16 Long-Haul TV Characters Who Were Never Supposed To Stick Around
![16 Long-Haul TV Characters Who Were Never Supposed To Stick Around](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/0/4/8/734048_320x180.jpg?v=2)
Writing characters must be a frustrating job. Can you imagine spending months developing that one character that everyone is supposed to like... only for that character to be overshadowed by some throwaway role that fans latched onto? But that's just how TV works -- you can never be sure of what audiences will connect with.
Today we'll be looking at iconic long-lasting characters, that were originally supposed to have much smaller roles:
![STEVE HARRINGTON was supposed to die in season one of Stranger Things. According to the Duffer brothers, Steve was just a typical douchebag before Joe](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/4/5/732145.jpg?v=2)
![JESSE PINKMAN was supposed to die at the end of season one of Breaking Bad. Jesse's death was gonna be used to hurt Walt, and make him question his li](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/4/4/732144.jpg?v=2)
![CIGARETTE CRACKED.COM SMOKING MAN was never meant to be The X-Files' main villain. William B. Davis was only hired as a background extra. Before his f](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/4/0/732140.jpg?v=2)
![CRACKEDcO MIKE wasn't even supposed to be a character on Breaking Bad. Bob Odenkirk couldn't appear in the season two finale due to prior commitments](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/3/5/732135.jpg?v=2)
![FELICITY SMOAK was only scheduled for two scenes on Arrow. In her first TV gig, Emily Rickards signed on for a minor role on a single episode of Arrow](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/3/3/732133.jpg?v=2)
![CRACKED co PRESIDENT BARTLET was almost absent from The West Wing. At first, Aaron Sorkin planned on making the President a background character we ne](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/3/9/732139.jpg?v=2)
![CRACKED COM CASTIEL was intended to be in a handful of episodes of Supernatural. Misha Collins says he was brought in for only three episodes, but kep](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/3/4/732134.jpg?v=2)
![CRACKED COM SPIKE was supposed to die after five episodes on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. According to James Marsters, his character was meant to be Drus](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/4/1/732141.jpg?v=2)
![BOYD CROWDER was supposed to die after getting shot in the pilot of Justified. D! Walton Goggins only signed on for the show as a favor to his buddy,](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/2/9/732129.jpg?v=2)
![CRACKED COM CAROL almost got killed in season three of The Walking Dead. Producer Greg Nicotero says the writers didn't know where to take her charact](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/3/6/732136.jpg?v=2)
![ODAFIN TUTUOLA wasn't meant to be a big character on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Ice-T says he was originally only supposed to do four episodes](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/3/7/732137.jpg?v=2)
![JACK SHEPHARD was going to die in Lost's pilot episode. J.J. Abrams originally planned on killing Jack in order to shock the audience, and Michael fre](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/3/8/732138.jpg?v=2)
![MELODY GRANT was only slated to appear in three episodes of Scandal. Bellamy Young revealed that after a three-episode arc, her character was supposed](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/4/2/732142.jpg?v=2)
![LAURA CRACKED COM PALMER wasn't meant to be much more than a corpse. Shery Lee was only hired for a few days' work on Twin Peaks to play a corpse and](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/3/1/732131.jpg?v=2)
![CRAZY EYES was originally in two episodes of Orange Is the New Black. The producers were sO amazed by Uzo Aduba's performance that they ended up usi](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/3/0/732130.jpg?v=2)
![CRACKED CO COM ANDY DWYER was meant to be in six episodes of Parks and Recreation. The original plan was for him to disappear from the show after gett](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/1/3/2/732132.jpg?v=2)