Dora the Explorer creators Chris Gifford and Valerie Walsh Valdes revealed the beloved character was originally intended to be completely different.
As the show celebrates its 25th anniversary, creators disclosed that before becoming Dora, the character was named “Tess” and was even conceptualized as a cat at one point.
Early in production, the character was originally depicted as a bunny living in the woods before evolving into the Latina girl explorer. T
he revelations emerged during recent anniversary interviews about the iconic Nickelodeon series’ development process.
