The 'How To Train Your Dragon' Live-Action Remake Has Found Hiccup And Astrid

This remake is toothless and dragon on resentment

In February, Universal decided it was ready to hop on the live-action remake train Disney has been running for nearly fifteen years, and the first animated film they’re pulling from is DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon. Now a few months later, they have cast their first riders.

Mason Thames and Nico Parker are set to star as Hiccup and Astrid in the film to be directed by Dean DeBlois, who directed the original film released in 2010 with Chris Sanders. Thames starred in the horror film The Black Phone and appeared in episodes of Apple TV+’s For All Mankind and as young Cordell Walker in episodes of the first two seasons of Walker. Parker is just about as new to the industry, with her film debut in Disney’s live-action Dumbo remake. She recently appeared as Joel’s daughter in The Last Of Us. The roles were originated by Jay Baruchel and America Ferrera respectively, across appearances in the original film trilogy and first animated series.

Based on the books by Cressida Cowell, How to Train Your Dragon focused on the special friendship between Hiccup the young and unheroic Viking, and Toothless, an injured dragon he nurses back to health. Over the course of the films and animated series, they fought against humanity’s prejudice against dragons, endured the ache of the loss of a parent, and found love. Astrid started with great disdain toward the dragons before bonding with one of her own, going from being a foil to Hiccup to becoming his closest person all the way to marriage. Thames and Parker’s casting took many months, looking for actors who could grow into the roles, so it seems they aim to remake the entire trilogy. Each installment took place at significantly distanced points in their lives, making a true “coming-of-age” story.

Coincidentally, DeBlois and Sanders’s first directorial effort, Lilo & Stitch, is in Disney’s pipeline to get a live-action remake for Disney+. Directed by Dean Fleischer Camp, director of Marcel the Shell With Shoes On, Sanders is reprising his role as the voice of Stitch in a cast that includes Maia Kealoha, Elizebeth Agudong, Kaipot Dudoit, Courtney B. Vance, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Magnussen, and franchise veterans Tia Carrere and Amy Hill.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter