We have revisited the type material of Pachyrhachis problematicus, a fossil snake from the Cenomanian (Cretaceous) of the Middle East, and found a number of characters in need of revision with respect to its recent re-description. A new interpretation is given for several cranial characters. There is no identifiable regionalization of the presacral-vertebral column beyond that found in booid snakes. The identification of a free sacral rib in Pachyrhachis is more parsimoniously interpreted as the first lymphapophysis. It is questionable that the pelvic rudiment would have been suspended from the axial skeleton. We have also extensively reviewed the evidence that is believed to link Pachyrhachis, and with it all other snakes, to a mosasauroid ancestor. We were not able to corroborate this hypothesis, which involves characters related to the dentition, braincase morphology, and the intramandibular joint. Instead, re-analysis of the phylogenetic relationships of Pachyrhachis corroborates the hypothesis that it represents the sister-group of macrostomatan snakes, i.e., advanced snakes. Given that Pachyrhachis is nested within the hierarchy of snakes, it is entirely possible that this snake re-developed almost complete hind limbs. A less parsimonious hypothesis would be to consider the hind limbs to have been lost independently in the major basal clades of extant snakes (Scolecophidia, Anilioidea, and Macrostomata). The latter hypothesis is considered a serious possibility given the recently described findings on the mechanisms of limb development in Python, which could account for the highly variable pattern of hindlimb reduction found among basal snakes.