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‘Seinfeld’ remains one of the most pivotal sitcoms of the 20th century and as it turns out, Elaine wasn’t a character intended to even exist.
If you watch the pilot for ‘Seinfeld’, you'll notice one glaring omission. Elaine Benes, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, is not in it.
In 2010, Jason Alexander told Kevin Pollak how Elaine Benes ended up replacing Claire the Waitress, a character from the series pilot, as a regular character on the show. During an appearance on "Kevin Pollak's Chat Show," Alexander said:
"There was no Elaine in the pilot. It was Kramer, George, Jerry, and a waitress. A waitress at the coffee shop. A very fine actress who made the critical error of suggesting to Larry [David] that she, she'd looked at the scenes overnight and made a few tweaks that she wanted to share with him ... A few ideas, a few ideas. In the spirit of community and collaboration." That was the end of Claire the waitress.