Hopscotching Shrek

Four months after a teaser in which everyone collectively rejected the look of NuShrek, the teaser for Shrek 5 is here and bullying didn’t work this time, Shrek still looks different. The teaser, er, teases a new adventure with Shrek and Donkey, the teaser also shows off Princess Fiona and Fergus and Farkle, Shrek and Fiona’s son. Their triplet sister, Felicia, voiced by Zendaya, is not seen in the teaser. So if you’re here wondering if we get a taste of Zendaya in the Shrek-verse, the answer is: no.

Also four months ago Shrek 5 was expected to be a holiday release at the end of the year, but it has been moved to summer 2027. This is just the latest in a string of date changes for the movie. In 2018, a “reboot” was announced, then in 2024 the film was officially dated for July 2026, but in January 2025 it was pushed back to Christmas, and finally in August 2025 it was moved to summer 2027. Whew. That’s a lot of shuffling.

I am trying not to be too judgy because animation takes f-cking forever, and the animation industry has been contracting for years. Who knows what constant layoffs and company closures is doing to workflows and pipelines. If this was a live-action movie, such a chain of changes would definitely make me worry, with animation I am more inclined to extend grace given that it takes years to make an animated feature even when everything is going well.

But the two date changes last year, culminating in moving the film twelve months from its original expected release date, does kind of suggest there is some trouble in Shrektopia. Are they redesigning Shrek, perhaps? Probably not, the look in the new teaser is consistent with what was shown earlier this year. It could also be that Dreamworks Animation reducing their staff by up to 50% is biting them on the ass, not that anyone from corporate would ever admit that on the record. Or maybe they’ve been reworking the script. Whatever the case, I’m keeping an eye on hopscotching Shrek.