DreamWorks Animation has announced an all-new Dragons: The Nine Realms animated series inspired by its popular How to Train Your Dragon franchise. The announcement of the new series comes with a teaser trailer that brings the dragons straight to the modern world. Dragons: The Nine Realms, which will consist of 6 episodes, premieres on Hulu and Peacock on December 23.
The short teaser reveals the logo of the new animated series, shows some of the new dragons that’ll star on the show, and introduces us to a new dragon rider mounted on a creature that looks a lot like a distant descendent of Toothless. Rider and dragon fly over a modern building with a heliport, while wind turbines can be seen in the background.
There’s no doubt the new series is set in our times, which leads to the question: do dragons get their own social media accounts? And can dragons be influencers? I would definitely pay for an autographed Toothless shirt!
DreamWorks released the first How to Train Your Dragon film in 2010. Besides a successful trilogy on theater, the franchise inspired by Cressida Cowell’s children's books also features the tie-in series DreamWorks Dragons, which aired from 2012 to 2018. DreamWorks Dragons: Rescue Riders, a spin-off aimed at pre-schoolers, was released in 2019, with its sequel coming to Peacock on November 24.
Dragons: The Nine Realms will try to do something unique with the franchise since every previous installment was set in the Viking age. Set 1300 years after the main trilogy conclusion, The Nine Realms will bring the mystical creatures to modern times in six episodes of 22 minutes. So far, the only voice cast member revealed is Jeremy Shada (Adventure Time), who plays the rider shown in the teaser. John Tellegen serves as showrunner and executive producer alongside Chuck Austen and Henry Gilroy, as well as supervising producer Beth Sleven.
Dragons: The Nine Realms is premiering on Hulu and Peacock on December 23. Check out the new trailer below.
Here’s Dragons: The Nine Realms’ official synopsis:
Set 1,300 years after the events of How To Train Your Dragon, dragons are now just a legend to the modern world. When a geological anomaly opens up an immense, miles-deep fissure in the Earth’s surface, scientists from all over the world gather at a new research facility to study the mysterious phenomenon. Soon a group of misfit kids, brought to the site by their parents, uncover the truth about dragons and where they’ve been hiding -- a secret they must keep to themselves to protect what they’ve discovered.