The altered pilot episode of The Originals aired yesterday at San Diego Comic-Con, and attending fans noticed some significant changes to the storyline.

The Originals pilot episode originally aired as an episode of The Vampire Diaries season 4, titled “The Originals.”

A similar but somewhat altered and re-cut version of this episode was screened at the big SDCC preview night yesterday.

While the bulk of the episode remained the same as what The Vampire Diaries fans have already seen, some new scenes had been added, while others had been cut.

One significant omission was the voicemail message Klaus left Caroline towards the end of the episode, where he told her that New Orleans was one of his favourite places in the world, and that he wanted to show it to her.

Considering that The Originals is presented as a brand new series focusing on the Original vampires, it might have made sense to cut a scene which linked Klaus back to The Vampire Diaries.

However, fans are now arguing that if the Klaus/Caroline relationship is indeed going to continue despite the characters’ separation, introducing his feelings for her in the first episode would have helped cement that storyline.

Watch the scene below, and tell us in the comments if you agree with the decision to cut it from the new The Originals pilot episode:

Other changes include the introduction of Davina (Danielle Campbell), the only major character who did not appear at all in “The Originals” episode.

Further, all the scenes showing Damon and Stefan’s struggles with Elena back in Mystic Falls have been omitted, for obvious reasons.

According to TV Line, the pilot episode of The Originals which will air this fall will be a brand new episode, continuing on from what The Vampire Diaries fans (and now Comic-Con goers) have already seen.

We wonder if this re-cut version will ever be aired, or perhaps be included on The Originals season 1 DVDs?

The Originals premieres Tuesday, October 15 at 8/7c on The CW.