Absolutely freakinā no!
I just love her so much as Paige and canāt imagine anyone else playing her! But maybe thatās just me ;P
Iām going to expand a little (or, a LOT) more on my answer xD
I still maintain that she shouldnāt have turned down the role. I have a feeling most will disagree with me on that (I see Iām the only one who voted ānoā so far). I know a lot of people like the idea of Jennifer Love Hewitt being Paige instead, but I really like Rose in this role. I know she shows her boredom in it later, but maybe Iām someone who doesnāt see it as much (or as early on) as others do xD
Maybe after season 4, if that were possible. I loved her in season 4. She was perfect as the newcomer who had to find her place in this new family, and as someone new to magic.
But after season 4 I could tell she was bored in her role for the most part, and Rose has confirmed the show went on far too long for her. I wish that if the tone of the show were going to change so much in the second half that Paige would only be there part time.
So let's say that Cole never comes back in season 5, and the Source in any form is dead forever, so the sisters have fulfilled their destiny. Now let's say Paige decides that it's time to take advantage of traveling with Glen and of getting the last year of her life back. Then she would only have to be there part time, maybe even making one or two appearances a season, while Piper and Phoebe are the main focus.
Maybe in season 5 onwards we get a new character to take Paige's place. Maybe Ava from The Eyes Have It could stick around and be an ally of theirs, or another witch. This way Paige could still be a character, but both Paige and Rose get the distance they need. And of course Paige could come back at the end of the series for one last big battle that needs the Power of Three.
Great ideas, Elle Em! Weād still get Rose to come back here and there (if she was available and not busy with other projects at the moment), so Paige could still be a part of it. Iād love for her to come back for the finale, as youāve done, and also if we could get Prue in, as well š
Iād so always wanted more from Ava! Her story got cut short to me and it seemed like they were building to have her stick around with Piperās pregnancy. But alas, that never happened.
Inspired by your post, I got thinking...
So rather than having Paige be introduced after Prue dies, letās say she was introduced earlier in S3, or even at the beginning of S3. Iām always thinking of ways to bring Paige in earlier, as sheās my second favorite sister, so Iāve thought about this a lot. She could be an innocent the sisters save initially, or somehow one of the sisterās befriend her (and because Iāll never get over Prue and Paige never meeting, I always like to think itās Prue who befriends her first, but it could be either Phoebe or Piper, too š). Or these two ideas could be combined and sheās an innocent who the Charmed Ones save and then befriend.
If we go with the innocent idea or the innocent who becomes their friend idea, then sheād already be aware of the fact that they were witches (unless her memories were wiped of that part or something if they were afraid she might expose them, but letās say that doesnāt happen and that Paige doesnāt expose them). Maybe we find out sheād already had some experience with her whitelighter powers (you can see my several ideas with that in the āWhat If Paige Started Off Experienced With Her Powersā thread, in
this post and
this one), and she can learn more about her background from them and Leo. Maybe we find out sheās also looked into finding out more about her birth family, and she discovers during this time that sheās in fact related to the Halliwells, maybe towards the end of S3.
If we go with the one of sisters befriending her idea instead, we just show Paigeās friendship grow with the sisters as we move through the season. So here Paige is, bonding with her sisters before really even knowing they are in fact her sisters. She could start to get suspicious, kind of like Andy with Prue, that theyāre hiding something from her, but then letās say we throw in Paigeās first orbing experience (at least, her first sheās aware of, because we know she first orbed in A Paige From The Past during the car crash that killed her parents), and this freaks her out. This starts to happen more, and maybe some magical incident happens when Paige is around the sisters, and either they see her orb, or when the sisters try to explain whatās happened (if it doesnāt have to deal with Paige orbing and something else instead), rather than running away, Paige decides to confide in them about her own orbing experiences (though she wouldnāt know thatās what itās called, obviously) and hereās when she starts to learn more about her background and helps the sisters out when she can as she gets more skilled with her own powers, though they are all confused how sheās like the first true ālivingā whitelighter theyāve met. At some point, sheād learn she is related to the Halliwells (whether it be on her own or via her sisters), similarly towards the end of S3 like my idea in the above paragraph scenario. With any of these ideas, we can throw the A Paige From The Past and Sam storylines in there (but they still might work out better for a S4 since Paige finding out she was related to the Halliwells would happen near the end, and thatās a lot to cram in there before a finale), while still having S3 play out in a somewhat similar manner as the show.
Now, Iāll keep in mind here that Shannen had expressed the desire that she, too, was thinking of moving on from the show, having believed weād seen as much as could with Prue and was becoming bored with the role herself (sheās said before in conventions Iāve seen of her that when she was younger, she tended to get bored with roles quickly), though she still had plans to stay through her contract through S4. So Shannen isnāt fired/doesnāt leave, whichever one you believe to have happened, meaning none of the sisters die at the end of S3, and now we kind of got a PO4 thing going into S4. We could still do the Cole possessed by the Source and Phoebe becoming the Queen Of The Underworld storyline, and then there comes this final battle between Cole/Source (maybe along with Phoebe or not, depending on if sheās joined back to her sistersā sides or we just see her embracing her dark side fully). (I want to give credit to
Aaeiyn for inspiring this idea here, with a final battle of Cole/Source and āevil/darkā Phoebe going up against her sisters š.) It is in this battle, that Prue dies by saving her sisters (maybe seeing this brings Phoebe back to the light, if we go with the idea of her having turned to the bad side rather than rejoining her sisters before this final battle), NOT in some lackluster manner as in All Hell Breaks Loose (because for me, if Prue is going to die, then I would have wanted it to be because she was saving her sisters, because her sisters meant everything to her). This could be part of the finale, or close to it, Iām not sure where Iād exactly put it unless I started writing it, but it would be one of the last episodes, in my head. The Source is vanquished, along with Cole, Phoebe is saved (IF she was fighting alongside Cole/Source initially; remember, I had it going either way), and now weāre picking up the pieces in the aftermath. Weād get Piper, Phoebe, and Paige crying over Prueās lifeless body (I donāt know why, but Iād always wanted to see something like this in All Hell Breaks Loose if we knew Shannen wasnāt coming back for certain in S4 during the finale), Phoebe obviously also a wreck over losing Cole, and then we come to the end of the show, giving a little more closure for Prueās death and Coleās, too, and then we could have like a flash forward into several months later at the very end. Maybe the sisters donāt decide to give up their powers, as they still want to protect the innocent (despite the Source not being a threat anymore since heās been vanquished), just that itās not maybe as big of a part of their lives as it used to be. But the end scene of the show could be something like them coming to this decision, after maybe talking with Prue as a spirit (because letās say they can actually summon her, since Shannen would still be able to be a part of it)āheck, maybe even after Cole communicating with Phoebe via some means that helps give her more closure with losing himāand we see Piper, Phoebe, and Paige all take hands or some sweet sisterly moment where I imagine they say something along the lines of āwitches foreverā kind of like how they did at the end of Wicca Envy (but not obviously cut and paste exact dialogue), and we see the camera move from them to the BOS (maybe we see the triquetra symbol glow, then the book open, and the pages start to flip to the back to blank pages, indicating the start of a ānewā journey). Then the camera fades out and thatās the end, leaving the audience to imagine that theyāre still out there doing good and helping people (and even helping train the next generation of witches).
I know this could definitely use some finetuning here and there (some things probably donāt make sense xD), as this would be a sad way to see the show end, with a double blow of devastation for Phoebe losing both Prue and Cole, and Piper and Paige losing Prue. I guess I could change it up where Cole is working on the side of good and helps them take out the Source, but Prue still dies in saving her sisters. I mean, I could have Prue surviving the final battle, too (because itās not like I want Prue dead; I love her and sheās my favorite sister), but for some reason, I see something like this happening, with Prue dying to save her sisters.
But anyway, with the show ending at S4, this lets Shannen stay through her contract and allow her to part from the show, and now Rose is only in the show for about 1 1/2 to 2 seasons, which is more in line for what sheād imagined originally. And we get best of both worlds having to see all four of them together for some time.
Just some ideas I thought of ;P
Yes true I agree.
She obviously didn't want to do it post Season 4 and said she cried everytime the show got renewed so she could have saved the show from discourse by quitting after 1 season.
I do wonder if sheād been more enthusiastic in staying (maybe not the full 5 seasons she was in), if sheād had a more positive experience on set. I know itās not a perfect world, but letās say things were great on set, no feuding, ideas were being heard, Shannen had just left because she wanted to pursue other projects (and thus could come back for guest star appearances), and everyone was close. I wonder then if Rose would have been okay with staying longer and given more effort in her role towards the end. I know she was more into doing movies/films (kind of more like Shannen in this way), but I just wonder if sheād felt differently if her overall personal experience with being on the show was better. Again, I could see her still becoming maybe bored with the role after some time and not staying through S8, but maybe at least through S6? I donāt know. Iām just imagining xD
I also like Prue, Piper, and Paige being the PO3 after losing Phoebe and wonder if things would have been different if Rose was acting alongside Shannen and Holly, and if Rose, again, would have enjoyed being on set more with these two/worked better with Shannen over Alyssa... But again, she still may have gotten bored with the role, and I know itās unlikely that Shannen would really want to do a full 8 seasons, either, especially depending how similar or different the writing/show direction may have gone in (and again, if ideas from our leading ladies were heard out or at least considered). I suppose Charmed didnāt have to go a full 8 seasons... But a girl can dream, LOL.
