How James Marsden Returned to Dead to Me for Seasons 2 and 3

James Marsden was dead to Dead to Me—until he wasn’t. 

Fans of the Netflix black comedy thought they saw the last of Marsden when his character Steve, Judy (Linda Cardellini)’s emotionally manipulative ex-fiancé, when Jen (Christina Applegate) bludgeoned him to death with the bird figurine at the end of season one. And apparently, so did creator Liz Feldman. 

“He wasn’t even supposed to be on the show past season one!” Feldman exclusively shared with E! News. “Steve dies at the end of season one, and James reached out, and he was like, ‘Why am I googling if a guy can survive a traumatic brain injury and drowning?’ But we had such a great time working together, and he had such great chemistry with Christina and Linda, that as soon as he said he was open to coming back, I was like, ‘Twins!'”

For his part, Marsden said he’s “grateful” he pushed to continue on with Dead to Me because he admires the creative vision of Feldman, who previously created and wrote series like One Big Happy and 2 Broke Girls.