‘How to Train Your Dragon’ gets modern animated spin-off series
The legacy of Toothless and Hiccup lives on in an all-new animated series.
DreamWorks Animation has released a new teaser for the spin-off series, Dragons: The Nine Realms, that brings mythical dragons to the future.
The series, which will consist of six episodes, will premiere on Hulu and Peacock right in time for Christmas.
According to the official synopsis, the series is set 1,300 years after the events of How to Train Your Dragon, when dragons are now just a legend to the modern world.
“When a geological anomaly opens up an immense, miles-deep fissure in the Earth’s surface, scientists from all over the world gather at a new research facility to study the mysterious phenomenon. Soon, a group of misfit kids, brought to the site by their parents, uncover the truth about dragons and where they’ve been hiding—a secret they must keep to themselves to protect what they’ve discovered.”
Unlike the Viking-age set animated trilogy, the short teaser shows a modern world setting, with the main character dressed in contemporary clothing and a hybrid black and white dragon.
The rider and dragon, who looks like a distant descendant of Toothless the Night Fury and the white Light Fury from the films, fly over a modern cityscape with a heliport and wind turbines.
So far, the only voice cast member for the series revealed is Jeremy Shada (Adventure Time), who plays the rider shown in the teaser.
John Tellegen serves as showrunner and executive producer alongside Chuck Austen and Henry Gilroy, as well as supervising producer Beth Sleven.
DreamWorks released the first How to Train Your Dragon film in 2010 based on the franchise loosely inspired by Cressida Cowell’s children's books.
The film spawned two sequels How to Train Your Dragon 2 in 2012, and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World in 2019.
The books also feature the tie-in series DreamWorks Dragons, which aired from 2012 to 2018. DreamWorks Dragons: Rescue Riders, a separate spin-off aimed at pre-schoolers, was released in 2019, with its sequel coming to Peacock on Nov. 24.
Check out the trailer for the upcoming series below.
Dragons: The Nine Realms will premiere on Hulu and Peacock on Dec. 23, 2021.