First look at Cate Blanchett’s character in How To Train Your Dragon 2

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 is one of my most anticipated movies of 2014. The first film presented a fully realized fantasy world that worked both as a movie for children as well as an adventure for all ages. With the entire primary cast including Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Jonah Hill, America Ferrara, Craig Ferguson, Kristen Wiig, and T.J. Miller returning for the sequel that jumps ahead several years we have the addition of new cast-members Kit Harrington, Djimon Hounsou, and Cate Blanchett. Director Dean DeBlois recently spoke with USA Today and shared some details on Blanchett’s character, Valka.

“[Valka has been] living with the animals and learning to communicate with them in non-verbal ways and becoming much like a dragon herself. Her years of isolation and dealing with nothing but dragons and being very sympathetic to them has made her very distrusting of humans.”

“[Hiccup] both admires her but sees her as what his life could be like taken to the extreme… Valka’s life is not only learning about all (the dragons’) secrets and ways and living among them, but also playing among them. That’s part of what she can show Hiccup, things he’s never known about dragon behavior.”

And here is the first look at Valka.

Blanchett could read the phone book and I would watch it. The lady is one of the most talented actresses working today. I like that between the movies and the ongoing animated series that HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 is deepening the world the characters inhabit rather than tell the same story again and again.

DreamWorks has been improving the quality of their animated films with each new movie and of all their films I am glad that this series is getting a sequel. HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 hits theaters on June 20th, 2014.