Shrek was a monster hit for DreamWorks back in 2001. Very loosely based on a picture book with the same name, it told the tale of an ogre who thought he was happy being alone. But when a series of events forced him to leave his swamp and go on an adventure, he found both a best friend and true love, and learned how to trust others. Three sequels, a spinoff, and a Broadway musical adaption later, and everyone’s favorite green ogre seemed to finally have found his happily ever after.
Another sequel, currently known as Shrek 5, has been promised for awhile. Ever since NBC Universal acquired Dreamworks, the studio has been looking to bring back the successful and popular franchise. A release date of 2019 was even announced, but whether the plan is to reboot the series, focus on new characters while staying in the same universe, or do another sequel is not known at this time. What is known is that former SNL writer Michael McCullers was hired to work on the script, and he’s provided the first clues as to what the film will be like.
McCullers spoke to CinemaBlend about the state of the script for Shrek 5:
“I finished that script which I really, really, really love. It’s really personal to me. It’s got a pretty big reinvention behind it that I guess I can’t really reveal, but since DreamWorks was sold to Universal in that time for over $3 billion, I imagine they’re particularly interested in it stepping up and actually figuring out the future of the franchise in that way on the corporate level. Reinvention was sort of called for. There [have] been four movies and a lot of material, so the characters are pretty beloved and they’re great characters, but you also have to think of a pretty new take at that point.”
There are a number of possibilities for how the series could be reinvented. At the end of the fourth movie, Shrek and Fiona had several small baby ogres. So perhaps the new movie will be from one of their points of view, assuming they’re a bit older. Teenage ogres certainly sound like a goldmine for the toilet humor that the earlier films incorporated. Or maybe — since the previous movies were set in a fairytale land — the real world might be brought into the story. At this time, there is no official word on how the reinvention will happen, so really anything is possible.
Whether Shrek 5 will still be released in 2019 is unknown. But with a script completed, things certainly do seem to be moving forward. Keep checking in with Screen Rant for the latest news about Shrek 5.
