The White Rabbit is a fictional anthropomorphic rabbit who appears as a key character in Lewis Carroll's 1865 book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. He is depicted as a hurried, waistcoat-clad lagomorph who perpetually consults his pocket watch and mutters of his tardiness as he scurries about in his duties. His appearance and behaviour incite the protagonist Alice to pursue him down a rabbit hole, initiating her journey into Wonderland. Alice encounters him again when he mistakes her for his housemaid Mary Ann and she becomes trapped in his house after growing too large. In the last few chapters, he appears as a herald and footman to the King and Queen of Hearts. The White Rabbit has been depicted in numerous adaptations, including Disney's 1951 and 2010 films.
Personality
In his article "Alice on the Stage", Carroll wrote, "And the White Rabbit, what of him? Was he framed on the 'Alice' lines, or meant as a contrast? As a contrast, distinctly. For her 'youth', 'audacity', 'vigour', and 'swift directness of purpose', read 'elderly', 'timid', 'feeble', and 'nervously shilly-shallying', and you will get something of what I meant him to be. I think the White Rabbit should wear spectacles. I'm sure his voice should quaver, and his knees quiver and his whole air suggest a total inability to say 'Boo' to a goose!"
Overall, the White Rabbit seems to shift back and forth between pompous behaviour toward his underlings, such as his servants, and grovelling, obsequious behaviour toward his superiors, such as the Duchess, and the King and Queen of Hearts, in direct contrast to Alice, who is reasonably polite to everyone she meets.
The White Rabbit's perennial unpunctuality is a nod to Oxford time, the tradition at Oxford (and especially Christ Church, where Carroll taught) of having events begin five minutes past the scheduled hour.
Adaptations and in popular culture
Disney film
Disney's animated version of the Rabbit is perhaps best known for the little song he sings on his first appearance, "I'm late! I'm late! For a very important date! No time to say hello, goodbye! I'm late! I'm late! I'm late!". His initial panicky behaviour is presumably because he is late for the royal garden party where he is due to act as herald; this would be quite enough for him to lose his head to the touchy Queen.
He is often the straight man for other characters' zany antics; when he asks the Dodo for help on getting the "monster" (Alice) out of his house, Dodo's ultimate solution is to burn the house down, to which the White Rabbit is greatly opposed. At the Mad Tea Party, the Mad Hatter and the March Hare try to "fix" his watch, proclaiming it "exactly two days slow," and eventually destroy it in their efforts to correct it.
The Rabbit was voiced by Bill Thompson.
The White Rabbit appears at the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts as a meetable character.
In Aladdin and the King of Thieves, the Genie was transformed into him.
The White Rabbit made a few appearances on the Disney Channel original show, House of Mouse. His most notable appearance was in the episode "Clarabelle's Big Secret" when he confessed to Clarabelle Cow that "I'm not really late, and I don't really have a date. I'm a fraud!". He is seen being grabbed by the reservation clerk Daisy Duck in the show's intro. He was voiced by Corey Burton, who has voiced the Rabbit in all English speaking roles for the character since then until in Kinect: Disneyland Adventures, where his voice was provided by Jeff Bennett.
In the PlayStation 2 action-RPG game Kingdom Hearts and its Game Boy Advance follow-up, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, the White Rabbit leads Sora, Donald Duck and Goofy to the Queen's palace, worried about being late. His Japanese voice actor was Shigeru Ushiyama.
In The Simpsons short Plusaversary, Disney's White Rabbit made a brief appearance in Moe's Tavern.
In the television series Alice's Wonderland Bakery, the White Rabbit's great-grandson Fergie is one of the main characters. In the episode "Potato Potahto", the White Rabbit appears in a photograph.
The White Rabbit has a cameo appearance in the short film Once Upon a Studio (2023), as part of the Walt Disney Animation Studios characters who gather to take a group photo.
Švankmajer film
In the 1988 Czechoslovak film Alice, the White Rabbit appears as a taxidermied specimen that breaks out of a glass case in Alice's room. The character is animated via stop-motion and is depicted leaking sawdust through a hole in its chest. During Alice's pursuit of the White Rabbit in Wonderland, he physically attacks her with paddles, a hacksaw, and a group of skeletal animals. The White Rabbit is also the Queen of Hearts' executioner, using scissors to behead the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, and other characters. Upon awakening from her dream and finding the White Rabbit missing from his case, Alice finds his scissors and resolves to behead him herself.
Tim Burton film
The White Rabbit works for the Red Queen, but is also a secret member of the Underland Underground Resistance, and was sent by the Hatter to search for Alice. Actor Michael Sheen stated, "The White Rabbit is such an iconic character that I didn't feel like I should break the mould too much." In this film adaptation, the White Rabbit is given the name Nivens McTwisp.
McTwisp appears in the video game adaptation of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland as a playable character. He attacks using his watch and can manipulate time.
Other films In Jurassic Park, the character of Dennis Nedry writes a computer program to disable security systems of the park and hide his steps. Samuel L. Jackson's character finds a file called "Whte_rbt.obj" that he claims did it all. In The Matrix, there are several metaphysical "waking up" metaphors that reference the Wonderland stories. Early in the film, Neo is told to follow the "White Rabbit" and seconds later, his doorbell rings, and when he opens the door he finds a woman with a tattoo of a white rabbit on her shoulder. Later in the film, Morpheus offers him the "red pill" to "find out just how deep the rabbit hole goes". Right before he meets the Oracle one can see Night of the Lepus playing on a nearby television, symbolising Neo's decision to "follow the white rabbit" and to disturb the order of the Matrix. In Pacific Rim, there are several metaphysical "waking up" metaphors that reference the Wonderland stories. In the film, Mako Mori is instructed during "mind-meld" training to "do not latch onto memories; let them wash over you" and to above all never follow the "White Rabbit". Later in the film, she does this and nearly kills military staff members. In Aladdin and the King of Thieves, Genie briefly transforms into the White Rabbit and even quotes his famous line of "I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date!". Genie was late announcing the arrival of the bride and groom for Jasmine and Aladdin's wedding, realizing that the guests have already been seated. In Knowing, the character of John Koestler Nicolas Cage's character decodes a prophesy of an Extinction Level Event / End Times. His young son, Caleb, and the young granddaughter of the prophet, Abby, are taken at the conclusion by Angelic "Alien" beings aboard an Arc to save them (and others deemed fit) from Earth's destruction. Abby is holding her pet White Rabbit as they ascend into the Arc. In Little Nicky (2000), the character of Little Nicky Adam Sandler's character as son of the Devil fights his siblings who have brought hell on Earth, and having an Angelic mother, fires rainbow beams from his fingers that produce white rabbits, during the act of fighting evil demons using "the power of good". In the 2025 Russian musical film Alice in Wonderland, the White Rabbit is portrayed by .
Television The White Rabbit appears in the Once Upon a Time spin-off called Once Upon a Time in Wonderland voiced by John Lithgow - in this show, his first name is revealed to be Percy. He helps the Knave of Hearts to free Alice from Bethlem Royal Hospital in a Victorian Era-type world and bring her back to Wonderland. The Red Queen is also forcing the White Rabbit to be her ears in order to find out about Alice's plans. In Star Trek, the 1966 episode "Shore Leave" shows the protagonists visiting a planet where characters of their imagination come to life. The White Rabbit appears to Doctor McCoy early in the episode. In Star Trek: The Animated Series, in the episode "Once Upon a Planet" the White Rabbit appears before Alice shows up chasing him. The White Rabbit appeared in the "Brooke Shields" episode of The Muppet Show performed by Steve Whitmire. The White Rabbit puppet later made a cameo in the wedding scene of The Muppets Take Manhattan, an episode of Donna's Day, and episode 4081 of Sesame Street (where its ears were in the downward position). In the Syfy Alice, The White Rabbit is a secret organisation that works for the Queen of Hearts and abducts people from the real world, so they can gamble in the Queen's casino. The actual character is represented by a member of the organisation called Agent White who kidnaps Jack (Alice's fiancé, the Jack of Hearts) and tries to retrieve a magic ring called the Stone of Wonderland from Alice. When it is found out that he failed his mission, the Queen has him executed. In Lost, the White Rabbit has alluded to several times in the series. First, it is the name of an episode, and Locke claims that Jack is chasing the White Rabbit in the form of his father. The White Rabbit is also the symbol for the Looking Glass Station and it is also carrying a clock with it. In Leverage Season 5, the White Rabbit is mentioned in episode 12 as being the main title and con of the episode.
Literature In The Looking-Glass Wars, the White Rabbit is re-imagined as Bibwit Harte (an anagram of "White Rabbit"), an albino tutor with super-sensitive hearing. In the manga series Alice in the Country of Hearts, written by Quinrose and published by Tokyopop, a character named Peter White is the prime minister of the castle of hearts. He is portrayed as a cruel man who would kill anyone in an instant. He has little in common with the image of the white rabbit other than white rabbit ears, a large oversized pocketwatch, and a suit. He is desperately in love with Alice and often caught rhyming as he speaks. Alice does mention hating him on several occasions and claims to hate "White Rabbit ears" the most. In the Stephen King novel The Long Walk, a boy named Stebbins refers to himself as "the White Rabbit type." In the manga Pandora Hearts the main character Oz Vessalius is based in the White Rabbit as he is the chain B-Rabbit. In the manga series Project ARMS a boy infected with intelligent nano machines code named white rabbit is granted superior speed and jumping ability. In the book Boy in a White Room (among other Alice in Wonderland references) the main character gets send hints through pictures of a “White Rabbit” that are visible in live footage he has access to.