In the decades that Pixar has been making movies there have been so many relationships that have brought a tear to our eye. Whether it's Carl and Ellie in Up, WALL-E and Eve in WALL-E, or the friendship of Buzz and Woody. But perhaps no relationship means more to fans than that of Sully and Boo in Monsters Inc. The two characters formed a bond with each other in the film and with the audience that fell in love with therm. However, if fans were hoping to see more from Sully and Boo in the new Disney+ series Monsters at Work, they will be disappointed as Boo will not appear in the series.
Speaking at a press conference for Monsters at Work, executive producer Roberts Gannaway explained that the decision was made not to include Boo in the new show, and probably not to include Boo in any future Monsters Inc. projects, because they want the future of the relationship between Sully and Boo to be decided by each member of the audience, and not have it be dictated by Pixar's story team. According to Gannaway...
Just to be very clear, Boo does not make an appearance in the series. I'll kinda leave it at that. [Monsters Inc. director] Pete Docter and I had a nice discussion about Boo and we both agreed, the relationship between Boo and Sully is so precious, and so wonderful, that we want to leave it to the world to have their own interpretation of how that relationship continued, and not define it. That's very important to Pete, and also us. It's not that we don't love Boo and don't want to see her again but that relationship is so precious we want to leave it, let the world have that.
It's been 20 years since the release of Monsters Inc. and in that time many fans have probably come up wit their own ideas for how the relationship between Sully and Boo moves forward. In the final scene of the movie we see that Sully has returned to see Boo again, but the details are intentionally left vague. How much time has passed since he last saw her? Does he only go back the one time or again and again? How does Boo even react to seeing Sully again?
These questions are left up to the audience to determine and not only is Pixar in no hurry to answer them, it appears they're making a point to intentionally not answer them. Monsters Inc. director Pete Docter had previously said that part of the reason the second Monsters Inc. movie was developed to be a prequel rather than a sequel was to avoid dealing with this question. Any official answer in the form of a Pixar story is going to be different in some ways to the story the audience has told themselves and Pixar doesn't want to interfere in that.
So while we might see more than one season of Monsters at Work or might even see more movies from Pixar set in the Monsters Inc. universe, it sounds like the story of Sully and Boo will not be addressed in any of it. For Pixar, that story has gone as far as it will. For everybody else, where the story goes is up to you. Monsters at Work will debut on Disney+ July 2
