“Every time a bell cracks, an angel loses his wings.”

“But, but that hasn’t happened in…”

“Oh, 179 years now, or so they count it down there.”

“But what does it mean, Clarence? What does it mean?”

The ending of It’s a wonderful life never happened we’ve always been in potterville

I mean, how zany can we get?

Just have old man potter bribe some federal officials to investigate the money handling at the savings&loan, and the honesty of george and friends will put them in the hot seat.

Decision point (1): (A) George becomes depressed again OR (B) George gets angry

If (A), good ole clarence has to come back because his wings are in jeopardy. Unbeknownst to the audience, but revealed throughout the movie, is that clarence wasn’t very successful in his other assignments. If he can’t save his first mission from reversing course, his wings are going to be ripped off and he’ll be cast from heaven. He didn’t sin, so he won’t fall to hell, but limbo is a terrible place to be for eternity. This creates a good and proper tension in him that causes haste to make waste, and leads to cascading issues with his own rising fears.

If (B), george starts turning the town into proper bank-hating lads and lasses, gearing towards a showdown with the moneymen of the government and mr. potter’s private army, bolstered by the townsfolk who can’t get it into their head that potter wants them to be nothing more than slaves that slurp up the slop that trickles down from his ownership of all the land, factories, and businesses. A full on riot/revolution is just too much death for heaven to stomach, so down comes clarence to right the course. The problem? Clarence pretty much agrees with george on the causes, but isn’t able or willing to have violence be the answer. As he desperately tries to head off the rising tensions in town (mostly between the peons lining up for george or potter), his angelic self realizes just how fucked the human race has become (let’s not make george’s side entirely angelic here, which my bad description sort of give the impression of), and starts to question why angels like him must come down if it always turns out like this. Perhaps the climax of the movie would be clarence trying to stop the true ‘big battle’ from beginning by revealing his angelic self and wings, and one or both of the sides just don’t care.

Big themes for both would be how the subversive nature of man can’t be arsed to follow some heavenly plan, and of course the love of money (potter’s sin, but have the feds and their desire to uphold proper laws be a counterpoint to it just being about greed) being a primary driver for human suffering.

DYK there already is a sequel about Clarence? It’s called Clarence and came out in 1990. And he is depressed.

Set it in the 80s.

George Bailey lost touch with what was important and has essentially become Potter. He’s divorced, living alone in a Mansion. Never sees his kids or grandkids. Too many board meetings. Losing a son in Vietnam got to him too. He’s afraid to make attachments. He finally got to travel the world, but only to see the inside of board rooms.

The Black Monday crash in '89, he loses it all. He finds himself back in Baileyville (like it would’ve been Pottersville) at the bridge. Hobbles to the edge, pulls out Zuzus petals from his jacket and cries.

Subvert your expectations that it’ll work out. And have that Citizen Kane type regret.