Cate Blanchett steps into live-action as Valka, the fierce dragon guardian and Hiccup’s hidden mom from the animated How to Train Your Dragon 2 . She voiced the role first in the 2014 cartoon and again in the 2019 finale, marking her rare return across formats.
Now, with the first live-action film pulling in over $636 million last year, Universal locks her in for the June 11, 2027, release.
Fans buzz online about seeing Blanchett’s commanding presence match her voice work, especially next to Gerard Butler’s Stoick.
Butler already bridged animation to live-action as the booming Viking chief in the 2025 remake, setting up family drama that defined the sequel’s heart. Director Dean DeBlois, who helmed the original trilogy and the reboot, guides this blend of old and new.
The move nods to the franchise’s roots while testing how a two-time Oscar winner adapts to CGI dragons and Viking gear. Production ramps up under Marc Platt, aiming to capture the sequel’s themes of leadership and hidden worlds.
Blanchett, fresh off Black Bag and Venice winner Father Mother Sister Brother, picks projects blending action with depth.
Valka emerges mid-story as a wild protector, revealing Hiccup’s lineage and rallying dragons against invasion. Live-action lets Blanchett wield axes and ride beasts in practical sequences DeBlois plans to amp up.
Young Riders Gear Up for Sequel Stakes
Mason Thames slips back into Hiccup’s prosthetics as the inventive teen turned chief, joined by Nico Parker as Astrid and the full rider crew.
Julian Dennison returns as dragon expert Fishlegs, while Gabriel Howell, Bronwyn James, and Harry Trevaldwyn handle Snotlout and the chaotic twins. This keeps the 2025 chemistry alive after the group’s breakout success.
The story picks up post-first film, thrusting Hiccup into adult choices amid dragon threats, much like the 2014 animated plot.
How to Train Your Dragon (Credit: Jio Hotstar)
New faces like Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as villain Drago add menace, recasting from Djimon Hounsou’s animated force. Kit Harington could surface as Trapper Eret, fueling speculation on more voice-to-live crossovers.
Young cast members draw from their first outing’s intensity, where Thames praised Butler’s set-dominating energy. DeBlois tweaks script details for live-action flair, promising grounded aerial fights and emotional beats. He scripts now, eyeing changes to fix animated regrets like rushed arcs.
Thames honed Hiccup’s vulnerability through hours in makeup, bonding with Toothless via motion capture. Parker brings Astrid’s fire with stunt training, prepping for expanded rider battles. Dennison dives deeper into Fishlegs’ lore, consulting original designs for accuracy.
Fan Hype Meets Franchise Future
Social media explodes with clips of Blanchett’s animated clips side-by-side with imagined live looks, amplifying sequel fever. Reddit threads praise the first film’s visuals and score, with users hooked despite tweaks from the source. One fan tears up recalling Dragon 2’s balance of laughs and loss, eager for live-action punch.
Original Hiccup voice Jay Baruchel cheers the cast, urging them to savor the dragon bond he cherished. His nod highlights how the remake honors the $1.6 billion animated trilogy’s legacy. Forums debate Drago’s recast, but Blanchett’s stay eases fears of a full overhaul.
Box office wins from the reboot, greenlit pre-release at CinemaCon, signal studio confidence in more entries. A strong sequel could spawn a live-action Hidden World, tempting returns like F. Murray Abraham’s Grimmel. DeBlois’s eyes fix on past regrets, like deeper character arcs, in this real-world Viking realm.
DeBlois tackles wingsuit flights and horde effects, blending practical dragons with CGI for scarier stakes. The crew scouts Iceland for Berk’s rugged cliffs, mirroring animated majesty. Platt and Siegel push family themes amid conquest threats, drawing on Cressida Cowell’s books.
Blanchett’s commitment quiets remake skeptics, proving stars embrace the shift to practical effects and motion capture. With pre-production humming, Berk’s skies prep for clashes that test rider unity against conquest plots.
The blend of returning talents and youthful energy positions this as the saga’s bold next chapter, ready to hook a new generation while rewarding loyalists. Valka’s reveal promises tears and thrills, as Hiccup unites clans in dragon skies forever changed.
Fans noticed right away when trailers dropped last fall. The hulking infected from 28 Years Later showed up wrapped in ragged cloth around his waist, face mostly exposed with piercing eyes staring out.
No more full nudity or wild hair hiding decayed features like in Danny Boyle’s 2025 kickoff to the trilogy. Chi Lewis-Parry still bulked up as the Alpha infected, but every detail shifted to fit Nia DaCosta’s take on the sequel.
She laid it out in a recent chat ahead of the January 16 US release. DaCosta pointed to clashing director styles as the core reason.
Boyle’s raw, handheld iPhone-shot chaos suited the first film’s frantic energy, but her Arri Alexa 35 close-ups and deliberate pacing demanded fresh prosthetics, makeup layers, and even how Lewis-Parry moved and growled.
Prep sessions locked in those physical shifts, turning Samson from a pure threat into something layered that threads through the plot.
This hands-off approach from Boyle let DaCosta run with it. Producers gave her full rein since the character carried over big from the prior movie. Lewis-Parry endured hours-long full-body suits daily, swapped out after single uses, to nail the evolved rot without losing menace.
Trailers hint at his softer side, too, like foraging berries instead of ripping flesh, which ties straight to his haunts at the Bone Temple site.
Bone Temple Pulls Samson Into Deeper Mystery
Dr. Ian Kelson, played by Ralph Fiennes, keeps stacking skulls into the massive ossuary out in Northumberland’s wilds. It’s his tribute to outbreak victims, both Rage-turned and human dead alike.
Samson keeps circling back, letting Kelson hit him with blowpipe darts full of sedatives. Under that haze, the infected brute chills, mutters words like “moon,” and skips attacks on the doctor.
That bond fuels the big swing: a possible Rage Virus fix. Past films hammered wipeout over cure, given the blood-spit speed of infection.
Here, Kelson’s experiments suggest reversibility through this one outlier, Alpha. DaCosta’s redesign amps that up, making Samson’s clearer features and calmer vibe signal brain recovery amid decay. He even drapes cloth on himself at points, a far cry from the first film’s mindless nude stalker.
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Credit: Sony Pictures Releasing)
The temple itself looms large in plot threads. Spike, the kid from part one, now tangled with Jack O’Connell’s cultish Sir Jimmy Crystal gang, crosses paths with it during raids gone bloody.
Gangs clash, survivors flee farms, and Kelson’s setup draws everyone in for a hallucinogenic showdown with Iron Maiden blasting. Samson’s returns hint at addiction to the drugs, sparking lucid moments that rattle ideas of infected humanity.
Critics praise how this setup digs into evil’s nature versus innate human sparks. Fiennes calls Kelson empathetic amid brutality, contrasting the Fingers gang’s skinning rituals and Satan worship.
DaCosta frames the temple as a memento mori, remember death, built from real bones, including a NATO soldier’s and Spike’s mom’s. It stands visible to circling drones, a silent scream to the quarantined Britain’s outsiders.
Trilogy Hype Builds on Samson’s Arc
Box office buzz hits hard post-release. UK crowds got the double bill with the first film on January 13, pulling strong numbers before the solo US drop. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 94% from over 200 reviews, calling out DaCosta’s unnerving control and Fiennes with O’Connell’s fire.
Fans on Reddit and TikTok obsess over “hot zombie” Samson edits, his thrusts from part one going viral alongside the makeover memes.
Lewis-Parry leaned into non-verbal power, improvising bits like a Duran Duran dance with Fiennes that stuck in the cut. Hildur Guðnadóttir’s score layers dread, ending with John Murphy’s heartbeat theme as Cillian Murphy’s Jim cameo teases the trilogy capper.
Boyle eyes directing that finale if crowds keep showing, with Alex Garland scripting redemption themes to close the loop.
DaCosta’s changes pay off by humanizing the monster without softening the horror. Samson’s end-scene carry of Kelson cements him as more than a rage machine, setting stakes for global quarantine lifts.
If his lucidity proves a contagious reversal, the franchise flips from endless outbreak to fragile hope. The third film is greenlit on sequel success, with Murphy expanding Jim’s role against evolved threats.
This evolution keeps the series fresh 24 years after the original. Boyle and Garland built Samson across films for DaCosta’s swing, blending gore spikes with identity loss for infected and survivors alike. Her meticulous shots capture bits of gore that unsettle deeply, showing that style swaps intensify the stakes.
As Spike and Kelly bolt into the wilds chased by the infected, Samson’s shadow looms over what’s left of humanity.
