Samwell Tarly's Story Arc (Spoilers Extended)

Background

While looking back over some of the draft/outline information recently I came across some ideas for some new posts, but primarily just rehashed a lot of what I already knew/posted about. But suddenly I realized that there was something missing not because of what I had seen, but what I had not. There is almost no information on Samwell Tarly in the 2003/2004 AFFC Outline or from any of the different trips to Cushing. With that said I thought it would be fun to try and gather what I could and speculate.

If interested:

Looking Back

• Open Ended Storyline for the 5 Year Gap - Unlike most of the other POV characters that end ASOS with a pretty hard stop as to what they are going to be doing during the 5 year gap (A Quick Look at the End of ASOS and the Setup for the 5 Year Gap), Sam's was left pretty open ended after securing Jon the role of Lord Commander. It is debatable if GRRM wanted Sam to stay in the North (ex: show Melisandre the Nightfort, etc.) when closing the book, but as of the AFFC prologue he was definitely sending Sam south
• 2003-2004 Outline: Sam = Cut - The 2003-2004 Outline only mention's Sam once in a pretty confusing section that has Sam's name slashed out (Sam) with Jaime beneath it and the words "cut" and "Blackfish" next to it. It could mean cut Sam to next book, or strictly be about Jaime and the Blackfish, etc. It should be noted that the Prologue was giving GRRM fits at the time and he was planning to send Sam to the Citadel
• Sam's Last 4 Chapters Were Late Finishes - From u/gsteff's spreadsheet we know that in each draft (Oct 2003, January 2004 and June 2004) there was only one finished Sam chapter: AFFC, Samwell I (which ranged from 23 to 25 pages). The June 2004 draft had a placeholder for a partially written Sam chapter and an unwritten Sam chapter. (Note: The published AFFC has 5 Samwell chapters and the 4 chapters that were unwritten probably had to do with weaving Sam into the Braavos and then Oldtown storyline/prologue, etc)
• AFFC, Samwell I/AWD, Jon II Remained Intertwined - AFFC Samwell was known to still feature some of the same plot that ended up in ADWD, Jon II including the babyswap
• Lazy Leo/The Sphinx are Important - As of his planning for the AFFC, Prologue , GRRM was sending Sam to the Citadel as he mentioned this to his editors (paraphrased):

Introduce the dramatis personae of the Citadel, i.e. archmaesters, novices, etc. Two of the Citadel characters the reader meets will be important to Sam's story when he arrives... Lazy Leo Tyrell and Alleras the Sphinx.

If interested: The Lazy Rose and the Sphinx in TWoW

Looking Forward

• Visited Sam in November 2020 - GRRM has mentioned writing Sam in TWoW as well:

For the nonce, it is what it is.   My life is at home, on hold, and I am spending the days in Westeros with my pals Mel and Sam and Vic and  Ty.    And that girl with no name, over there in Braavos. - Back in Westeros: 8 Nov 2020

• Visited Oldtown - This could obviously reference Aeron who is strapped to the prow of Euron's Silence, but my money is on Sam here as well:

dropped in to Oldtown a time or three - Back in Westeros: 8 Nov 2020