George Costanza’s (Jason Alexander) original ending for Seinfield season 6 would have ruined his hilarious season-long engagement story. Seinfeld rarely wrote season-long arcs for Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer, but when these stretched storylines did come about, they always led to some of the sitcom’s most iconic screw-ups for the main characters. One such storyline was Seinfeld season 4’s Jerry TV pilot, but the most memorable was George’s painful engagement to Susan Ross in season 7 (Heidi Swedberg).
George and Susan originally started dating in Seinfeld season 4 when she worked as one of the NBC executives dealing with the Jerry sitcom pilot. However, George wanted out of the relationship and arranged for Susan to break up with him. Seinfeld’s season 7 premiere, “The Engagement,” sees George and Jerry decide to finally grow up and find wives, with George’s engagement lasting far longer than Jerry's. When George reveals that his new fiancée is Susan, none of his friends expect the engagement to last, least of all George himself. However, with George finding it increasingly difficult to back out of the relationship, Jason Alexander’s character and Susan stay engaged throughout all of Seinfeld season 7.
Considering Larry David’s big rule for Seinfeld was that there would be no hugging or learning for the main characters, it was always expected that any hopeful situation would turn out horribly. This was certainly the case for George and Susan’s engagement, which came about in a desperate plea for stability until Susan unexpectedly died in Seinfeld’s season 7 finale. However, had Seinfeld not deleted the scene from the end of season 6 in which George becomes engaged to his girlfriend Siena, his hilariously harrowing engagement to Susan throughout Seinfeld season 7 would have been undermined.
Seinfeld Season 6’s Cut Plan For George’s Engagement Explained
Before bringing Susan back or making an engagement pact with Jerry, Seinfeld was going to have George propose to a different woman in season 6. Seinfeld season 6, episode 23, “The Face Painter,” may be better known for its iconic storyline with Elaine’s boyfriend David Puddy, but it almost became the episode where Goerge became engaged. George’s story in the episode follows him dating a woman named Siena (Katy Selverstone), who he really starts to fall for, but his plans to tell her he loves her are foiled due to her being hard of hearing. The aired Seinfeld episode showed George wanting to say he loves her when she can hear it, but a deleted scene took their relationship further. In Seinfeld’s cut scene, George told Siena he loved her and quickly asked her to marry him, which she accepted.
Since the filmed scene was deleted, it’s unclear how George was going to get out of the engagement to Siena. However, as per usual with George Constanza in Seinfeld, the engagement inevitably would have been short-lived. If Seinfeld season 6 had never deleted the scene of George and Siena getting engaged, she could have been the character that he remained engaged to in season 7 instead of Susan. Of course, Seinfeld would never give George, Jerry, Elaine, or Kramer a happy ending, so George getting engaged or even married to a girl that genuinely seemed to like him would have been too optimistic of a development for the character. Seinfeld didn’t show George and Siena’s breakup, but it seems that George stopped seeing her after he said “I love you” and she responded, “I heard you the first time.” Nonetheless, George having a happy engagement with Siena would have been far less humorous than his distressing interactions with Susan.
Why George And Susan’s Failed Engagement Was Perfect
George being backed into a wall that he desperately wanted to escape was the perfect comeuppance for the character's changes in Seinfeld season 7. At the time he proposed to Susan, George was ready to be an adult and move forward with life, but immediately wanted out of it once he realized Jerry had broken up with Melanie. There was always an impending sense of doom for George throughout Seinfeld season 7, as it was clear that the situation would end poorly for George whether that meant a terrible development for Susan or actually having to say “I do.” These types of situations always yielded some of the best George moments throughout the sitcom's nine seasons, so having an extended storyline of George being in an inescapable situation was perfect for the Seinfeld main character.
While Siena seemed to be a better match for George than Susan, Heidi Swedberg’s character was the perfect choice for Seinfeld’s failed engagement. George being George meant he couldn’t realistically marry someone who he felt was too good or perfect for him, so being engaged to Susan, who he had little to no chemistry with, was completely in character. Susan and George not meshing well together, despite her putting up with his antics, was actually what made her character the best girlfriend for him in all of Seinfeld (especially since he messed up his chances with actress Marisa Tomei, who cameoed in Seinfeld season 7). As much as staying in an unhappy engagement was painful for George, it would have been an even worse fate for Susan to actually be married to him.
George’s Original Engagement Would’ve Ruined Seinfeld’s Most Brutal Gag
Seinfeld’s main characters are well-known for the terrible things that they do to other people, with one of the most brutal gags in the entire sitcom being Susan’s death. Seinfeld showrunner Larry David had always planned for the engagement to end, but he hadn’t initially intended to kill her off. Jason Alexander and the other main cast members found it difficult to bounce jokes off of Heidi Swedberg, with Julia Louis-Dreyfus sparking an idea in Larry David’s head when she said, “Don’t you just want to kill [Susan]?” David took this suggestion literally, with Susan Ross dying in Seinfeld’s season 7 finale when she continually licks the toxic glue on their wedding invitations (because George was cheap). When discovering that Susan has died, Seinfeld’s main characters respond with shrugs and decide to go get coffee.
Even after Susan dies, George isn’t off the hook from their relationship. In Seinfeld season 8, George has to deal with her parents and, particularly, the foundation that he’ll be helping to run in her name. Despite being free from a doomed marriage, George Costanza's poor luck continues as he will never be able to escape Susan and move on as he planned. Even when he tries to call Marisa Tomei to go on a date after Susan dies, she hangs up on him.
Without Jason Alexander's George getting engaged to Susan in Seinfeld’s season 7 premiere, the sitcom would have missed out on its most brutal gag and torturous storyline for George. It’s still possible that George and Susan still could have become engaged in Seinfeld season 7 after breaking off his brief engagement to Siena at the end of season 6. However, it would have lessened the shocking impact of George not only receiving a season-long engagement storyline, but getting engaged to his memorable ex-girlfriend Susan Ross. Two failed engagements wouldn't have been out-of-character for George, but Seinfeld made the right choice by only giving him one major fiancée with a doomed ending.