Cate Blanchett will star in the live-action adaptation of How to Train Your Dragon 2, returning to her role as Valka from the animated trilogy. The film, directed by Dean DeBlois, is set for release on June 11, 2027. It follows the continued adventures of Hiccup and his dragon Toothless in the mythical village of Berk.
Cate Blanchett, a two-time Oscar winner, is set to reprise her voice role as Valka in the live-action How to Train Your Dragon 2. In the original animated trilogy, Blanchett voiced Valka, Hiccup's long-lost mother, who emerges five years after the events of the first film. The sequel centers on a 20-year-old Hiccup and his friends as they encounter Valka and confront a madman intent on conquering the world with a dragon army.
The story builds on the bond between the scrawny Viking teen Hiccup and the dragon Toothless, which challenged centuries of enmity between Vikings and dragons. Dean DeBlois, who directed the animated trilogy—including 2014's How to Train Your Dragon 2 and 2019's How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, which grossed $1.6 billion worldwide—is writing and directing this live-action version. He also helmed the 2025 live-action remake of the first film, which earned $646 million globally and ranked as the fourth-largest Hollywood release that year.
Blanchett joins a cast featuring Mason Thames, Nico Parker, Gerard Butler, Julian Dennison, Gabriel Howell, Bronwyn James, and Harry Trevaldwyn. Universal and DreamWorks Pictures have scheduled the film for a theatrical release on June 11, 2027, positioning it to open one week after Sony's animated Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.
The Hollywood Reporter first reported Blanchett's casting, highlighting her transition from voice acting to live-action in the franchise.