Super Mario Bros. Movie concept art confirms several big characters were cut

Unseen concept art for The Super Mario Bros. Movie has recently come to light, revealing that several notable characters from the video games were originally supposed to appear in the movie, but for some reason never did. 

Production artwork, used to provide vision for the Super Mario Bros. Movie, show that a number of Mushroom Kingdom inhabitants were initially meant to appear in the movie. The artwork, created by writer and storyteller Jed Diffenderfer, was recently spotted after being uploaded to his website (H/T Nintendo Life). 

From what we can see, the characters who didn’t make it into the final film include Toadette, Birdo, Toadsworth, and of course, Princess Daisy, whom many Super Mario fans were sad to see missing from the adaptation. 

The eight images show several scenes that do appear in the movie such as Mario’s first time in a warp pipe, but also some that never made the cut including a flying blue Yoshi and Princess Daisy in what appears to be a flashback. 

Starring Chris Pratt as Mario, Charlie Day as Luigi, Jack Black as Bowser, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, and Seth Rogan as Donkey Kong, the movie smashed into theatres in 2023 and quickly saw huge success with fans, breaking box office records making it the most successful video game movie adaptation ever. The story follows plumbing brothers Mario and Luigi who, whilst on the job underground fixing a water pipe, are transported to a strange and magical new world.

The film features other familiar faces such as Toad, Guiseppe, Cranky Kong, and Foreman Spike. No reason was ever given for Daisy or any of the missing characters’ disinvolvement. However, the artist states on his site that he worked as a story artist on the project up until 2020, suggesting that he was only part of the early process, meaning a Daisy appearance may have never been set in stone.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is available to stream on Netflix right now. For more, check out our list of the best movies on Netflix, or keep up to date with upcoming movies heading your way this year.