Walt Disney Animation Studios pulled back the curtain on Zootopia 2 on Friday, offering the first major preview of the highly anticipated sequel during a packed presentation at the Annecy international animation film festival.
Director and writer Jared Bush, who also serves as Disney Animation’s new chief creative officer, made his Annecy debut with the film, unveiling new footage from Zootopia 2 at the Bonlieu Scène Nationale. The sequel to Disney’s 2016 Oscar-winning hit reunites audiences with rabbit police officer Judy Hopps and former con-artist fox Nick Wilde as they investigate a mysterious new arrival in the mammal metropolis: a reptile named Gary De’Snake (voiced by Everything Everywhere All At Once star Ke Huy Quan.
Bush revealed they cast Quan after spotting the excitable Oscar-winner doing an interview on The Steven Colbert Show and decided he had exactly the right energy to play Gary the venomous but misunderstood snake.
Bush directs alongside returning Zootopia co-director Byron Howard, with Yvett Merino producing. The voice cast features returning stars Ginnifer Goodwin as rabbit police officer Judy Hopps, Jason Bateman as sly fox, turned rookie cop Nick Wilde, and Shakira as pop star Gazelle (who’s a gazelle, natch). Shakira has recorded a new original song for the sequel.
Alongside Quan, other franchise newcomers include Fortune Feimster as Nibbles Maplestick, a conspiracy-minded beaver who lives in the Marsh Market, one of the film’s new Zootopia locations, and Quinta Brunson as Dr. Fuzzby, a quokka therapist assigned to treat Nick and Judy after their first undercover operation as partners ends in disaster. French film star Jean Reno (Leon: The Professional) will play a new character, a tough French goat cop.
A teaser trailer, released in May, showed Nick and Judy swimming, swimming, and sliding through new districts of Zootopia. Bush revealed the outline of the film’s plot, which sees Nick and Judy on the run from the Zootopia police after they discover a conspiracy involving Gary De’ Snake and a mysterious book of Zootopia lore. Bush screened several work-in-progress scenes from the movie, giving the Annecy audience a glimpse at Nick and Judy’s first therapy session, a journey through Marsh Market, and the return of Nick and the return of Mr. Big, the Godfather-style shrew from the first movie (voiced with a Brando-like growl by Maurice LaMarche).
Friday’s Annecy session also included a tribute to legendary Disney director Ron Clements (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin), who was inducted into the festival’s Walk of Fame. In a surprise announcement, Bush said Clements was coming out of retirement and rejoining Disney to act as a mentor for younger writers and animators at the studio.
Zootopia 2 is set for release in the United States on November 26, 2025.
