10 TV Characters Cut From Shows (In The Worst Way)

8. Detective Lockley - Angel

The original idea for Angel was that it was supposed to be a darker version of Buffy, keeping the supernatural action but swapping out the high-school hijinks for grittier detective work. It was closer to a police procedural at first, with Angel literally setting up his own detective headquarters to frame the cases of the week.

To strengthen this relationship and help define it, Detective Kate Lockley was introduced in the second episode. Her relationship with Angel was a huge focus of the first season, but the character was written out mid-way through the second run after a strange suicide plotline, and then was never mentioned again.

Apparently that was never the intention though. For a while, the plan was to bring her back in the third season alongside Daniel Holtz, but due to scheduling conflicts the writers introduced Justine to occupy the same role. Weirder, there were plans to bring her back in later seasons as well, this time as a stripper entertaining Spike.

Neither of those ideas sound all that good, but they would have provided at least an explanation as to what happened to such a pivotal character from the show's foundational years.