Warning: Minor spoilers for How to Train Your Dragon ahead
Dean DeBlois’ live-action adaptation of the beloved animated classic How to Train Your Dragon is a nearly sH๏τ-for-sH๏τ remake, and despite knowing what’s ahead for the franchise, the post-credits scene actually requires a bit of explanation. Early reviews for the new version of the familiar story have been mostly positive, although its Rotten Tomatoes scores may never rise to the heights of the animated trilogy. There are still plenty of critics who have embraced DeBlois’ ability to recapture the heart of the original for a new generation of moviegoers.
Based on the best-selling series of novels by Cressida Cowell, Dreamworks Animation produced three How to Train Your Dragon movies in the 2010s, which combined to earn more than $1.6 billion globally. The live-action remake is poised for a strong box office return in its own right, although that won’t have any impact on whether a sequel gets produced, as How to Train Your Dragon 2 already has a June 2027 release date. A post-credits scene for the first movie certainly made sense, but viewers who stick around for a sneak peek may wind up disappointed.
What Happens In How To Train Your Dragon’s Post-Credits Scene
It Features A Moment Already Seen In The Movie
After the credits roll over the top of some beautiful landscape sH๏τs and simpler animations, there is a brief post-credits scene following the final thanks from the film’s creators. In the scene, Hiccup opens the Book of Dragons to the blank Night Fury page, and places his personal notebook, which has his cross-sectional drawing of Toothless’ full wings-out form, atop it. After tapping his fingers a couple of times, the scene ends, and in most cases the lights come back on in the theater.
It’s a moment that already occurred in the movie, which makes it somewhat vexing as a post-credits scene. Post-credits scenes have become all the rage since the Marvel Cinematic Universe popularized them in the early 2010s, and even some movies with no sequels or franchise potential have more commonly taken the Ferris Bueller’s Day Off route and provided a gag or stinger for audience members who see the credits through. Typically though, they offer a sneak peek at what’s to come if a story continues, making How to Train Your Dragon‘s call-back unusual.
Why This Moment Is How To Train Your Dragon’s Post-Credits Scene
It’s Likely A Symbol Of What’s To Come Next
Isolating this moment from the movie in particular doesn’t offer any new information about what’s to come in the sequel, but given that the audience (theoretically) knows what happens next in the franchise, it actually isn’t a surprising strategy. With the first live-action remake acting as a sH๏τ-for-sH๏τ adaptation of the animated movie, it’s safe to ᴀssume that the next chapter will be the same. If that’s the case, then there simply isn’t much to actually tease with a post-credits scene. This scene was likely chosen more for symbolic reasons.
In the animated How to Train Your Dragon 2, Hiccup’s notebook was an important part of his purpose as he prepared to become the new chief of Berk. In the five years that pᴀssed between the first movie and the sequel, Hiccup and Toothless frequently flew great distances to discover new dragons and new lands, which is how they eventually ran afoul of Drago Bludvist. The map was charted out using pages from his notebook, so placing emphasis on his notebook in the post-credits scene is, in a way, teasing what’s next for Hiccup and Toothless: filling out the notebook.
How To Train Your Dragon’s Post-Credits Scene Is A Franchise First
None Of The Animated Movies Featured A Post-Credits Scene
None of the animated How to Train Your Dragon movies had post-credits scenes, making the live-action’s brief scene a franchise first. The closest that any of the animated movies came would be the epilogue scene from How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, in which Hiccup and Astrid visit Stormfly and Toothless nine years after the events of The Hidden World. They discover that Toothless has had children of his own with the Light Fury, and the Berkian chieftains introduce their own offspring to the dragons.
While that scene didn’t come after the credits, it had the same sort of “bonus” feel to it. It will be interesting to see if the future live-action adaptations continue to include post-credits scenes, knowing that the impact of the first one was so small. It’s possible that in the coming weeks, Dean DeBlois will offer some more concrete insight into why he included the Book of Dragons post-credits scene, but as it stands it seems like it has minimal bearing on the franchise’s future.
How To Train Your Dragon’s Post-Credits Scene Not Setting Up The Sequel Is Surprising
The Next Live-Action Chapter Already Has A Release Date
It’s pretty surprising that, with so much story still to play out in the saga of Hiccup and Toothless, the first movie wouldn’t address any of it with a post-credits scene. How to Train Your Dragon 2 in particular has a ton of world-building elements, and three important new characters in the dark and mysterious villain Drago Bludvist, dragon trapper Eret, Son of Eret, and Hiccup’s mother Valka. Valka was mentioned several times in How to Train Your Dragon, as she was in the animated original.
While he didn’t appear until five years after Hiccup and Toothless first transformed Berk in the animated saga, a small tease of Drago Bludvist, even just for a few seconds, could have been incredibly exciting.
While there has been no casting news about any of the three, it’s still surprising that none were set up. The most obvious candidate is Drago Bludvist, voiced by Djimon Hinsou in the animated sequel. As another “Dragon Master” who controls dragons through fear and violence, Drago is a perfect foil for Hiccup. While he didn’t appear until five years after Hiccup and Toothless first transformed Berk in the animated saga, a small tease of the character’s existence, even just for a few seconds, could have been an incredibly exciting hint towards the live-action How To Train Your Dragon 2.
Frankly, all three of those key How to Train Your Dragon 2 characters would be great fits to have the voice cast portray their live-action counterparts, as Gerard Butler did with Stoick the Vast. Academy Award-winner Cate Blanchett would make a perfect Valka, whose entire persona is a balancing act between joy and regret. Djimon Hinsou could also bring the intensity and anger that’s necessary to bring Drago Bludvist to life, so it would be great to see him or Kit Harrington as the arrogant Eret, Son of Eret return in the sequel to How to Train Your Dragon.
