Dream Tropes Wiki/What Could Have Been

Template:Trope
This is when directors or writers release details about plots, characters, back stories, or other elements they thought about adding to the story at one point but ultimately never did. Unlike All There in the Manual, however, this new information is not released as Word of God with the intention of being added to the Canon. These elements are only What Could Have Been but never were and never will be part of the story proper.

Some may quickly find a home in Fan Work. Many fans love hearing the possible paths their favorite story could have taken... even while breathing a sigh of relief (or feeling disappointed) that they ultimately didn't come to be.

This can also refer to a Sequel Hook that never got a payoff, alternate casts or directors, or even tantalizing news that the entire story was completely different from the one we all know, when it was first conceived.

Just a few typical reasons for why stories get altered along the way:

* The Media Watchdogs or executives said, "No," or at the very least, "Yes, but only if you change this."
* Technical reasons: the people who were originally hired to do it backed out, the special effects plans didn't play out in their favor, there was not enough money in the budget to include it.
* Writing Around Trademarks — They couldn't get the legal rights to it.
* Story quality — The writers simply decided on something different instead because some ideas, no matter how cool they sound when they first come to you, just have to go (or, in the case of comedies, the joke wasn't as funny as it should have been). Maybe the author realizes the fans wouldn't be too happy about seeing the death of a sympathetic or popular character you originally planned to kill off (not that it stops a few people). Or maybe you realize what sounds oh so cool in your head pushes Willing Suspension of Disbelief too far on film or paper. Or maybe it was a bad idea with which to begin. In any case, someone eventually had a better idea.
* A side effect of Throw It In! — Something had to be thrown out or made up on the spot in its place.
* The creator/actor/voice actor/author/director dies. Or suffers loss of reputation. Or goes bankrupt.
* Time constraints: sometimes the creators simply run out of time and are unable to implement it.

A good place to find What Could Have Been is in DVD Commentary and out-of-continuity pilots used to pitch a show.

Keep in mind that Tropes Are Tools and that the ideas and concepts implemented into the final product are sometimes better than What Could Have Been.

See also The Other Marty, Vaporware, Development Hell, Dummied Out and Mid-Development Genre Shift. Contrast with Offscreen Moment of Awesome where a particularly grand moment is seemingly perfectly set up to happen but then isn't seen, and They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot for when they used an awesome idea in a horrible, horrible way. Occasionally something that was removed survives in another part of the series, then it is Refitted for Sequel.

Have in mind that, although the name may suggest otherwise, this trope is for divergent aspects of the work which were actually considered by the creators in the real world. If you want to discuss how the work could have been better if some detail was different (with that detail being just your own idea), start a Wild Mass Guessing.

For further reading, see the TV Moments That Never Happened thread at Television Without Pity, the Original Vid Junkie's "Never Got Made" files, and the "Movies that Never Were" series at CHUD.com, the links for all of which are included in this lost movies entry. This subject has also been covered by The Onion A.V. Club here and here, and here.

## Examples

### Live-Action TV

* *Gyro-Racers* was going to be a game show with the combination of racing and *Gyro-Racers* trivia, since Takahiro Koizumi was involved, but RGN decided against the idea of using game show elements, instead opting for a standard scripted tokusatsu show.

### Film

* A sequel to *Neo-Shifters: The Beginning* entitled *Web-Shifters* was planned but it was cancelled.
* *Quest for the Masks* originally would have too many different actors, but it was changed when it was released.
* A sequel to South-Side entitled North-Side was planned to come out in 2007 before Intermedia shut down, cancelling the project. The film was later re-worked into West-Side in 2013.

### Western Animation

* The estate sale of a ex-Sesame Workshop employee in New Jersey wound up resulting in the discovery of several planned Sesame Workshop projects:
	+ A second season of *Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat* wherein Cha-Siu (Sagwa's adopted dog cousin) became the figurative fourth Miao kitten and there was a story arc about Chinese mythology, plus more fantasy elements. One specific element would have revealed that Nai-Nai is a descendant of a French wizard's cat and has the powers of telekinesis and flight. It is likely these plans were abandoned when the show was cancelled. (Only for *Sagwa's Siamese Life* to come out a while later).
	+ A planned *Dragon Tales* spinoff which was planned for PBS Kids Go, entitled "Zak and Wheezie's Tales from Dragon Hollow" and of which was essentially *Crocadoo* but in the *Dragon Tales* universe.
* The titular character and main protagonist of *Cindi and Friends*, Cindi Sophia Roberts, was not originally the heroine she eventually ended up being. Originally, she was going to be a dishonest and manipulative scum who would abuse her friends. The reason her personality was changed is because Fyp Housin feared children watching the show and copying Cindi's behaviour.