedding of Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) and Angela Martin (Angela Kinsey).
Meanwhile Carell returned to serve as Dwight’s best man.
To make it an even bigger surprise, the cameo from the actor was kept from everyone – including the show’s network, NBC.
Patrick J Adams – Suits
CHARACTER: Mike Ross
DEPARTED SHOW: 2018
RETURNED: For the final series in 2019
Patrick J Adams, who played Mike Ross, left Suits at the same time as co-star Meghan Markle in season seven, which aired in April 2018 (left) He later returned for the final series in 2019 (right)
Patrick J Adams, who played Mike Ross, left Suits at the same time as co-star Meghan Markle in season seven, which aired in April 2018.
Their characters (Markle played Rachel Zane) were offered jobs in another city and decided the opportunities were too good to pass.
Rachel and Mike moved up their wedding date and were married in the 16th episode, aptly coined ‘Good-Bye.’
The episode aired just weeks before Meghan’s real-life wedding to Prince Harry at Windsor Castle on May 19 last year.
Patrick posted a lengthy message announcing his departure from Suits at the time, admitting that the ‘last 7 years have been life changing.’
However it wasn’t long before he announced his plans to return for the show’s last season.
Patrick jumped back into his role as Mike on the ninth and final season of the popular program Suits on the USA network in 2019.
The 37-year-old took to Instagram at the time to make the big announcement and told his two million followers that it’s ‘go time’ as he shared a picture of his lawyer character.
Ian Somerhalder – Lost
CHARACTER: Boone Carlyle
DEPARTED SHOW: 2004
RETURNED: For the final episode, in 2010
Ian Somerhalder may have been the first major character to be killed off in Lost when his character Boone Carlyle died, but he returned for the series finale in 2010
Lost evolved from the story of 48 survivors of Oceanic flight 815 who found themselves stranded on a mysterious island into a complicated, mythological tale with an expansive cast.
The series-ending season six began in the post hydrogen-bomb haze of the 1977 Swan construction site explosion, and progressed at a break-neck pace shifting through time periods.
It also offered a big break to a number of actors, including Ian Somerhalder, who played Boone Carlyle.
He became the first major character to die in the show in 2004. However, he later returned for the final episode, which was titled The End, in 2010.
In it, he appears in the alternate timeline and is amoung the characters who were reunited in a church in the controversial final scene.
Chad Michael Murray – One Tree Hill
Chad Michael-Murray was the main character in The CW’s One Tree Hill, with fans stunned after he left the show in 2009 (left). However he returned for an episode in the final series in 2012 (right)
CHARACTER: Lucas Scott
DEPARTED SHOW: 2009
RETURNED: For an episode in the final series in 2012
One Tree Hill was the fourth-longest-running series on The CW network, behind, Smallville, 7th Heaven and Supernatural.
The show debuted in 2002, following a group of friends in Tree Hill, North Carolina, also starring James Lafferty, Sophia Bush and Bethany Joy Lenz.
The original drama series, created by Mark Schwahn with Chad Michael-Murray serving as the lead male role as Lucas Scott, premiered on The WB. .
After the merger with UPN, the show was broadcast on The CW beginning in September 2006 until the end of its nine season run in 2012.
Murray starred on the show for the first six seasons, left for the next two seasons, but eventually returned as a ‘special guest’ during an episode for the ninth and final season that premiered on January 11. 2012.
He later said he had returned because he knew how much it would mean to fans.
He told TVGuide.com: ‘I’ve been busy with different discoveries in my own life … [and] it never really dawned on me.
‘Then the opportunity came, and I knew how important it was to these fans who are everything to the show — and that was it.’
In the episode, Lucas arrived back in One Tree Hill to comfort his best friend Haley, whose husband —Lucas’ brother Nathan had gone missing.
The series would eventually conclude with its final episode airing on April 4, 2012.
Nina Dobrev – The Vampire Diaries
Nina Dobrev was a major player on The Vampire Diaries for years, playing the lead character Elena Gilbert, and later her doppelganger Katherine Pierce. She left in 2015, but returned for the final episodes in 2017
CHARACTER: Elena Gilbert and Katherine Pierce
DEPARTED SHOW: 2015
RETURNED: For the final episodes in 2017
Nina Dobrev was a major player on The Vampire Diaries for years, playing the lead character Elena Gilbert, and later her doppelganger Katherine Pierce.
She portrayed the main protagonist in The Vampire Diaries as her character Elena was loved by two vampire brothers, Damon and Stefan Salvatore.
The Bulgaria native dated her The Vampire Diaries co-star Ian Somerhalder for three years before they split in May 2013.
However in 2015, she announced she was leaving the supernatural drama for pastures new.
At the time, she told Rogue that the reason she left Vampire Diaries was to take on other projects and not get typecast, saying: ‘I wanted to prove everyone wrong who said I would play this one role my whole life or be stuck playing younger roles.’
‘I’ve always wanted to take big risks,’ Dobrev explained in the magazine interview.
‘I started Vampire Diaries when I was 20…. I grew with the show and I wanted to continue to grow outside of it. Mentally, it was a crazy time. I was 27 when I left the show. I was ready to do something different,’ she said.
However she returned to the show for the final episodes in 2017, when she was reunited with her former castmates.
Rob Lowe – The West Wing
Rob Lowe starred in the political drama as Deputy White House Communications Director Sam Seaborn for four years between 1999 and 2003. However he returned for the final episodes in 2006
CHARACTER: Sam Seaborn
DEPARTED SHOW: 2003
RETURNED: For the final episodes in 2006
The West Wing aired on NBC from 1999 to 2006 for seven seasons and 156 episodes, with Sheen, 80, playing the fictional Democratic president Josiah ‘Jed’ Bartlet.
The show was about the personal lives of presidential advisers.
And Rob Lowe starred in the political drama as Deputy White House Communications Director Sam Seaborn for four years between 1999 and 2003.
The series – following the highly-strung personal lives of presidential advisers – was critically acclaimed and loved by the Emmys, picking up a total of 27 awards.
Martin Sheen’s Democratic President Jed was the dominant character as he weathered scandals and threats.
However Rob is rumored to have quit ‘The West Wing’ after four seasons following a dispute over his salary as he was reportedly unable to have his $70,000-an-episode fee increased to be more in line with Sheen, who was said to be earning more than four times more.
He later returned for the final episodes in 2006.
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