Gerard Butler is set to reprise his role of Stoick the Vast in the upcoming live-action version of How to Train Your Dragon.
Butler provided the voice of Viking leader Stoick – father of the story’s hero, Hiccup – for the first two films in the How to Train Your Dragon animated franchise, made by Dreamworks.
Butler is the first of the original voice cast to agree to reprise his role. Mason Thames and Nico Parker have already been confirmed to play Hiccup and Astrid respectively, and, along with Butler, are the only confirmed cast members so far. In the original films, Jay Baruchel voiced Hiccup while America Ferreria played Astrid – although both are too old to play teenage characters in real life now.
Dean DuBlois, who wrote the original film script, is also back on board with writing duties, although no details of the plot have been released yet, other than studio Universal saying that the live-action version will ‘draw audiences deep into DreamWorks Animation’s imaginative lore’. This hints that it might not depart too far from the animated version, which will please fans.
How to Train Your Dragon has been delighting audiences since the first film was released in 2010, based on the beloved books by Cressida Cowell. It told the story of a young Viking named Hiccup forming a friendship with a Night Fury Dragon named Toothless – the scourge of the Viking tribe. Sequels How to Train Your Dragon 2 followed in 2014, with the trilogy rounded out by How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World in 2019. The series has grossed more than $1.6 billion worldwide at the box office. It also spawned an animated TV series, featuring many of the voice cast from the films.
The live-action version of How to Train Your Dragon has a release date of June 13, 2025.
