Departed and the others returned (4)
I believe the answer is:
late
'departed' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'and the others returned' is the wordplay.
'and the others' becomes 'et al'.
'returned' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'etal' in reverse letter order is 'LATE'.
(Other definitions for late that I've seen before include "No longer alive; tardy" , "Former, delayed" , "Far into the night" , "Recently deceased" , "near the end" .)