Jon And Arya Originally Had A Romance On "Game Of Thrones," And 22 Other Shocking TV Storylines That Almost Happened
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Warning: Major spoilers ahead, including for House of the Dragon!!!
1.First, Steve was originally supposed to die early on in Stranger Things. However, his character became an unexpected fan favorite, so the writers decided to keep him around and develop his character instead of just having him be Nancy's jerk boyfriend.
2.Season 1 of House of the Dragon originally ended differently. Storyboard artist Adam Prescott revealed in an Instagram post that the original vision saw Daemon breaking the news of Lucerys's death to Rhaenyra, who screams. The shot then shifts to her dragon, Syrax.
In the version we saw on screen, Rhaenyra instead stares silently at the camera, ending the season on a much more solemn, ominous note. Additionally, Syrax's roaring happens as Rhaenyra gives birth prematurely.
Bonus fact: Matt Smith came up the idea that Daemon would be the one to break the news to Rhaenyra.
3.There was almost another incestuous relationship in Game of Thrones — an early outline revealed plans for a romance between Jon and his sister Arya. YIKES.
4.There was originally going to be another main character on Abbott Elementary, a queer teacher named Blair. However, the writers felt there were too many characters, so they cut Blair and decided to make Jacob gay instead.
"I had the feeling that I wanted to have queer representation with one of our characters," Executive producer Quinta Brunson (who also stars as Janine) revealed in an interview with The Awardist podcast. "I always thought that Jacob as a character would be next in line for that. Before we started fully writing the first season, I brought that into play. All of our writers agreed."
5.Riverdale filmed multiple versions where different characters turned out to be Jason Blossom's killer. In fact, the cast didn't even know who the REAL killer was until the end of Season 1.
"They don’t tell us anything about who to suspect. And we’re filming many different endings to Episode 12, as an attempt to confound everyone even further," Cole Sprouse (who plays Jughead) said in an interview with Collider. "We are all deeply invested in discovering who is going to be the actual chosen killer. We’re all very invested at this point. We’ve spent so much of our lives filming this now that I’m like, 'Tell me!' I, personally, want it to be Jughead. That would be great!"
6.Friends almost moved the show to Minnesota. A scrapped Season 5 storyline involved Chandler transferring there for work and the gang just all moving with him.
7.Another scrapped Friends storyline: Ross's girlfriend (and former student) Elizabeth was supposed to be pregnant, and Ross eventually would find out that he wasn't the father. However, the whole thing ended up being axed.
8.Glee creator Ryan Murphy recently revealed that Mr. Schue was initially supposed to be a "crystal meth addict." Also, the role was apparently specifically written for Justin Timberlake.
9.Apparently, in an early draft of The O.C., Ryan was originally going to be Sandy's (presumably secret) biological son from an old relationship.
10.Elle was supposed to be revealed as Claire's sister on Heroes, but the plot was reportedly scrapped due to it being too complicated.
11.Lilly's brother Duncan was almost the killer in Season 1 of Veronica Mars.
Creator Rob Thomas had always intended for Aaron Echolls to be the killer, but nearly changed it to Duncan when Harry Hamlin (who played Aaron) booked a movie that would have conflicted with filming. However, Hamlin ended up passing on the movie role, so the original plan worked out after all.
12.In the New Girl episode "Cooler" (Season 2, Episode 15) Jess's big kiss was originally intended to be with Schmidt, not Nick.
13.In the original script for the Euphoria pilot, Rue apparently murdered Nate and left his body in a cornfield. WHOA.
14.Another Euphoria note: A significant chunk of Season 2 was completely rewritten. For example, Fez was originally supposed to die.
15.Gossip Girl ends with Dan being revealed as Gossip Girl, but Nate and Eric were both major contenders for being behind the blog instead. Apparently, Dan wasn't even in the writers' top choices for being the culprit until the very end.
16.Bailey and George were originally supposed to be a major couple on Grey's Anatomy, but their romance was axed.
17.Speaking of relationships that never happened, it seems that One Tree Hill seriously toyed with the idea of making Lucas and Haley a couple at one point.
"I think that’s what they were originally going for, but Chad [Michael Murray, who played Lucas] and I had no chemistry, so it just didn’t work,” Bethany Joy Lenz (who played Haley) explained on an episode of the Drama Queens podcast. "Our energy was so sibling-ness, that didn’t happen."
18.Sonny, Nico, and Chad were originally supposed to be in a love triangle on Sonny with a Chance.
19.In Season 6 of Pretty Little Liars, Spencer and Toby have a pregnancy scare. Troian Bellisario later revealed that she actually filmed an abortion scene, but the storyline was ultimately changed.
"When we originally shot the episode, we shot TWO versions of the storyline,” Bellisario explained in an Instagram story. "One where Spencer said she WAS pregnant (and therefore had the abortion) and one where she said, 'I wasn’t pregnant, but I would never judge someone for making the choice.' I will be honest, I have no idea ultimately who made the decision to choose the storyline. ... But I was proud to portray both."
20.24 filmed multiple versions of the scene where Teri gets shot. In an alternate take, Teri survives the shooting. However, the show ultimately chose to go with the version where she dies.
21.Season 3 of Elite was originally going to be about a mysterious fire. Additionally, Polo's character wasn't always going to be killed off.
"For a while, there was going to be this massive fire in the school at the end of the season, and the mystery in flash-forwards would be both who provoked it and who died in it," co-creator Dario Madrona revealed in an interview with Entertainment Tonight. "But to his credit, [co-creator] Carlos [Montero] wasn't happy with it. We kept discussing it, and we realized that we had never considered Polo's death because it felt a bit too obvious, when in fact, it was the logical, coherent thing to do."
22.Jack was supposed to die in the original pilot of Lost. However, the producers decided to keep him around as the lead instead.
23.And finally: Bob's Burgers was originally pitched as a show about a family of cannibals.
Yes, really.
Which of these surprised you the most? Are there any storylines that you wish hadn't been scrapped? Tell us in the comments!
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