Writer and director Dean DeBlois has taken his beloved animated film series How to Train Your Dragon, and he has brought it to live-action. The first remake hits theaters this week, and DeBlois is already looking to the future of the franchise.
When asked by ComicBook, at the film’s red carpet premiere, about the possibility of a live-action How to Train Your Dragon 2, and if that could mean seeing Cate Blanchett return to the franchise as the character Valka, DeBlois said:
“Well, I’m wishful as well. It’s still early days. I think she is probably waiting for a script, but I’ve been knocking on that door. I wrote the character of Valka for her, so I told her it’ll always be hers to turn down first.”
In the animated movies, the character Valka is revealed to be Hiccup’s mother and Stoick’s wife, who was taken by a dragon shortly after Hiccup was born and was thought to be dead. Two decades later, however, she accidentally crosses paths with her son and finally reunites with her husband.
If she returns, Blanchett would be the second How to Train Your Dragon actor making the shift from animation to live action, with Gerard Butler having returned to the franchise to play Stoick, Hiccup’s father, after voicing the character for a few years.
Talking about the yet-to-be-confirmed sequel, DeBois also shared some details about the future of Toothless, as we see the beloved dragon maturing on screen.
“We knew we were going to go there. The idea is that Toothless is roughly Hiccup’s age in dragon years, so he is a juvenile, an adolescent, as well, aging into adulthood. That is going to alter his design in subtle ways, but mostly it’s going to alter his mentality because he’s a very sentient dragon. He has his own opinions about everything, and he’ll also start to come into his own as a leader of his kind.”
Would you like to see the live-action How to Train Your Dragon universe expanded in sequels? The first film hits theaters this Friday.
