What happened to the Furious Five in ‘Kung Fu Panda?’

Where the Dragon Warrior goes, the Furious Five can’t be far behind, so why were they conspicuously absent from the latest Kung Fu Panda 4 trailer?

In a lot of ways, the fourth installment in the acclaimed animated film series feels like the end of an era. Not only is the premise teasing Po’s retirement but we’re reaching an inevitable point in the franchise’s life cycle where further sequels would only rehash the same ideas and wear out their welcome. So, while DreamWorks has yet to announce whether Kung Fu Panda 4 will be the last movie in the series, we do know that it’s going to be more ambitious than ever.

A host of villains from past movies are making a return, namely Tai Lung, who was the antagonist in the first one. Well, technically, they will mostly be portrayed by the new villain known as the Chameleon. As her name suggests, the Chameleon is a “shape-shifter sorceress” who can embody everyone and their kung fu, so it’s safe to assume that Po will need the help of all his friends (Master Shifu and the Furious Five included) to take on this latest fight.

Or will he? According to the first trailer for Kung Fu Panda 4, the Furious Five will be absent from most set pieces. In fact, we wouldn’t blame you if you thought they weren’t going to be in this film based on the trailer alone. But what do the producers have to say about this?

What happened to the Furious Five?

While the Furious Five are indeed absent from the first trailer, director Mike Mitchell assures us in a new interview with Collider that “they make an appearance.”

Since Po is going to a new city, however, we’re mostly going to be dealing with a new ensemble of characters led by Po’s apprentice, Zhen, who’ll be portrayed by Awkwafina. Still, Mitchell wants to emphasize that all the characters are back for this upcoming entry.

“All the old characters are back – Mr. Ping, Li, played by Bryan Cranston, Shifu, played by Dustin Hoffman, and then James Hong who plays Ping,” he continues. “Tons of characters. All the characters come back. Every single character that you remember comes back, and a few villains that I don’t want to spoil. But really, we wanted to introduce a whole slew of new characters which we did.”

It looks like the Furious Five are going to take a back seat for this outing, but we do hope to get a lot of Shifu and the iconic dad duo. Kung Fu Panda is scheduled to premiere in theaters on March 8, 2024.