When DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon was released in 2010, it took many by surprise—including the studio itself.  Directors Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders' deeply compassionate and gorgeous film remains one of the best animated features in recent memory, and following its overwhelmingly positive response, DreamWorks began working on a sequel.  The follow-up, How to Train Your Dragon 2, opens in theaters on June 13th, and while DreamWorks Animation head Jeffrey Katzenberg announced years ago that there would be a trilogy of Dragon films, it appears the studio is now unsurprisingly considering extending the franchise to How to Train Your Dragon 4.

I recently spoke with How to Train Your Dragon and How to Train Your Dragon 2 composer John Powell in anticipation of the release of the sequel, and during the course of the interview, Powell mentioned that Katzenberg recently brought up the possibility of making a fourth HTTYD film, extending the series beyond its initially planned end-point.  Read on after the jump.

While speaking with Powell, I asked him if he had already had any conversations with director Dean DeBlois about How to Train Your Dragon 3, and the composer mentioned that DeBlois has been confronted with the possibility of a fourth film in the series:

“I saw Dean in Cannes, we had a premiere of the film there, and he was very merry and a bit drunk and he sort of knew about [How to Train Your Dragon] 3 and I think it was mentioned to him by Jeffrey that maybe they would do 4. And that was definitely, I think, a real kind of eye-opener for Dean and for me because it's like, ‘Hey I thought this was a trilogy?’ (laughs). So I don't know, and it might be good because he's got a lot of story left to tell, so maybe splitting it into two will work, but I just don't know about that yet. I'm supposing that at the moment, Dean has an idea for the third one and he isn't telling any of us yet.”

With How to Train Your Dragon 2 enjoying incredibly positive reviews out of Cannes and poised to do big box office when it opens in theaters, it’s not really a surprise that Katzenberg is thinking about possibly making a fourth film—and if DeBlois is still onboard, one imagines the quality will remain high.  Of course there’s still a whole other film to create first so the potential for How to Train Your Dragon 4 is a ways off, but for now it sounds like the plan of only making a trilogy of Dragon films could possibly be amended.

Look for my full interview with Powell on Collider soon.