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The process of casting Seinfeld may not have been easy for show co-creators Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, but the result was nothing short of spectacular. Of course, the inclusion of Michael Richards, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Jason Alexander were genius. But the fact that the secondary characters were given such unique parts is even more impressive. This includes Wayne Knight's Newman, who has gone down as one of the nastiest TV villains of all time. While he eventually became a fan favorite, there was a time when Jerry Seinfeld absolutely did not want Newman on the show.
Most fans are under the interpretation that the making of Seinfeld was smooth sailing. In reality, there were tons of dark secrets that fans had absolutely no idea about. This includes how the cast wanted to fire one of the actors because they couldn't stand working with her. But where does this revelation stand? Did Jerry Seinfeld not want Wayne Knight's Newman on the show for personal reasons? Or was there something else going on?
How The Character Of Newman Was Created And How Wayne Knight Was Cast
Back in the second season, the writers planted the seeds for the character that eventually became Jerry's biggest nemesis. It was a brief interaction in Jerry's apartment when Kramer complained about their neighbor (Newman) who was constantly threatening his own life.
"The following season, we did a show where I guess we needed a friend for Kramer, somebody in the building, and we've already heard this name 'Newman' before so [it was like], 'Let's use this guy. Let's use the same guy. We've already introduced him'," Larry David said in a making of documentary for the episode "The Suicide". "So, we had a casting session fo this character, Newman. And then Wayne Knight came in."
Wayne claimed that he was excited about auditioning for Seinfeld because he was a big fan of the show and really wanted to take his career up a notch by getting on a series that was "actually good". Larry knew in "about five seconds" that Wayne was right for the part. He thought he was terrific and easily the best person for the job. At that time, Wayne was at the beginning of his career. He had small roles in a couple big movies, such as Dirty Dancing, but mostly appeared in unremarkable TV movies.
Once he got onto Seinfeld, Wayne's career absolutely erupted. He earned notable roles in Basic Instinct, JFK, and Jurassic Park as well as joined Third Rock From The Sun around the same time as his character on Seinfeld was reaching the height of his popularity. So, there's no doubt that Wayne owes so much to Seinfeld and the men and women who hired him. And yet, Jerry actually wasn't keen on keeping the Newman character around.
Why Jerry Seinfeld Didn't Want Wayne Knight's Newman To Be On Seinfeld
No, this wasn't an art that imitates life moments. Jerry Seinfeld absolutely did not have a feud with Wayne Knight. His momentary hesitation with including The Newman character was to do with a creative reason.
"I thought we thought it might disturb Kramer's mystic if you actually saw any friends of his," Jerry said in the behind-the-scenes interview." We wanted him to be, you know, kind of an island unto himself."
So, there was a bit of backlash to the idea of pulling back the curtain and revealing more about Kramer's personal life in "The Suicided" episode in 1992, where Wayne's Newman first appears. But Wayne's stellar presence and chemistry with Michael Richards and his Kramer character was undeniable.
"Wayne was such a perfect compadre and counterpoint to [Kramer]," Jerry explained.
Wayne explained that he had no expectation of having his character return to the show. It was strictly a one-off episode, and he was grateful for that. The character himself wasn't even who Newman ultimately became. In "The Suicide" he was supposed to be the son of the landlord and "the building snitch". This is because it served the character's function in the episode. But Wayne's portrayal of Newman was so interesting and engaging that Michael Richards knew that the writers had no intention of ever letting him go.
"Somewhere in the mix the song of the landlord thing dropped out and the building snitch turned into pure evil over time," Wayne explained.
The idea of making him Jerry's arcaneness came easy to the writers as he was initially brought in as one of the first characters to ever really try and bring Jerry down. This became a running gag and how they ultimately redefined the character. While Wayne has said he's grateful for Seinfeld and loved working on it, he wished that he was given more to do. There were times when Newman was purely brought in for a quick gag and left. But in later seasons he was given juicer storylines. Regardless, it kept him employed, and Wayne was able to be part of something he truly thought was great.
To fans, the inclusion of Newman was paramount. He was one of the few characters who could really bounce of Kramer in an engaging way without being overshadowed. On top of this, he became one of the most memorable recurring characters in the history of Seinfeld.