What if Jane was Molly?
I think this would have worked better for the entirety of Season Two. Molly is the same as Jane, losing her sister and all but we could see a more survival-hardened version of her (and the reappearance of her climbing axe). Remember, she never got along that well with Kenny, so their relationship would already have the groundwork laid out, without necessarily needing to spend too much time fleshing it out in longer arguments or scenes where Jane/Molly warns Clementine of Kenny (maybe one or two would be more than enough).
We could perhaps open up a bit more to Molly, get a track of where she has been in the past few months since we saw her in Season 1, and she may have a closer relationship to Clementine based on whether Clementine saved her, or whether Lee accidentally shot her.
The end choice would bring about a lot more conflict, based on two characters that we know and the fanbase has (generally) had a desire to want them to return, and even highlighting why we could side with Kenny/leave Molly alone by the end, seeing her become this notorious somewhat ruthless badass in Season 1 to a hardened cold survivor who is willing to risk a baby's life to prove a point in Season 2 would be quite the transformation.
Comments
I think Jane makes more sense logistically. What are the odds of Clementine bumping into Kenny and Molly in the vast Georgia wilderness? They had to make the game somewhat realistic. Jane is just different enough, while serving the same purpose.
To be fair, Clementine never encountered Jane in the "vast George wilderness", it would make perfect sense to encounter Molly in Carver's Camp, since they would have obviously been imprisoned. And also with the amount of characters people want returning (400 Days, Lilly, Christa, etc.) I don't think it's too much of an issue.
You could also argue Kenny was at the lodge. My point is in that getting separated from Christa and wandering around, Clementine manages to find Kenny and Molly both? That would be a stretch in my opinion. Clementine meeting Molly in Season 3 would make more sense, if they are going to go that direction with the game. As much as I would like to see several characters return, I doubt we will get more than one or two.
Technically North Carolina/Virginia/Tenesse Wilderness, but I see your point.
It makes me feel like Molly's chance of a return is severely lessened because of Jane being similar. I like both characters though, tbh