Board Thread:False Info and Speculative Discussion/@comment-4753851-20140909163244/@comment-13965604-20140911143954

I actually think they had a semi long game plan, but s3 fell off the rails because Colton Haynes left the show, and on short notice. I'm not sure how pivotal Erica's role was going to actually be, but Gage Golightly's leaving was why we got the ridiculous Cora thing and affected Boyd's storyline. And now Allison is gone, and Jeff had spent years saying that Scallison was end game, but 'Crystal decided to leave.' Which conveniently happened right after the network approached Jeff about upping the ante and possibly killing off a main character. I find that suspicious, but that's a different conversation.

One of the things I suspect is that Jackson was going to be Peter's son. But that's completely speculation

Anyway. I really think they planned for several seasons, But actors leaving screwed the original plan up, and they haven't been able to get back on track.