Bruno/Behind the Scenes

Background Information
Bruno is a fictional caboose created by Craig Carlisle, Peter Gaffney and Daniel Share-Strom with the help from the Autistic Self Advocacy Network and Easterseals.

Bruno first appeared in the second series episode Percy Disappears, which first aired in 2022.

Creation
While the character of Theo was originally introduced with personality traits of autism in the Thomas & Friends special Journey Beyond Sodor, the concept of officially introducing a character with autism into its reboot Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go was the idea of Mattel's Monica Dennis. She had wanted to introduce an autistic character to go along with the impact the original Thomas & Friends series had on members of the autism spectrum. Preliminary development on the character began before late 2020, with Rick Suvalle working with Dennis to create the character. According to autistic writer and consultant Daniel Share-Strom, the character was originally going to be named Bruce the Caboose. However, the name was later changed to "Brake Car Bruno" at some point before June 2021.

2D animated rigs
Bruno uses a series of complicated 2D rigs created by Nelvana Studio. These rigs are made up of different assets, which can be stretched, squashed and posed to create the desired movements and poses. Bruno's movements are handled by an animation team, with a posing team to create specific poses as required for certain shots.

Voice Actors

 * Elliott Garcia
 * Chuck Smith
 * Rishi Morar
 * Dalí González
 * Christian Peyrano
 * Pietro Takeda
 * Kiu Jérôme
 * Mattia Gentili
 * Emiko Takeuchi