Even though a TV series is successful, it’s not guaranteed to easily secure a spin-off, and the world of television is full of examples of projects that could have expanded a narrative universe with parallel stories that never became reality. This time we decided to present three spin-offs that never reached the screen despite the strong name behind them and despite having laid the groundwork through the so-called backdoor pilots, i.e., episodes that could have served as a bridge between the parent series and the spin-off.
3 spin-off cancellati di serie TV amatissime che non vedremo mai
Gilmore Girls and Windward Circle
One of the biggest regrets in the eyes of fans is the Gilmore Girls spin-off devoted to Jess Mariano, played by Milo Ventimiglia. During the third season, the main series had hinted at a new path for Jess, who, following the trail of his absent father, would eventually reach Venice Beach, in California, the ideal setting for the spin-off that also posed a major obstacle: it seems that filming that story in Venice Beach would have involved costs too high. The backdoor pilot was included in the third season, precisely the twenty-first episode titled Here Comes the Son that introduces Jess’s journey to California, but the project named Windward Circle never took shape due to the elevated budget.
Gossip Girl and Valley Girls
Another project scrapped even before it could start was Valley Girls, a Gossip Girl prequel spin-off set in the 1980s and that would have starred Lily van der Woodsen, Serena’s mother in her youthful days. The story would have shifted location from New York to Los Angeles. In 1989 Lily was 17 years old—and portrayed by Brittany Snow—and would have followed her misadventures with her rebellious sister Carol played by Krysten Ritter after expulsion from college. The episode that introduced the potential spin-off of Valley Girls was proposed during the second season of Gossip Girl (specifically episode 24), through flashbacks that showed the two actresses in Lily and Carol’s roles. However, even in this case the project never took shape. Despite initial interest and a promising cast, fan reception was not enthusiastic, and ultimately the idea was never developed.
Supernatural and Wayward Sisters
You can’t say that Supernatural didn’t try. Even before The Winchesters, the only spin-off that at least managed a season on TV before the shutdown, the universe launched by Eric Kripke with Dean and Sam Winchester had proposed the idea of two other spin-offs, Bloodlines and Wayward Sisters. If the former was introduced in season nine and envisioned as a kind of Romeo and Juliet in a horror/crime setting—focused on five powerful families of supernatural creatures in Chicago—the latter would have offered a female-led story. Presented during season thirteen, Wayward Sisters saw Sheriff Jody Mills as the lead, heading a team of young monster-hunters saved from the creatures, including Claire and Alex.
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