How to Train Your Dragon 3 will bring the entire franchise to a conclusion

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Dreamworks Animation's HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON has always managed to surprise me with its quality, but as we know, all good things must come to an end. While speaking with Entertainment Weekly, director Dean DeBlois said that the upcoming HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD will not only be concluding the film trilogy, but, to his knowledge, the entire franchise of TV spin-offs as well

“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, who also co-wrote and directed Lilo & Stitch with former HTTYD collaborator Chris Sanders. Hidden World not only marks the end of Hiccup’s trilogy but, to DeBlois’ knowledge, also the end of its television spin-offs. The writer-director likens the finale to the way Cowell signed off her book series when she ended it in 2015: “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.”

Dean DeBlois further teased that fans will be in for an emotional gut-punch by the time the film ends. "The overall theme of the story is letting go, or finding the wisdom to let go, rather," BeBlois said, which also applies to the non-human characters as well. "So much of Hiccup’s identity, as a leader and an adult, is because of his relationship with Toothless. But if Toothless is not there, who is Hiccup?"

A future without Toothless is a very real possibility given that we know Toothless may be finding love with an alluring female dragon known as the Light Fury. Their romance will serve a very important role in the story.

The filmmakers designed Toothless and Light Fury’s courtship ballet as one of several key dialogue-free scenes in the film. Their moonlit reptilian pas de deux (affectionally dubbed “First Date”) serves as a spiritual successor to the first film’s “Forbidden Friendship” sequence; it may even remind crowds of the indelible music-driven moments of films past like Dumbo and Lady and the Tramp. The courtship has inherent comedy in Toothless’ attempts to impress Light Fury, but Lewis promises a greater reason for the romance. “What we’re seeing in this story is Toothless learning to trust his own instincts,” says Lewis, who produces alongside Bonnie Arnold. “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.”

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD will hit theaters on March 1, 2019.