The Character Died With Her: Colleen Dewhurst, who played Marilla in the 1985 TV movie version, died during the production of the spinoff TV series Road to Avonlea. Marilla was then killed off in the series too.
Completely Different Title: The Japanese and Scottish Gaelic translations both rename the novel Red-Haired Anne in their respective languages (in Japanese it's Akage no Anne, in Scottish it's Anna Ruadh).
Creator Backlash: Like many popular authors, Montgomery was always slightly annoyed at the way the public wanted her to do nothing better than to churn out Anne-based sequels; this is widely accepted as the reason why the second book in the series, Anne of Avonlea, is so comparatively mediocre, and why Montgomery responded to the proposal of writing a further sequel where Anne goes to college with, "The idea makes me sick." She ended up relenting and writing Anne of the Island after six years. Later, she swore to herself that Rilla of Ingleside would be the last Anne novel, only to write Anne of Windy Poplars and Anne of Ingleside a decade-and-a-half later.
Franchise Zombie: Could be said to apply to Montgomery, who continued to write novels and stories set in Anne Shirley's universe up to the day she died. It definitely applies to the Kevin Sullivan TV franchise, which to date has included four made-for-TV movies-cum-miniseries, an animated TV show, an animated film, and a long-running TV series set in Avonlea.
Orphaned Reference: Some productions of the musical, particularly high school productions, will replace "The Words" with a different song ("When I Say My Say," meant to give more time for a wig swap for the green-hair scene) but will leave its reprise intact.
Tourist Bump: It's been said that as much as a third of all tourism to Prince Edward Island, Canada's smallest and least-populated province, is related to this book, which is set there.
Write What You Know: Like Anne, Montgomery had an Imaginary Friend named Katie Maurice when she was a child. Montgomery's second son also died shortly after he was born, much like what happens to Anne and Gilbert's first child, Joyce.
The 1919 film:
Disowned Adaptation: L. M. Montgomery was reportedly upset with the film’s liberties from the book, particularly changing the setting from Canada to America and disapproved of Mary Miles Minter’s “sweet, sugary” portrayal of Anne. She even said “I think if I hadn't already known it was from my book, that I would never had recognized it.”
Missing Episode: As of 2020, all prints of the film are believed to have been lost. Only a few stills remain of the film itself and there are images taken directly from the film in a 1919 edition of the book.
Romance on the Set: Mary Miles Minter briefly entered a relationship with this version's director, William Desmond Taylor, only for the two to decide not to pursue the relationship further due to Taylor being 30 years her senior; though the brief romance clouded Minter's career following Taylor's unsolved murder in 1922.
The 1934 film:
The Danza: Invoked. Actress Dawn O'Day changed her name to Anne Shirley after playing the character.
Mitzi Green was cast as Anne but was later dropped when her Stage Mom demanded more money.
Katharine Hepburn longed to play Anne and was always disappointed that she never got to. Her grand niece Schuyler Grant got to play Diana in the 1985 version.
Actor-Shared Background: Colleen Dewhurst grew up on Prince Edward Island, just like her character Marilla.
Channel Hop: The 1985 film originally aired on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation before switching over to the Disney Channel for The Sequel, then back to CBC for The Continuing Story and finally CTV for A New Beginning. PBS also broadcast the series as part of its anthology series ''WonderWorks''.
Fake Nationality: Schuyler Grant is American, playing the Prince Edward Island native Diana.
Late Export for You: This series first reached Japan in 1989 via a 50-minute Compilation Movie, first released theatrically and later on home video. In 1994, Fuji TV - which had also broadcast the 1979 anime - commissioned a new dub for TV broadcast, this time adapting the entire series.
The Other Darrin: Between the two (theatrical and TV) Japanese dubs, Miyoko Aso as Marilla was the only one to reprise her role. Anne was dubbed by Hiromi Tsuru in the theatrical dub and Miki Fujitani (Kaoru in Rurouni Kenshin) in the TV dub.
Katharine Hepburn was offered the role of Marilla, but she turned it down. As mentioned above, she wanted the part of Anne for the 1934 film, but the part was given to someone else.
After turning down the role of Marilla, she suggested her grand-niece Schuyler Grant for Anne, but Kevin Sullivan gave her the role of Diana instead since he wanted a Canadian actress for Anne.
Megan Follows, for her part, was initially rejected for the role of Anne by Kevin Sullivan; only to win the part following a stronger audition.
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