10 Awesome Pitches To Extend TV Shows (That Sadly Never Happened)

3. The Wire's Political Spin-Off Following Tommy Carcetti

In 2014, The Wire creator David Simon confirmed that he pitched the concept and wrote the pilot script for a political spin-off starring Aidan Gillen's politician Tommy Carcetti. Simon initially pitched the spin-off to begin after the end of The Wire's third season, at a time when Simon was struggling to convince HBO to keep bankrolling new seasons of the show.

HBO's response? "No, we only want one show that nobody is watching in Baltimore, not two!" Though they certainly had a point with The Wire's consistently low ratings in spite of its universal critical acclaim, Gillen's pathologically ambitious politician nevertheless would've been a fascinating character to follow in greater depth, especially once he became Governor of Maryland at the end of the series.

Either way, Gillen sure landed on his feet, winning the role of Littlefinger on Game of Thrones and becoming a veritable household name as a result.