I'm still ticked that ABC decided not to do the spin-off of The Middle that centered around Sue. That would have been so cool and they could have done so many things had most of the cast members returned.

I'm still ticked that ABC decided not to do the spin-off of The Middle that centered around Sue. That would have been so cool and they could have done so many things had most of the cast members returned.

Maybe they still will, but the momentum has passed. It could be "Sue in the future" though.

Maybe they still will, but the momentum has passed. It could be "Sue in the future" though.

ABC said they decided not to do it but it's too bad that Freeform didn't decide to do it b/c didn't they do "Grownish" which is a spinoff of "Blackish"?

"24" had some projects that never materialized:


- One was going to be a "legal" spin on the series centering on a female prosecutor fighting to save a death row inmate facing imminent execution whom she had helped prosecute.

It was announced shortly after "24: Legacy's" cancellation and the original idea was to make "24" an anthology-type series.



- Another was a prequel series focusing on the origins of Jack Bauer. It wasn't picked up in early 2019.



- "24" was also said to get a feature film on the big screen that never happened. Antoine Fuqua was attached to direct at some point and said:

"I don’t think it’s gonna happen at all, definitely not with me. I met with Kiefer Sutherland, Fox wanted to do it, it was a matter of his schedule before he went off to do 'Touch'. I don’t think he was able to get a proper agreement with Fox. The time just passed, and I went off to go to what I was doing."

Not a traditional spin-off, but ABC announced in 2014 that they were planning on doing a series on "Derrick Storm" from "Castle". The character Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) wrote the "Derrick Storm" mystery novels centering on a spy who gets called on by the CIA for mysterious missions.

TV vet Gregory Poirier was called to write the pilot for ABC Studios and "Castle" creator/exec producer Andrew Marlowe and Terri Edda Miller were on board as producers. This series never happened.

(Some Derrick Storm novels were published by ABC where "Richard Castle" was credited as the author. The ghost writers are still unknown, but I heard that Stephen J. Cannell was said to be one.)

I'd read somewhere that the oldest generation from ELR were all gone now, so I didn't bother to verify. What a horrifying mistake. Sorry, Fred. :confused:

He actually passed not long after our discussion. :(

He actually passed not long after our discussion. :(
Yeah, I guess I have the kiss of death. :( Maybe I should remember not to talk about dead people...

in 2003 there was going to be a spin-off of QUANTUM LEAP about Sams daughter searching through time for Sam; but it never materialized.

NBC recently passed on a Bo & Cheyenne-centered spin-off of "Superstore".

It would have featured Nichole Sakura and Johnny Pemberton reprising their "Superstore" roles where they balance their big dreams with the harsh realities of being a blue-collar family in America.



The CW also did not pick up its female-lead "Arrow" spin-off "Green Arrow and the Canaries". The backdoor pilot aired during "Arrow" Season 8, Ep. #9.

It would have featured Katherine McNamara, Katie Cassidy, and Juliana Harkavy.

"How I Met Your Mother" has had a few attempts at launching a spin-off (companion series) that never happened.

The pilot for "How I Met Your Dad", starring indie film star Greta Gerwig and narrated by Meg Ryan, wasn't picked up by CBS.



Then in December 2016, they tried again with "This Is Us" writers Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger on "How I Met Your Father". It was to also be from a female's point-of-view and HIMYM creators Bays and Thomas were EPs.

Fox chairman Dana Walden then said in August 2017 that they were looking into it again with new writers and that no ideas or concepts from the previous attempts would be carried over.”


Hulu has ordered "How I Met Your Father" to series with Hilary Duff set to star.

https://deadline.com/2021/04/how-i-met-your-father-hulu-how-i-met-your-mother-spinoff-hilary-duff-1234741018/

"Law & Order: Hate Crimes" was first announced in Sept. 2018 on NBC. It was supposed to spin-off from "SVU" where it would focus on NYC's Hate Crimes Task Force.

"SVU" showrunner Warren Leight said in June 2020 that maybe Peacock would be better for it due to "language concerns".

"Law & Order: Organized Crime" was launched, and now the original series is coming back, but "Hate Crimes" seems to be stalled.

Law and Order: For the Defense was pulled from the schedule. But Dick Wolf promises his next one won't be about the law.

Taraji P. Henson was supposed to star in a Cookie spin-off after "Empire" ended.

The CW has pulled the plug on "The 100" prequel series that had been in development for two years.

Set 97 years before the events of the original series, the prequel starts with the end of the world — a nuclear apocalypse that wipes out most of Earth’s human population — and follows a band of survivors on the ground as they learn to cope in a dangerous world while fighting to create a new and better society from the ashes of what came before.

A spin-off of "Here's Lucy" starring Lucie Arnaz never happened.

Desi Arnaz, Jr. left the show at the end of Season 3 in order to pursue a film career while Lucie Arnaz stayed on show becoming the main comic foil of Lucille Ball and Gale Gordon. The backdoor pilot aired as the Season 4 finale with Kim Carter moving into her own apartment. Susan Tolsky played one of the other residents and Alan Oppenheimer played the apartment building's landlord.



Lucille Ball's original plan was to have Vivian Vance become her new comic foil while her daughter had her own show. Lucie Arnaz' pilot wasn't picked up and Vivian Vance had health issues preventing her from becoming a series regular.

Lucie Arnaz then stayed on "Here's Lucy" until it ended.

Fox announced an animated spin-off of "The X-Files" was in development around Aug. 2020 with Chris Carter exec. producing.

Titled "The X-Files: Albuquerque", the animated offshoot would center on an office full of misfit agents who investigate X-Files cases too wacky, ridiculous or downright dopey for Mulder and Scully to bother with. They’re essentially the X-Files’ B-team.

Nothing ever happened w/ this.

There was supposed to be a spin-off of "The Walking Dead" featuring Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride as Daryl and Carol.

Not much was known about it, other than it being described more as a "road show" featuring Daryl and Carol riding around to different locations and meeting various people along the way. Reedus is an avid biker so this "road show" idea seemed tailored to him.

McBride decided to leave the project w/ Reedus saying that she was "taking some much deserved time off." The spin-off was retooled to now focus on Daryl winding up overseas in France.

Fox announced an animated spin-off of "The X-Files" was in development around Aug. 2020 with Chris Carter exec. producing.

Titled "The X-Files: Albuquerque", the animated offshoot would center on an office full of misfit agents who investigate X-Files cases too wacky, ridiculous or downright dopey for Mulder and Scully to bother with. They’re essentially the X-Files’ B-team.

Nothing ever happened w/ this.That would have been interesting if it were live action. Animated though, come on man! :crazy:

Will Friedle, who played Eric Matthews on "Boy Meets World", recently revealed on the "Pod Meets World" rewatch podcast that a Eric spin-off was considered.

It would have seen Eric move from Philadelphia to Los Angeles to make it on his own.



“They talked about doing an Eric and Jack show. That probably would have been pretty good. I was going to leave the show at one point — to the point where Michael and I had had meetings, we had had meetings with ABC [and] he had already written to it. We met with ABC, we met with Disney, he had the pilot all set up.”

“There’s a scene where [William Daniels as Mr. Feeny] says, ‘Do you know what you’re going to do in life?’ And I say, ‘No.’ And it’s because there was a good chance I wasn’t going to come back the following season because Michael and I — well, it was all Michael, but I was in on the pitches — pitched an idea where Eric moves to Los Angeles.”

“It was going to be like a young Friends, and I would meet new people in Los Angeles. I’m not even sure why it never happened, to be honest with you. I just never left BMW. I never got a reason why we didn’t do it.”

The CW has passed on Arrowverse spin-off "Justice U" that was to star David Ramsey as John Diggle.

"Justice U" was first put into development back in January 2022, right before it was revealed that WarnerMedia and Paramount were looking to sell the network, leading to Nexstar acquiring it later on.



"Justice U" was to feature Diggle starting a new chapter in his life by recruiting five young meta-humans for a special mission who would go undercover as freshmen students at a "prestigious university."

The pilot was written by "Superman & Lois'" Michael Narducci.

A spin-off from "The Partridge Family", starring Richard Pryor and Louis Gossett, Jr., didn't happen.

The Season 1 episode 'Soul Club' featured The Partridge Family accidentally showing up in Detroit and meeting two brothers Sam and A. E. Simon (Pryor and Gossett, Jr.), who are trying to create a music venue where they offer affordable tickets to mainstream music acts.

Around the time "Yellowstone" spin-off "1883" was announced, there was supposed to be a spin-off featuring ranch hands Jimmy Hurdstrom and Walker starring Jefferson White and Ryan Bingham.

While discussing USA's "Suits" resurgence on streaming, executive producer Gene Klein mentioned that there were spin-off ideas that never happened.

“There were numerous ideas for spinoffs that we mostly just sort of fantasized about. ... Obviously, there was a Louis Litt-themed one.”

(Gina Torres got her own spin-off, "Pearson", but it was cancelled after one season in 2019)

"The Office" actor Leslie David Baker has refunded the fan donations to launch a spin-off starring his character, Stanley Howard.

Baker launched the Kickstarter campaign to film a pilot of the spin-off back in 2020.



He wrote on Instagram:

"The project took longer than anticipated due to circumstances beyond our control. The COVID lockdowns caused initial delays and, as things were returning to normal, the WGA strikes have slowed things down again."

The producers of Welcome Back Kotter wanted to do a spinoff with the character Arnold Horshack that would feature him and his crazy family. They actually filmed an episode of Welcome Back Kotter that centered heavily on Arnold and his family, and the rest of the regular Welcome Back Kotter cast wasn't really in it. But the ratings for the episode were really low so the idea of the spinoff got scrapped.

I've read that besides Fish, Abe Vigoda's character from the sitcom Barney Miller, the producers of Barney Miller also considered trying to spin off some of the other cops on the show into their own series. Like Wojo and Dietrich and maybe a couple others too but obviously that never happened.

Ed.

GUi_aR_8xT8

Success is not guaranteed---- even after it's been proven. Today, we look back at the failed spin offs of beloved tv shows The Office, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and Smallville.

ABC has recently passed on "The Good Lawyer", its planned legal spin-off from "The Good Doctor", that was going to star Kennedy McMann and Felicity Huffman.

It was going to focus on a young attorney with severe OCD.

10 Potential Spinoffs That Would Be Even Better Than The Original TV Shows (https://screenrant.com/tv-spinoffs-potential-better-than-original-shows/)

From Buffyverse to the world of The Office, these brilliant spinoff ideas could easily outshine the original shows if they were brought to the screen.

10 Potential Spinoffs That Would Be Even Better Than The Original TV Shows (https://screenrant.com/tv-spinoffs-potential-better-than-original-shows/)

From Buffyverse to the world of The Office, these brilliant spinoff ideas could easily outshine the original shows if they were brought to the screen.

Jason Bateman was going to have a "Derek" spin-off from "Silver Spoons" which never happened.

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-south-bend-tribune-nbc-renews-four/87980007/

I watched the ID docuseries "Quiet on Set" and "All That's" Katrina Johnson explained that she was Dan Schneider's "favorite" being the youngest of the cast. She said that Schneider mentioned the idea to her of giving her her own show.

As she grew older, she said that she received criticism for her weight and her screentime was getting less and less as she wasn't "the baby" anymore. Amanda Bynes was brought on "All That" as her replacement and Schneider wound up giving her "The Amanda Show".

A "Daria" spin-off focusing on Jodie Landon was announced for Comedy Central back in 2020.

Jodie was to be voiced by Tracee Ellis Ross and the series was described as, “What Daria did for showing how inane high school was for Gen X, Jodie will do for exploring the trials and tribulations of a first job for a new generation. The series will satirize workplace culture, Gen Z struggles, the artifice of social media and more.

With themes of empowerment along gender and racial lines, explorations of privilege, and a wicked sense of humor, Jodie will shine a light on the personal and professional issues young Black women face today.”




In 2022, it was announced that it was now going to be a feature film and Comedy Central announced in 2024 that they will not be airing the film.

“Jodie will not be moving forward. We have loved working with Tracee, Grace and the whole team on creating a film that is full of joy and genre-bending fun with an inclusive, diverse, and incredible cast.

We are fully supportive of them finding a home elsewhere and look forward to partnering with them in the future.”

A spin-off of Syfy's "Krypton" focusing on Lobo did not happen after "Krypton" got canned after 2 seasons. Emmett J. Scanlan, who played Lobo on Season 2 of "Krypton", was going to lead the spin-off.

It was described as putting the "foul-mouthed, dangerous, irascible, intergalactic bounty hunter front and center."

Executive producer Terence Winter is finally opening up about The Batman spinoff series centered on the Gotham police department that failed to get off the ground.

Winter and director Matt Reeves were developing the show prior to the release of the 2022 comic book film, but Winter exited a few months after the show’s announcement. He was later replaced by Joe Barton before the entire show fell apart.




“The idea was that we were going to do a 1970s cop show— something that felt like Sidney Lumet’s 1981 crime and police drama ‘Prince of the City,’ but in the Gotham City Police Department,” Winter said during an interview on The Playlist’s “Bingeworthy” podcast.

“It was going to have that [‘70s] feel. It was going to be a present-day cop who is like a third-generation Gotham City cop and Gotham City was largely corrupt. And this is the guy we meet in the present day who’s realizing that he’s kind of on the wrong side. The Batman was somebody that lived in that world, but you never really saw him. And it was really all about the police department and sort of this guy.”




Winter said that at some point Reeves “wasn’t feeling it” in regards to what the duo was cooking up for the series, which resulted in Winter’s exit from the project.

The Gotham PD show was ultimately scrapped in favor of developing a show about Colin Farrell’s “The Penguin”, which is now airing on HBO and Max.

https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/batman-series-gotham-police-creative-differences-1236154289/

Amazon has recently passed on a "Bosch" spin-off featuring J. Edgar (Jamie Hector).

Michael Kelly recently discussed the "House of Cards" spin-off that was going to feature Doug Stamper.

"I had very real conversations with people about a spinoff that was actually fricking brilliant, and I would've loved to have done it before everything went away. It was a brilliant, brilliant idea for one and it was just like, Oh my god,' and then it didn't happen."



Kelly's not sure if his character's death was the nail in the coffin for the series, but the spin-off didn't happen "for whatever reason."

"I would've loved it 'cause it was a really very, very clever way to spin the show off," Kelly continued. "They wanted to do it kind of like in a Better Call Saul way where it had a little bit of comedic, a little bit funnier beats. It was gonna start with me trying to kill myself, I think, if I remember correctly, in prison and the pipe breaks. And he goes back to his cell to find a new cellmate and he's like, 'Huh' ... it was really cool, It was really great idea."

https://ew.com/michael-kelly-reveals-brilliant-idea-for-scrapped-house-of-cards-spin-off-8732585

Shonda Rhimes recently revealed she had ideas for "Grey's Anatomy" spin-offs, and one for "Scandal", that never happened.



Grey's Anatomy

“I felt like we could have done Chicago Anatomy, Boston. We could have done that. It just didn’t appeal to me to rebuild the same world. And then we thought about a lot of things.”

“I thought that there could be a spinoff with Amelia that was the Shepherd sisters. They’re all doctors. It could have been a Shepherd sisters show, which would’ve been very interesting.”




Scandal

“We wanted to do a B613 spinoff on Scandal. Yeah, there was a bunch. But we really tried to look for shows that could stand on their own two feet, that were their own thing.”

https://deadline.com/2025/03/shonda-rhimes-greys-anatomy-scandal-spinoffs-1236352432/

CBS has decided to not move forward with its planned spin-offs of "The Neighborhood" and "The Equalizer".

"The Neighborhood" spin-off was to focus on Malcolm (Sheaun McKinney) and Marty Butler (Marcel Spears), the adult sons of Calvin and Tina starting a new chapter of their lives in Venice Beach.

Also announced in its cast were Justin Long, Kara Royster, Angelique Cabral and Hunter King.



"The Equalizer" spin-off was to star Titus Welliver and Juani Feliz.

Queen Latifah’s Robyn McCall is contacted by Samantha Reed (Feliz) to help track down her father, missing ex-CIA agent Elijah Reed (Welliver).

I was looking back on "Nip/Tuck" since Julian McMahon has died and saw that a spin-off never happened.

Rosie O'Donnell was going to lead the spin-off as her recurring character Dawn as she was a hit with fans. She confirmed back in 2006 that she was in talks with Ryan Murphy, but nothing ever came of it.

Both scrapped spin-off pilots featured Selena Gomez:


- What’s Stevie Thinking?, a 2005 pilot featuring Gomez as Stephanie “Stevie” Sanchez, the younger sister of Lalaine's Miranda from "Lizzie McGuire".


- Arwin!, a 2007 pilot which would have focused on “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody's” lovable janitor, played by Brian Stepanek, and his kids.

https://deadline.com/2025/08/selena-gomez-disney-lizzie-mcguire-suite-life-spinoff-pilots-1236481835/

It was announced in May 2024 that Disney ordered a pilot for "Alice in the Palace", a spin-off of "Raven's Home". Raven-Symoné was an EP and directed the pilot.

The series was to star Mykal-Michelle Harris as Alice Baxter, Raven Baxter's young cousin, who returns to England and reunites with Duchess Clementine (also portrayed by Harris), a young royal who looks exactly like her.

In the process, Clementine gets a taste of the fun side of “normal” life, while Alice gets a taste of the finer side of “regal” life.




Mykal-Michelle Harris announced on her Instagram in July 2025 that "Alice in the Palace" was not picked up.

Everyone has been asking soooo… I want to say thank you so very much to EVERY SINGLE PERSON on the cast and crew who worked on my very own pilot that I not only played the titular character on… but also played opposite myself as another character (Alice and Clementine) AND was a PRODUCER on.

It was for sure a dream come true to make #AliceInThePalace. Ultimately, #disneychannel decided to take the strategy in a different direction that did not include our show. #thatsTheBusiness.

But I am so blessed to have accomplished this. To my new family that served as the lead cast…LOVE U FOREVER. To every member of the crew and production office… you were amazing !!!

While not officially scrapped, the "Dexter" prequel on the Trinity Killer seems unlikely. It was originally announced in early 2023 w/ Clyde Phillips and Scott Reynolds as co-creators and EPs.

While out promoting "Dexter: Original Sin" in December 2024, Phillips had said, "We wrote the entire Trinity Killer series. At the moment, it is on the back burner. John Lithgow has agreed to be the voice of his younger self the way Michael C. Hall is doing [Original Sin]. There’s that and we’re doing another show with Michael C. Hall, [Resurrection]…

We were writing that while shooting Original Sin, so that’s fairly busy. We begin shooting [Resurrection] in January and it will air in June 2025."




In Sept. 2025, Phillips said on the Dissecting Dexter podcast that the Trinity Killer prequel seems unlikely.

"It's backburned. And I honestly don't think they're going to go for it. I just think they're interested in Resurrection. I mean, if they cancelled Original Sin, which is a built-in hit, how are they going to pick up Trinity?

If they do, I'd be delighted, but I don't see them doing it."

TV Series Finales That Teased Spin-Offs We Never Got (https://www.looper.com/2061080/tv-series-finales-teased-spin-offs-never-happened/)

In TV land, there's no easy way to say goodbye. Some shows choose to extend their farewells via sequel series and backdoor pilots, but only a handful of programs have ended their runs by trying to spin their characters off into new situations. Unfortunately, while some of these shows — like "Cheers" and "The Practice" — managed to serve as successful launching pads for great new TV spin-offs (https://www.looper.com/963792/14-great-tv-spin-offs-that-are-totally-worth-your-time/) ("Frasier" is one case, "Boston Legal" is another), many programs have sacrificed their final episodes to pitch concepts that did not lead to a fresh tomorrow for its world.

This bundle of attempted pilots and series continuations includes episodes where minor characters were elevated to prominence, shows where supporting characters were given a chance at helming a series, and outings where major characters broke away from their home shows and left to make fresh starts in new cities. Sadly, they all have one thing in common — none of them went to series.

"Major Crimes", a spin-off of "The Closer", was supposed to get its own spin-off titled "S.O.B." (Special Operations Bureau) starring Jon Tenney and Laurie Holden.

TNT boss Kevin Reilly said back in 2015, “We’re not doing that. We’ve moved on.”

Xena: Warrior Princess actress Renee O'Connor said that she almost had her own spinoff, but ultimately turned it down.

Speaking with CBR, O'Connor explained that, following the end of Xena, that they wanted to do a spinoff starring her character Gabrielle.

She turned down the show because she couldn't imagine doing it without Lucy Lawless (Xena) as they had great chemistry.