History WhatCouldHaveBeen / Supernatural

* Amelia was supposed to return in the back half of season 8. The role filled by Sarah Blake was originally meant for her. By that point however, Amelia had become so [[TheScrappy despised by the fans]] that the writers were afraid they'd be [[RootingForTheEmpire cheering for Crowley to kill her]]. So instead they decided to bring back Sarah Blake, a minor but relatively well-liked character from season 1, and kill her off instead. Ironically, fan hatred for Amelia ultimately made her one of the few [[LoveInterest Love Interests]] to survive Sam's CartwrightCurse.

* Jo, originally named Alex, was meant to be Dean's LoveInterest, the writers' first attempt at a recurring one for either brother. Their efforts can be seen in the first few episodes of the season. [[DryDocking Unprecedented]] [[TheScrappy negative]] [[DieForOurShip reaction]] made them keep the brothers away from the Roadhouse until they wrote Jo out indefinitely in "No Exit", and they were reluctant to try it again for years because of how thoroughly their attempt with Jo was disliked by the fans, preferring to write well-received female antagonists like Meg instead and directly resulting in the creation of Ruby in Season 3. The writers also added in the idea that Dean only saw Jo as a little sister figure instead of a love interest because that's how she came off as to many fans (she is younger than Sam, after all), which the writers had ended up agreeing with. They brought the character back in "Born Under a Bad Sign" to [[PanderingToTheFanbase quash the idea of a romance between Jo and Dean]], though the ship wasn't entirely sunk: Kripke and Alona Tal got the last laugh in "Abandon All Hope...", with Jo brought back in Season 5 for a send-off in which Dean hit on her and then later gave her a heartfelt kiss during her HeroicSacrifice. As Jo TookALevelInBadass for her return, fans were more forgiving of it.

* The biggest of them all: had the [[UsefulNotes/TVStrikes 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike never happened]], Season 3 would've gotten the full 22 episodes, Sam would have agreed to let Ruby teach him how to use his demon powers, and he would've saved Dean from his deal (as originally intended by the writers). [[ForWantOfANail This would've given us major differences on the characters and the lore.]]

* Kripke had wanted Creator/BruceCampbell (as in, ''[[Franchise/TheEvilDead Ash himself]]'') to play the boys' father but Campbell was unavailable, and Padalecki's then-girlfriend Sandra [=McCoy=] auditioned for the role of Jessica. Creator/JeffreyDeanMorgan only expected to play the 1983-year version of John due to his age and was surprised they had him come back to be the modern-day actor. [=McCoy=] still wanted to be on the show and went on to audition for the roles of Sarah in "Provenance" and Carmen in Season 2's "What Is and What Should Never Be" before landing the Season 3 "Bedtime Stories" incarnation of Dean's Crossroads Demon.