Television series can be curious things. You have your main cast and your overall story, but in many instances you also have additional characters — namely villains — that get introduced along the way to make things interesting. Frequently, these bad guys are meant to appear for just a short amount of time. They have specific storylines or arcs that they are a part of or are otherwise intended to help drive the protagonists in a particular direction. They show up, they do their evil, and they leave or get defeated. It is pretty straightforward. But every so often, there’s a villain that ends up being so good that they stay a little longer than planned — and in some cases, end up being fan favorite characters you can’t imagine the series without.
These four television villains started out as having a serious shelf life but were just so good at being bad that they got to stick around. They’re characters that, in retrospect, we cannot imagine these beloved series without and, in the case of one baddie, ended up being the best character in the entire franchise.
Mark Sheppard’s Crowley was never meant to be on Supernatural for very long. The character first appeared in Season 5 with Sheppard intended as a temporary guest star with a very specific purpose: he possesses the Colt, which he gave to the Winchesters in a self-serving team up of sorts against Lucifer. He wasn’t meant to stick around or even end up King of Hell long term. And yet, Crowley ended up one of the most iconic villains in the series. He came for a few episodes and stuck around for years.
Turns out, fans loved Sheppard’s demon immediately. The character became wildly popular with fans due to the actor’s chemistry with series stars Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles. Sheppard would go on to recur as Crowley from Season 5 through Season 9 and would have a main role Seasons 10 through 12, when the character ultimately departed.
Walton Goggins’ Boyd Crowder is without a doubt one of the best characters on Justified. Seriously, try to imagine the series without him. I’ll wait… you can’t. However, Boyd was originally intended to be killed off at the end of the pilot, but thanks to series creator Graham Yost falling in love with Goggins’ performance, the character not only survived the pilot but would be a main character for the entire series.
It made for an interesting change to things. Justified was, initially, based on Elmore Leonard’s novella Fire in the Hole. The story sees US Marshal Raylan Givens (played by Timothy Olyphant in the series) going up against white supremacist Crowder who has a plot to destroy an IRS building. While the television series’ pilot did not preserve the IRS plot, it did preserve the novella’s general ending of Raylan shooting Boyd. Goggins’ performance — and his chemistry with Olyphant — was just so good that while the pilot did indeed end with Crowder being shot, the next episode revealed that Crowder survived and thus, one of the best characters in the series was given a new lease on life.
I don’t know about you, but I refuse to even imagine a world where Spike was actually killed off on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but that was the original intention for James Marsters’ absolutely iconic character. The original plan for Spike was that he would be a short-term villain, just intended for a few episodes and slated to die in early Season 2. However, Marsters and Drusilla actor Juliet Landau’s chemistry quickly made Spike a huge fan favorite. That popularity marked a shift in how the series had to deal with the character and it ultimately spared Spike. Instead of being a cameo, Spike would end up sticking around for the entire series — and would even go on to appear in the spinoff, Angel. And, if you ask many Buffy fans, there really is no Buffy without Spike.
When most fans think of The Vampire Diaries villains, it’s Klaus Mikaelson that comes to mind. Joseph Morgan’s villain was first introduced in the series’ second season with the Original vampire (who also happened to be a vampire-werewolf hybrid) causing serious problems for the good guys. Klaus would end up being a major villain for The Vampire Diaries before departing the series to get his own spinoff with The Originals. The character even had an enduring romance with Caroline Forbes (though how that ultimately played out is still a bit of a sore spot for fans) and Klaus remains one of if not the most popular TVD universe character ever. You just can’t have The Vampire Diaries without Klaus.
But you almost did. Series co-creator Julie Plec has in the past explained that Klaus was simply meant to be a Season 3 villain that would have been killed off by the heroes at the end. Instead, Morgan was just so good as Klaus and fans reacted so favorably that the character became more than a mere villain. He became the complex antihero that the entire franchise needed and one of the best vampires on television.
What villain that survived their original fate surprised you the most? Let us know in the comments.
