10 Things We Know So Far About How To Train Your Dragon 3

Arguably the finest new animated movie franchise this decade is the How To Train Your Dragon series. Released in 2010, the first film was a delightful, heartfelt and beautifully-animated effort from Dreamworks - perhaps their best movie since Shrek. Even more remarkably, the sequel was just as good, if not better. Rather than reheating the plot of the original, HTTYD 2 expanded and added depth to the story as well as going in a much darker direction. Through both movies, the boy/pet love between protagonist Hiccup and his faithful, adorable dragon Toothless has been the biggest draw and selling point. A relationship that's up there with the standout double acts of Pixar. Ever since the second movie landed in 2014, fans have been eagerly awaiting the third instalment in the series. While other franchises that shall remain unnamed have churned out multiple sequels and suffer from diminishing returns, it's refreshing that the makers of these films are taking their time to make sure that each entry is as good as the last. So, while we wait for our next trip to the dragon-filled Viking village of Berk, let's see what we actually know about How To Train Your Dragon 3. 10) The Release Date Let's start with the basics. If the original plan for the movie's release had gone ahead, we would already have enjoyed it a few months ago. Back in 2012, Dreamworks labelled How To Train Your Dragon 3 with a June 18th 2016 release date. As time got away from them, this was moved back sometime later to June 17th 2017. This wasn't the end of it, though. After that announcement, Dreamworks went under a "corporate restructuring" and the movie was pushed back again to June 29th, 2018. Finally, some good news happened when the film was brought forward to May 18th, the original release date for The LEGO Movie Sequel (which is now set for February 2019). On the one hand, this constant shuffling back of its release date could be bad news - we wouldn't entirely rule out another alteration over the next couple of years, as well. On the other, it's to be expected. Writer/director Dean Deblois is working solidly on making the movie as good as can be. As the Toy Story films proved, sometimes it's worth waiting for a threequel. 9) Drago Bludvist Returns Part of the expansion that Dragon 2 made to the world was introducing one mean villain to set our heroes against. Voiced by Djimon Hounsou, the brilliantly named Drago Bludvist was an evil warlord who planned to take over the world with his army of mind-controlled dragons. Which is just about the most diabolical kid's movie villain scheme we have ever heard of. At the end of the movie, Drago's massive Bewilderbeast dragon is defeated - but the villain himself lives to fight another day. Naturally, he's making a return in the third movie. We know this as Hounsou has already been confirmed to appear in the film. Previously, DeBlois stated that he was basing the second and third movies off Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. In this sense, Drago is the equivalent of the Emperor; he's absent from the first installment, but has an increased role in the next two. 8) And So Does Stoic The Vast Djimon Hounsou isn't the only notable member of the cast who's returning. Gerard Butler as Hiccup's stoic father, er, Stoic is also appearing in How To Train Your Dragon 3. If you've only seen the first film, this won't come as a surprise. However, if you're familiar with the events of the second, it will. In the heartbreaking climax of Dragon 2, the Bewilderbeast mind-controls Toothless into attacking his master. At the last minute, Stoic jumps in front of his son and is caught by the Night Fury's blast instead. It's a particularly cruel twist, as Hiccup had just reunited his family after finding his mother alive (as played by Cate Blanchett, who's also reprising her role in the next movie). We're not quite sure to what extent Butler's character will be used, but we're assuming it will be a simple case of flashbacks rather than a shocking return from the dead. 7) A Toothless Romance This one hasn't been confirmed yet, but it's rumoured that Toothless will fall for another member of the Night Fury dragon breed in the next film. Though this is a fairly standard subplot of many animated sequels (Ice Age 4, Toy Story 3, Puss in Boots and others all gave supporting characters a love interest), the rumour is particularly interesting because Toothless is currently believed to be the only Night Fury left in the world. In a movie that seems to even darker than the previous one (in ways which we will explain shortly), this subplot will hopefully provide a welcome relief from the drama, as it focusses on the love life of cinema's cutest dragon. This plotline will also presumably be tied in with something else that we know the threequel will explore... 6) Origin Of The Night Fury What sets How to Train Your Dragon apart from most dragon movies is its exploration of different types of dragons. The most interesting is obviously the Night Fury, of which Toothless is the last one. The subspecies was even believed to be a complete myth by the people of Berk before he showed up. In the third movie, we'll finally learn the origins of the Night Furies. We've had hints that the breed might not be as extinct as previously thought before. Both Hiccup's mother Valka and Drago recognized Toothless as a Night Fury on sight, though they were surprised to find one of his kind alive. This heavily suggests that there was perhaps a culling of Night Furies that drove them to extinction (perhaps at Drago's hand), or at the very least a great threat that made them retreat into hiding. It seems likely that the older generation of Berk are withholding information about what really happened to the Night Furies and Hiccup will find it out in Dragon 3. 5) Hiccup Comes Of Age Hiccup (as voiced by Jay Baruchel) has had a strong character arc over the two films so far. He starts the first movie as the awkward, lonely son of burly Stoic but, through the discovery that dragons can be friendly, he grows into his own man, earns his father's respect and eventually comes to be the leader of his people. This development will come to its natural conclusion in Dragon 3. Here's what Dean DeBlois had to say about Hiccup's story in the threequel: "Both he and Toothless are now chiefs of their respective tribes, and it’s a dueling story where you have both characters trying to do what’s right for their kind, and an eventual outcome where Hiccup is able to stand on his own." It should be interesting to see Hiccup become the man his father always knew he could be and - hang on, did he just say that he and Toothless will be "dueling?" 4) Hiccup And Toothless Part Ways That's right, How To Train Your Dragon 3 looks set to be an emotional ride, as it will see the heartwarming friendship between Hiccup and Toothless stretched past breaking point. This was already hinted at in the previous film, as it was Toothless who was responsible for Hiccup's father's death. Even if he was under the control of the Bewilderbeast, it will be difficult for Hiccup to see past that and will naturally corrupt their friendship to some degree. Going by DeBlois' words, it also seems that the pair's status as chiefs of their tribes will see them come to loggerheads, as each of them tries to look after their own kind. It's fair to say this will be a tough watch for fans of these characters but again, at least the central aim of these films is to keep us emotionally involved, unlike a lot of other contemporary animations. 3) No More Dragons The How To Train Your Dragon movies are actually loosely based on a children's book series by British author Cressida Cowell, which take the form of humorous guides to training dragons (hence the title). There's little in common with the two iterations apart from a few names and concepts, but this looks to change in the third movie as Dragon 3 will borrow an important detail from the books: dragons are thought to be extinct. "We’re gonna take the story to where the books begin, which is Hiccup as an adult reflecting back on a time where there were dragons, suggesting that the dragons will in some way go away," Deblois has explained. "Why and could they come back and the mystery of what all that is will be saved for the actual story.” Just what causes the dragons to disappear is the big question here. As this is a family movie, we're guessing that it won't deal with the species being completely wiped out, but rather some event will probably cause them to go into hiding. Maybe the conflict between Hiccup and Toothless gets so heated that a full-scale dragon vs. human war breaks out? 2) There Will Be No How To Train Your Dragon 4 If all these plot details sound fairly climactic, that's exactly the point. Dean DeBlois has been very open from the start that he has always made these films under the impression that they are a trilogy - with a clear beginning, middle and end. We've already referenced both of these franchises, but it definitely seems like DeBlois is very much inspired by perhaps the two greatest family-friendly movie trilogies in history - the original Star Wars trilogy and Toy Story. Both of those had basically standalone openers which were followed up by a pair of sequels that expanded the world, themes and characters to great effect. Fans are often split about which is the best movie in the trilogy, as the quality is so close between each entry. How To Train Your Dragon is two thirds of the way there on all these fronts. If it can just nail its finale, it could find itself rubbing shoulders with these guys. Of course, both Star Wars and Toy Story also couldn't resist the opportunity to produce more films after these trilogies ended. And neither, it seems, can this franchise... 1) But Potentially Some Spinoffs How To Train Your Dragon is one of the most critically-acclaimed and financially-successful franchises Dreamworks has on its books (certainly after Shrek and Madagascar seem to be over). As such, though there are no plans for Dragon 4, the studio will be looking to milk it for some more related movies. Here's what DeBlois has said on the matter: “I think I’ve talked down from . There may be spinoffs to come, but my involvement and my dedication to completing a story that has a reason for being and a strong sense of integrity and three chapters I think is in place and intact. Everybody seems to be in agreement that we’re moving in the right direction.” From this we can gather that, though spinoffs are being discussed, DeBlois would take a back seat with these after he's completed How To Train Your Dragon 3. That sounds like the best case scenario to us. Keep the core trilogy intact, but also produce some off-shoots for fans of the characters and this world to enjoy.