Ianto was originally meant to die and come back to life in place of Owen in season 2 of Torchwood. This was changed shortly before filming, and Ianto would end up dying during the events of Children of Earth: Day Four instead.
Unused episode ideas
Checkout1
Checkout was a Ianto-centric episode originally intended for season 2 before being scrapped due to major plot changes in the season.
It centered around a 24-hour supermarket haunted by a Rift creature. Every night at 2AM, the creature would trap any customers inside the store to hunt them down. Ianto would have saved Maggie, the last living customer, due to not having any air left in his lungs after his death. A scene would’ve involved Ianto and a grieving Maggie conversing on the roof of the supermarket with Ianto helping her regain her will to live. This scene was eventually turned into the episode A Day in the Death.
The episode’s main draws for writer Joseph Lidster was the contrast between the dark and exciting world of Torchwood and the bright and mundane supermarket as well as the exploration of Ianto’s state of mind. The story would’ve touched on Ianto’s feelings of isolation and his struggle to adapt to his new undeath.
Revenant2
Revenant was a Ianto-centric episode originally intended for season 2. It was taken from the idea of the roof scene in Checkout and eventually became A Day in the Death after multiple rewrites.
It centered around a group of people who have had near-death experiences that Ianto joins for support. Ianto bonds with one of them, Maggie, due to the similarity of their experiences. The team eventually discovers that Maggie’s near-death experience has granted her the power to kill people by touching them — she considers herself to be an Angel of Death who needs to find people who have “come back”. Ianto goes to meet Maggie one last time, and as she touches him, he absorbs the energy field that has granted her those powers. She sees Ianto glowing in her final moments. This helps Ianto find purpose in his life again.
Another iteration of the episode had Ianto visiting the house of an alien collector as he struggles to come to terms with his death. This is a plot much closer to that of A Day in the Death.
Themes
Being brought back to life is a very traumatising experience in the world of Torchwood, not only due to the often violent death the characters who are brought back have experienced, but often also due to their discovery of what awaits after death: nothing. Ianto’s religious background is briefly touched upon in season 2, but never elaborated on, and while he had likely already learned about this lack of an afterlife through other characters, experiencing it for himself would be a different matter entirely.