History WhatCouldHaveBeen / Animaniacs

* One very early idea was to have the cat and dog duo Rita and Runt act as hosts of the show, in a similar vein to ''The Abbot and Costello Show'', with the two coming out on a stage and introducing each segment until they were scrapped as emcees and it was decided to have the Warners act as "hosts" of the program.

** C.L.I.D.E. & Egghead Jr. would've featured Egghead Jr.[[note]]later known as Eggbert[[/note]] from the WesternAnimation/FoghornLeghorn cartoons going on adventures with the robotic LongLostUncleAesop C.L.I.D.E.[[note]][[SpellMyNameWithAnS spelled with the traditional "CLYDE"]][[/note]] from the ''Tiny Toons'' episode "C.L.I.D.E. and Prejudice"

[[quoteright:270:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/animaniacs_8.png]]
[[caption-width-right:270:A concept poster for a scrapped movie ''Wandering Warners We'', which was also supposed to introduce a fourth sibling.]]

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!![[WesternAnimation/Animaniacs2020 The revival series]]
* The [[https://www.cartoonbrew.com/streaming/how-the-creators-of-hulus-animaniacs-reboot-subtly-updated-the-look-of-the-series-197301.html art style]] of the revival was originally going more experimental, with producer Gabe Swarr seeking out various artists. From Studio MDHR (''VideoGame/{{Cuphead}}'') bringing their Creator/FleischerStudios-inspired sensibilities, to Violaine Briat bringing cutesy doodle pastels. Ultimately, the show's look became directly inspired by Creator/TMSEntertainment's contributions to the original series, given a streamlined look by Genevieve Tsai.
* There were initially plans in place to have WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}} [[https://www.google.com/amp/s/collider.com/animaniacs-producers-interview-hulu-freakazoid/amp/ make a cameo]] at some point in Season 1, but they ended up being abandoned due to scheduling conflicts with his voice actor, Paul Rugg. Ironically, he eventually ended up appearing in a ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' episode that aired only 6 days prior to the reboot's premiere.
** Also ironically, almost a year later, Rugg posted on Website/{{Twitter}} [[https://twitter.com/pkrugg/status/1465806222645366789 a tweet in a recording booth]] heavily implying that he was finally gonna be returning to the franchise in a future episode, who turned out to be The Clown from the segment "Clown and Out".
* According to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9AoszMx1XA this interview]], the other characters (including Slappy and Skippy) were actually considered to return in their corresponding segments at one point in development, but it was eventually decided to scrap the idea to instead create new characters that would be more relevant to the 2020's; to say that most of the fans [[FanDislikedExplanation weren't receptive of both this decision and its reason]] would be a ''[[TheyChangedItNowItSucks huge understatement]]''. Thanfully, this was averted to an extent, as Slappy came back on the last episode of the third season (which is also the last), probably because of fan demand.
* In addition to being insulted in Jay-Pac's rap, [[WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures Elmyra]] was [[https://twitter.com/tvskyle/status/1333446717493051392?s=21 originally going to make a cameo]]. Jay-Pac is holding her and looking like he's holding a dirty diaper.
** [[https://twitter.com/TVsKyle/status/1333446425678475269 Mr. Skullhead]] was going to make a cameo in the same segment as well.
* Randy Rogel wrote a song called "It Don't Get Much Smaller Than That," a pseudo-inverse of "Yakko's Universe," and has performed it live in concert in 2019. It wasn't used at all on the show.
* "Happy Narfday" had a scene where '''[[https://geezerflakes.tumblr.com/post/667142782896455680 Brain kisses Pinky]]''', but it was cut due to them not wanting Brain to give Pinky affection this early in the series.
* WesternAnimation/BugsBunny was going to be in "Bun Control" but was removed as his cameo wouldn't work.
** Rita and Runt were [[https://twitter.com/brockadile/status/1331071889985339392 also supposed to appear]] on a poster parodying the "Hang In There, Baby!" motivational poster.
* According to Genevieve Tsai in an Instagram Post, Creator/LinManuelMiranda was interested in having a part in the reboot, either in a song or role. Sadly, this did not end up happening.

[[quoteright:319:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/download_1_294.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:319:Early ConceptArt of the show where the main characters were all ducks.]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/images_882.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Early designs of the main characters with a scrapped forth sibling named Wakky.]]

[[quoteright:270:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/animaniacs_8.png]]
[[caption-width-right:270:A concept poster for a scrapped movie ''Wandering Warners We'', which was also supposed to introduce a fourth sibling.]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/early_animaniacs_reboot_concept_art.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:These are one of the many early reboot designs of the characters from when they were trying to be experimental with the style of the show, The ones you see here were done by Studio MDHR the studio that brought you ''VideoGame/{{Cuphead}}''.]]

* Randy Rogel wrote a song called "It Don't Get Much Smaller Than That," a pseudo-inverse of "Yakko's Universe," and has performed it live in concert in 2019. It wasn't used in the first or second seasons and its unknown whether or not it'll turn up in a future season.

* Gagnort, the alien from the ''Brain Eaters from Outer Space'' movie seen in "Potty Emergency", was going to get a spin-off where he was renamed into ''Zalgar The Brain Eater'', but it wound up being rejected. The pilot episode would later be folded into the ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'' episode "Plan Brain From Outer Space".

* [[http://mentalfloss.com/article/30629/way-more-you-ever-wanted-know-about-animaniacs Plans for two sequels]] (''This Means Warners'', taking place in World War II, and ''Revolution Warners'', during the Revolutionary War) were considered, but due to a number of factors such as the death of composer Richard Stone, [[BoxOfficeBomb the diminishing returns of other animated films from WB]], Steven Spielberg's then-growing disinterest in Warner Bros. (though it's been rekindled in recent years and has since directed ''[[Film/ReadyPlayerOne2018 Ready Player One]]'' for the studio, and overseen revivals of ''[[WesternAnimation/Animaniacs2020 Animaniacs]]'' and ''[[WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures Tiny Toons]]'', respectively), the decline in popularity of ''Animaniacs'' and the other Spielberg-backed shows (thanks partly to ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' which lead to the shifting interest towards anime for Saturday Morning at the time), the disastrous AOL/Time Warner deal and other reasons, the ideas were scrapped.

* According to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9AoszMx1XA this interview]], the other characters (including Slappy and Skippy) were actually considered to return in their corresponding segments at one point in development, but it was eventually decided to scrap the idea to instead create new characters that would be more [[WereStillRelevantDammit relevant to the 2020's]]; to say that most of the fans [[FanDislikedExplanation weren't receptive of both this decison and its reason]] would be a ''[[TheyChangedItNowItSucks huge understatement]]''. Thanfully, this was averted to an extent, as Slappy came back on the last episode of the third season (which is also the last), probably because of fan demand.

* According to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9AoszMx1XA this interview]], the other characters (including Slappy and Skippy) were actually considered to return in their corresponding segments at one point in development, but eventually decided to scrap the idea to insteaad create new characters that would be more [[WereStillRelevantDammit relevant]] to the 2020's; to say that most of the fans [[FanDislikedExplanation weren't receptive of both this decison and its reason]] would be a ''[[TheyChangedItNowItSucks huge understatement]]''. Thanfully, this was averted to an extent, as Slappy came back on the last episode of the third season (which is also the last), probably because of fan demand.

** Also ironically, almost a year later, Rugg posted on Website/{{Twitter}} [[https://twitter.com/pkrugg/status/1465806222645366789 a tweet in a recording booth]] heavily implying that he was finally gonna be returning to the franchise in a future episode, but it is currently unclear, if said return is true, as to whether he's gonna reprise his role as Freakazoid, or his own Jerry Lewis-caricature from the original series, Mr. Director.

* Toby Danger from ''WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}}'' was originally going to be a segment on ''Animaniacs''. Each segment would've begun with a FramingDevice of Wakko walking up to a TV to tune into the show.