History WhatCouldHaveBeen / Futurama

* According to Creator/LaurenTom, Amy was initially written with a relatively [[TheLadette masculine personality and job]], which would have made her border on AmbiguouslyLesbian. She was rewritten as a GirlyGirl in order to provide a better contrast between her and Leela, who was already a {{Tomboy}} to begin with.

* In "[[Recap/FuturamaS4E7JurassicBark Jurassic Bark]]", Fry's ''mother'' was originally going to be the fossilized remnant from Fry's past that he tries to revive, only to stop at the last minute, but the writers and producers rejected it as being more depressing than the dog story, ''somehow''. The writers did end up making an episode where Fry reunites with his mother again ("Game of Tones") and it's just as tearjerking as this episode.

* "[[Recap/FuturamaS6E21YoLeelaLeela Yo Leela Leela]]" was supposed to end with Abner Doubledeal opening an amusement park on Rumbledy-Hump, and takes a majority share of income due to the Humplings having a terrible lawyer. Leela then complains about the park, but the Humplings announce their joy at being famous. Warden Vogel thanks Leela for providing the orphans with a field trip. Leela begs for everyone to blame her, but is given a bat by the orphans, which she uses to beat up the lawyer. Because the crew felt that ending was a bit too cruel to the orphans (not to mention, Matt HATED the ending according to the DVD commentary), the ending was changed completely in the final product.

* "[[Recap/FuturamaS6E21YoLeelaLeela Yo Leela Leela]]" was supposed to end with Abner Doubledeal opening an amusement park on Rumbledy-Hump, and takes a majority share of income due to the Humplings having a terrible lawyer. Leela then complains about the park, but the Humplings announce their joy at being famous. Warden Vogel thanks Leela for providing the orphans with a field trip. Leela begs for everyone to blame her, but is given a bat by the orphans, which she uses to beat up the lawyer. Because the crew felt that ending was a bit too cruel to the orphans (not to mention, Matt HATED that ending according to the DVD commentary), the ending was changed completely in the final product.

* In the original storyboards for [[Recap/FuturamaS1E1SpacePilot3000 "Space Pilot 3000"]], Fry mentions having a sister who "finally married Eddie Farnsworth" (as justification for the Professor's different surname). While Fry's sister was ultimately scrapped, the idea of Fry having siblings would eventually be revisited in [[Recap/FuturamaS3E4TheLuckOfTheFryrish "The Luck of the Fryrish"]] with Yancy.

* Mom was originally intended to be the dictator of Earth in the setting, but as the concept developed she was turned into a CorruptCorporateExecutive, and slowly pushed to the sides until she basically became an AdvertisedExtra.

[[caption-width-right:350:Concept art of what eventually became Bender]]

* It was conceived early on for Hermes to be American, with Creator/PhilLaMarr giving him an [[https://mobile.twitter.com/phillamarr/status/1354106863890034689 American accent.]] The character then he became Jamaican early on, and he rerecorded the episodes he did.

* Fry originally had "Curtis" as his given name, but was renamed "Phillip" in honor of Phil Hartman. He was also originally going to be a 35-year-old who was born and had always lived in the future, but that was changed to make him more relatable to the target audience.

* In the original storyboards for [[Recap/FuturamaS1E1SpacePilot3000 "Space Pilot 3000"]], Fry mentions having a sister who "finally married Eddie Farnsworth" (as justification for the Professor's different surname). While Fry's sister was ultimately scrapped, the idea of Fry having siblings would eventually be revisited in [[Recap/FuturamaS3E4LuckOfTheFryish "The Luck of the Fryrish"]] with Yancy.

* In the original storyboards for [[Recap/FuturamaS1E1SpacePilot3000 "Space Pilot 3000"]], Fry mentions that having a sister who "finally married Eddie Farnsworth" (as justification for the Professor's different surname). While Fry's sister was ultimately scrapped, the idea of Fry having siblings would eventually be revisited in [[Recap/FuturamaS3E4LuckOfTheFryish "The Luck of the Fryrish"]] with Yancy.

* In the original storyboards for [[Recap/FuturamaS1E1SpacePilot3000]], Fry mentions that having a sister who "finally married Eddie Farnsworth" (as justification for the Professor's different surname). While Fry's sister was ultimately scrapped, the idea of Fry having siblings would eventually be revisited in [[Recap/FuturamaS3E4LuckOfTheFryish "The Luck of the Fryrish"]] with Yancy.

* The original outline for the ''Film/MinorityReport'' spoof ("Law and Oracle") revolved around a character who would have been revealed as Fry and Leela's KidFromTheFuture.

** This almost happened again when the Creator/{{Hulu}} revival happened. Most of the original cast had signed on when the project was first announced except for [=DiMaggio=], who felt that he and his colleagues were not getting a fair deal regarding pay. After several weeks of “[=BenderGate=]”, the powers that be eventually caved and reached a deal with the actor.

* The climax of [[Recap/FuturamaS7E5ZappDingbat "Zapp Dingbat"]] was originally supposed to be a musical number led by Leela's father playing the ''Nimbus''' emergency controls like a keyboard while the rest of the cast fought off the Carcarons. The sequence was fully animated and basically complete when Matt Groening vetoed the whole thing. Luckily a lot of the animation was able to be recycled and some of the lyrics to the song delivered as straight dialogue instead. The DVD offers the option of watching the episode with the original musical number intact.

** Following the events of [[Recap/FuturamaM4IntoTheWildGreenYonder the fourth movie]] where the main characters go on the run and vanish into a gigantic wormhole, half the writers wanted to continue on from that while the other half wanted to pull a WriterCopOut and end the series there. The side that wanted to continue won, leading to Creator/ComedyCentral's revival.

* Zapp Brannigan was intended to be played by Creator/PhilHartman, but Hartman's death at the hands of his own wife destroyed any chance of that, so Creator/BillyWest voiced the character with the same kind of smugness you'd expect from a {{jerkass}} Phil Hartman character.

[[caption-width-right:350:Concept art of what eventually became Bender]].

* The series almost didn't exist in the first place, as Matt Groening wanted to do a reboot of ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'' instead.

* The series was originally named ''Aloha Mars!'', though it also had the working title of ''Doomsville'' at one point. These titles, among many others, were rejected until the network and creative team were satisfied with the final choice.

* Fry and Leela were originally supposed to be played by Creator/CharlieSchlatter (from ''18 Again!'', ''Series/DiagnosisMurder'', and ''WesternAnimation/LoonaticsUnleashed'') and Creator/NicoleSullivan ([[WesternAnimation/KimPossible Shego]], [[WesternAnimation/CloneHigh Joan of Arc]] and best known as the Vancome Lady from ''Series/{{MADtv}}'') respectively.
* According to Creator/BillyWest, [[Creator/RyanStiles Ryan Stiles]] auditioned to be Dr. Zoidberg, and, [[http://robpaulsenlive.com/episode-47-guest-john-dimaggio/ in his interview with John DiMaggio]], Creator/RobPaulsen reveals that he auditioned for Fry. Creator/JohnDiMaggio originally auditioned for Farnsworth, and David X. Cohen considered doing Bender's voice by himself.

* According to Lauren Tom, Amy was initially written with a relatively [[TheLadette masculine personality and job]], which would have made her border on AmbiguouslyLesbian. She was rewritten as a GirlyGirl in order to provide a better contrast between her and Leela, who was already a {{Tomboy}} to begin with.

** Following the events of [[Recap/FuturamaM4IntoTheWildGreenYonder the fourth movie]] where the main characters go on the run and vanish into a gigantic wormhole, half the writers wanted to continue on from that while the other half wanted to pull a WriterCopOut and end the series there. The side that wanted to continue won, leading to Creator/ComedyCentral's revival.

* Mom was originally intended to be the dictator of Earth in the setting, but as the concept developed, she was slowly pushed to the sides until she basically became an AdvertisedExtra.

* According to Creator/BillyWest, [[Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway Ryan]] [[Series/TheDrewCareyShow Stiles]] auditioned to be Dr. Zoidberg, and, [[http://robpaulsenlive.com/episode-47-guest-john-dimaggio/ in his interview with John DiMaggio]], Creator/RobPaulsen reveals that he auditioned for Fry. Creator/JohnDiMaggio originally auditioned for Farnsworth, and David X. Cohen considered doing Bender's voice by himself.

* Behold [[https://imgur.com/gallery/Po4Xi the early concept art for Fry, Bender, and Leela]].