Pixar’s hit sequel to Inside Out has introduced fans of the original film to a host of new emotional characters.
The follow-up sees Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust – the core emotions of teenager Riley – being joined by a host of new additions as the character heads into puberty.
Among them are Anxiety, Envy, Ennui and Embarrassment, but it turns out that even more were considered while the movie was in production.
Speaking to ComicBook.com, writer Meg LeFauve shared that two more emotions in particular were briefly in consideration to be part of Riley’s headquarters.
“I think in terms of emotionally, we really tried for quite a while to have Shame in the movie, and Guilt,” she explained. “Shame being more self-loathing, that thing that attacks you. And we talked to a lot of experts about it.
“The difference with shame is really not a great thing for you because it is just about attacking you. Whereas guilt is about taking responsibility and it’s a behaviour, not who you are. But it really just never quite clicked.”
She continued: “For this version, because we really needed to centre on Anxiety, it start to bifurcate too much of the storyline. But I do think we all have that self-loathing critic in our head, and we got to go there a little bit with the projections and how Anxiety can start to do that to you.
“So I think it’s in the movie, but that was one thing we explored that we didn’t ultimately feel was fruitful for this version.”
One other change that was made to the film at the eleventh hour was the inclusion of a deleted scene that clears up one of Inside Out 2’s biggest mysteries.
And with Inside Out 2 already being the biggest film of 2024, coupled with the fact Disney is unashamedly leaning into nostalgia and sequels right now, it’s a fair bet that a third film could be in the pipeline – so Shame and Guilt could wind up part of the franchise in the future after all.