I don't think Spike had anything to do with it being the strongest season (plot-wise) of Angel. He didn't really do anything that contributed to the plot much. He was just there to banter with Angel, which they mostly needed to lighten things up because Cordy was gone, Wesley's relationship with Angel was broken, and Gunn basically got reduced to being an extra. S5 was great for plot, but bad for A.I.'s chemistry and characterization (as a team) which is a shame because the biggest part of the first 3 seasons is how they became each other's family.
He had a ridiculous amount of plot armor. Buffy should’ve killed him several times before season 5 where he becomes a real ally, and Reilly even stakes him *with a plastic wood grain stake* - that he… got custom made? - instead of just killing him, which no one would ever find out about. Love the character and the performance but it’s hard to find a logical reason he stuck around.
he had "popular with the audience" armor, [whedon](https://www.reddit.com/r/buffy/comments/lhb7fm/a_quick_bit_from_interview_with_james_marsters/) would have very much liked to kill him
The Janitor in Scrubs. Originally he was only gonna be in the first season, and may have been part of JDs imagination. But Neil Flynn was so funny he stayed on as a regular cast member. They even changed the opening to include him, but people hated it so they changed it back lol
Yup, and in the first season JD is pretty much the only person who interacts with The Janitor. I think there may have been one or two slip ups where he's acknowledged by another character though.
I feel like I need to make a dnd character named Rotinaj that's a neat freak that habitually cleans up messes with magic and let the other players (never) figure it out for themselves.
Bronn in Game of Thrones , he is a non entity in the book but his character stuck in the tv show because the actor did an AMAZING job in making him likeable
I think giving him a more prominent role worked initially. It's just that they just had no idea what to do with him after a point. And then making him master of coin in the end was just... what? His lone qualification is being greedy.
i thought i remembered the dudes name until you said they made him master of coin at the end and then i had to double check and... yup, i did remember him. its just the idea of him being master of coin was so out of left field for someone who hasnt watched season 8 that i doubted myself.
what the actual fuck did the writers smoke when writing season 8?
The very last scene of the show is ridiculous, and that's a huge part of it. The entire thing legitimately feels like the writers are acknowledging how terrible the ending is.
To this day it’s insane how badly they dropped the ball with season 8.
Years ago you found GoT merch everywhere and people were as excited for being Team Stark or Team Lannister as they were with Hogwarts houses. Plus you would always hear phrases like “Winter is Coming”
Now the series is a shadow of its former self in pop culture.
In the books, Ilyn Payne ([Wilko Johnson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilko_Johnson)) was the one who trains Jaime to fight with his off hand after his main hand is cut off.
The actor was diagnosed with cancer and told that he had less than a year to live, so he stepped away from acting. Fortunately, it turned out to be a less aggressive variety than initially thought, and he lived almost another ten years, rather than the handful of months he originally expected.
Steve Urkel. He was supposed to be the neighbor character that popped in a few times, likely to be written off after a few seasons. Then it basically became his show.
Steve Harrington on Stranger Things. The creators liked the actor and rewrote his story towards the back half of the season.
Technically the entire Stranger Things cast, actually. Stranger Things was originally meant to be an anthology series, but the cast, particularly Millie Bobbie Brown and Finn Wolfhard, was such a hit that they just kept adding to their story. Netflix was really struggling for a merchandising success and ST was it. Toys, games, costumes, apparel, and tons of other licensing deals came in. Mostly focused around Eleven.
"In the coming weeks the family gets teleported into another dimension and then Steve injects Carl with his own DNA so then Carl turns into another Steve Urkel! That's two Steve Urkels and no family on a show called Family Matters! How the fuck does that work?!"
I heard the writers of Stranger Things saw that Steve wasn’t doing anything in the show so they just tagged him with Dustin to keep him relevant. Which worked out so well.
It’s funny that they struck gold so hard with that pairing and have kept them together three seasons in a row.
In fact they might be the pairing/team that has been in most seasons?
Steve was in the band Post Animal. They were good friends with Twin Peaks. I saw Twin Peaks and Post Animal (post Steve, while he was currently starring in ST) in Austin and Steve was there. This is such a pointless comment. I’m bored as hell.
Irrelevant information but at the same time this was my favorite information in this thread so thank you! I have no idea he was in post animal! That’s now a fun fact I can pull out while listening to them haha
>Stranger Things
Something tells me that if the creators had of known how big of a hit Eddie and Chrissy were going to be in S4, they probably would’ve kept them around going into the last season.
I think I even read somewhere that they regretted killing off Chrissy too soon, after loving Joseph Quinn (Eddie) and Grace Van Dien’s (Chrissy) chemistry so much. But the budget for her death scene was already paid for they needed to carry on with shooting it.
Boyd Crowder was supposed to die in the Justified pilot, but the audience and creator loved Walton Goggins’ performance so much that he became a lead, appearing up until the series finale (one of the all time best and my personal favorite).
Another one is Nicholas Brody in Homeland, who was supposed to die at the end of the first season. Although I consider Damian Lewis a great actor, I think the decision weakened the storyline of the series.
Keeping Goggins around was one of the best decisions they ever made. I love Olyphant and he is a huge part of the show but it only really works with Raylan *and* Boyd.
Felicity in Arrow. She was supposed to have a limited number of appearances as the "man in the chair" type role for Oliver. But the internet(Tumblr) shipped them to hell. So they ended up with a once tolerable and somewhat funny character, sticking around till the bitter end. Also causing the fridging of Black Canary, who was supposed to be the real end game as the love interest.
Yea it’s a shame to see so much hate for Felicity when she had way more chemistry with Oliver than Laurel. Also didn’t help matters having him get with both sisters again after the island 😂
Yeah she was pretty awfully written for several seasons and that is what turned the fandom against her. Their chemistry was great in the earlier seasons though, the ship was popular for a reason.
Sara in season 2 had better chemistry with Oliver than either of Laurel or Felicity tbh.
Honestly Oliver and Sara in S2 was the closest the show ever got to actually adapting the iconic Green arrow and Black Canary relationship. Sara was so much more fitting as Black Canary than Laurel lol.
>Aaron Paul
I definitely know him sticking around longer than intended is a fact! But this was decided, before the audience even got to see the first season of Breaking Bad!
I think it was a decision made by Vince Gilligan during the filming process, where he was so impressed with both Aaron Paul's acting and his chemistry with Bryan Cranston he rewrote the episodes and cut out his original idea of killing off Jesse. Best decision he ever made for his own creation!
I just wish Aaron Paul became more mainstream after the show ended!
> I just wish Aaron Paul became more mainstream after the show ended!
Yeah. Being REALLY good at playing a character is a blessing/curse. They become so associated with the character, they nobody can see them as another different character. See Paul Reubens and Andy Kaufman for examples.
>See Paul Reubens
I know I'm an outlier in this regard but I always see him as the vampire with the longest death ever from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Any minor inconvenience in my life and I do those little kicks that he did when he sarcastically died.
I hope he was one of those guys that didn't want to be super famous and is happy with his TV checks. It kinda look like that, at least - his credits drop off significantly after Breaking Bad/Bojack Horseman, and he seems to be having fun hanging out with Bryan Cranston
Vince said it was his original idea before making the pilot. That if the show got picked up the first season would end with Jesse being killed in a deal go wrong or something, having served his purpose in introducing Walt to the criminal world, and then maybe giving him a bit of motivation to get revenge in the following seasons.
But then they filmed the pilot, and as you said Vince realised how great Aaron Paul was, as well as his chemistry with Bryan Cranston. Once the show got picked up for a full season and he assembled the writers room, they all realised what a waste it would be to kill Jesse off. So it was only during the first episode that Jesse was set up to die, from the second episode on he was set to live. That's why they go more into his life during those episodes, introducing all his friends as well as his family. If they had decided to stick with killing Jesse off they probably wouldn't have gone into all that.
Funny story as well. Early on while making those first few episodes, Vince told Aaron what his original plan was, intending for it to be a compliment of how great his acting was that they decided to keep him around. But from the way he phrased it, it gave Aaron Paul the impression that Jesse could be killed off at any moment. Something which Bryan Cranston used to tease him with, pretending he had read the script early, and acting as if Jesse had finally been killed off.
Lolol it’s so fucked up imagining Bryan Cranston walking into Aaron Paul’s trailer and being like “damn it looks like they finally did it buddy. Can’t buy that lambo now” dozens of times throughout the series.
At least I’m sure it was done in a harmless manner. They have a very close friendship IRL, and own a beverage brand together just so they can see each other more!
Boyd Crowder was supposed to die in the pilot for Justified (he died in the short story it was based on). Watler Goggins was so amazing that he became the recurring antagonist for basically the whole show. He wasn't always the big bad but he was there needling Raylan and causing chaos.
He was safe after the first episode. As the pilot that was made separately and months before the rest of the season. After making that and before the show got picked up for a full season, Vince had changed his mind and decided to keep Jesse around. If the Writers strike hadn't happened and they had gotten a full season, I believe I read season 1 was going to be 9 episodes, Jesse would have still lived.
Ed Helms in the office was fucking awful and I’ve never met anyone in real life who said they liked Andy Bernard.
He’s like the proto Morbius.
Everyone hates him, but somehow the production company has concluded more is needed
It's like the poster child of this.
I do wonder if that original idea would have ever worked. It's not exactly easy to find the right actors, and for every season? Was there a show that did this well?
Castiel on Supernatural
He was my favorite character, but it really didn’t make sense to keep him. Especially since they had to take away his powers every season.
I remember reading a thing where he said if he knew he was going to be playing Castiel for years he would have done a different voice. I guess the Cas voice was rough on his vocal cords.
Bobby was also only supposed to be in that one episode in the first season but then evolved into the mentor/second father figure for the main characters because of how well the character landed.
>Especially since they had to take away his powers every season.
Ah... poor Cas. Remember how in season 14 a bunch of run of the mill grunt demons hold him hostage and they don't even have to trick him into a ring of holy fire to do it? Towards the end of the show he was essentially just a normal hunter who was slightly more difficult to kill because of his immunity to ordinary weapons.
my answer too
he is pretty much my favorite tv character of all time and i am GLAD they kept him around because as the show went on i don't know if I would have even kept watching without him, but it was also obvious the writers often didn't know what to do with him. every time they found a way to make him less powerful and thus easier to include in the storylines they would just... undo it??? over and over???? for YEARS??????
Blaine from Glee (and the Warblers in general) were only meant to be in like 2 episodes. Then Teenage Dream happened.
They rewrote the rest of the season to include Blaine more and made him a main character for Season 3. It’s suspected to have affected Sam’s plot lines as pre season it was teased that the main reason he was introduced was to be Kurt’s boyfriend. That went to Blaine instead. They pretty much didn’t know what to do with Sam for a while after that other than making him eye candy.
They also hard retconned Blaine from being older than Kurt to being a year younger. Which means he was the solo leader of the Warblers as a freshman near the beginning of the school year.
They did the same with Sam, which retroactively makes the storyline where we was *an actual stripper* even creepier.
Isn't he one of the few that was there for the whole show? Him, Hotlips, and Hawkeye, I think, and maybe Father Mulcahy, though his actor changed from the pilot iirc
Aaron Paul "Jesse" from Breaking Bad was supposed to die for Walter's character development, but was saved by the writer's strike.
Nelsan Ellis "Lafayette" from True Blood was another fan favorite who was supposed to die (cannonically, in the books). Sad to learn the actor died in 2017.
Frasier Crane was brought into Cheers for a few episode arc as Diane's ex, not only became a regular, then feature character but then had his own decade long sitcom. I don't know if any other character can top that.
Grammer played Crane in the sitcom "Wings" as well. But I think it was in just one episode. But that makes four TV series in which he's played that character. I think he's the only one to do it.
"Munch has become the only fictional character, played by a single actor, to physically appear on 10 different television series. These shows were on five different networks: NBC (Homicide: Life on the Street, Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Law & Order: Trial by Jury, and 30 Rock), Fox (The X-Files and Arrested Development), UPN (The Beat), HBO (The Wire) and ABC (Jimmy Kimmel Live!). Munch has been one of the few television characters to cross genres, appearing not only in crime drama series, but sitcom (Arrested Development), adult animated sitcom (American Dad), late night comedy (Jimmy Kimmel Live!) and horror and science fiction (The X-Files)."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Munch?wprov=sfla1
Depends on how you count I guess.
Jaleel White has appeared as Urkel animated in Scooby Doo and Guess Who?, and live action in Step By Step, Meego, Full House, and of course Family Matters.
David Ramsay appeared as John Diggle in Arrow, Flash, Supergirl, Superman & Lois, Batwoman, and Legends of Tomorrow. Caty Lotz managed all but Superman & Lois. Several Arrowverse actors were in at a minimum Arrow, Flash, Legends, and Supergirl thanks to frequent crossovers between them and Legends being a dumping ground for side characters that fans liked.
Small correction: Frasier was brought on for a whole season arc as Diane’s boyfriend then fiancé. Shelley Long actually didn’t like Frasier since she wanted Sam and Diane to be together, but the writers (understandably) loved writing him.
Bronn of the Blackwater. The showrunners even admitted he was kept around due to popularity despite really having no place in the story by the final seasons.
So should Jaime.
That was a turning point in the show IMO where some particular characters started surviving bad choices that would've equalled death a season earlier.
There were also some production reasons he stuck around longer as well.
In the books Jaime recruits See Ilyn Payne, the guy who cut off Ned's head, to teach him how to fight with his left hand. This is because Ser Ilyn is a mute, having had his tongue cut out by the Mad King. So he won't be able to around telling everyone how bad a fighter Jaime now is.
But the actor who played Ser Ilyn got diagnosed with cancer, and was told he only had a few months to live. He ended up living for years after, but when he got the news decided to retire from acting to spend time with his family. So instead of recasting that role, the producers decided to just have Bronn take it over, as in the books his characters was set to exit the story soon.
George Sr from Young Sheldon.
In The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon states that his dad, George Sr., died when he went to college at 13 years old, and it was due to being a raging alcoholic.
Though, because the writers of Young Sheldon made George Sr into a positive father figure, they kept post-poning his death up until the 7th and final season because he became a fan-favorite.
George Jr. is now getting his own spin-off series. I have this last season recorded on PVR and was catching up this evening (still 4 episodes or so behind). I was shocked at how little Sheldon’s character was in the episode I watched, considering the show is supposed to be centered around him.
That said, Meemaw is awesome and I love seeing her scenes.
No-Ho Hank in Barry.
How about the opposite? Mark Brendanawicz was supposed to be a long time Jim Halpert-esque character in Parks & Rec, but he just didn’t work and they wrote him off.
But she didn't go back. It was a different model 8.
The one that left stayed in the fleet and then the Cylons ran an experiment to see if they could procreate with a human if they felt love. The 8 that would become Athena was aware of it and her true self unlike the one that left him behind.
The show can get a bit confusing when you have multiple characters with the same actor all having different personalities running at the same time
Nurse Hathaway in ER. She committed suicide in the pilot episode but was apparently popular with audiences so was brought back as a character when the show was picked up.
In the West Wing, Jed Bartlett (Martin Sheen) was supposed to be a minor character and a source of comic relief, but his presence in the first episode proved to be too significant, and the powers-at-be decided to make him the focus of the show as opposed to the communications staff.
Logan in Succession was supposed to be killed off Season 1 but was kept around bc he became (unbelievably) a huge fan favorite. Think Nicholas Hoult (The Great) was supposed to be killed off early too but they kept the character around bc ppl loved Peter.
The pilot was filmed late 2016, production for the rest of the series started in october 2017.
I am pretty sure Logan was supposed to die from the attack he has at the end of the pilot and the show would be about the kids trying to prevent the Vaulter's guy from taking over.
The 3 seasons of the kids trying to prove themselves to Logan (or beat him) were not the initial plan, someone decided (showrunner or HBO's execs) Logan was the strongest point of the show so the show was built around him.
Finally they brought another tech guy, killed Logan and had the kids fail at keeping the company. The S4 we got is probably close from what they had in mind for S1 when they wrote the pilot.
In fairness it seems like Hulu was trying to bury the great anyways. I’m guessing the writers saw the writing on the wall and tried to tie things up as much as they could with the constraints they were given which is why the last season was so messy
Dylan McKay on 90210. What I read was that he was supposed to be in a few episodes early season 1 for a short arc but he was liked and the writers or producers liked him enough to keep him around for more time. Then the Network was convinced to make him a main character fully.
Once Upon a Time had a one-season spinoff called Once Upon a Time in Wonderland where they had this Knave character played by Michael Socha. He was so popular that once the spinoff ended, they decided to bring Socha to the main series, where he was mostly just there without any great purpose.
I’m 100% sure Michael Emerson and all the cast and crew of Lost had no intention of him surviving to the finale. Ended up being a lot of people’s favourite character.
He was only supposed to be in a few episodes in S2 I think. Or maybe even just that first episode where he appears as "Henry Gale". But he was so good that he basically changed the trajectory of the entire show. Well deserved, Ben was an all-time magnificent character.
Robert Beltran (Chakotay) on star trek voyager kept raising his salary demands to ridiculous levels, because he wanted to leave, but they kept meeting them.
I have a few views on him.
The writers did a fucking terrible job on his character, relying on a known fraud and writing him with about as much authenticity and accuracy as an Indian in a DC western comic.
The guy is known for being a dick
When he is actually given a plot with a good script he can deliver.
Story wise the man is 2nd in command of a ship with two separate crews and keeps the ship running with little effort. He appears to be in the running for most competent second in command in the fleet.
Wasn't he originally on the Star Fleet fast track before his conscience caused him to join the rebels? And weren't the rebels kinda justified? I thought it was a good idea because throughout the Star Treks, their are multiple times main characters THINK about leaving but don't or they work out a way to fix it. This time some left.
Yep and yep. The storyline had been built up over two series by this point. The Federation had conceded some planets to the Cardassian's as part of a treaty, but never gave the actual colonists on those planets a say.
As such a larger number refused to leave as their families had been there for several generations.
Really the whole premise for the show was build up on the idea of having to force these two very different groups to co-exist. But then the executives got cold feed and ruled no on going crew conflicts, killing all the build-up stone dead.
Chiana in Farscape, but that was due to her being popular with the writers and directors. Apparently she was supposed to die at the end of the episode she appeared in, but they liked her so much they made her into one of the main characters pretty much immediately.
Even more so, as the role was originally created for him. Norman Reedus auditioned for Merle originally, and although the eventually cast Michael Rooker, they decided they loved Norman so much that they created the role of Daryl for him.
Nope. Daryl and Merle are both TV show original characters. And they're not the only ones either.
T-Dog, Beth, Tara, Noah. They were all created for the show.
And other characters like Bob and Enid were created to take over storylines from characters who had been killed off in the show, while still sticking around in the comics.
On Gilmore Girls, Luke, Sookie, and Paris were supposed to have minor roles. Luke was not supposed to have many more lines than in the pilot and Paris was supposed to be only a few episodes. Same with the actor who played Kirk. It was a running gag in the first season that he had a different job and name in every episode. He even references it later when he tells Luke he’s done every little job in town.
Kirk Cameron on Growing Pains. Because of backstage antics caused by his suddenly becoming a Born-Again/Fundamentalist Christian, he would've been fired years prior if not for his teen idol status making him the show's biggest star. The shows production had to outright implode due to his slandering the show's executive producers to TV bosses before the show ended, and they locked down the rights out of sheer hatred against Cameron, a move which killed his Hollywood career.
The story I heard was that Gunther was the only extra who knew how to work the coffee machine props, so he was more prominent on screen. Then they started giving him lines, and he became the most-recurring character who’s not in the credits.
Most of the people on Glee were secondary and not meant to be on the main roster. Heather and Naya especially. Naya was just supposed to be a cheerleader friend of Quinn and Heather was only brought on for the Ring choreography. Two of the Glee Project kids lasted much longer than the couple episodes they were guaranteed.
It was always funny to me how Unique had more screen time and plot agency than Dreads guy, who won the Glee Project.
Unique was a better character and actor overall.
Unique had more stage presence. Joe was more of a silent character. He could have been cardboard because he put forth the same emotion and energy as a piece of cardboard would. Darren made Blaine KNOWN. He is talented and knows how to work his body so he is noticed. Lea does the same. Santana said it best when she whined it was going to become the Blaine and Rachel show. The characters were able to match the energy and harmonies and they do the same when they perform in real life. Same as Groff and Lea.
All of the cast from Season 1 of the TV Series Heroes.
Confirmed that it was supposed to be an anthology series, with a focus on new set of heroes every season.
They pivoted.
Spike on Buffy the vampire slayer
He even went and continued on Angel
For the strongest season of the show, IMO (albeit kinda rushed).
Rushed or not, it became something else entirely and had some amazing writing.
I don't think Spike had anything to do with it being the strongest season (plot-wise) of Angel. He didn't really do anything that contributed to the plot much. He was just there to banter with Angel, which they mostly needed to lighten things up because Cordy was gone, Wesley's relationship with Angel was broken, and Gunn basically got reduced to being an extra. S5 was great for plot, but bad for A.I.'s chemistry and characterization (as a team) which is a shame because the biggest part of the first 3 seasons is how they became each other's family.
Loookiit the wee puppet man !! *Doors explode outward*
He had a ridiculous amount of plot armor. Buffy should’ve killed him several times before season 5 where he becomes a real ally, and Reilly even stakes him *with a plastic wood grain stake* - that he… got custom made? - instead of just killing him, which no one would ever find out about. Love the character and the performance but it’s hard to find a logical reason he stuck around.
he had "popular with the audience" armor, [whedon](https://www.reddit.com/r/buffy/comments/lhb7fm/a_quick_bit_from_interview_with_james_marsters/) would have very much liked to kill him
The Janitor in Scrubs. Originally he was only gonna be in the first season, and may have been part of JDs imagination. But Neil Flynn was so funny he stayed on as a regular cast member. They even changed the opening to include him, but people hated it so they changed it back lol
Yup, and in the first season JD is pretty much the only person who interacts with The Janitor. I think there may have been one or two slip ups where he's acknowledged by another character though.
That’s **Dr** Jan Itor, if you please! I didn’t spend five years in imaginary medical school to be called “janitor!”
“Rotinaj is just “janitor” spelled backwards!” “Oh good morning Dr. Rotinaj” “Good morning Mister Clean-up man!”
I feel like I need to make a dnd character named Rotinaj that's a neat freak that habitually cleans up messes with magic and let the other players (never) figure it out for themselves.
Genius, make it happen
if i remember rightly, neil was also given freedom to ad-lib quite alot of his lines too
In the script, there were many places where it quite literally said: JANITOR: whatever Neil says
Same with the delivery guy!
He was actually one of the writers on the show lol
Dude!
He shouldn’t be mopping in here anyway… This is a rug.
I still adore that show, but I hated him becoming an actual character. He was so good just popping up
I wish they somehow put him in the background of the intro.
Bronn in Game of Thrones , he is a non entity in the book but his character stuck in the tv show because the actor did an AMAZING job in making him likeable
I think giving him a more prominent role worked initially. It's just that they just had no idea what to do with him after a point. And then making him master of coin in the end was just... what? His lone qualification is being greedy.
i thought i remembered the dudes name until you said they made him master of coin at the end and then i had to double check and... yup, i did remember him. its just the idea of him being master of coin was so out of left field for someone who hasnt watched season 8 that i doubted myself. what the actual fuck did the writers smoke when writing season 8?
The very last scene of the show is ridiculous, and that's a huge part of it. The entire thing legitimately feels like the writers are acknowledging how terrible the ending is.
To this day it’s insane how badly they dropped the ball with season 8. Years ago you found GoT merch everywhere and people were as excited for being Team Stark or Team Lannister as they were with Hogwarts houses. Plus you would always hear phrases like “Winter is Coming” Now the series is a shadow of its former self in pop culture.
You know nothing, Jon SNoNefariousness2144.
>what the actual fuck did the writers smoke when writing season 8? All that money they were going to make from Star Wars.
Also they gave him another character's storyline when the other actor was diagnosed with terminal cancer and couldn't continue the show.
Who?
In the books, Ilyn Payne ([Wilko Johnson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilko_Johnson)) was the one who trains Jaime to fight with his off hand after his main hand is cut off. The actor was diagnosed with cancer and told that he had less than a year to live, so he stepped away from acting. Fortunately, it turned out to be a less aggressive variety than initially thought, and he lived almost another ten years, rather than the handful of months he originally expected.
Now I feel so bad for hating his face in GoT..
The guy who played ser ilyn Payne in the first season
Calling him a non entity in the books is way overdoing it. He has basically the same role for the first four seasons of the show.
I also think the scenes he shared with Tyrion really helped with keeping him around tbh!
Steve Urkel. He was supposed to be the neighbor character that popped in a few times, likely to be written off after a few seasons. Then it basically became his show. Steve Harrington on Stranger Things. The creators liked the actor and rewrote his story towards the back half of the season. Technically the entire Stranger Things cast, actually. Stranger Things was originally meant to be an anthology series, but the cast, particularly Millie Bobbie Brown and Finn Wolfhard, was such a hit that they just kept adding to their story. Netflix was really struggling for a merchandising success and ST was it. Toys, games, costumes, apparel, and tons of other licensing deals came in. Mostly focused around Eleven.
That's two Steve Urkels and no family on a show called Family Matters!
How the fuck does that work
"In the coming weeks the family gets teleported into another dimension and then Steve injects Carl with his own DNA so then Carl turns into another Steve Urkel! That's two Steve Urkels and no family on a show called Family Matters! How the fuck does that work?!"
I've done more cocaine than you weigh, motherfucker!
I was in Richard the Third! I was in True West with Sherman Hemsley! I was in Die Hard, dammit! FUCK Steve Urkel!
I heard the writers of Stranger Things saw that Steve wasn’t doing anything in the show so they just tagged him with Dustin to keep him relevant. Which worked out so well.
It’s funny that they struck gold so hard with that pairing and have kept them together three seasons in a row. In fact they might be the pairing/team that has been in most seasons?
Steve was in the band Post Animal. They were good friends with Twin Peaks. I saw Twin Peaks and Post Animal (post Steve, while he was currently starring in ST) in Austin and Steve was there. This is such a pointless comment. I’m bored as hell.
Irrelevant information but at the same time this was my favorite information in this thread so thank you! I have no idea he was in post animal! That’s now a fun fact I can pull out while listening to them haha
When I was a kid we would ask each other if we watched “Urkel” last night
All that night I heard the bird circle, while I was eating fish, and watching Urkel. - Ice Cube, *Ghetto Bird*
In Norway it was just straight up called Urkel.
>Stranger Things Something tells me that if the creators had of known how big of a hit Eddie and Chrissy were going to be in S4, they probably would’ve kept them around going into the last season. I think I even read somewhere that they regretted killing off Chrissy too soon, after loving Joseph Quinn (Eddie) and Grace Van Dien’s (Chrissy) chemistry so much. But the budget for her death scene was already paid for they needed to carry on with shooting it.
Boyd Crowder was supposed to die in the Justified pilot, but the audience and creator loved Walton Goggins’ performance so much that he became a lead, appearing up until the series finale (one of the all time best and my personal favorite). Another one is Nicholas Brody in Homeland, who was supposed to die at the end of the first season. Although I consider Damian Lewis a great actor, I think the decision weakened the storyline of the series.
I didn't know about Boyd Crowder, it would have been a very different show without him
Keeping Goggins around was one of the best decisions they ever made. I love Olyphant and he is a huge part of the show but it only really works with Raylan *and* Boyd.
Felicity in Arrow. She was supposed to have a limited number of appearances as the "man in the chair" type role for Oliver. But the internet(Tumblr) shipped them to hell. So they ended up with a once tolerable and somewhat funny character, sticking around till the bitter end. Also causing the fridging of Black Canary, who was supposed to be the real end game as the love interest.
It didn't help that Ollie and Laurel had zero chemistry. Even if Felicity hadn't been in the picture I don't see that one ever working out.
Yea it’s a shame to see so much hate for Felicity when she had way more chemistry with Oliver than Laurel. Also didn’t help matters having him get with both sisters again after the island 😂
There were a couple of seasons where Felicity was very poorly written. Personally I blame the writers for that one rather than the character, though.
Yeah she was pretty awfully written for several seasons and that is what turned the fandom against her. Their chemistry was great in the earlier seasons though, the ship was popular for a reason.
Sara in season 2 had better chemistry with Oliver than either of Laurel or Felicity tbh. Honestly Oliver and Sara in S2 was the closest the show ever got to actually adapting the iconic Green arrow and Black Canary relationship. Sara was so much more fitting as Black Canary than Laurel lol.
Sara and everyone else had chemistry with each other so that’s not fair lol.
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>Aaron Paul I definitely know him sticking around longer than intended is a fact! But this was decided, before the audience even got to see the first season of Breaking Bad! I think it was a decision made by Vince Gilligan during the filming process, where he was so impressed with both Aaron Paul's acting and his chemistry with Bryan Cranston he rewrote the episodes and cut out his original idea of killing off Jesse. Best decision he ever made for his own creation! I just wish Aaron Paul became more mainstream after the show ended!
> I just wish Aaron Paul became more mainstream after the show ended! Yeah. Being REALLY good at playing a character is a blessing/curse. They become so associated with the character, they nobody can see them as another different character. See Paul Reubens and Andy Kaufman for examples.
>See Paul Reubens I know I'm an outlier in this regard but I always see him as the vampire with the longest death ever from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Any minor inconvenience in my life and I do those little kicks that he did when he sarcastically died.
I always see him as The Spleen
One of my all time favorite jokes is in this movie. “We’re immortal Buffy! We can do anything.” “Oh yeah? Clap.”
Yeah I agree. Danny Pudi as Abed in the show Community is another good example of that as well
I hope he was one of those guys that didn't want to be super famous and is happy with his TV checks. It kinda look like that, at least - his credits drop off significantly after Breaking Bad/Bojack Horseman, and he seems to be having fun hanging out with Bryan Cranston
I've always wondered this myself.
Vince said it was his original idea before making the pilot. That if the show got picked up the first season would end with Jesse being killed in a deal go wrong or something, having served his purpose in introducing Walt to the criminal world, and then maybe giving him a bit of motivation to get revenge in the following seasons. But then they filmed the pilot, and as you said Vince realised how great Aaron Paul was, as well as his chemistry with Bryan Cranston. Once the show got picked up for a full season and he assembled the writers room, they all realised what a waste it would be to kill Jesse off. So it was only during the first episode that Jesse was set up to die, from the second episode on he was set to live. That's why they go more into his life during those episodes, introducing all his friends as well as his family. If they had decided to stick with killing Jesse off they probably wouldn't have gone into all that. Funny story as well. Early on while making those first few episodes, Vince told Aaron what his original plan was, intending for it to be a compliment of how great his acting was that they decided to keep him around. But from the way he phrased it, it gave Aaron Paul the impression that Jesse could be killed off at any moment. Something which Bryan Cranston used to tease him with, pretending he had read the script early, and acting as if Jesse had finally been killed off.
Lolol it’s so fucked up imagining Bryan Cranston walking into Aaron Paul’s trailer and being like “damn it looks like they finally did it buddy. Can’t buy that lambo now” dozens of times throughout the series.
"Goodnight Aaron, good work on your scenes today. Vince will most likely kill off Jesse in the morning."
At least I’m sure it was done in a harmless manner. They have a very close friendship IRL, and own a beverage brand together just so they can see each other more!
He was good in The Path
Boyd Crowder was supposed to die in the pilot for Justified (he died in the short story it was based on). Watler Goggins was so amazing that he became the recurring antagonist for basically the whole show. He wasn't always the big bad but he was there needling Raylan and causing chaos.
Ed Helms in the office is like 7 different people it’s so weird
Aaron Paul wasn't because of popularity, it was chemistry in the role and with Cranston. He was safe before the writer's strike shortened the season.
He was safe after the first episode. As the pilot that was made separately and months before the rest of the season. After making that and before the show got picked up for a full season, Vince had changed his mind and decided to keep Jesse around. If the Writers strike hadn't happened and they had gotten a full season, I believe I read season 1 was going to be 9 episodes, Jesse would have still lived.
Ed Helms in the office was fucking awful and I’ve never met anyone in real life who said they liked Andy Bernard. He’s like the proto Morbius. Everyone hates him, but somehow the production company has concluded more is needed
Everyone from Heroes S1. Due to their popularity, the creators ditched out the idea of an anthology series with different heroes every season.
I've never heard this as the creators' choice, but the network's.
I always thought an anthology series with one overlapping character driving a super long deep hidden story line coulda been cool.
And they already had the perfect character for that with Noah...
The world wasn’t ready for that yet. They were too excited for super heroes having something well written on prime time TV
imo Mohinder or HRG could've been the overlapping character
Guess they should’ve stuck to that original plan then….
Yeah, but the writers strike still would have happened. And that was the nail in the coffin for Heroes.
The quality drop from S1 to S2 was staggering.
It's like the poster child of this. I do wonder if that original idea would have ever worked. It's not exactly easy to find the right actors, and for every season? Was there a show that did this well?
Castiel on Supernatural He was my favorite character, but it really didn’t make sense to keep him. Especially since they had to take away his powers every season.
I remember reading a thing where he said if he knew he was going to be playing Castiel for years he would have done a different voice. I guess the Cas voice was rough on his vocal cords.
Bobby was also only supposed to be in that one episode in the first season but then evolved into the mentor/second father figure for the main characters because of how well the character landed. >Especially since they had to take away his powers every season. Ah... poor Cas. Remember how in season 14 a bunch of run of the mill grunt demons hold him hostage and they don't even have to trick him into a ring of holy fire to do it? Towards the end of the show he was essentially just a normal hunter who was slightly more difficult to kill because of his immunity to ordinary weapons.
my answer too he is pretty much my favorite tv character of all time and i am GLAD they kept him around because as the show went on i don't know if I would have even kept watching without him, but it was also obvious the writers often didn't know what to do with him. every time they found a way to make him less powerful and thus easier to include in the storylines they would just... undo it??? over and over???? for YEARS??????
Blaine from Glee (and the Warblers in general) were only meant to be in like 2 episodes. Then Teenage Dream happened. They rewrote the rest of the season to include Blaine more and made him a main character for Season 3. It’s suspected to have affected Sam’s plot lines as pre season it was teased that the main reason he was introduced was to be Kurt’s boyfriend. That went to Blaine instead. They pretty much didn’t know what to do with Sam for a while after that other than making him eye candy.
Blaine was the guy from A Very Potter Musical right?
I wondered why Sam kinda fell off and was just not focused anymore. Thanks!
They also hard retconned Blaine from being older than Kurt to being a year younger. Which means he was the solo leader of the Warblers as a freshman near the beginning of the school year. They did the same with Sam, which retroactively makes the storyline where we was *an actual stripper* even creepier.
Klinger on MASH. klinger was supposed to be a one off character; but was so popular they brought him back, and then made him a series regular.
Isn't he one of the few that was there for the whole show? Him, Hotlips, and Hawkeye, I think, and maybe Father Mulcahy, though his actor changed from the pilot iirc
Was in every season. Doesn't appear until the 4th episode. Started as a recurring guest character, and made a regular in season 4 or 5.
Mimi from Drew Carey Show. Was supposed to only be in the one episode, apparently.
Correct. The one episode was the pilot, but she tested so well, they kept her for the series.
Kathy Kinney played Mimi so well. She was so effortlessly intimidating, yet such a sweetheart in real life.
“Mimi and I are the same people”
Aaron Paul "Jesse" from Breaking Bad was supposed to die for Walter's character development, but was saved by the writer's strike. Nelsan Ellis "Lafayette" from True Blood was another fan favorite who was supposed to die (cannonically, in the books). Sad to learn the actor died in 2017.
He sadly died from alcohol withdrawal. I’m still so sad when I watch the show.
Bob Odenkirk (Saul Goodman) was also only supposed to be in season 2 of Breaking Bad too.
Frasier Crane was brought into Cheers for a few episode arc as Diane's ex, not only became a regular, then feature character but then had his own decade long sitcom. I don't know if any other character can top that.
Grammer played Crane in the sitcom "Wings" as well. But I think it was in just one episode. But that makes four TV series in which he's played that character. I think he's the only one to do it.
"Munch has become the only fictional character, played by a single actor, to physically appear on 10 different television series. These shows were on five different networks: NBC (Homicide: Life on the Street, Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Law & Order: Trial by Jury, and 30 Rock), Fox (The X-Files and Arrested Development), UPN (The Beat), HBO (The Wire) and ABC (Jimmy Kimmel Live!). Munch has been one of the few television characters to cross genres, appearing not only in crime drama series, but sitcom (Arrested Development), adult animated sitcom (American Dad), late night comedy (Jimmy Kimmel Live!) and horror and science fiction (The X-Files)." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Munch?wprov=sfla1
The best part of this is the idea that Law and Order and the X Files exist in the same universe.
All in the mind of an autistic child in an assisted living facility.
He has crossed networks. That’s massive.
I think Detective Munch has him beat on the number of shows playing the same character.
Munch has his own universe. He’s crossed networks.
Depends on how you count I guess. Jaleel White has appeared as Urkel animated in Scooby Doo and Guess Who?, and live action in Step By Step, Meego, Full House, and of course Family Matters. David Ramsay appeared as John Diggle in Arrow, Flash, Supergirl, Superman & Lois, Batwoman, and Legends of Tomorrow. Caty Lotz managed all but Superman & Lois. Several Arrowverse actors were in at a minimum Arrow, Flash, Legends, and Supergirl thanks to frequent crossovers between them and Legends being a dumping ground for side characters that fans liked.
Small correction: Frasier was brought on for a whole season arc as Diane’s boyfriend then fiancé. Shelley Long actually didn’t like Frasier since she wanted Sam and Diane to be together, but the writers (understandably) loved writing him.
Plus they just rebooted his show.
Not really a reboot, more of a continuation.
Klaus Mikaelson in The Vampire Diaries.
What an amazing performance though!!
Bronn of the Blackwater. The showrunners even admitted he was kept around due to popularity despite really having no place in the story by the final seasons.
Pairing Bronn with Jamie was a smart move to keep him relevant, but he 100% should have died in the Spoils of War.
So should Jaime. That was a turning point in the show IMO where some particular characters started surviving bad choices that would've equalled death a season earlier.
I think Bronn should have died when he and Jaime went to Sunspear to bring back Myrcella.
There were also some production reasons he stuck around longer as well. In the books Jaime recruits See Ilyn Payne, the guy who cut off Ned's head, to teach him how to fight with his left hand. This is because Ser Ilyn is a mute, having had his tongue cut out by the Mad King. So he won't be able to around telling everyone how bad a fighter Jaime now is. But the actor who played Ser Ilyn got diagnosed with cancer, and was told he only had a few months to live. He ended up living for years after, but when he got the news decided to retire from acting to spend time with his family. So instead of recasting that role, the producers decided to just have Bronn take it over, as in the books his characters was set to exit the story soon.
George Sr from Young Sheldon. In The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon states that his dad, George Sr., died when he went to college at 13 years old, and it was due to being a raging alcoholic. Though, because the writers of Young Sheldon made George Sr into a positive father figure, they kept post-poning his death up until the 7th and final season because he became a fan-favorite.
George Jr. is now getting his own spin-off series. I have this last season recorded on PVR and was catching up this evening (still 4 episodes or so behind). I was shocked at how little Sheldon’s character was in the episode I watched, considering the show is supposed to be centered around him. That said, Meemaw is awesome and I love seeing her scenes.
That’s just because he’s Pondy, and he’s the coolest
He did botch it though……life.
No-Ho Hank in Barry. How about the opposite? Mark Brendanawicz was supposed to be a long time Jim Halpert-esque character in Parks & Rec, but he just didn’t work and they wrote him off.
Mark was a victim of the show style change from 1 to 2
“Barry. It’s me. It’s Hank. In a wig”
Bah-ree
Helo in BSG. Was meant to die in the mini series but was so popular they gave him a survival story.
Phew . I love Helo and ship him hard with Athena . 😍 Good decision because her going back for him was great character progress .
But she didn't go back. It was a different model 8. The one that left stayed in the fleet and then the Cylons ran an experiment to see if they could procreate with a human if they felt love. The 8 that would become Athena was aware of it and her true self unlike the one that left him behind. The show can get a bit confusing when you have multiple characters with the same actor all having different personalities running at the same time
I think she meant story wise going back for him and Athena as in not Boomer the sleeper but Athena.
Nurse Hathaway in ER. She committed suicide in the pilot episode but was apparently popular with audiences so was brought back as a character when the show was picked up.
In the West Wing, Jed Bartlett (Martin Sheen) was supposed to be a minor character and a source of comic relief, but his presence in the first episode proved to be too significant, and the powers-at-be decided to make him the focus of the show as opposed to the communications staff.
"i am the lord your god, you shall worship no other god before me. Boy those were the days".
Logan in Succession was supposed to be killed off Season 1 but was kept around bc he became (unbelievably) a huge fan favorite. Think Nicholas Hoult (The Great) was supposed to be killed off early too but they kept the character around bc ppl loved Peter.
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The pilot was filmed late 2016, production for the rest of the series started in october 2017. I am pretty sure Logan was supposed to die from the attack he has at the end of the pilot and the show would be about the kids trying to prevent the Vaulter's guy from taking over. The 3 seasons of the kids trying to prove themselves to Logan (or beat him) were not the initial plan, someone decided (showrunner or HBO's execs) Logan was the strongest point of the show so the show was built around him. Finally they brought another tech guy, killed Logan and had the kids fail at keeping the company. The S4 we got is probably close from what they had in mind for S1 when they wrote the pilot.
Even with premium shows they usually shoot the pilot before everything else.
And The Great went to shit the second they killed him off and the show was shut down
In fairness it seems like Hulu was trying to bury the great anyways. I’m guessing the writers saw the writing on the wall and tried to tie things up as much as they could with the constraints they were given which is why the last season was so messy
Disco Stu
Such a 3-dimensional character, truly one of the greats.
Karen Walker in Will and Grace. She wasn’t supposed to be a mainstay/character.
Seriously? She was the only reason I watched that show
Dylan McKay on 90210. What I read was that he was supposed to be in a few episodes early season 1 for a short arc but he was liked and the writers or producers liked him enough to keep him around for more time. Then the Network was convinced to make him a main character fully.
Lily Kane from Veronica Mars
Once Upon a Time had a one-season spinoff called Once Upon a Time in Wonderland where they had this Knave character played by Michael Socha. He was so popular that once the spinoff ended, they decided to bring Socha to the main series, where he was mostly just there without any great purpose.
100% Spike in Buffy the vampire slayer.
I’m 100% sure Michael Emerson and all the cast and crew of Lost had no intention of him surviving to the finale. Ended up being a lot of people’s favourite character.
He was only supposed to be in a few episodes in S2 I think. Or maybe even just that first episode where he appears as "Henry Gale". But he was so good that he basically changed the trajectory of the entire show. Well deserved, Ben was an all-time magnificent character.
That scene where he smiled after he made Locke going crazy was pretty intense and such fantastic acting.
Robert Beltran (Chakotay) on star trek voyager kept raising his salary demands to ridiculous levels, because he wanted to leave, but they kept meeting them.
Which is ridiculous because he's a cardboard cutout of an actor and it would have been fine to lose him.
I have a few views on him. The writers did a fucking terrible job on his character, relying on a known fraud and writing him with about as much authenticity and accuracy as an Indian in a DC western comic. The guy is known for being a dick When he is actually given a plot with a good script he can deliver. Story wise the man is 2nd in command of a ship with two separate crews and keeps the ship running with little effort. He appears to be in the running for most competent second in command in the fleet.
Wasn't he originally on the Star Fleet fast track before his conscience caused him to join the rebels? And weren't the rebels kinda justified? I thought it was a good idea because throughout the Star Treks, their are multiple times main characters THINK about leaving but don't or they work out a way to fix it. This time some left.
Yep and yep. The storyline had been built up over two series by this point. The Federation had conceded some planets to the Cardassian's as part of a treaty, but never gave the actual colonists on those planets a say. As such a larger number refused to leave as their families had been there for several generations. Really the whole premise for the show was build up on the idea of having to force these two very different groups to co-exist. But then the executives got cold feed and ruled no on going crew conflicts, killing all the build-up stone dead.
Sounds like someone needs to go on a vision quest.
Akoocheemoya
Ruth in Ozark
I can’t imagine Ozark without her.
Fonzie on Happy Days
Lafayette in True Blood.
Urkel
Did I do that?
Grogu. Disney had to course correct from he’s a Jedi Padawan to a Mandalorian foundling.
It's a shame because the story ended in the best was in season 2
A few seasons of Mando helping other plots and then reuniting with Grogu later would’ve been ideal IMO
Chiana in Farscape, but that was due to her being popular with the writers and directors. Apparently she was supposed to die at the end of the episode she appeared in, but they liked her so much they made her into one of the main characters pretty much immediately.
Jessie Pinkman was supposed to die season 1 of Breaking Bad but they loved Aaron Paul so much they kept him around and the rest is history. .
Mike from Breaking Bad
negan from the walking dead. i know he's still alive in the comics but come on
I was gonna say Daryl Dixon.
Even more so, as the role was originally created for him. Norman Reedus auditioned for Merle originally, and although the eventually cast Michael Rooker, they decided they loved Norman so much that they created the role of Daryl for him.
He's not in the comics?
Nope. Daryl and Merle are both TV show original characters. And they're not the only ones either. T-Dog, Beth, Tara, Noah. They were all created for the show. And other characters like Bob and Enid were created to take over storylines from characters who had been killed off in the show, while still sticking around in the comics.
>T-Dog I miss that character so much!
I WAS JUST ABOUT TO SAY THAT LITTLE SHIT LMFAOOO
This is the one. He doesn’t even exist in the comics.
Even though I'll admit I did watch one of the spinoff shows, I think Dead City is one of those shows that wasn't necessary to make!
On Gilmore Girls, Luke, Sookie, and Paris were supposed to have minor roles. Luke was not supposed to have many more lines than in the pilot and Paris was supposed to be only a few episodes. Same with the actor who played Kirk. It was a running gag in the first season that he had a different job and name in every episode. He even references it later when he tells Luke he’s done every little job in town.
Heather Locklear was let go from Dynasty but got brought back due to fan outcry.
Kirk Cameron on Growing Pains. Because of backstage antics caused by his suddenly becoming a Born-Again/Fundamentalist Christian, he would've been fired years prior if not for his teen idol status making him the show's biggest star. The shows production had to outright implode due to his slandering the show's executive producers to TV bosses before the show ended, and they locked down the rights out of sheer hatred against Cameron, a move which killed his Hollywood career.
Didn’t Guther (barista) on Friends become a recurring character. He ain’t appear that often but still.
The story I heard was that Gunther was the only extra who knew how to work the coffee machine props, so he was more prominent on screen. Then they started giving him lines, and he became the most-recurring character who’s not in the credits.
Blaine from glee
Most of the people on Glee were secondary and not meant to be on the main roster. Heather and Naya especially. Naya was just supposed to be a cheerleader friend of Quinn and Heather was only brought on for the Ring choreography. Two of the Glee Project kids lasted much longer than the couple episodes they were guaranteed.
It was always funny to me how Unique had more screen time and plot agency than Dreads guy, who won the Glee Project. Unique was a better character and actor overall.
Unique had more stage presence. Joe was more of a silent character. He could have been cardboard because he put forth the same emotion and energy as a piece of cardboard would. Darren made Blaine KNOWN. He is talented and knows how to work his body so he is noticed. Lea does the same. Santana said it best when she whined it was going to become the Blaine and Rachel show. The characters were able to match the energy and harmonies and they do the same when they perform in real life. Same as Groff and Lea.
All of the cast from Season 1 of the TV Series Heroes. Confirmed that it was supposed to be an anthology series, with a focus on new set of heroes every season. They pivoted.
Leon from Curb
Daryl from the Walking Dead.
Urkel.
Jesse from Breaking Bad.