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

Even when the story got completely nuts and people stopped caring about the many, many mysteries stringing them along, the core cast of characters is what made fans of Lost continue to tune in through thick and thin. The original survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 and their unique dynamic grounded the series' most abstract concepts, and watching them grow together, apart, and investigate the secrets of the island made for riveting TV.

Of course, at the centre of this huge ensemble was Matthew Fox's Jack, who saw the show out from its very first scene right up to its last. However, in one of the most famous 'what if?' scenarios in TV history, the Jack character was actually supposed to bite the dust right at the end of the pilot.

The original plan was to essentially pull a Scream: cast a big-name actor who's marketed as the lead of the series, only to kill them off and shock the audience. In this case, Michael Keaton was courted to play Jack for the episode, and he was apparently up for it.

At the end of the day though the producers got cold feet and thought that Jack staying around would be better for the series' longevity, which caused Keaton to drop out and Fox to come in.