Star Trek: Voyager's Original Ending Killed A Major Character
Star Trek: Voyager's series finale, "Endgame", was originally meant to kill off a major character in a twist that likely would have left a lot of fans disgruntled. "Endgame" saw the crew of the USS Voyager finally return to Earth after seven years in the Delta Quadrant, helped by an alternate timeline future Admiral Janeway and some Borg technology. Despite a few close calls, everyone on the crew made it back to Earth alive in the end, although the alternate future they avoid with Admiral Janeway's help would have included the deaths of a couple of major characters, namely Commander Chakotay and Seven of Nine.
If producer Brannon Braga had had his way though, Seven of Nine's death would still have come to pass. Braga began his career as an intern on Star Trek: The Next Generation but rose through the ranks to co-producer by TNG's final season. He later served as a producer on both Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise, and helped write two of the Next Generation movies, Star Trek: Generations and Star Trek: First Contact. During his time working on the franchise, Braga had a hand in two major character deaths that are still controversial among fans, namely Captain Kirk's death in Star Trek: Generations and Charles "Trip" Tucker's death in the Enterprise season finale.
Originally, Braga intended to add Seven's death to his roster as the pay off to a storyline he had created for her in the season 7 episode "Human Error". The episode dealt with Seven exploring social interactions on the holodeck with the help of a simulation of Voyager and the crew but also revealed that Seven still had a piece of Borg technology in her brain that would shut off her higher brain functions if she began to feel her emotions too strongly. This was apparently a Borg failsafe to keep drones from regaining their individuality. Braga has stated that the introduction of the technology was meant to show that Seven could never be entirely human, a state of affairs that would cause her to sacrifice her life for the Voyager crew in "Endgame" rather than live life never truly fitting in as either a Borg or a human.
It is unclear why the idea of Seven's death was ultimately rejected as a storyline for the finale, but her status as a fan-favorite character would have made her death yet another extremely controversial one among fans. Braga's reasoning behind Seven of Nine's decision to sacrifice herself would likely have been met with criticism, mostly because the idea that Seven could never have lived a normal life was undercut by the fact that the implant suppressing her emotions was removable with surgery. Perhaps because of this, or for other reasons, "Endgame" ultimately chose to give Seven a happy ending, with her agreeing to have the troubling implant removed so that she could begin pursuing a romantic relationship with Commander Chakotay. However, her death in the alternate timeline future that Admiral Janeway travels back from is possibly a nod to Braga's original storyline.
Like the rest of the Star Trek franchise, Star Trek: Voyager was not known for routinely killing off major characters. While a tragic death might have been in keeping with Seven's tragic backstory, her survival after "Endgame" is ultimately more satisfying given all the circumstances. It has also paved the way for the character to be brought back recently in the first season of Star Trek: Picard, a decision that pleased fans and allowed Seven of Nine some fascinating further character development which will hopefully be continued in subsequent seasons.