8 Amazing TV Characters That Were Only Supposed To Appear In One Episode

Looking back at it now, HBO's Girls was a huge stepping stone for a bunch of the best actors working today. You had indie darling Christopher Abbott breaking out to star in a string of critically acclaimed hits and future Star Wars megastar Adam Driver, to name a few.

Another standout of the core group was Andrew Rannalls as Elijah Krantz, protagonist Hannah's gay ex-boyfriend. Rannalls had a small part to play in the earlier seasons, before being bumped up to the main cast for the final three, becoming one of the most well-liked characters on the whole show.

Of course, his appearance on this list can only mean one thing: that this was all a happy accident.

Initially, the actor admitted that he was only asked to be in "one scene in one episode" but that the writers kept unexpectedly calling him up to see if he was free for future instalments, which allowed them to flesh out his character into a more three-dimensional person and, eventually, integrate him into the show in a more direct way.

It took a while, but they eventually got there, and it was worth the wait.