When the now-legendary filmmaker J. Michael Straczynski pitched his “novel for television,” he understood that he was at a disadvantage that actual novelists don’t have. His characters were largely reliant on not only the whims of a fickle entertainment economy but also on specific actors continuing in their roles.
“In drafting the story for Babylon 5, I made sure to compensate for any possible changes,” Straczynski wrote in 1994. “For lack of a better term, there is a ‘trap door’ built into the storyline for every character.” And on November 2, 1994, in the second season debut of Babylon 5 (“Point of Departure”), he used one of these contingency plans to swap out the lead actor of the entire TV series.
