10 Actors Who Unexpectedly Agreed to Reprise Their Iconic Movie Roles Years Later

Actors have a close association with the roles that they’ve played, so it’s only fair that the audience would want to see them on screen again with a reprise. It is especially exciting when the fans thought they had seen the last of their favorite characters, and get hit by the news about their return. We prepared a compilation of both movies you need to get excited for and some of the most memorable returns in cinema history.

1. Keanu Reeves

He might have become the king of sequels, considering recently he came back to reprise his roles as Neo in The Matrix after over 15 years and Ted in the 2020 installment of the Bill & Ted movie series, the previous film came out in 1991. Recently, it’s been announced that Reeves would also be returning as John Constantine for Constantine 2. The original movie came out in 2005, and since then the actor has named it his most favorite role of all-time and spoke about wanting to do a sequel.

2. Harrison Ford

He starred as a title character in 3 Indiana Jones movies back in the 1980s, and some may have thought that was the last they’ve seen of the characters. However, nearly 20 years after the 3rd film’s release, Indiana Jones came back on our screens with the 2008 movie Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

3. Linda Hamilton

Many actresses have played Sarah Connor over the years, but most people associate her with Linda Hamilton’s performance in the Terminator films. She has agreed to come back to the role for the third movie that came out in 2019, 3 decades after the 2nd one. After it was released, Hamilton said that she would be “quite happy to never return” to her iconic role again.

4. Reese Witherspoon

The movie Legally Blonde turned the actress into the household name back in the day, and now she is ready to reprise the role of her iconic character, Elle Woods. Legally Blonde 3 is in the works, with Witherspoon being listed as one of the producers. The movie has been in pre-production for quite a while now, but recently it was clarified that the project is still a go and the reason why it’s taking so long is because the writers want to make sure they don’t ruin the beloved movie and character.

5. Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny

More than 13 years after the original run of the hit show The X-Files ended, the actors reunited to reprise their roles for the brand-new episodes of the show. To the excitement of the show’s fans, 16 fresh episodes were released in the years 2016-2018.

6. Will Smith

The movie I Am Legend came out in 2007, and broke the record for the opening weekend box office earnings. The sequel for the movie has been confirmed by Warner Bros, with Smith set to reprise his role as the main character. The new instalment also welcomed Black Panther’s Michael B. Jordan as a cast member. Both actors will also act as the movie’s producers.

7. Jeff Goldblum

In the first Jurassic Park movie, which came out in 1993, Jeff Goldblum plays mathematician Ian Malcolm. The actor returned to his role in 2018 in the movie Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. The fans of the original movie also got to see Laura Dern and Sam Neill return to their roles as Dr. Ellie Sattler and Dr. Alan Grant respectively in Jurassic World Dominion.

8. Tom Cruise

Top Gun: Maverick was released in 2022, 36 years after the first movie was released. It became a big hit and earned Tom Cruise his biggest opening weekend, but the actor initially did not want to do the project. The director had to convince him by pitching the idea for his character’s storyline, which made Cruise interested, and eventually he agreed to return to his role.

9. Leonard Nimoy

While Zachary Quinto got casted as the new Spock in 2009, Leonard Nimoy was not ready to let go of this role completely yet. He acted as Spock Prime in 2 movies, the last being Star Trek into Darkness in 2013. He kept returning to the role of the science officer for over 40 years since the original series premiered in 1966.

10. Hugh Jackman

Everyone thought the story of Wolverine ended with the 2017 film Logan, which provided the audience with the closure on the superhero’s story. Hugh Jackman played Wolverine for 17 years and was ready to close this chapter of his life. However, fans can rejoice knowing that they will see Jackman reprise that role in 2024. Actor Ryan Reynolds announced on his Twitter that he’s been working on Deadpool 3 non-stop as it is his big enterance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and to make it even better, he invited Jackman to join the movie as Wolverine.

The actors clarified that the events of Logan and its conclusion remain the same, because according to the in-universe timeline, they happen in 2029. Deadpool 3 will not override, or conflict anything presented in the last Wolverine movie.

Are you excited about the upcoming sequels? What character would you like to see on your screen again?