io9 recently sat down with How to Train Your Dragon filmmaker Dean DeBlois to chat about being the steward of DreamWorks and Universal Pictures’ dragon franchise. In our conversation, when discussing how awesome it was to see Gerard Butler reprise his role as Hiccup’s dad Stoic, we brought up other actors we’d like to see reprise roles or cameo in live-action, including original stars Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, and Cate Blanchett.
DeBlois revealed to io9 that he hopes Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett will reprise her role as Valka in the announced upcoming live-action adaptation of How to Train Your Dragon 2.
“We are keeping our fingers crossed,” he said, “But yeah, I don’t know… it’s a little early to tell because I’m just writing the script.”
Fans of the animated film know how big of a deal it would be to see Blanchett return to the franchise in the pivotal role. It’s an early reveal in the sequel that Hiccup’s mom Valka, who is mentioned a few times in the live-action film, is alive. And it’s a twist that propels the stakes in the animated sequel which picks up five years after the events of the first film.
Like Butler, Blanchett could easily slip back into the role and give us another undisputed fantasy genre queen performance to follow The Lord of the Rings‘ Galadriel and Thor: Ragnarok‘s Hela. However, we will note that Blanchett has recently talked about wanting to retire, telling the Radio Times last month she has stopped referring to herself as an actress: “It’s because I’m giving up… My family roll their eyes every time I say it, but I mean it. I am serious about giving up acting. [There are] a lot of things I want to do with my life.”
As far as the original Hiccup and Astrid—Jay Baruchel and America Ferrera—coming back, that would have to be more of a cameo situation. They’re older than the characters they played, and Hiccup and Astrid were re-cast with Mason Thames and Nico Parker for the live-action movie.
“We’ll see what happens. Jay and America have been really supportive; in fact they weighed in on the casting when I was down to my top three Astrids and Hiccups. I shared them [with Jay and America], just to hear what they had to say, so they’ve been super supportive,” DeBlois said. “But I think for their schedules it just wouldn’t work out for this movie, but maybe in the future.”
How to Train Your Dragon opens June 13.
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