The sequels to How to Train Your Dragon have a chance to redeem David Tennant’s absence from the new installment. The 2025 movie, which was helmed by longtime franchise director Dean DeBlois, is a remake of the 2010 animated hit of the same name, which loosely adapted the children’s book series by Cressida Cowell. Although the majority of the characters, including Hiccup (Mason Thames), Gobber (Nick Frost), Snotlout (Gabriel Howell), and Astrid (Nico Parker), were played by different actors from the original movie, Gerard Butler did return to portray Hiccup’s father Stoick the Vast after voicing him in 2020.

The characters who were replaced by new performers in the How to Train Your Dragon cast also include Snoutlout’s disapproving father Spitelout, who is also Stoick’s second-in-command. Although Doctor Who star David Tennant voiced the character in the original movie, the character was portrayed by Peter Serafinowicz in the new movie. However, while Tennant was replaced in the role that he originated, there is still a way for him to appear in the upcoming live-action remake of 2014’s How to Train Your Dragon 2 (which was greenlit in April, months before the release of the new movie) or another sequel.

Why David Tennant Didn’t Return For Live-Action How To Train Your Dragon

The Director Didn’t Think He Was Most Physically Fitting For His Role

Even though David Tennant voiced Spitelout in the first and third How to Train Your Dragon movies as well as the animated spinoff series DreamWorks Dragons, he did not follow in Gerard Butler’s footsteps and reprise his original role in the new movie. Ultimately, the reason for this came down to his physical presence. During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that was published during the live-action movie’s opening weekend, director Dean DeBlois explained how this was the case. Read his full quote on the subject below:

David Tennant is such a talented actor, and I felt embarrᴀssed that we didn’t have a big enough role for him in the animated films. But the character that he played, Spitelout, who is Snotlout ‘s father, is just such a big, brawny, large person that I didn’t think David would physically be the right match for him. Maybe in the future we’ll find the perfect role for him, but he’s such an ingenious actor. When it came to Gerard, he wasn’t even available when we started casting the film. He had back-to-back projects that would’ve made him inaccessible during our shooting schedule. So it was actually the actors’ strike of 2023 that jostled some of those projects around, and suddenly, there was an open window where we could grab him.

Ironically, this is not the first time that there has been a discrepancy between the body and the voice of a Peter Serafinowicz character, though in the previous instance it worked the other way around. In 1999’s Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Serafinowicz provided the voice for the villain Darth Maul, but the body of the character was played onscreen by Ray Park, an actor and stunt performer who is known for playing Toad in 2000’s X-Men and Snake Eyes in 2009’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and its 2013 sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation.

How To Train Your Dragon Has A Few Options To Bring Back David Tennant

He Also Voiced Ivar The Witless

So far, no further sequels have been greenlit beyond How to Train Your Dragon 2, but if a third installment gets made, Tennant would have an opportunity to reprise another original role. Although he did not voice any characters in the second animated installment, he did return to be a part of the How to Train Your Dragon 3: The Hidden World cast. In addition to voicing Spitelout for the final time to date, he also voiced the character Ivar the Witless, who was a dragon trapper in the employ of the movie’s villains.

Unfortunately, Ivar the Witless is another physically imposing character, which may prevent Tennant from returning to reprise that role as well. However, How to Train Your Dragon 2 could have a place for him to step into an entirely new role, as either a character that has been invented for the live-action version (should the sequel be slightly less faithful than its predecessor) or as a character who does not appear until the sequel, such as the slightly more svelte Eret, a dragon trapper who was originally voiced by Game of Thrones‘ Kit Harington.

Dean DeBlois Must Fulfill His Promise To Bring Back David Tennant

Especially Since More Stars May Return In The Sequel

Because Gerard Butler has already returned in How to Train Your Dragon and there is talk of Cate Blanchett potentially reprising her role as Hiccup’s mother Valka in the sequel, there is a strong precedent for original actors returning in the live-action branch of the franchise, making it even more important for DeBlois to find a role for Tennant in some capacity. While Tennant’s commitment to Rivals season 2 could pose a scheduling problem, filming is already underway, so it should conclude soon enough for the actor to appear in the next movie.

Source(s): THR