The upcoming How to Train Your Dragon live-action remake is being set up as one of the most successful movies of the summer, enough that DreamWorks has already announced that the sequel is also going to be given the live-action treatment. While this is a very early confirmation, as the movie is still a month away, the mostly positive reactions to How to Train Your Dragon‘s trailers and the excitement surrounding the property have clearly given DreamWorks the impression that their first foray into live-action remakes is going to do extremely well.
Most of How to Train Your Dragon‘s best characters were introduced in the first film, and even though subsequent movies added more people to the franchise, some of these characters felt pretty underbaked. How to Train Your Dragon 2 introduced Eret, voiced by Kit Harington, a character who worked for the main antagonist Drago Bludvist, who eventually saw the error of his ways and allied himself with Hiccup and his team to stop Drago. He was a cool character in concept, but unfortunately, he didn’t end up being a very valuable addition to the How to Train Your Dragon franchise.
Eret’s Story Is Underdeveloped In The Animated How To Train Your Dragon 2
Eret Felt Like An Afterthought In The Movie
The main reason Eret didn’t make much of an impression in How to Train Your Dragon 2 was because his character arc felt pretty rushed and anticlimactic, beginning and ending in only a handful of scenes that never gave too much of a look into his actual character. While it made sense for this storyline to be cut back, as the main thrust of the film was the relationships between Hiccup, his mother and father, and Toothless, it still unfortunately made Eret’s heroic turn feel underdeveloped.
Eret started out as a selfish dragon trapper, only looking out for his own survival, using innocent dragons as pawns to earn his favor with his boss, but his interactions with How to Train Your Dragon‘s main characters, particularly Astrid and Hiccup, made it obvious the direction his character was going to go in after only a few scenes. He felt like more of a plot point and story tool as opposed to an actual, important character, proven by his extremely minor role in the third film.
How To Train Your Dragon 2’s Live-Action Remake Can Improve Eret To Benefit The Franchise
Improving Eret’s Story Could Improve The Franchise As A Whole
With How to Train Your Dragon 2‘s live-action remake, the filmmakers can improve Eret’s story, and while he isn’t a huge player in the franchise, giving him a bigger role would be a great way to expand the world in a very natural way. This would obviously make How to Train Your Dragon 2 better, as well as improve 3 if Eret could be integrated more heavily into that film as well. Having a deeper look into the life of a dragon trapper would make the world feel larger, potentially even laying the groundwork for some kind of spinoff.
It would be great to see more of the world shown off through the use of Eret, and his backstory, which presumably began far away from Berk.
The three How to Train Your Dragon movies are pretty centrally focused on Hiccup and Toothless’ journey, and while there was plenty of lore about the rest of the world shown off in the franchise, Berk and its inhabitants tended to be the only focal point. The few tidbits that were shown off were very interesting, including aspects of Drago’s backstory in How To Train Your Dragon 2. It would be great to see more of the world shown off through the use of Eret, and his backstory, which presumably began far away from Berk.
Kit Harington’s Return Could Force How To Train Your Dragon To Update Eret
Kit Harington Could Make The Character More Interesting This Time
While it seems unlikely that Harington would return for the character, Gerard Butler’s return as Stoick proves that cast members from the original HTTYD can return for this new live-action franchise, and Harington coming back would be an interesting route to take Eret. In the animated movie, he is just a little bit older than the kids, but, if 38-year-old Harington were to return, it would really drive home the difference between him and the younger main characters, potentially giving him more time to shine in the next How to Train Your Dragon movie.
