I have read for years that the original version of this subplot was supposed to be Ivanova/Talia, which if true would have been incalculably more interesting to me.

As an avid viewer of seasons 1-4, it seemed obvious to me that the following season-if-it-happened would show Ivanova coming to terms with telepathy and using it during the next phase of B5's political conflicts. Having CC drop out, and the... rather sudden... appearance of Byron, really upended my appreciation of season 5, at least the first half.