'Inside Out 2' Almost Had a WAY Darker Story Thanks to This SCRAPPED Emotion

Imagine a children’s movie where shame — not joy — drives the protagonist. Imagine a story where complicated, adult feelings take hold and don’t let go. Sounds kinda depressing, right? Well, in the early stages of production for Disney Pixar’s Inside Out 2, those deep, dark emotions were a real possibility. Yes, really!

Joy

Recently, the director of Inside Out 2, Kelsey Mann, and producer Mark Nielsen took to Instagram to share some behind-the-scenes secrets about the movie. In fact, we learned about THREE (!!!) potential emotions that didn’t make the cut, and we NEED to talk about them.

Inside Out 2 was a wild success at the box office. The sequel film broke several records, making it the largest box office opening of 2024 AND the second-biggest animated box office opening of all time domestically.

Anxiety and Joy

In this continuation of Pixar’s Inside Out, the film follows Riley, our protagonist, as she navigates life as a 13-year-old girl. Like most girls her age, Riley is dealing with new feelings, changes, and new friends. With that, we meet a new emotion, Anxiety, who moves into Headquarters with her fellow new emotions, Envy, Ennui, and Embarrassment. Chaos ensues.

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The story explores how we grow, change, and learn to deal with more emotions. It was met with tons of praise! But before the creators settled on the nine emotions we see in the film, there were a few…interesting options.

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Director Kelsey Mann and producer Mark Nielsen shared some fascinating behind-the-scenes secrets from the film. We learned that at one point, the filmmakers suggested a character called Schadenfreude. This feeling basically translates to taking pleasure in someone else’s misfortune — how devious!

©Pixar

Animators also created concept art for a character called Jealousy, who could have acted as an identical twin to Envy. Ultimately, it seems like this character was absorbed into Envy.

©Pixar

Now, here’s where things get interesting. The creators revealed that they did “a loooot of exploration” on a character called Shame. Unsurprisingly, the duo revealed, “Every time we tried to put it in the movie, it always kind of brought the tone of the film down into a place that wasn’t really enjoyable to watch.” Nielsen added, “It was a complicated emotion.”

©Pixar

Instead, the creators used the feeling of shame throughout the film without naming it as a specific character. Between the intense feelings of Anxiety and the film’s complex themes, adding another dark, heavy emotion like Shame was probably too much for poor Riley to handle!

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So, what do you think? Would you have liked to see these emotions make the final cut? There’s something delightfully evil about Schadenfreude that we can’t stop thinking about. Anyone else? In the meantime, we’re always on the lookout for the latest Disney news, so stay tuned for more.

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Would you have liked to see these emotions make the final cut? Let us know in the comments!