History WhatCouldHaveBeen / Angel

** Gunn would have become a vampire.
** Wesley would have been brought back.

* Kate's arc would have eventually led to her becoming a full-fledged HeroAntagonist / AntiVillain, opposing Angel and vampires in general as a result of her bitterness over her father's death (and Angel bringing her into awareness of the supernatural), rather than their moving reconciliation in "[[{{Recap/AngelS02E16Epiphany}} Epiphany]]". This would have led to her becoming Holtz's [[TheDragon key disciple]], having an uncomfortable father-daughter dynamic - as opposed to the semi-romantic, semi-familial overtones that Justine (who was created to absorb that part of Kate's arc in the greater narrative) had with Holtz. No word on whether Kate would have continued to serve a role from there or been written out like Justine was.

* After the series ended, there was a lot of talk about a series of made-for TV movies with the characters, but no one wanted to fund them.

* Creator/MorenaBaccarin was originally scheduled to play Jasmine. She lost out to fellow ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' castmate Creator/GinaTorres.

* The Groosalugg was supposed to come back in Season Four.

** She was asked to appear in the second-last episode "[[Recap/AngelS05E21Power Play Power Play]]". However she was busy filming ''Film/TheGrudge'' at the time.

* According to Creator/TimMinear, the original plan for season four was to have Cordelia be the BigBad, culminating in her fighting Angel. Creator/CharismaCarpenter's pregnany meant that the arc had to be reworked.

* [[ComicBook/TheTick Ben Edlund]] originally pitched [[HellishHorse Bad Horse]] of ''WebVideo/DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog'' fame as an Angel villain. His reasoning was supposedly that; since horses on TV are usually nice, a bad horse would be really scary. Joss felt the idea was too silly to fit into Angel's universe. Then they did a puppet episode (which Edlund also wrote...).

* When ''Buffy'' ended, Creator/NicholasBrendon offered to move to ''Angel'', but Whedon didn't feel that Xander would fit well into Angel's life and Spike was shunted over to Angel instead.

** [[spoiler: Considering this, it's possible (but unconfirmed) that Giles was also originally supposed to be the one Angel killed as part of his [[IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten initiation into the Circle Of Black Thorn]] in "[[{{Recap/AngelS05E21Power Play}} Power Play]]", a role Drogyn ended up playing in that episode. This seems especially possible since Angel DOES end up killing Giles in the Buffy Season 8 comic, in the [[NeckSnap same manner]] as he killed Drogyn no less.]]

** "[[{{Recap/AngelS05E12YoureWelcome}} You're Welcome]]" was supposed to feature her rather than Cordelia - and you can see the end of "[[Recap/AngelS05E11Damage Damage]]" foreshadowing a Buffy appearance. She had to cancel at the last minute, due to a death in her family.
** She was asked to appear in the second-last episode "[[{{Recap/AngelS05E21Power Play}} Power Play]]". However she was busy filming ''Film/TheGrudge'' at the time.

* Dawn was to star in "[[{{Recap/AngelS05E20TheGirlInQuestion}} The Girl in Question]]" but Creator/MichelleTrachtenberg was unavailable - so the part was rewritten for Andrew Wells instead. Contrary to popular belief, Creator/SarahMichelleGellar was not meant to appear in the episode; the plan was always for Angel and Spike to only see her from far away. And the Season 8 comics revealed that it was an impostor dancing with the Immortal.
* The character of Jhiera, the demon in "[[{{Recap/AngelS01E13She}} She]]" was considered to become a recurring character. "[[{{Recap/AngelS01E16TheRing}} The Ring]]" bringing up her demonic species (the Vigories of Oden Tal) was likely a reference to establish her as a part of the greater tapestry. But ultimately, this didn't happen.

** Illyria would have been split into Illyria and Fred, with Creator/AmyAcker playing both roles in tandem. This is the reason for the statement that Fred's soul was destroyed by Illyria's possession, which comes off as just being pointlessly cruel in the final version. [[spoiler: Fred eventually did return in the post-finale comic series ''Angel and Faith'', and she now shares a body with Illyria, as previously planned had there been a sixth season of the TV show.]] Plus, the Fang Gang would have summoned Willow to perform the seperation spell.

* Kate was also supposed to have an important story arc in the second half of season 2, but Elisabeth Röhm got cast on ''Series/LawAndOrder''. She initially planned to do both shows but the constant flying back and forth drained her too much, so Kate disappears after "[[{{Recap/AngelS02E16Epiphany}} Epiphany]]". The Pylea arc was written to replace her planned storyline.

* When ''Buffy'' ended, Nicholas Brendon offered to move to ''Angel'', but Whedon didn't feel that Xander would fit well into Angel's life and Spike was shunted over to Angel instead.

** Illyria would have been split into Illyria and Fred, with Creator/AmyAcker playing both roles in tandem. This is the reason for the statement that Fred's soul was destroyed by Illyria's possession, which comes off as just being pointlessly cruel in the final version. [[spoiler: Fred eventually did return in the post-finale comic series ''Angel and Faith'', and she now shares a body with Illyria, as previously planned had there been a sixth season of the TV show.]]

* Had the series been allowed to continue into its sixth season, Illyria would have been split into Illyria and Fred, with Creator/AmyAcker playing both roles in tandem. This is the reason for the statement that Fred's soul was destroyed by Illyria's possession, which comes off as just being pointlessly cruel in the final version. [[spoiler: Fred eventually did return in the post-finale comic series ''Angel and Faith'', and she now shares a body with Illyria, as previously planned had there been a sixth season of the TV show.]]
* Plans for season 6 included bringing in Oz, most likely to help Nina with her werewolfism. Creator/SethGreen has said he was never approached about that idea, the story is up for debate.

* Had the show continued into season six, the writers were allegedly planning for Spike and Angel to hook up at some point. There's a throwaway line in the series that mentioned they did at one point, so I guess we sorta got that.

* Season Four as a whole, generally, was slated to be a lot more awesome than it ended up being when Creator/CharismaCarpenter got pregnant and the whole arc had to be rewritten to adapt. It wouldn't have changed the fact that having Cordelia acting out-of-character for so long was a major element of why Season 4 was polarizing... but perhaps the arc might have played out differently in that regard. We don't have enough information to say for sure.

* Joss originally planned for Whistler to appear on ''Series/{{Angel}}''. When the actor's schedule didn't work out, he created Doyle.

* Had the show continued into season 6, the writers were allegedly planning for Spike and Angel to hook up at some point. There's a throwaway line in the series that mentioned they did at one point, so I guess we sorta got that.

* Creator/SarahMichelleGellar was meant to make more guest appearances as Buffy. "[[{{Recap/AngelS05E12YoureWelcome}} You're Welcome]]" was supposed to feature her rather than Cordelia - and you can see the end of the previous episode foreshadowing a Buffy appearance. She had to cancel at the last minute, due to a death in her family. She was also asked to appear in the second-last episode "[[{{Recap/AngelS05E21Power Play}} Power Play]]". However she was busy filming ''Film/TheGrudge'' at the time. She offered to star in "[[Recap/AngelS05E22NotFadeAway Not Fade Away]]", but was turned down - due to producers not wanting Buffy to overshadow the rest of the cast.

* Creator/SarahMichelleGellar was meant to make more guest appearances as Buffy. "[[{{Recap/AngelS05E12YoureWelcome}} You're Welcome]]" was supposed to feature her rather than Cordelia - and you can see the end of the previous episode foreshadowing a Buffy appearance. She had to cancel at the last minute, due to a death in her family. She was also asked to appear in the second-last episode "[[{{Recap/AngelS05E21Power Play}} Power Play]]". However she was busy filming ''Film/TheGrudge'' at the time. She offered to star in the finale, but was turned down - due to producers not wanting Buffy to overshadow the rest of the cast.

* Creator/FeliciaDay auditioned for Fred, but ended up cast as Vi in ''Buffy'''s seventh season.

* Had the series been allowed to continue into its sixth season, Illyria would have been split into Illyria and Fred, with Creator/AmyAcker playing both roles in tandem. This is the reason for the statement that Fred's soul was destroyed by Illyria's possession, which comes off as just being pointlessly cruel in the final version.

* Had Angel been allowed to continue into its sixth season, Illyria would have been split into Illyria and Fred, with Creator/AmyAcker playing both roles in tandem. This is the reason for the statement that Fred's soul was destroyed by Illyria's possession, which comes off as just being pointlessly cruel in the final version.

* David Greenwalt, one of ''Angel'''s executive producers, wanted the main character of his own show ''Series/{{Profit}}'' to reappear as a Wolfram and Hart employee. But due to rights issues and conflicts with Adrian Pasdar's schedule, the idea was scrapped.

* The character of Jhiera, the demon in "She" was considered to become a recurring character. "The Ring" bringing up her demonic species (the Vigories of Oden Tal) was likely a reference to establish her as a part of the greater tapestry. But ultimately, this didn't happen.

* Had Angel been allowed to continue into its sixth season, Illyria would have been split into Illyria and Fred, with Amy Acker playing both roles in tandem. This is the reason for the statement that Fred's soul was destroyed by Illyria's possession, which comes off as just being pointlessly cruel in the final version.

* Dawn was to star in "[[{{Recap/AngelS05E20TheGirlInQuestion}} The Girl in Question]]" but Michelle Trachtenberg was unavailable - so the part was rewritten for Andrew Wells instead. Contrary to popular belief, Creator/SarahMichelleGellar was not meant to appear in the episode; the plan was always for Angel and Spike to only see her from far away. And the Season 8 comics revealed that it was an impostor dancing with the Immortal.
* Creator/FeliciaDay auditioned for Fred, but ended up cast as Vi in ''Buffy'''s seventh season.

* Kate's arc would have eventually led to her becoming a full-fledged HeroAntagonist/AntiVillain, opposing Angel and vampires in general as a result of her bitterness over her father's death (and Angel bringing her into awareness of the supernatural), rather than their moving reconciliation in "[[{{Recap/AngelS02E16Epiphany}} Epiphany]]". This would have led to her becoming Holtz's [[TheDragon key disciple]], having an uncomfortable father-daughter dynamic - as opposed to the semi-romantic, semi-familial overtones that Justine (who was created to absorb that part of Kate's arc in the greater narrative) had with Holtz. No word on whether Kate would have continued to serve a role from there or been written out like Justine was.

* Felicia Day auditioned for Fred, but ended up cast as Vi in ''Buffy'''s seventh season.

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fcoy8b79Jic Amy Acker]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpXq9fiFRic Vincent Kartheiser's]] screen tests.

* [[TheTick Ben Edlund]] originally pitched [[HellishHorse Bad Horse]] of ''WebVideo/DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog'' fame as an Angel villain. His reasoning was supposedly that; since horses on TV are usually nice, a bad horse would be really scary. Joss felt the idea was too silly to fit into Angel's universe. Then they did a puppet episode (which Edlund also wrote...).

* Giles was going to have a guest spot in "[[{{Recap/AngelS05E15AHoleInTheWorld}} A Hole in the World]]" but it would have been too expensive to get Creator/AnthonyStewartHead to fly from England - and so Drogyn was created to fill the role instead.

* Season Four as a whole, generally, was slated to be a lot more awesome than it ended up being when Creator/CharismaCarpenter got pregnant and the whole arc had to be rewritten to adapt. It wouldn't have changed the fact that having Cordelia acting out-of-character for so long was a major element of why Season 4 was polarising... but perhaps the arc might have played out differently in that regard. We don't have enough information to say for sure.

* There was also talk of Doyle coming back in Season Three or Four as a villain. Glenn Quinn's death quashed this. In season five, however, antagonist [[spoiler:Lindsay]] pretends to be Doyle, so they got some mileage out of that one at least.
* Groosalugg was supposed to come back in Season Four.

* Kate was also supposed to have an important story arc in the second half of season 2, but Elisabeth Röhm got cast on ''Series/LawAndOrder''. She initially planned to do both shows but the constant flying back and forth drained her too much, so Kate disappears after the episode "Epiphany." The Pylea arc was written to replace her planned storyline.
* Kate's arc would have eventually led to her becoming a full-fledged HeroAntagonist/AntiVillain, opposing Angel and vampires in general as a result of her bitterness over her father's death (and Angel bringing her into awareness of the supernatural), rather than their moving reconciliation in "Epiphany". This would have led to her becoming Holtz's [[TheDragon key disciple]], having an uncomfortable father-daughter dynamic - as opposed to the semi-romantic, semi-familial overtones that Justine (who was created to absorb that part of Kate's arc in the greater narrative) had with Holtz. No word on whether Kate would have continued to serve a role from there or been written out like Justine was.

* Season Four as a whole, generally, was slated to be a lot more awesome than it ended up being when Charisma Carpenter got pregnant and the whole arc had to be rewritten to adapt. It wouldn't have changed the fact that having Cordelia acting out-of-character for so long was a major element of why Season 4 was polarising... but perhaps the arc might have played out differently in that regard. We don't have enough information to say for sure.

* Plans for season 6 included bringing in Oz, most likely to help Nina with her werewolfism. Seth Green has said he was never approached about that idea, the story is up for debate.

* When ''Buffy'' ended, Nicholas Brendon offered to move to ''Angel'', but Joss Whedon didn't feel that Xander would fit well into Angel's life and Spike was shunted over to Angel instead.

* Giles was going to have a guest spot in "A Hole In The World" but it would have been too expensive to get Anthony Head to fly from England - and so Drogyn was created to fill the role instead.
** [[spoiler: Considering this, it's possible (but unconfirmed) that Giles was also originally supposed to be the one Angel killed as part of his [[IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten initiation into the Circle Of Black Thorn]] in "Power Play", a role Drogyn ended up playing in that episode. This seems especially possible since Angel DOES end up killing Giles in the Buffy Season 8 comic, in the [[NeckSnap same manner]] as he killed Drogyn no less.]]
* Sarah Michelle Gellar was meant to make more guest appearances as Buffy. "You're Welcome" was supposed to feature her rather than Cordelia - and you can see the end of the previous episode foreshadowing a Buffy appearance. She had to cancel at the last minute, due to a death in her family. She was also asked to appear in the second-last episode "Power Play". However she was busy filming ''Film/TheGrudge'' at the time. She offered to star in the finale, but was turned down - due to producers not wanting Buffy to overshadow the rest of the cast.
* Dawn was to star in "The Girl In Question" but Michelle Trachtenberg was unavailable - so the part was rewritten for Andrew Wells instead. Contrary to popular belief, Sarah Michelle Gellar was not meant to appear in the episode; the plan was always for Angel and Spike to only see her from far away. And the Season 8 comics revealed that it was an impostor dancing with the Immortal.

** [[spoiler: Considering this, it's possible (but unconfirmed) that Giles was also originally supposed to be the one Angel kills as part of his [[IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten initiation into the Circle Of Black Thorn]] in "Power Play", a role Drogyn ended up playing in that episode. This seems especially possible since Angel DOES end up killing Giles in the Buffy Season 8 comic, in the [[NeckSnap same manner]] as he killed Drogyn no less.]]

** [[spoiler: Considering this, it's possible (but unconfirmed) that Giles was also originally supposed to be the one Angel kills as part of his [[IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten initiation into the Circle Of Black Thorn in "Power Play"]], a role Drogyn ended up playing in that episode. This seems especially possible since Angel DOES end up killing Giles in the Buffy Season 8 comic, in the [[NeckSnap same manner]] as he killed Drogyn no less.]]

** [[spoiler: Considering this, it's possible (but unconfirmed]] that Giles was also originally supposed to be the one Angel kills as part of his [[IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten initiation into the Circle Of Black Thorn in "Power Play", a role Drogyn ended up playing in that episode. This seems especially possible since Angel DOES end up killing Giles in the Buffy Season 8 comic, in the [[NeckSnap same manner]] as he killed Drogyn no less.

* Plans for season 6 included bringing in Oz, most likely to help Nina with her werewolfism.

* There was also talk of Doyle coming back in Season Three or Four as a villain. Glenn Quinn's death quashed this.
* In season five, however, antagonist [[spoiler:Lindsay]] pretends to be Doyle, so they got some mileage out of that one at least.

* Sarah Michelle Gellar was meant to make more guest appearances as Buffy. "The Girl In Question" was supposed to feature her rather than Cordelia, and she was asked to appear in the second-last episode "Power Play". However she was busy filming ''Film/TheGrudge'' at the time. She offered to star in the finale, but was turned down - due to producers not wanting Buffy to overshadow the rest of the cast.
* Dawn was to star in "The Girl In Question" but Michelle Trachtenberg was unavailable - so the part was rewritten for Andrew Wells instead. Contrary to popular belief, Sarah Michelle Gellar was not meant to appear in the episode; the plan was always for Angel and Spike to only see her from far away. And the Season 8 comics revealed that it was an impostor dancing with the Immortal.

* Kate was also supposed to have an important story arc in the second half of season 2, but Elisabeth Röhm got cast on ''Series/LawAndOrder'', and it was replaced by the Pylea arc.

* Had the show continued into season 6, the writers were allegedly planning for Spike and Angel to hook up at some point.
** There's a throwaway line in the series that mentioned they did at one point, so I guess we sorta got that.