Jim and Pam's wedding at Niagara Falls in The Office season 6 almost featured a major twist involving Roy. The character, played by David Denman, was the love interest of Pam Beesley (Jenna Fischer) before she fully unearthed her romantic feelings for Jim Halpert (John Krasinski). After a few bumps in the road, Jim and Pam finally got together in season 4 and their marriage was made official two seasons later. The wedding ceremony almost included the return of Pam's ex-fiancé and a strange subplot involving a horse.
"Niagara" was a two-part episode directed by Paul Feig that aired in 2009. The episode was written by the show's creator Greg Daniels as well as Mindy Kaling, a writer/actress on the series. Jim and Pam, as well as their respective families, friends, and Dunder Mifflin coworkers, traveled to Niagara Falls for their wedding weekend. As expected, various issues arose including Pam's grandmother finding out about her pregnancy and Andy requiring a hospital trip due to a torn scrotum. Prior to the ceremony, Pam accidentally tore her veil so Jim tried to cheer her up by cutting off a piece of his tie. They then ran away and got married by the boat captain while on the Maid of the Mist, before returning for the church ceremony.
Those close to the couple performed dance routines while walking down the aisle but that was far different than the episode's original plan. According to Andy Greene's novel, The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s, Roy was supposed to be in attendance and would have attempted to win Pam back in the middle of their ceremony. Not only would he have barged into the church, but there was also a plan to feature him arrive while riding a horse.
Roy Almost Tried To Win Pam Back During The Ceremony While On Horseback
Those involved with the creation of the episode reminisced on their original plans in Greene's insightful book. The group explained that Roy would have thought that Pam still loved him and that she was justing going through with the wedding to make Roy jealous. He was supposed to ride into the church on horseback while dressed as a white knight. There was then a plan to have Pam turn around in disbelief as Roy realized she was pregnant and truly in love with Jim. That wasn't even the wildest aspect of the original plan.
While in Niagara Falls, the series had an idea for Dwight (Rainn Wilson) to have a "suicide gene" which would have made him obsessed with the falls and a need to go over them. After arriving at the church, Dwight would have encountered Roy before asking to borrow the horse that was rented for the rest of the day. Dwight was meant to take the horse to the falls. He then bailed and swam to safety before he got too close to the edge of the falls. Jim and Pam would have had a romantic moment on the Maid of the Mist by the end of the episode while a white horse went "tumbling over Niagara Falls, plunging six hundred feet" in the background.
Daniels and Kaling loved the idea even though they knew it was risky. The Office's central star, Steve Carell, was the one to nix the idea. As a producer, he has a say in the writing and he thought the horse gag was a "cartoon joke" and he worried the show would be jumping the shark. The team abandoned the idea, including Roy's involvement, and kept the focus on Jim and Pam. The dancing sequence during the ceremony replaced the original plan which felt more fitting for the bigger picture.