10 Biggest Missed Opportunities In TV History
3. Not Killing Brody In Season One - Homeland
Homeland's first season was absolutely terrific, but the creatives ultimately chickened out on a pivotal moment which could've cemented the show as one of the all-time greats.
In the season one finale, Marine-turned-terrorist Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis) makes the decision to carry out a suicide bombing at a State Department policy summit, with the intent of killing Vice President Walden (Jamey Sheridan) and denouncing a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan.
It's a deliriously tense sequence as Brody readies himself to detonate the vest, but he's eventually stopped in his tracks by a phone call from his daughter, Dana (Morgan Saylor), who unknowingly persuades him not to blow himself up.
Killing Brody so early in the show would've given Homeland's first season one hell of an unforgettable ending, akin to Ned Stark's (Sean Bean) unexpected demise in Game of Thrones' first season.
Instead, Brody was given a stay of execution and it became increasingly clear over the seasons that followed that those in charge just didn't know what to do with him, leading to his belated demise at the end of season three, long after many had stopped caring.