As a result of the surprise ratings success of the first Desperado TV movie in April of 1987, plans were hastily drawn up to release additional Desperado adventures over the next three years. Return of Desperado was the first such follow-up to be telecast, though in fact it was filmed after the official sequel, Desperado: Avalanche of Devil's Ridge. Alex McArthur is back as Duel McCall, a frontiersman on the lam from a trumped-up murder rap. Now he's in New Mexico (where Return of Desperado was lensed), running afoul of local land baron Robert Foxworth. In the tradition of David Janssen's The Fugitive, McCall pauses long enough in his escape flight to come to the aid of black homesteader Billy Dee Williams, who is being victimized by the diabolical Foxworth.