Universal is going all in on its How to Train Your Dragon live-action reboot. The studio has officially announced a sequel, How to Train Your Dragon 2, even before the first film has flown into cinemas.
The reveal came during Universal’s CinemaCon 2025 presentation in Las Vegas, where returning director Dean DeBlois took the stage alongside cast members Nico Parker and Gerard Butler to confirm that the live-action follow-up is set for U.S. release on June 11, 2027. The first film is due out in June this year.
It’s a bold move from the studio, underscoring Universal’s clear confidence in the project. The entire first live-action film was screened for CinemaCon attendees just before the sequel was announced. Based on DreamWorks Animation’s 2010 hit, the new adaptation features The Black Phone’s Mason Thames as Hiccup and Nico Parker (The Last of Us) as Astrid. Gerard Butler returns to the franchise in the role of Stoick, Hiccup’s Viking father.
DeBlois, the filmmaker behind all three of the original animated How to Train Your Dragon features, is back on scripting and directing duties for both the live-action adaptation and its sequel. Speaking at a press event earlier in the year, DeBlois explained that this new iteration allowed the creative team to revisit areas that had previously been constrained. “With the rushed production schedule and the limited resources that we had on that first movie for DreamWorks, there were things that we skipped past that we could have maybe done a little more justice to — some of the characters, some of the depth of relationships and the immersive action,” he said.
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“It’s a reimagining that holds quite faithful to the story and yet finds moments where we could enrich character relationships, give a bit of depth, give a little bit of mythology that might have been lacking in that original.”
The franchise, originally inspired by the books from Cressida Cowell, has earned more than $US1.6 billion globally across three animated films, collecting multiple Oscar nominations along the way. Joining DeBlois as producers on the live-action instalments are Marc Platt and Adam Siegel.
With a sequel locked in and the first film already completed, Universal appears to be treating How to Train Your Dragon as one of the studio’s next major live-action tentpoles. Fingers crossed it soars.
