“Felt A Weight Being Lifted”: How To Train Your Dragon Deleted Scene Released As Director Elaborates On Decision

2025’s How To Train Your Dragon is now available to purchase or rent on digital, and it includes two deleted scenes. The live-action remake of HTTYD recreates many of the best moments from the animated film, including the “Test Drive” scene and the romantic flight between Astrid and Hiccup. Despite the film’s longer runtime, however, there are two notable omissions from the original film.

The first missing scene is Hiccup and Toothless’ encounter with baby dragons right after the “Test Drive” sequence. The second scene is when Hiccup sneaks Toothless into the village, and hides him from Astrid.

Speaking with Polygon, DeBlois reaffirmed his decision to cut these scenes, saying they filmed them, but felt it was the right decision to cut them. He explained:

We sH๏τ them, so we had every intention of having them in the movie! But it’s just part of the alchemy of editing. You sit there and you piece it together. Everything’s sort of long-winded at first, and then you squeeze and you squeeze, and it eventually starts to paint targets on areas of the movie where you really feel the brakes being hit.

All of those things were good for the story. So it was a pain to lose both of those. But I also recognized that there’s an old adage: ‘When in doubt, cut it out.’ As soon as we did it, it was like, ‘OK, you feel the weight being lifted, and therefore it’s the right decision.’

These scenes are included as extras on the film’s digital release, and will arrive on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K on August 12. HTTYD is still in theaters as it continues to soar at the box office, but viewers can now see how these deleted scenes compare to the original. Despite his intention to include them in the film, DeBlois said the film flowed better after cutting them, adding:

Those were two spots where we thought, ‘Narratively, we can get by without them.’ And just by simply snipping and removing them, everything breezed through so that the pace took on a natural flow. That it made it evident that they had to go.

What This Deleted Scene Means For How To Train Your Dragon

The “Beach Break” Scene Is Essentially The Same As The Original

The deleted scene that DeBlois calls “Beach Break” is available online and is strikingly similar to the original. It features the terrible terrors annoying Hiccup and Toothless before Toothless sets one straight by blowing a puff of fire in its mouth. Much of the live-action How to Train Your Dragon feels like a sH๏τ-for-sH๏τ remake, and this scene is no different.

In the original film, this scene occurs right after the “Test Drive” sequence. However, the remake cuts directly to Stoick congratulating Hiccup after hearing about his accomplishments during training. While the “Beach Break” moment is a cute scene from the original, it doesn’t feel abrupt to immediately cut to Hiccup reflecting on his flight before an awkward encounter with his dad.

Our Take On The HTTYD Deleted Scene

The Remake Is Missing A Key Plot Point

While DeBlois is correct that Hiccup already knows how wrong Vikings are about dragons, this sequence still has a crucial story element. When Toothless blows smoke into the baby dragon’s mouth, Hiccup realizes that dragons aren’t fireproof on the inside. During the battle against the Red Death, Hiccup defeats it by ordering Toothless to shoot fire in its mouth when it has produced enough gas.

Meanwhile, the scene where Hiccup hides Toothless isn’t nearly as consequential to the plot. Astrid is already suspicious of Hiccup, and it may have been hard to recreate some of the physical comedy in live-action. The “Beach Break” scene may feel redundant, but it does serve a narrative purpose in the original How to Train Your Dragon.

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