By India McCarty
The sequel to the live-action HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON just got some major star power! Cate Blanchett has officially joined the movie’s cast.
“The two-time Oscar winner has inked a deal to reprise her role as Viking warrior Valka in Universal Pictures’ live-action HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2,” The Hollywood Reporter announced.
Blanchett is the second actor from the original movies to make the transition from animation to live-action. Gerard Butler, who voiced Stoick the Vast, father of main character Hiccup, also reprised his role in 2025’s live-action HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON.
Related: HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON (2025)
Butler is set to appear in the live-action sequel, alongside returning cast Mason Thames, Nico Parker, Julian Dennison, Gabriel Howell, Bronwyn James and Harry Trevaldwyn.
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 will be directed and written by Dean DeBlois, who did the same for last year’s live-action version. DeBlois also co-created the franchise, which includes a trilogy of animated movies, as well as three animated TV shows.
He previously spoke to TheWrap about hoping to get Blanchett for the sequel, teasing, “It’s hers to turn down, let’s put it that way.”
It’s no surprise Universal rushed a sequel into production; HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON made over $630 million at the box office, per BoxOfficeMojo.
However, in an interview with the Motion Picture Association, DeBlois admitted he was initially hesitant at the idea of greenlighting a live-action version of the movie.
“I’ve been fairly vocal in saying I’m not a big fan of this trend because it diminishes the accomplishment of the animated movies and the hard work that went into them,” he explained. “It often feels like a wasted opportunity to create something new. I also thought that if someone’s going to do it, I don’t want to see someone else’s version of it. I’m very protective of the characters, the world, and the story, so if they were going to do it, I wanted to be the steward.”
DeBlois praised the movie’s costume designers and location scouts for their hard work, which made the fictional island of Berk come to life.
“Everything was done with incredible skill and attention to detail,” he said, adding, “There was a sense of respect among all the disciplines and a great deal of appreciation.”
He also commented on how “surreal” HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON’s popularity is, specifically, its inclusion in the Universal Epic Universe theme park in Orlando, Florida.
“I had no idea it would travel this far into the zeitgeist. To become a theme park is such a rare privilege,” he said. “If you have a theme park world based on your film, you’ve really managed to penetrate pop culture.”
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 is expected to hit theaters June 11, 2027.
Read Next: Live-Action HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON Sequel Greenlit
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