Tim Burton's first sketch of Beetlejuice, from an earlier, Darker and Edgier version of the film.
The film
- Sammy Davis Jr. was the original choice for the role of Beetlejuice before Michael Keaton was cast.
- Christopher Lloyd, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dustin Hoffman, Robin Williams, Jim Carrey, Jack Nicholson, Bill Murray, Robert De Niro, Sam Kinison, Dudley Moore, John Cleese, Tim Curry and Danny DeVito were considered for the part of Beetlejuice as well before the casting of Keaton.
- Alyssa Milano was the runner-up for Lydia Deetz before the casting of Winona Ryder.
- Jennifer Connelly, Sarah Jessica Parker, Juliette Lewis, Lori Loughlin, Diane Lane, Ally Sheedy, Brooke Shields, Justine Bateman, Molly Ringwald and Heather Langenkamp auditioned for the role of Lydia Deetz before the casting of Ryder. Langenkamp was turned down due to her insistence on not portraying the character as a Goth.
- Kirstie Alley was offered the part of Barbara Maitland before Geena Davis was cast. However, Alley turned down the offer due to scheduling conflicts with Cheers.
- Sigourney Weaver, Linda Hamilton, Laura Dern, Linda Blair and Goldie Hawn were considered for the role as well before the casting of Davis.
- Anjelica Huston was initially chosen for Delia Deetz before the casting of Catherine O'Hara, but dropped out of the project due to health reasons.
- John Candy, John Goodman, Wayne Knight and Bob Hoskins were considered for Otho before Glenn Shadix was cast.
- Wes Craven was approached to direct the film before Tim Burton was hired. However, Craven declined due to his reluctance to direct a horror comedy movie.
- The original script was far less comedic and much darker; the Maitlands' car crash is depicted graphically, with Barbara's arm being crushed and the couple screaming for help as they slowly drown in the river. A reference to this remained, as Barbara remarks that her arm feels cold upon returning home as a ghost. Instead of possessing the Deetzes and forcing them to dance during dinner, the Maitlands cause a vine-patterned carpet to come to life and attack the Deetzes by tangling them to their chairs.
- Originally, the film was to have Lydia be a minor character and was to be your typical movie teenager. She was also supposed to have a nine-year-old sister named Cathy who befriended the Maitlands and was nearly mauled to death by Betelgeuse. Somewhere along the planning process, Burton decided to take character traits from both and make Lydia a Composite Character.
- Betelgeuse was originally envisioned as a winged demon, who takes on the form of a short Middle Eastern man. He was also intent on killing the Deetzes rather than scaring them, and wanted out-and-out sex from Lydia instead of wanting to marry her. In this version of the script, Betelgeuse only needs to be exhumed from his grave to be summoned, after which he is free to wreak havoc; he cannot be summoned or controlled by saying his name three times, and wanders the world freely, appearing to torment different characters in different manifestations.
- Originally it was going to be mentioned that Betelgeuse committed suicide when he hanged himself over a woman when he was drunk - and that he botched the job and ended up suffocating painfully instead of a quick snapped neck. There wasn't time for it.
- In another version of the script, the film was to have concluded with the Maitlands, Deetzes, and Otho conducting an exorcism ritual that destroys Betelgeuse, and the Maitlands transforming into miniature versions of themselves and moving into Adam's model of their home, which they refurbish to look like their house before the Deetzes moved in.
- When Betelgeuse appeared in snake form, he originally was supposed to be snakelike in appearance.
It's been implied that they make it look more like the character so that the audience doesn't think it's some random monster from the afterlife.
The animated series
- According to SYFY WIRE’s video, "Beetlejuice The Animated Series - Everything You Didn't Know", Tara Strong (who ended up voicing Bertha and Claire) was originally cast as Lydia, but was swapped out in favor of Alyson Court at the last minute for an unspecified reason.
- Kenner, the company behind the movie's toyline, planned to create action figures for the animated series, but the project never came to fruition, with all that's surfaced being a prototype for the head of a Jacques LaLean figure.
The musical
- Juno was originally renamed Mrs. Shoggoth early in the show's development. If this change went ahead, it would've meant Beetlejuice's real name in the musical was "Lawrence Beetlejuice Shoggoth."
- "The Whole Being Dead Thing" was not originally written as the musical's opening number and Beetlejuice singing the song to the Maitlands after their death was going to be the only time the song was to be performed in the musical before the other proposed opening numbers were scrapped in favor of it.
- Eddie Perfect worked through several interpretations and explanations for what Beetlejuice is and what role he'd play in the story, one of the earliest rejected concepts (associated with the Cut Song "The Hole") was that Beetlejuice would be a Psychopomp whose job was to guide the souls of the recently deceased to the portals leading to the Netherworld. He would've wanted to become human to get out of his boring position. However, the song was viewed as too bleak and so was cut.
- While not stated in the final version, Betelgeuse was in his predicament for some time. In the DC run, Betelgeuse tells the audience he did something very awful that got him damned to roam the Earth for eternity, invisible to humans unless they said his name three times. One original opening number "Gotta Get Outta This House" has Beetlejuice mention he's been haunting the house as far back as when cavemen roamed the Earth, bored out of his mind, and not having a high first opinion of Barbara and Adam when they move in. These developments are merely alluded to in the final draft, where he states he's been watching the Maitlands for some time.
- The Netherworld underwent much development:
- In one draft, it didn't exist. According to "The Hole" when a person dies, their spirit (according to Betelgeuse, it's not a "soul" in the traditional sense) goes to Betelgeuse, who leads them to their hole. They step in, it seals up, and that's it.
- In the DC version, the Netherworld is a boring, dreadful place.
- Instead of Miss Argentina and the other denizens of the Netherworld, the DC version had Lydia Deetz welcomed to the Netherworld by a deceased boy band named Boy Inferno, who sang a song called "Everything is Meh", where they explained how their own demise happened from a plane crash and that the Netherworld is a hopelessly boring afterlife. Mixed reception led to scrapping Boy Inferno and replacing the song with Miss Argentina and an ensemble singing "What I Know Now".
- The demo version of "What I Know Now" gave parts to the scuba diver who died in a shark attack, a bachelor who regrets dying single, an anti-vaxxer implied to have died because of his refusal to get vaccinated and an athlete who abandoned his dream of becoming a dancer to appease his father's wishes as well as having Harry the Hunter describe his fate instead of having the rest of the ensemble explaining the circumstances of his death on his behalf.
- Otho's real name was supposed to have been Paul Crabbits, not Kevin.
- Otho was going to be subject to severe Adaptational Villainy. His cut Villain Song "I Am Very Good At Running Cults" would have established him as having run multiple cults that all ended with him mass-murdering his (apparently all-female) followers/sex slaves and being a maniacal Immortality Seeker.
- Charles was going to have some as well at some point in development, based on the also-cut "Sign Yourself Over To Me", which has him treating his prenup with Delia as essentially owning her (including Marital Rape License).
