What Could Have Been / Encanto

Concept Art from back when Mirabel and Bruno were cousins

• According to the film's artbook, Agustín (yes, that Agustín) was going to be the patriarch of the family. This was changed due to a field guide on Colombia telling the Disney staff that local communities are matriarchal.
• Early rumors claim that the film was originally going to be set in Brazil. This was presumably dropped to prevent a conflict with the movie Rio.
  • This article shows what the original names the characters would've been in film had it not been changed: Mirabel was originally "Mariana", Julieta was originally "Juana", Isabela was originally "Ines", Alma was originally "Andrea", Félix was originally "Fernando", Luisa was originally "Lydia", Camilo was originally "Carlos", and Bruno was originally "Oscar". Camilo was also going to be more antagonistic towards Mirabel.
• This concept art shows that Bruno was going to be Mirabel's cousin before changing to her uncle, and judging by his military chevrons on his jacket he would've been a Military Brat.
• Early concept art had Antonio with blonde hair, while another suggested he could talk through animals but needed to pay them in snacks to do so.
• According to the artbook there were scrapped family members, including:
  • Twins Amelia and Sofia, who could project auras (one could project good kind, other bad).
  • A pool-playing kid who could tell fortunes.
  • Zoe, who was a technopath and could repair machines with a touch (but only when awake).
  • Fueuga, who as her name suggested had powers over fire, especially when angry.
  • Sword-wielding Alejandra.
• Early in story development, Pepa's original power was indestructibility. Meg Park, a Visual Development Artist at Walt Disney Animation Studios, put up some artwork showing Pepa as a motorcycle-riding cigar-chomping daredevil.
• The artbook reveals that a former story idea was presumably an Alice in Wonderland-like plot where an unnamed young woman received a magical door knob in the mail that presumably brings her to Encanto.
• Originally Dolores' power was healing with food and Julieta's was controlling the weather, but those traits were instead carried over to Julieta and Pepa, respectively.
• Mirabel originally carried an accordion everywhere as her prized possession. This is absent in the film, although she does briefly play the accordion in "The Family Madrigal."
• Isabela was originally involved in a relationship with a small, nerdy man from the city named Bubo, having to keep their relationship secret due to Alma not approving of it. Their story would eventually end with the pair eloping together so that Isabela could finally be free of Alma’s meddling.
  • There was also a deleted scene from when Bubo was still intended to be in the film where he and Isabela would meet up in the woods and have an incredibly drawn-out and surprisingly graphic (as in it clearly shows Isabela and Bubo going tongue-in-mouth with each other) french kiss...while Mirabel was watching. And with Bubo in a cheap animal costume that had been soaked in urine so he could blend into the forest long enough to get to the meeting point. It’s not hard to figure out why it was cut, as it comes off as a failed attempt at Cringe Comedy that ends up crossing the line and being uncomfortable to watch.
• Another cut thing concerning Isabela was that she grew a race of sentient, walking potatoes who lived in the Casita and dressed in traditional farming clothes.
• Stephanie Beatriz was initially considered to play Luisa due to the directors being familiar with her performance of Rosa Diaz in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, but ultimately offered her the role of Mirabel after discovering she is much bubblier in real life.
• Concept art shows Camilo could shapeshift into animals.
• Bruno originally had a larger, fatter body.
• Originally, Mirabel and Casita were rivals who competed for Alma's approval. It was dropped because Mirabel didn't really stand a chance and it made the house come across as unfriendly.
• The story would have revealed that Julieta had purposefully made the choice to prevent Mirabel from getting a gift in order to shield her from the family pressure. This idea was dropped as they wanted to keep with the magical realism theme and decided the explanation felt like a "magic-y" solution.
• The climax had gone through several iterations before the final version:
  • If Julieta had remained the reason she didn't receive a gift, Mirabel would've confronted her instead of Abuela, and every word Mirabel said during their argument would've destroyed the Casita blow-by-blow because Mirabel "shared a mental connection" with it. Abuela then would've set out to find Mirabel and arrived in the former's old town, where she would've found a mural dedicated to Pedro and stayed there overnight to grieve. The following day, a child would've told her where Mirabel was, and Abuela would've apologized to her for being so overprotective like in the official ending, but added that Pedro would've been so disappointed in her actions.
  • Instead of crumbling to pieces, the Casita would've been burned down instead, leaving only its windows and doors. A ghostly shadow would've then appeared and haunted its remains, but it would've been revealed to be one of the cracks of the house.
  • There was going to be a scene where Camilo reverts to his "true form" after the Casita's magic dies, and because of his constant shapeshifting, his family had already started to forget how he really looked like. It was cut because it shifted the focus away from Mirabel.
• "The Family Madrigal" was originally going to open with a young Alma (then named Alba) giving birth to the triplets and Mirabel narrating how the Casita came to be.
• "Surface Pressure" originally had an extra couplet and a slightly different version of the bridge, along with a slightly different line for the first verse.
• In "We Don't Talk About Bruno", Camilo's verse was originally "Seven foot frame, all dressed in black, when he calls your name, there's no turning back". The last line was utilized in the Spanish version of the song.
• When they decided to change Oscar's name to Bruno, alternative names they considered were "Arlo", "Anko", "Andre", "Emo", and "Marco".
• "All of You" was originally seven minutes long, but it had to be shortened for time. Specifically, Abuela's entrance originally had her consoling her children over the loss of their father while the part where the town comes over to help the family rebuild the Casita was going to be a bit longer. There was also going to be an extended scene with Mirabel's parents.
• There was a version of Alma giving birth to her children at the river. And they were born the same moment Pedro died.
• Originally, Isabela and Mirabel had a different interaction when trying to reconcile: Isabela first did an unflattering impression of Mirabel with the help of some vines, and instead of arguing they got into a slapstick scuffle.
• There was going to be an after credit scene with a joke in regards to Chispi the Capybara but it was scrapped as the creators wanted to end on an emotional note.
• At one point in development, Camilo was going to be very antagonistic towards Mirabel before that dynamic was switched to Isabela, which likely explains why he appears so mischievous and slimy in the merchandise and film posters in opposition to his final characterization.
• Mirabel's original design was an orange coat over her skirt and had a hat, long enough for her CG model to wear one.
• The creative team considered using Disney's version of Hercules in "Surface Pressure", but by the time that lyric was written, most of the character models were already built, and with no additional time or budget, they would've had to sacrifice one of the animal models to make Hercules for what would be a one-off Crossover Punchline.
• Mirabel, Julieta, and Luisa each had a beauty mark similar to Isabela's, with Mirabel being the only one among them having her beauty mark on the opposite side of her face.
• The Casita was originally going to show more signs that the magic was fading besides the cracks: the family photos would've gone blank and the golden butterflies would've turned black and haunted the walls.
• Early concept art revealed that the Casita would've been a floating house.
• Abuela originally had hair that transformed into a river that flowed for miles, and Mirabel would've had to follow it in order to connect to her emotionally.
• Originally, when Mirabel reunites with her family, Antonio was going to walk toward her timidly. This was changed to have him running to Mirabel to properly reflect their strong bond.
• Mirabel originally had a tooth gap.
• Agustín had a messier hairstyle.
• According to the footnotes for "We Don't Talk About Bruno", the original storyboard for the song had Camilo's Bruno form turning into a giant striped anaconda and swallowing Mirabel whole.
• According to the footnotes for "Dos Oruguitas":
  • One version of the sequence had Pedro carving the babies' cradles with symbols that would appear on their magic doors, but it was cut for time.
  • During the Miracle, the candle flame was originally going to turn into a "butterfly of fire", which blew away the horsemen by beating its wings.
• There was a montage that showed how Mirabel "messed things up" for Isabela.
• There was a scene of Alma grounding Mirabel after the failed proposal dinner.
• Pedro was originally going to wear glasses, but the idea was scrapped because it felt too overt.