‘How to Train Your Dragon 2’ Taps ‘Ted Lasso’ Star to Play Eret

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The upcoming live-action sequel to How to Train Your Dragon, titled How to Train Your Dragon 2, has cast Phil Dunster – known for his role in the Apple TV+ comedy Ted Lasso – as the character Eret, who was previously voiced by Kit Harington. Mason Thames will return as Hiccup, alongside Gerard Butler as Stoick, Nico Parker as Astrid, and Julian Dennison as Fishlegs. Cate Blanchett joins the cast as Valka, and Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (from Severance) will play the villain Drago Bludvist, who is connected to Eret, a dragon dealer.

The next installment in the How to Train Your Dragon series, arriving in theaters on June 11, 2027, revisits Hiccup five years after the first film. Now 20 years old, he unexpectedly reunites with his mother, Valka, whom he believed was lost. However, their reunion is threatened by a new villain, Drago, who plans to take over the world with an army of dragons. With stunning aerial scenes and engaging new characters, director Dean DeBlois’ film has the potential to surpass the original’s critical acclaim on Rotten Tomatoes.

The director, a talented animator who successfully moved into creating photorealistic visuals, previously shared with Variety that the Star Wars films greatly influenced the design of his 2014 sequel, How to Train Your Dragon.

How ‘HTTYD’ Director Approached the Sequel


Universal Pictures

After the huge success of the first film in 2010, DeBlois faced the difficult task of making the sequel live up to expectations. However, George Lucas had successfully done something similar with his own films, providing a model for DeBlois to follow.

I’ve always felt The Empire Strikes Back truly expanded its world, making it more complex and emotionally resonant. That’s what we aimed for with our film – a sense of adventure, a bigger story, more developed characters, and higher stakes. We wanted to create a world that felt full of possibilities, with plenty of unanswered questions and stories yet to be told.

It often feels like animated movie sequels aren’t really needed – they just put the same characters through another similar story. I suggested to Jeffrey Katzenberg at DreamWorks that a trilogy might be a better approach. That way, the first movie could be the beginning of a larger story, showing Hiccup grow into a thoughtful Viking leader, and we could finish the series by explaining the dragons’ disappearance, similar to how it happens in Cressida Cowell’s original book.

As everyone knows, the story continued with a third film, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, released in 2019. This movie beautifully concluded the emotional and beloved trilogy.

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2026-01-29 20:47