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Dawson’s Creek Shocker: Joey Almost Ended Up With Dawson, Not Pacey

Dawson's Creek cast
Dawson's Creek creator Kevin Williamson revealed during the ATX Television Festival on Saturday, June 6, that Joey was originally supposed to end up with Dawson on Dawson's Creek

But Pacey bought her a wall! Dawson’s Creek laid out the perfect TV love triangle, with viewers either Team Dawson or Team Pacey. But as it turns out, Joey Potter wasn’t originally supposed to end up with Pacey Witter. That’s right, the girl next door was close to ending the series in the arms of her BFF — Dawson Leery.

Related: PHOTOS: TV shows gone too soon

Co-showrunners Kevin Williamson and Paul Stupin revealed the shocker during the ATX Television Festival in Austin, Tx., on Saturday, June 6. Katie Holmes (Joey), Joshua Jackson (Pacey), and James Van Der Beek (Dawson) played the ever-so eloquently spoken kids from Capeside from 1998 to 2003.

“It was clear to us that it was she and Dawson who would wind up together. Halfway through, Kevin calls me and says, ‘I changed my mind,'” Stupin recalled.

Williamson finally decided on Joey and Pacey’s fate while writing the series finale, where the characters jumped ahead five years. He began to write Dawson and Joey’s romantic ending, but realized that it wasn’t “what the show set up to be.”

“I wanted it to be a twist on the teen genre but also wanted it to be surprising, honest and real and say something about soul mates and what soul mates can be,” he explained. “That’s why we did it that way. When you left the show in that last moment, they’re a family and everyone got what they wanted. There was fulfillment and they were all happy.”

Related: PHOTOS: Love on set

The Scream creator noted that not two, but all three characters were soul mates. His mom, however, refused to consider such a notion. He joked: “Guys, my mother hates me!”

Dawson ultimately got his dream job working in film (Steven Spielberg, you guys!), but another story line also proved to be a tearjerker for audiences — Jen Lindley’s death. Michelle Williams‘ blonde stunner said an emotional goodbye to her daughter in a video with the help of Dawson, who was the first to welcome her to town. But despite fans going through several tissue boxes, Williamson stands by his decision.

Dawson's Creek
Dawson’s Creek cast

“They had dealt with the death of a parent but they hadn’t dealt with the death of someone in their circle,” he said of the beloved characters. “Until you deal with death, that’s one more way of coming of age.”

Related: PHOTOS: TV's most shocking deaths

Dawson’s Creek ran for six seasons, and featured some of the best ’90s jams around. (Cue its theme song, Paula Cole’s “I Don’t Want to Wait!”) A reunion has been talked about for years, but Holmes’ most recent comments doesn’t leave much hope.

“I don’t want them to grow up. You know, it’s kind of like your parents — they never get out of their fifties, that’s where they are,” she told Yahoo! Style late last month. “We just did it, we all enjoyed it. It was of a certain time, it was pre-Internet. There was an innocence there.”

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