The Original ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ Trilogy Was Very Different

Disney is officially no longer the only major studio jumping on the live-action remake bandwagon. This weekend saw the release of How to Train Your Dragon, a reimagining of the 2010 animated classic. If early reviews are any indication, this is the rare instance in which the magic mostly remains intact. As of this writing, the film stands with a 78% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes: by the recent standards of live-action remakes, that’s outright Oscar-worthy in comparison.

Yet it’s still unfathomable to imagine that this new film, however strong it may be, could match the heights of the original trilogy. To this day, it’s hard to think of many animated franchises quite as beloved as the How to Train Your Dragon films, which expertly blended breathtaking visuals, strong characters, worldbuilding, tasteful humor, and mature storytelling. But as widely embraced as the movies are by fans, the creators originally planned for the latter two installments to pan out very differently.

‘How to Train Your Dragon 2’ Almost Had a Different Antagonist

In 2019, leading up to the premiere of trilogy capper How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, director Dean DeBlois spoke with Peter Sciretta of /Film about his original plans for how the story would pan out, particularly in the middle chapter. The second film’s plot revolved around the reemergence of Hiccup’s mother, Valka, a dragon rescuer long believed to be dead, while a ruthless hunter, Drago Bludvist, threatens to upend the peace between humans and dragons.

The initial plan was that Valka would be the main antagonist, albeit a sympathetic one. As DeBlois explained to Sciretta, “In other words, Hiccup met her in the same way that he did and was amazed by her to find out there’s another dragon rider who’s even more steeped in the world of dragons. But her fundamental core belief was that humans could not be trusted and that dragons needed to be protected from them.”

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Obviously, this would have put her at odds with her son’s desire to allow dragons and humans to coexist, though in the original plan, she would’ve had a change of heart. The filmmakers planned for Drago to appear in the climax, though mostly as a secondary character, a la Emperor Palpatine in the original Star Wars trilogy, and attempt to abduct and control the dragons of Berk.

DeBlois elaborated, “[Valka] flew to Berk to extract the dragons to get them to safety. Because this unknown force to be reckoned with, Drago Bludvist was coming. But he really wasn’t going to be a strong presence until the third movie. And it was Hiccup fighting his own mother to protect his way of life on Berk. And she leaves defeated but convinced that he will have to make a decision.”

How Would the Original ‘Dragon’ Trilogy Have Ended, and Why Did That Change?

This original plan also gives context to one of fans’ most common criticisms of The Hidden World: that dragon hunter Grimmel (F. Murray Abraham) wasn’t as engaging an antagonist. Indeed, his character’s endgame, to create an army with help from an “alpha” dragon, was almost identical to Drago’s plans in the second installment. But DeBlois had initially intended to tie the two characters closely together, and to have Grimmel directly usurp Drago after his defeat.

He detailed, “He was going to have survived the defeat at the end of the second movie and find himself marooned on an island in a pile of wreckage with home to a very aggressive, territorial dragon that wanted to see him dead. And so once Drago realized that he had been succeeded in his own armada by this character named Grimmel, he was determined to get back there and reassert his position. The only way off the island was to befriend that dragon… so that when he finally flew into the third act battle he lands on the side of the Dragon Riders. And ends up showing some steps toward redemption.”

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On a remote Viking island, Hiccup (Mason Thames) discovers an injured dragon and challenges his father’s (Gerard Butler) beliefs.

But the overarching plan quickly changed for two key reasons. First, DeBlois and his creative team realized that Hiccup facing off against his mother was likely to upset younger audience members. But the most important factor was that the careful planning needed to make the Drago plotline work would’ve distracted from the heart of the trilogy: Hiccup and Toothless.

Even as the worldbuilding evolved with each installment, the reason the films became so beloved was that the core relationship at their center was carefully developed and kept the stories emotionally grounded. It’s why DeBlois still stands by his decision to end The Hidden World how he did: he wished to stay true to Toothless’s desire to reunite with his own kind, and it perfectly served the story’s emotional core: a parting of ways between friends.

While this original plan certainly sounds interesting and could’ve worked in the right hands, we’re ultimately happy that things panned out the way they did, as we wouldn’t trade one of the greatest animated franchises of all time for the world. How to Train Your Dragon is in theaters now, while the original trilogy is streaming on Peacock.