9 Characters Who Were Almost Queer, But The Studios Chickened Out At The Last Minute

Queer representation on TV is wildly important. From beloved characters like David and Patrick from Schitt's Creek to Rosa Diaz on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, there's something truly validating and comforting about seeing characters you actually relate to on the big screen (or, sometimes, on your laptop screen).

Sometimes, however, characters who could've been queer icons for a generation, or even just spark a litttttle realization for a soon-to-be baby gay, unfortunately, end up getting scrapped.

*crowd boos*

NBC

Here are nine TV and movie characters who were alllllmost queer, but didn't make it into the final cut:

1.Writer James Gunn revealed that Velma — played by Linda Cardellini — was gay in the first draft of the 2002 live-action Scooby-Doo movie, but the studio was hesitant.

In a now-deleted tweet, he said, "In 2001 Velma was explicitly gay in my initial script. But the studio just kept watering it down & watering it down, becoming ambiguous, then nothing & finally [her] having a boyfriend [in the sequel]."

2.Melody Pendras — from the Netflix series Archive 81, based on the scripted podcast of the same name — was originally a queer character who was straightwashed by the on-screen adaptation.

In the podcast, Melody has a wife she's been married to for 20 years. In the show, her queerness is never addressed and she does not have a wife. She does, however, have romantic encounters with male characters, like an occultist, Samuel.

3.Actor Jessica Cauffiel — aka Margot from Legally Blonde — revealed that the original ending of the movie suggested that Elle and Vivian ended up together, not her and Emmett.

She told the New York Times, "The first ending was Elle and Vivian in Hawaii in beach chairs, drinking margaritas and holding hands. The insinuation was either they were best friends or they had gotten together romantically."

Fellow Legally Blonde actor, Alanna Ubach, claims to recall the ending as well, but screenwriter Karen McCullah says they never wrote that. Either way, I would very much like for it to exist, please and thanks.

4.While Valkyrie's sexuality is more directly addressed in Thor: Love and Thunder, the scene in Thor: Ragnarok (the Thor movie before it) that confirmed her bisexuality was cut out.

Originally, there was a scene showing a woman walking out of Valkyrie's bedroom, which writer and director Taika Waititi kept in the film "as long as he could," but it ultimately was cut "because it distracted from the scene's vital exposition."

Tessa Thompson told Rolling Stone she personally pitched to maintain Valkyrie's bisexuality in the movie, and what couldn't be done explicitly, she tried to do through her portrayal of the character. She went on to explain, “There’s a great shot of me falling back from one of my sisters who’s just been slain. In my mind, that was my lover.”

Marvel Studios

Actors who play their characters as queer regardless of what studios say are truly the backbones of their fandoms, TBH.

5.When Andrew Garfield was playing Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man movies, he was a very vocal champion for Spider-Man to be bisexual in the movies, like his comic book counterpart. However, the studio was not so understanding.

Andrew told the Independent, "There was an interview I gave where I said, ‘Why can’t Peter explore his bisexuality in his next film? Why can’t [his girlfriend] MJ be a guy?’ I was then put under a lot of pressure to retract that and apologize for saying something that is a legitimate thing to think and feel. So I said, ‘OK, so you want me to make sure that we get the bigots and the homophobes to buy their tickets?'"

Andrew's third Spider-Man film was never made, and Stan Lee responded to Andrew's comments at a 2013 FandomFest panel, laughing while saying "He's becoming bisexual? Who have you been talking to? Seriously, I don't know anything about that. And if it's true, I'm going to make a couple of phone calls. I figure one sex is enough for anybody."

Andrew made his return to the big screen as Spider-Man in Spider-Man: No Way Home and all I have to say is...Marvel...I think we and Andrew deserve bi Spider-Man.

6.Spencer Reid from Criminal Minds — as played by Matthew Gray Gubler — was originally supposed to be bisexual, however, this was shut down by "the powers that be" in the fourth episode of the show.

The show's creator, Jeff Davis — who is a gay man himself — explained on Twitter that Reid's crush on JJ in the first season of the show made it impossible. While fans quickly pointed out that he could still like JJ and be bi, Jeff simply said that he got pushback from the studio regardless.

7.Oscar Isaac has hinted at and pushed for his Star Wars character, Poe Dameron, to have a romantic storyline with Finn (played by John Boyega), however, he revealed that "the Disney overlords were not ready to do that."

In an interview with IGN, he explained, "I think there could’ve been a very interesting, forward-thinking — not even forward-thinking, just, like, current-thinking love story there, something that hadn’t quite been explored yet; particularly the dynamic between these two men in war that could’ve fallen in love with each other."

While Disney doesn't seem to have any plans to make the characters canonically gay, Oscar appears to have his own plans up his sleeve to give fans what they want. In an interview with Ellen ahead of The Force Awakens's release, Oscar said, "You have to just look very closely you have to watch it a few times to see the little hints but there was. At least, I was playing romance. In the cockpit I was playing, there was a deep romance there."

8.A sapphic sex scene was cut out of Winona Ryder's Welcome Home Roxy Carmichael due to it being received poorly by test audiences. The final cut of the movie leaves only "a brief scene with two women in a bedroom, hinting elliptically at their lovemaking."

According to the film's director Jim Abrahams, "At test screenings, people were kind of shocked to see the two [women] in bed. I thought it was done pretty tastefully...I think we miscalculated the reaction."

Additionally, the film's screenwriter, Karen Leigh Hopkins, told the AP News, "We’re lucky (the scene) is in there at all. Paramount was very nervous about it and wanted it cut...But there’s nothing wrong with (two women) being lovers. Roxy is the hero — and she’s bisexual."

9.After lots of queerbaiting in the Pitch Perfect movies, Beca —and Chloe – played by Anna Kendrick and Brittany Snow — were supposed to put all those ~rumors~ to rest and finally kiss. While the kiss was filmed, it never made it into the movie.

At Pitch Perfect 3's Australian red carpet, Rebel Wilson — who played Fat Amy — revealed to fans that on the last day on set, Anna Kendrick pushed for a kiss between Chloe and Beca to be filmed. It was, but the studio didn't want to put it in the finished movie.

Other cast members confirmed Rebel's claim, like Hana Mae Lee — who played Lilly Onakuramara — in a fan Q&A...

...as well as Chrissie Fit, who played Florencia "Flo" Fuentes.

If anything, the third and final film in the franchise only furthered fans' claims of queerbaiting, going so far as to use a video of Beca and Chloe almost kissing as promo for the film before it came out.

Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments below!