Tia Mowry and Pooch Hall
Pooch Hall and Tia Mowry played Derwin Davis and Melanie Barnett for five years. Getty

Loyal fans of BET sports comedy The Game will be happy to hear that Melanie and Derwin are coming back.

Pooch Hall, who was one of the key leads before departing in 2012, made the big announcement at the 2015 BET Awards, bringing an end to months of speculation.

As the cast, which includes Jay Ellis, Wendy Raquel Robinson, Lauren London, Brandy Norwood and Brittany Daniel, gathered to bid fans a final goodbye, 38-year-old Hall surprised them on stage. "It's not gonna be a final season without your boy. It's not just me. Melanie is also back on The Game for the finale," he said.

"Tia wanted to be here, but Tia fell ill, so Tia feel better. We love you, and that's what's up," he added.

Taking to Instagram, Mowry also confirmed their return by sharing a snap of the duo in character.

Hall and Tia Mowry played Derwin Davis and Melanie Barnett for five seasons before they made their departure in 2012. Their couple's roller coaster relationship and marriage woes were at the centre of the series and viewers watched their breakups to make-ups and affairs unfold on screen.

At the end of season five, Melanie left for Baltimore to pursue her dream to be a doctor at John Hopkins School of Medicine, having originally put her career on hold to support Derwin's football career. She was joined by her husband who was traded to Baltimore.

"I'm so full of emotions," Mara Brock Akil, the show's creator and executive producer, said in an interview. "To bring these characters back to shore is such a blessing. They get an ending. They get closure."

The news comes just months after Mowry dashed any hopes of a comeback.

"The [love] I am receiving from fans of Melanie on The Game is so amazing and touching! I couldn't just ignore," Mowry wrote on Facebook. "I had amazing 5 yrs on the show and feel so blessed to be have been a part of it:) Many are asking if I am making a return for the last year, and the answer is no. But again, I felt so blessed, so blessed, to have played Melanie Barnett!‪#‎melanieandderwinforever."

Hall and Mowry will reprise their roles in the must-see 90-minute series finale, which airs on 5 August.