History WhatCouldHaveBeen / StarWarsTheCloneWars

* A story arc about a group of clone troopers known as "The Bad Batch", which would feature the return of a NotQuiteDead Echo, which was released as the Bad Batch Arc. Another major story arc would center around Anakin dealing with Ahsoka's absence, but it most likely was the Crystal Crisis arc given the campfire scene. This one got as far as story reels, and was eventually produced (with some minor changes) as part of the seventh season.

* The show was originally planned to last eight seasons, but the Disney buyout caused the show to get cancelled after its fifth season. A shortened sixth season was later released on Netflix, which consisted of the remaining episodes that had been completed prior to the cancellation. After the release of Season 6, it was stated by Pablo Hidalgo (a member of the Lucasfilm Story Group) that there were 13 story arcs left, while writer Brent Friedman confirmed that all of Season 7 and 8 had been written, and that each arc consisted of four episodes. A few of the remaining story arcs were released via ''The Clone Wars Legacy'' project, and a few more were rewritten and released years later for Season 7 on Disney+, but there were still several arcs which were never released at all including those planned for season 8.

* Governor Roshti was originally going to be a friend of Ahsoka Tano's parents, but the writers did not intend to bring them into the story so it was cut to avoid making viewers expect them to show up. Ahsoka's mother Pav-ti ultimately appeared in ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTalesOfTheJedi''.

* The show was originally planned to last eight seasons, but the Disney buyout caused the show to get cancelled after its fifth season. A shortened sixth season was later released on Netflix, which consisted of the remaining episodes that had been completed prior to the cancellation. After the release of Season 6, it was stated by Pablo Hidalgo (a member of the Lucasfilm Story Group) that there were 13 story arcs left, while writer Brent Friedman confirmed that all of Season 7 and 8 had been written, and that each arc consisted of four episodes. A few of the remaining story arcs were released via ''The Clone Wars Legacy'' project, and a few more were rewritten and released years later for Season 7 on Disney+, but there were still several arcs which were never released at all.

* Governor Roshti was originally going to be a friend of Ahsoka Tano's parents, but the writers did not intend to bring them into the story so it was cut to avoid making viewers expect them to show up. Ahsoka's mother Pav-ti ultimately appeared in ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTalesOfTheJedi''.

* The show was originally planned to last eight seasons, but the Disney buyout caused the show to get cancelled after its fifth season. A shortened sixth season was later released on Netflix, which consisted of the remaining episodes that had been completed prior to the cancellation. After the release of Season 6, it was stated by Pablo Hidalgo (a member of the Lucasfilm Story Group) that there were 13 story arcs left, while writer Brent Friedman confirmed that all of Season 7 and 8 had been written, and that each arc consisted of four episodes. A few of the remaining story arcs were released via ''The Clone Wars Legacy'' project, and a few more were rewritten and released years later for Season 7 on Disney+, but there were still several arcs which were never released at all.

* The original premise had Anakin and Obi-Wan in recurring roles, while the main characters (as seen in the page image) would be a Twi'lek Jedi named Sendak (named after Creator/MauriceSendak) and his Togruta padawan Ashla (later becoming Ahsoka), who would team up with a smuggler pilot named Cad (later becoming Cad Bane), his mistress Lupé and their Gungan strongman Lunker. This premise would be [[RefittedForSequel reused]] for its sequel series ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels Rebels]]'', but with the characters changed.

** Evidently, while Lucas got Ventress killed in ''Dark Disciple'', Filoni was rather set on having Ventress live, as he also tried to revive her for ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsResistance'' before replacing her with the ''Resistance''-original character Mika Grey when he realized Ventress would've been inappropriate for the [[LowerDeckEpisode smaller scale]] of the show. He would finally get his wish of reviving her in ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheBadBatch''.
* Series director Giancarlo Volpe wanted Barriss and Ahsoka to end up being a couple when he was directing the episode "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS2E6WeaponsFactory Weapons Factory]]", which never materialised though the Barrissoka ship would become popular with the fandom as a result of the episode.

* Series director Giancarlo Volpe wanted Barriss and Ahsoka to end up being a couple when he was directing the episode "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS2E6WeaponsFactory Weapons Factory]]", which never materialised though the Barrisoka ship would become popular with the fandom as a result of the episode.

* Governor Roshti was originally going to be a friend of Ahsoka Tano's parents, but the writers did not intend to bring them into the story so it was cut to avoid making viewers expect them to show up.

** [[spoiler:Barriss was originally going to commit suicide after she confessed to her crimes via blowing herself up, but Filoni spared her so he could use her later.]]

** Evidently, while Lucas got Ventress killed in ''Dark Disciple'', Filoni was rather set on having Ventress live, as he also tried to revive her for ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsResistance'' before replacing her with the ''Resistance''-original character Mika Grey when he realized Ventress would've been inappropriate for the [[LowerDeckEpisode smaller scale]] of the show.

** It's interesting that this was changed, because [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheBadBatch this is exactly what happens to Crosshair after the rise of the Empire]].

* The show was originally intended as a Gendy Tartakovsky production, continuing on from the original Clone Wars project. Gendy foresaw the next 20 years of his life revolving around Star Wars and demanded a singular unrelated feature film in exchange. Negotiations were going well until George Lucas became disillusioned with features and refused to do more, leading Gendy to reluctantly walk away.

* [[spoiler:General Pong Krell]] was first planned for a larger role in Season 4, being a genuinely heroic figure [[ProtagonistJourneyToVillain falling to villainy over the course of the season]]. This was changed to [[spoiler:their having fallen by their introduction]] in part to avoid MisaimedFandom they'd revive otherwise.

* The show was originally intended as a Gendy Tartakovsky production, continuing on from the original Clone Wars project. Gendy foresaw the next 20 years of his life revolving around Star Wars and demanded a singular unrelated feature film in exchange. Negotiations were going well until George Lucas became disillusioned with features and refused to do more, leading Gendy to reluctantly walk.

** A story arc about bounty hunters breaking out the Separatist leaders.
** Creator/PaulDini revealed on a podcast that he came up with two episode ideas that were never used: One involved Anakin and Padmé going to a bar to hire a mercenary, seeing a big guy that looked like Lobo from DC comics, only to see that the mercenary they were looking for is an Ewok. The other was a "Horton Hears a Who" story starring Jar-Jar Binks who finds out a planet the Republic will be testing weapons on has life and he tries to convince the Senate of the species' existence.

** Boba Fett, Cad Bane, Bossk, Embo, and more in a new bounty hunters arc inspired by ''Film/TheSearchers'', with Bane observing Boba to finally resolve whether he or Jango was the better hunter. At Celebration Orlando in 2017, a clip from the arc was played, showing Boba, Bane, Bossk, Embo, Seripas, and Marrok in an empty town, Bane seems to be working for someone, holding an entire town hostage but Boba, Sugi, Seripas, and a new, unnamed bounty hunter turned on them and tried to take them down. Sugi is hinted to have been killed by Embo and Bossk, who in turn allowed Boba to have a chance to shoot Bane, leading to a dramatic, western-style shootout in which both Boba and Bane are shot, creating the dent in Boba's helmet and killing Bane. Boba also may have reclaimed the ''Slave 1'' from Hondo. [[spoiler:''Series/TheBookOfBobaFett'' hinted that Cad and Boba's duel still took place at some point, even if the original scene was changed, and Cad would finally die in that show's season finale when he rematched Boba.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:The original cast of ''The Clone Wars''. Honestly, they look more like a bunch of [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels Rebels]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:The original cast of ''The Clone Wars''. [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels Look familiar?]]]]

* Dave Filoni, who had long been seeking a way to put giant wolves onto the show, had an idea for such creatures rescuing Ahsoka from Order 66 by killing all the clone troopers save Rex. Ahsoka also would have ridden a wolf. However, he's stated that this was his own personal headcanon before the Siege of Mandalore was written.

** Boba Fett, Cad Bane, Bossk, Embo, and more in a new bounty hunters arc inspired by ''Film/TheSearchers'', with Bane observing Boba to finally resolve whether he or Jango was the better hunter. At Celebration Orlando in 2017, a clip from the arc was played, showing Boba, Bane, Bossk, Embo, Seripas, and Marrok in an empty town, Bane seems to be working for someone, holding an entire town hostage but Boba, Sugi, Seripas, and a new, unnamed bounty hunter turned on them and tried to take them down. Sugi is hinted to have been killed by Embo and Bossk, who in turn allowed Boba to have a chance to shoot Bane, leading to a dramatic, western-style shootout in which both Boba and Bane are shot, creating the dent in Boba's helmet and killing Bane. Boba also may have reclaimed the ''Slave 1'' from Hondo.

* Ahsoka was originally named Ashla Chutu (unknown spelling), but Lucas didn't want her to share her name with his name for the Light Side, so he had Henry Gilroy look in a history book to get an idea for a name. They found [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashoka Ashoka]], but Filoni thought they kept mispelling it on the scripts and changed it to Ahsoka and they eventually decided to keep it.

* Hunter also no longer responds with "What?" when Tech reports that the D-wing battle droids can fly.

* In the original reel, Rex and Crosshair get into a fight because the latter insinuates that Echo may have turned traitor after being left for dead. In the final version, the fight happens because Crosshair shows NoSympathy for Echo's apparent "death".

* An eight-part Vos/Ventress arc that was turned into the ''Literature/DarkDisciple'' novel. It would've had Vos act a lot like his more seroius and angsty comic book persona. It also would have featured a scene where Boba, Latts Razzi, Highsinger C-21, Bossk, Embo and Marrok would have fought Count Dooku, but it was cut from the novel for unknown reasons, although an unfinished clip was shown at Celebration Anaheim.