Top 10 Behind the Scenes Facts About Bluey

There’s no denying that “Bluey” is a nationwide hit, but it may owe some of its success to another preschool cartoon. Creator Joe Brumm cites one of its inspirations as “Peppa Pig”, the British animated series about the titular anthropomorphic pig. The program has become popular in the US and inspired kids to start using more British terminology. Brumm hoped to elicit a similar feeling, but with a more Australian twist. Given the show’s impact, we’d say he succeeded in achieving that and so much more. Indeed, “Bluey” has opened the door to teaching its audience more about Australia’s daily culture. Children from other parts of the globe have even started using Aussie slang more often.

Despite how iconic Bluey has become, there’s occasionally been questions about her gender. While she’s clearly referred to as a girl, many younger fans seem to think that Bluey is a boy. It’s widely been said that this is due to the color blue being traditionally associated with that gender. However, rather than try to correct viewers, executive producer Daley Pearson views this confusion as a “happy accident.” The way he sees it, many audiences see a bit of themselves in Bluey no matter her gender. So he’d prefer to simply let the kids have that personal connection with the character as they see fit.

Not only has “Bluey” managed to touch the hearts of children and adults, but it’s also caught the eyes of several celebrities as well. Big names in the industry and even local Australian legends have been vocal about how they and their families adore the Heelers and co. A few of them, including Natalie Portman, Layne Beachley, Anthony Field, Eva Mendes, and Lin-Manuel Miranda, have even gotten a chance to guest star And those are but a few names on the list. It warms our hearts to hear so many well-known faces lending their talents to “Bluey”, and makes us eager to find out what other celebrities would like to give it a go.

There’s some debate over how Chilli and Bandit officially met. But we can at least confirm when their voice actors first did. In 2022, the voices behind the Heeler parents — Dave McCormack and Melanie Zanetti — were invited on “The Tonight Show” to talk about “Bluey” with Jimmy Fallon. They met face-to-face two days prior — for the first time in four years since their show began. Before that, they recorded individually, and Zanetti had to travel a lot for work. This is surprising considering how much chemistry their characters have, but it makes them finally becoming acquainted in person much more heartwarming.

While “Bluey” is typically wholesome and harmless fun, it has carefully made some risqué jokes that only the parents would catch. Interestingly, a few of these moments were censored or banned. One particular scene was removed from the episode “Exercise” due to accusations of fat-shaming. Plus, the entirety of the episode “Dad Baby” was banned in the US, never premiering on Disney+. They didn’t provide a formal reason for the latter decision. But it’s safe to assume the subject matter — Bandit playing pregnant — and a certain birthing scene may have been too much for Disney to handle. Still, major credit to the show for taking chances.

This may come as a shock, but Bluey almost wasn’t the star of the show. Before our favorite Blue Heeler was brought into the picture, another kid was going to be in the spotlight – Rusty the Red Kelpie. One of the dogs creator Joe Brumm had growing up was, you guessed it, a kelpie named Rusty. He was particularly fond of the pup, so he originally planned to name the cartoon after him. Bluey was chosen instead in the end, but Rusty is alive and well as her friend and classmate. He’s even gotten a few moments to shine. We’ll never forget his ambition for cricket, his dad being in the army, and his playing “Mums and Dads” with Indy, to name a few.

Before becoming a smash hit, “Bluey” had two pilots. One was “The Weekend” in 2017, but before that was an unnamed roughly one-minute long short. The latter shows Bandit pushing Bluey on the swing while playing on his phone. He ends up pushing her all the way around until she knocks him onto the ground. It received some backlash over its “edgy” humor, and didn’t see the light of day for years. Meanwhile, “The Weekend” secured the show’s future, and was even adapted into its own episode. We admit the original pilot seems more surreal compared to the final product, but it’s still a vital part of the series’ history that shouldn’t be forgotten.

It takes a talented team to make a cartoon as phenomenal as “Bluey”, and anyone who’s worked in animation knows it’s no easy task. Daley Pearson, the studio’s executive producer, confirmed that it takes up to five months to finish a single episode. The four major teams behind the productions work parallel to each other to ensure that every (roughly) 7-minute adventure is special and thoroughly polished. Aspects can seemingly also overlap each other, giving them a chance to craft multiple episodes at once. David McCormack and Melanie Zanetti have notably revealed that they often record four episodes in roughly 2 hours. It takes a while to produce, but the results speak for themselves.

Undoubtedly the biggest reason for “Bluey”’s success is how relatable it is to kids and adults. It’s even more so considering the creator based it off of his own family. For example, our titular pup is named after Brumm’s ACTUAL childhood blue heeler dog. The concept, for its part, took inspiration from his two daughters. He especially paid attention to how his girls played and the games they came up with, which helped inform the show’s unstructured playtime. There was one game, however, that didn’t make the final cut – “Pinchy”, where they pretended to be crabs and, yes, pinched each other. For the parents’ sake, it was changed to “Tickle Crabs.” Trust us, it’s better this way.

There’s one major behind-the-scenes mystery that leaves fans curious – who are the voices behind Bluey and Bingo? The sisters’ actors are left uncredited in each episode — except for their adult voices. This is done intentionally for a good reason. The young actors are kids who are close to the show’s crew/production staff, and the choice has been made to shield them, affording them privacy. In fact, this is generally true for little ones lending their voices to the cartoon. Given the hardships and drama child actors can go through, this is a smart decision; the idea of them facing the pitfalls of fame would break our hearts. If they’re watching now, let’s all say ‘thank you’ to them for bringing such amazing characters to life.

Any wackadoo production secrets we may have missed? Let us know in the comments.