One of Sons Of Anarchy Major Characters Was Supposed to Die in Episode 1
And that character is Wendy Case (Drea de Matteo).
She is introduced in the pilot several weeks after having the baby of the show's lead character, SAMCRO leader Jax Teller (Charlie Hunnam). And she is not a happy mother – not only because she got pregnant in a futile attempt to keep Jax from leaving her. As a result of her severe drug addiction, she and her baby, Abel, are at the hospital, with the latter fighting for his life after a premature birth.
Jax is angry at Wendy, and Jax' mother, Gemma Teller Morrow (Katey Sagal) is certain that she is nothing more than a hopeless junkie. So, she gives Wendy a Bible and a hypodermic needle, to spare Abel a lifetime of terrible parenting. Wendy obliges. But the hospital staff manages to save her in time.
After that Wendy soon disappears from the show for a long period of time, before returning as one of main characters closer to the end. In that time, she manages to overcome her drug addiction and is eventually introduced to Abel as his real mother. In fact, at the end Jax leaves Abel and Thomas Teller II, his son with Tara Knowles (Maggie Siff) the woman for whom he left Wendy, with Wendy.
He even tells her, "You're a good mom, Wendy. Everything's gonna be fine."
And if this ending makes the moment when Wendy is foaming at the mouth from drug overdose in the pilot seem almost strange, that's because in the initial script Wendy was never supposed to leave the hospital alive.
As Drea de Matteo relayed in a Reddit AMA, "My character originally died in the pilot. When she od's, that was supposed to be the end of the character, it was only meant to be a cameo."
When Drea expressed interest in remaining on the show, the showrunners did not know what to do with her character at first, so she disappeared from the story for several seasons, until they've settled on a redemption plot for Wendy, resulting in one of Sons of Anarchy more memorable storylines.
As Drea concluded about her character, "So it makes sense that Wendy would come full circle at this point."