Home › Movies › ‘How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World’ To Conclude the Franchise?

‘How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World’ To Conclude the Franchise?

By Reggie's Take on September 15, 2018

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is the third movie in the franchise, but when the movie hits theaters in March of 2019 will it just be the end of a trilogy or the conclusion to the franchise?

If you are a fan of the first two ‘How to Train Your Dragon movies’, as I am then your obviously looking forward to seeing the third movie in the franchise. How to Train Your Dragon franchise follows the adventures of Hiccup a young Viking who reverses the strained relationship between humans and dragons.

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, director Dean DeBlois and producer Brad Lewis say that fans of the franchise need to prepare themselves for an emotional conclusion.

“We thought about it for a long time and came up with what we think is a bittersweet way to say goodbye to these characters, but the right way,” says DeBlois. “You will understand why Hiccup says, as you heard in the trailer, ‘There were dragons when I was a boy.’ And by the end of this film, you’ll have answered the question of what could have happened to them.”

What does that all mean? It means the Hidden World will mark the end of Hiccup’s trilogy and the franchise.

Hiccup’s father, Stoick who died in “How to Train Your Dragon 2”, will return in “The Hidden World” thanks to flashbacks.

“This movie plays with time more than its predecessors, utilizing flash-forwards as well as flashbacks, and in doing so, brings Stoick back to help guide Hiccup in his chiefly responsibility as protector of Berk. One early but pivotal scene finds Hiccup recalling his (unfathomably adorable) toddler self first hearing Stoick’s tale about a secret home of dragons hidden behind a great waterfall somewhere at the edge of the world. Stoick’s dream was to seal it off and stop the fighting between humans and dragons. Hiccup, however, sees the utopia as a potential new home where the people (and pets) of Berk can safely relocate; he’s proudly, if inadvertently, turned Berk into a bustling Viking metropolis of human-dragon cooperation, but with each dragon Hiccup rescues from trappers, he increases the target on Berk’s back to a less tolerant outside world.”

Actor F. Murray Abraham who is voicing “Grimmel” the movies villain, will answer a very important question concerning “Toothless”.

Grimmel, a terrifying new villain, voiced by F. Murray Abraham, “who is the voice of intolerance and answers the question why Toothless is the last of his kind,” says DeBlois. Also, he kind of looks like Ted Danson, but that’s neither here nor there.)

Toothless will be finding love in “The Hidden World” with the Light Fury that we were introduced to in the trailer and their romance is more than just a subplot It’s going to serve as a narrative function.

“What we’re seeing in this story is Toothless learning to trust his own instincts,” says the producer. “It’s not just a B-story. This is a potential agent of change that forces Hiccup to consider what sort of leader he wants to be, or even can be, without Toothless.”

Reggie’s Take:
I’m of two minds that “The Hidden World” will bring the trilogy and the franchise to a close for How to Train Your Dragon.

As a fan of the animated franchise it saddens me that the potential of a fourth movie will never happen. I love the characters and like any movie franchise you want to see more stories, it’s just natural when you love a movie franchise that has been good from the very start.

Knowing that “The Hidden World” will bring the franchise to a definite conclusion is also satisfying. Let’s face it Hollywood tends to let the all mighty dollar speak and they decide to make a fourth movie to a franchise that should of been left well enough alone. It’s been done before and it will happen again.

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World opens in theaters on March 1, 2019

Cast: Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, America Ferrera, Cate Blanchett, Kit Harington, Craig Ferguson, and F. Murray Abraham