How the Live-Action ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ Is Shaping a New Epic With Gerard Butler and Dean DeBlois

Bringing the Animated World to Life

No one expected the animated How to Train Your Dragon trilogy to get a full-scale live-action transformation, but here we are. Dean DeBlois is back directing, and this time, he’s not just dealing with pixels—he’s wrangling real sets, costumes, and actors. The worlds you loved in the original films? Now they’re tactile, tangible, and grander than ever.

Gerard Butler, who gave his voice to Stoick the Vast in the originals, returns—not just as a disembodied voice, but fully armored and imposing on screen. He’s talked openly about what this return means for him. That 90-pound Stoick costume? Turns out, it’s more than just for looks. Butler described heaving himself into the bulky get-up each day as a ‘workout and an acting exercise rolled into one,’ adding real sweat and weight to a character already known for big emotional moments.

Mason Thames, best known for his leading role in The Black Phone, steps into Hiccup’s boots. There’s a new energy here; Thames brings a more vulnerable, restless energy to the inventive Viking kid who can’t quite fit in. His chemistry with Toothless, the dragon, isn’t just about CGI magic. DeBlois and his team have insisted on practical effects and tactile props on set, meaning Thames interacts with physical models, capturing genuine wonder on camera.

Expanding the Saga and Raising the Stakes

This live-action film doesn’t just rehash the story beat for beat. Nico Parker (from Dumbo) turns Astrid into a fierce presence—more than just a sidekick. Her Astrid is full of agency, pushing Hiccup and the story forward, while Nick Frost as Gobber adds his own flavor with physical comedy and warmth built for live action.

The writers have leaned into the clash of Viking and dragon cultures, ramping up those tensions with an ancient threat—bigger than anything in the original trilogy. This isn’t a simple good-vs-evil setup; the film sets out to show just how messy and complicated bringing two worlds together can get, especially when the stakes are survival.

Crafting the village of Berk wasn’t just about scaling up the visuals. Featurettes have shown artists carving every detail—from the moss on roofs to the scars on dragons. They’ve used remote landscapes that look so wild, you feel the chill through the screen. The dragons aren’t just re-rendered; they move with heft and shadow, their designs blending practical effects with digital brushwork to capture the same sense of awe from the animated films.

Butler, Thames, and Parker each bring something tangible to the story’s theme: real peace takes risk, empathy, and going against what you’ve been taught. At the core, it’s all about Hiccup and Toothless. Their relationship isn’t just the heart—it’s the hinge the fate of both their worlds hangs on.

Set to hit cinemas on June 13, 2025, the new How to Train Your Dragon is promising much more than spectacle. By marrying grit with fantasy and letting actors truly inhabit these roles, the team is betting they can make old fans rediscover the magic—and let a new generation feel it for the first time.