Fandoms roll in and out like weird fashion trends—one minute everyone’s obsessed, the next it’s gathering digital cobwebs on some ancient Tumblr. Some take over your whole life for a few years, and then poof, they’re relics only surviving on meme pages, half-broken Funko Pops, and those late-night “remember when?” binge sessions. But hey, thanks to streaming and the world’s insatiable appetite for reboots, what’s “dead” today could be headlining Comic-Con by next week.
So, let’s dig through the pop culture attic and shine a light on some seriously underrated gems. Whether it’s TV shows with cult status, forgotten online worlds, or those YA sagas we all swore we’d outgrown—here’s my pick for 10 fandoms that are way overdue for a comeback in 2025.
1. Heroes (TV Series)
The “Save the Cheerleader” Era
Alright, let’s rewind to 2006. If you didn’t have “Save the cheerleader, save the world” echoing in your head, were you even paying attention to pop culture? NBC’s Heroes dropped like a bomb, and for a hot second, it felt like the show everyone had to watch. Before the superhero floodgates opened, this was the gritty, grounded, “what if regular folks got powers?” show.
Relatable Characters: These weren’t invincible gods. They were messy, confused, and honestly, sometimes made dumb choices, just like the rest of us.
Diverse Cast: Heroes tried to reflect the real world, not just a parade of cape-wearing clones.
Grounded World: The powers were cool, but the focus was on people and their problems. Not just punchy-punchy, city-exploding nonsense.
The Downward Spiral: What Went Wrong?
Now, let’s not pretend everything was sunshine and rainbows. After that electric first season, things went off the rails fast.
Writer’s Strike Woes: Timing couldn’t have been worse. The 2007–2008 writers’ strike kneecapped the show. Whole plotlines got rushed or forgotten.
Plot Confusion: One minute, someone had powers; the next, they didn’t. Who was dead? Who was alive? Honestly, it felt like the writers were just pulling names out of a hat.
Lost Momentum: The hype train derailed. By the time you got to Season 3, it was like, “Wait, why am I still watching this?”
Heroes Reborn Flop: 2015’s reboot tried to recapture the magic. Spoiler: it didn’t. Felt more like a nostalgia cash grab than a real comeback.
Why a Comeback Could Work
So, with superhero fatigue now a real thing (seriously, does every movie need a multiverse?), why even bother bringing Heroes back? Well, hear me out.
Limited Series, Please: Don’t drag it out, give us a tight, focused story. Think HBO miniseries, not another endless saga.
Untapped Potential: The original world is still loaded with cool ideas and characters who deserve more than what they got.
Built-In Fanbase: Even after all the missteps, there’s a passionate crowd ready to jump back in, just check the forums and fan art still floating around.
Fresh Perspective: The superhero genre’s gotten a bit stale. Heroes could bring back that raw, human angle that made it pop in the first place.
The bones of a great show are still there. Heroes just needs a smarter, tighter approach, less time travel, more heart, and for the love of all things good, keep the plot twists under control. If they play their cards right, a reboot could remind people why we cared about saving the cheerleader in the first place. Just saying, NBC, don’t screw it up.
2. Pushing Daisies
A Whimsical TV Oddball Like No Other
Seriously, Pushing Daisies was one of those rare gems that made you wonder what the writers were smoking (in a good way).
Bryan Fuller, the mad genius behind it all, dreamt up a pie-maker named Ned who could zap dead folks back to life with a touch.
The show wasn’t just some quirky murder mystery; it mashed together fairytale magic, old-school romance, and a healthy dose of dark comedy. It was like Tim Burton and Wes Anderson had a brightly-coloured baby.
Narration was cheeky and charming, almost like a bedtime story for grownups who love a little weird.
Why People Fell in Love (and Still Aren’t Over It)
Critics gushed, fans obsessed, and even people who usually hate “weird” TV got hooked.
The casts, Lee Pace and Anna Friel brought all the heart, and Chi McBride’s grumpy detective was low-key iconic. The stories were equal parts adorable and morbid. You’d be laughing at a pun one minute and tearing up over a doomed romance the next.
It wasn’t just comforting TV; it was comfort TV with an existential crisis bubbling underneath.
The Tragic Cancellation
Right as things were getting juicy, the 2007-08 Writers’ Strike slammed on the brakes. ABC, being ABC, freaked out and axed the show after just two seasons. No big finale, no proper goodbye, just a lot of angry fans yelling into the void and writing fanfic to fill the void.
Nearly two decades later, people still want to know what happened to Ned and Chuck. Did Olive ever get her happy ending? Did Emerson ever finish that damn pop-up book?
TV Is Weirder Than Ever, So Where’s Our Revival?
Fast forward to now: offbeat, genre-bending shows are thriving. Good Omens throws angels and demons into a buddy comedy. The Sandman is bending reality left and right. Dead Boy Detectives? No clue, but it’s weird and people are watching.
Networks and streaming services are obsessed with nostalgia and cult favourites. If Futurama can rise from the dead more times than Ned’s pies, why not this?
How a Revival Could Work
Miniseries: Give us closure, tie up those wild storylines, and let Ned and Chuck touch each other without breaking the universe.
Streaming special, Everyone’s doing it. One bingeable season, maybe a musical number or two (hey, Kristen Chenoweth’s right there).
Animated continuation: If live-action’s too tough to pull off, go wild with animation. Lean into the surreal visuals and push the weirdness to eleven.
Look, fans have waited almost twenty years for this. That’s an eternity in TV time; some of us weren’t even old enough to watch when it first aired! The world’s finally weird enough to appreciate what Pushing Daisies was doing way ahead of its time. Honestly, if any show deserves a second shot, it’s this one. Bring back Ned, bring back the pies, and for the love of all things quirky, let’s finally get that ending we’ve been craving.
3. Firefly
Man, talk about gone too soon. Firefly landed with just one season, fourteen measly episodes, and still managed to burn itself into sci-fi legend status. Joss Whedon cooked up this mashup of cowboy swagger and spaceship shenanigans, and somehow it worked. Like, worked. Think Han Solo with a dash of “yee-haw,” and you get the vibe.
Fans? Still not over it. And sure, they tossed us a bone with Serenity and a few comics, but let’s be real, people have been begging for a real comeback forever. In the age of streaming and endless reboots (plus, y’know, everyone’s asking for more diverse storytellers now), Firefly’s just sitting there, waiting for a second shot. Animated, spin-off, full-on reboot, I don’t care, just bring back my space cowboys already.
4. Ben 10 (Original Series)
Man, Ben 10 hit Cartoon Network back in ’05 and just took over after-school TV. If you didn’t try to draw the Omnitrix on your wrist at least once, did you even have a childhood? The show had everything: wild alien forms, timey-wimey adventures, and enough plot twists to keep you glued to the screen. It was weird, cool, and somehow felt like it grew up with you.
But then… yeah, the reboots happened. The art style flip-flopped more than a pancake, and honestly, the magic kinda faded. OG Ben and the Alien Force squad? Still legendary. Those are the versions fans get all nostalgic (and maybe a little defensive) about.
Now, imagine this: 2025 rolls around, and we get a reboot that doesn’t talk down to us. Something darker, slicker, with a storyline that remembers what happened last week. Bring back the classic baddies, sprinkle in some grown-up themes, and you’ll have old-school fans crawling out of the woodwork, plus a whole new wave of kids thinking, “Dang, Ben 10 is cool!”
5. Pirates of the Caribbean
Wild, right? A theme park ride, just a boat cruise with plastic skeletons, somehow spawned this wild, rum-soaked, swaggering monstrosity of a movie franchise. Pirates of the Caribbean gave us Jack Sparrow (honestly, might be the only pirate anyone under 40 can name), ghost ships, zombie monkeys, cursed gold, and a whole bunch of eyeliner. The first film? Straight-up gold. After that, well… let’s just say the magic got lost somewhere between the endless subplots and whatever the heck was going on with that trident thing.
Then there’s the real-life drama, tabloids, lawsuits, the whole circus. Disney pretty much ghosted the franchise. But c’mon, pirates never really die. If they toss out the old baggage, maybe get a new cast, lean into the creepy fog-and-myth vibe, and drop it on streaming? Pirates could come roaring back. Who doesn’t want another shot at sea monsters and epic ship battles? I say, bring it on.
6. The Guild (Web Series)
Man, before Netflix and Prime were even a thing, Felicia Day’s The Guild was the holy grail for nerds lurking online. It followed this hilariously awkward bunch of MMO gamers as they tried to navigate the absolute circus of both the internet and real life. If you’ve ever gotten sucked into a fandom or lost an entire weekend at a convention, you know exactly why this show hit so hard.
Yeah, it wrapped up back in 2013, but honestly? The show’s fingerprints are all over everything geeky since. Now we’re living in the age of Twitch meltdowns, Discord drama spirals, and the never-ending debate about “gamer identity”. The Guild would honestly be more relevant now than ever. I swear, if anyone cooked up a sequel or a spiritual reboot, it’d be like mainlining nostalgia with a side of spicy, up-to-date commentary. Just saying, someone should get on that.
7. Inuyasha
Man, back in the early 2000s, Inuyasha was the anime everyone and their cousin was obsessed with. Seriously, the mix of sword-swinging demons, wild folklore, and that whole slow-burn romance between Kagome and Inuyasha? Peak drama. Throw in some feudal Japan vibes, and you’ve got a recipe that just hits different, even now.
Yeah, they tried to keep the magic going with that sequel, Yashahime, in 2020. But let’s be real: it just didn’t have the same heart. A lot of us are still low-key salty about never getting actual closure for the OG crew.
Honestly, with anime blowing up everywhere these days, there’s never been a better time to dust off Inuyasha for a proper glow-up. Imagine a gritty, more grown-up reboot, or at least a gorgeous remaster. There’s still so much story left to dig into, and the fanbase? Still hungry as ever. Come on, studios. Give us what we want!
8. Twilight
Seriously, you can’t talk about pop culture crazes without this glittery vampire fever dream. Back in the 2000s, it was everywhere—bookstores, movie theatres, even Hot Topic. Sparkly vampires, brooding stares, werewolves who hate shirts… You name it. People were obsessed. And then, of course, the haters arrived. The writing? Roasted. The relationships? Picked apart. The fandom? Memed into hiding.
But, surprise—Gen Z’s bringing it back, only this time with a heavy dose of irony and a whole lot of memes. People are rewatching, quoting lines that make zero sense, and honestly, having a blast poking fun at the old drama. Rumour has it there’s a TV reboot coming in 2025. So yeah, grab your fake vampire teeth and get ready, Twilight’s about to rise from the sparkly ashes, hopefully with a bit more self-awareness and storytelling that doesn’t make you cringe (well, not as much).
9. The Matrix
Man, The Matrix wasn’t just another sci-fi flick—it was a whole vibe. The leather coats, those shades, the wild fight scenes that made you wanna run up walls at the mall? It left a mark. People got obsessed. Forums, fan theories, weird green text everywhere. Total rabbit hole.
But then… yeah, the sequels happened. Revolutions kinda fizzled, and Resurrections? Eh, it felt like reheated leftovers—still edible, but not exactly fresh. Folks drifted away, even if the core ideas—what is real, are we in a simulation, etc.—still hit hard.
And now? Honestly, with AI everywhere, deepfakes, everyone questioning reality on Twitter (or X, whatever), The Matrix is weirdly more on-point than ever. Imagine a new show or spin-off, maybe following some other rebels or exploring a different city inside the Matrix. That could slap in 2025 way harder than it did back in ‘99. Give those themes some modern tech paranoia, and the fandom might just jack back in.
10. Percy Jackson (Book Fandom)
Man, Rick Riordan pulled off something wild with Percy Jackson & The Olympians. It’s like he just grabbed Greek myths by the scruff and tossed them into the real world with a wink and a ton of snark. Kids (and honestly, a bunch of adults) ate it up. Tumblr? Absolute chaos. Fanfiction? Overflowing. Camp Half-Blood memes? Legendary.
But then… those movies. Yikes. We don’t talk about the movies. Most fans have mentally yeeted them into Tartarus. It was that bad.
Now, here comes Disney+ with a redo, and Riordan himself is steering the ship this time. Cross your fingers, knock on wood, whatever you gotta do. If they nail it, 2025 could be the year Percy Jackson finally gets the epic comeback it freaking deserves. I mean, the gods owe us.
Conclusion
Alright, here’s the deal—pop culture just refuses to stay in its lane. Fandoms? They’re like glitter: good luck getting rid of ‘em. Seriously, even the weirdest pixelated pet universe or that one cartoon you watched in pyjamas lives on somewhere, probably in a half-dead Discord server or buried under a pile of old memes.
And with the way nostalgia is making a comeback (looking at you, 90s kids), who’s to say 2025 won’t be the year some old obsession explodes all over TikTok? All it takes is one reboot, a meme gone viral, or some celebrity saying, “Hey, remember this?” and boom—fandom resurrection complete.
So, here’s the question: which fandom do you wish would crawl out of the grave? Drop your hot takes below, and don’t hold back.
