10 Secret TV Pilot Episodes You Didn't Know Existed
6. Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Where's Our Willow?
Buffy The Vampire Slayer will go down in history as one of the greatest shows that has ever graced our tv screens for many reasons. It had iconic costumes, trailblazing episode concepts and incredible characters. One of these aforementioned characters was Willow Rosenberg, a nerd turned badass witch that made history with her same-sex relationship.
This relationship, her adorable characterisation and her multi-layered performance were all accredited to the brilliant actress Alyson Hannigan. So it's terrifying to think that she wasn't even part of the original pilot.
Initially, the episode featured actress Riff Regan in the role of Willow, who was said to have rubbed the studio executives up the wrong way, portraying the wallflower-esc character as a whiny and immature school girl. Thankfully Willow was taken another look at and the legendary Hannigan was cast in what became her career-defining role.
The change of actresses wasn't the only difference between the two pilots though. The original was only 30 minutes long in length rather than an hour, and most bafflingly, the character of Angel was nowhere to be seen and Sunnydale High was named Berryman High - a lot less ironic.