By
Christina Radish
Published 14 minutes ago
Christina Radish is the Senior Entertainment Reporter at Collider. Having worked at Collider for over a decade (since 2009), her primary focus is on film and television interviews with talent both in front of and behind the camera. She is a theme park fanatic, which has lead to covering various land and ride openings at the Disneyland Resort and Universal Studios Hollywood, a lover of all things The Muppets and Fraggle Rock, and a huge music fan, for which she judges life by the time before Pearl Jam and the time after.
She is also a member of the Critics Choice Association and the Television Critics Association.
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[Editor's note: The following contains major spoilers for Zootopia 2.]
Summary
- In 'Zootopia 2,' Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde realize a pit viper named Gary De'Snake is on the loose in the animal metropolis that hasn't seen a snake in a century.
- As their partnership is tested, Judy and Nick learn how much they really mean to each other.
- The animated sequel has old friends and new characters, explores Marsh Market for the first time, and teases a possible 'Zootopia 3.'
From directors Jared Bush and Byron Howard, the highly anticipated sequel Zootopia 2 follows rookie cops Judy Hopps (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin) and Nick Wilde (voiced by Jason Bateman) as they continue to test their partnership and deepen their friendship. When they make the decision to infiltrate the glamorous Zootennial gala, they find evidence that the first snake to be seen in the animal metropolis in 100 years is on the loose, so they go on a hunt for answers. Judy and Nick quickly learn that all is not what it seems when it comes to Zootopia’s most prominent family, the Lynxleys, and when you unravel secrets that the powerful don’t want to come to light, it puts everyone in danger. To get to the bottom of what happened to Gary De’Snake (voiced by Ke Huy Quan) and his family, Judy and Nick have to trust each other and the friends they’ve made along the way.
During this interview with Collider, Bush and Howard, along with producer Yvett Merino, discussed that heartbreaking villain twist, the moment Nick and Judy tell each other how much they truly matter, bringing Flash (voiced by Raymond S. Persi) back, that Silence of the Lambs moment, adding Gary and Nibbles (voiced by Fortune Feimster) to the mix, the fun of Marsh Market, and their desire to return for Zootopia 3.
’Zootopia 2’s Directors Are Not Sorry for Making You Fall in Love With Pawbert
"We knew that Pawbert would be our secret weapon."
Pawbert Lynxley being surrounded by Gary De'Snake in Zootopia 2Image via Walt Disney Animation Studios
Collider: I want to jump right in with spoilers and say, how dare you make me fall in love with Pawbert, and then turn him into like the absolute worst. Was that always the plan with that character? Were you just keeping him as a secret villain the whole time?
JARED BUSH: Yes. From the very beginning, we knew that Pawbert would be our secret weapon. One of the tricky things about a sequel where we had a twist villain in the first movie is that we knew that people would be armed with looking around for who the villain is going to be this time. If we’re talking spoilers, we brought the Lynx family in and basically told the audience, “Here’s your villains right here, and there’s nothing to worry about with Pawbert because he’s been outcast. Why would he ever be working against Judy? That doesn’t make sense." I think the really fun part of that character was that he needed Judy and he needed Gary to help himself, and then once he got what he needed, obviously, he really throws them under the bus. That was really fun and delightful, messing with the audience, and really, hopefully, having you fall in love with him was so critical to that. I’ve got to say Andy Samberg absolutely nailed this part, and then our animators on top of that. He’s so lovable and weird. You’re like, “Oh, I really feel for that guy.” That’s a real testament to their talents.
BYRON HOWARD: We love the little meet-cute with Judy and Pawbert at the gala. With Michael Giacchino’s score, it’s just two dorks falling in love. It’s super charming. We’ve been fans of Andy Samberg for years. He has this easy, goofy charm where you go, “I just absolutely love that guy.” So, he’s really key to who Pawbert is.
BUSH: With the score, if you really pay attention to that moment where they meet for the first time, the music that is dorky is actually the villain theme, but just in a major chord versus a minor chord. If you listen to it, it’s a dumb version of the villain theme he’ll eventually do later on.
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Posts By Christina Radish 4 days agoYeah, I was going to ask you if we go back and rewatch it whether we’ll see hints.
BUSH: Oh, yes. It’s all over the place, yeah. He literally tells you he’s the villain in that thing. He says, “I’m a Lynxley. I’m not really, but I’m trying to be.” He literally says, “Here’s my motivation for the whole story,” right there.
‘Zootopia 2’ Sees the Partnership Between Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde Evolve
"That's the magic of the movie."
Obviously, this movie is fun and funny, and you have the animal gags and puns, but it’s also just a sweet, honest, pure story of friendship. How important was it to get that moment between Judy and Nick, when they’re telling each other how much they truly matter to each other, just perfect?
HOWARD: Jared wrote that really, really early, I’d say. When a scene lands like that, we call those our tentpoles. That is something that was absolutely going to be in the movie. The context of where it took place and the circumstances around it changed, but that exchange, I think literally almost word for word, stayed the way that Jared wrote it. And then, when Ginny [Goodwin] and Jason [Bateman] got in there and give us performances that we had just never seen from them, that was an incredible bar. And then, our animators took it to the next level. If you watch that, they’re standing in the snow, just looking at each other and saying these things to each other, but the depth and the subtlety of the animators is some of the best animation I’ve seen in my whole career, bar none. But I think that’s the magic of the movie. With all of this eye candy and all of this crazy technology and flashiness, at the core of it is really this simple relationship between two people who really do care about each other. That’s why it really works for me.
I felt like that one therapy session with Dr. Fuzzby must have been so good for them.
HOWARD: She’s a good therapist, Dr. Fuzzby.
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After nearly a decade, the world of Zootopia returns bigger and better than ever.
Posts By Therese Lacson 5 days agoI also love that we get so many characters back from the first movie. What was the process of figuring out the best way to bring Flash back, and what made you decide that he just loves to drive cars very fast?
YVETT MERINO: We iterate a lot on the story and we all have our favorite characters from the original film, but we have these great new characters. Our process is that we screen our films a number of times for our crew and our people in our studio, and I give a lot of credit to these two guys (directors Jared Bush and Byron Howard) really trying to find the right balance of where to put the returning characters and how they help the story move forward.
BUSH: Obviously, we love Flash. We knew that we wanted to bring him in, in a very pivotal moment. Had he not shown up in that moment, something bad would have happened for Nick or for Judy, or for both of them. We ended the first movie with Nick and Judy pulling him over for speeding, so for the super fans of Zootopia, it’s funny. Some people in the audience, the second they say, “The fastest animal in Zootopia,” you will hear that some people know exactly where we’re going, so we love that people like that part. The nice thing was that Nibbles didn’t know that, so when she’s sitting in the back seat and doesn’t even think to buckle her seatbelt, she pays for it.
The ‘Silence of the Lambs’ Moment in ‘Zootopia 2’ Was a Long Time Coming
"What it distilled down to is this amazing jump scare with Bellwether."
Assistant Mayor Bellwether sitting at a desk and looking confused in ZootopiaImage via Walt Disney Animation Studios
How did the Bellwether Silence of the Lambs moment happen? Because that was just fantastic.
BUSH: That was Byron’s idea from nine years ago. He was like, “We’ve got to do Silence of the Lambs.”
HOWARD: We had a long scene written around that, and it was so tough because it just was not welcome in any other part of the movie. And so, what it distilled down to is this amazing jump scare with Bellwether. The idea is that she has been in that cell a long time, so the wool happens and she uses the wool to create her own furniture. If you look at the coffee cup, there’s a coffee mug with little strands of hair that look like steam coming off the coffee cup.
BUSH: She lost her mind.
HOWARD: She’s lost her mind a little bit. But we love Bellwether, and Jenny Slate is just a joy. We have hours of her on tape, doing crazy Bellwether stuff that we just didn’t have room for. But you’ll see her return, I’m sure.
It took me a minute for my brain to catch up with that moment, but when it did, I was like, “Somebody has been holding onto that for a very long time.”
BUSH: That is true. You are not wrong.
There Are More ‘Zootopia’ Stories to Tell and the Filmmakers Would Love to Explore Them
"It's our favorite toy box to play in."
Nicke WIlde and Judy Hopps paddling through the water at Marsh Market in Zootopia 2Image via Walt Disney Animation Studios
We waited almost a decade for the sequel. Now that you’ve given us this little tease with the feather at the end, how long do we have to wait for Zootopia 3? Is it going to be less than a decade?
BUSH: It’s out next week, actually. Honestly, we’d love to go back to Zootopia forever. It’s our favorite toy box to play in. It’s always about the characters and about the story and something that we get passionate about. The nice thing about Zootopia is that there are endless numbers of stories to tell, but all of them, through entertainment, allow us to talk about human nature.
We all love Judy and Nick so much. That’s a given, going into this. How challenging was it to figure out who to team up with them and how to find the right personalities for Gary and Nibbles, so that they would all work together?
HOWARD: Nibbles, specifically, Jared calls a chaos agent, which is the perfect term. We all love Fortune Feimster and what she does with her comedy. One of the things we loved about her is, you get her in that recording booth and you say, “Can you go crazy?” and she’s like, “Yes, I can.” So, Nibbles became a character that could really poke at Nick. Nick is so cool. I wish I could be as cool as Nick. [And Nibbles is] someone who could really rattle Nick and throw him off his game. The places that Nibbles takes Nick and Judy, Nick has not been before, so this is all new territory. She is a very new element in Nick’s life. There’s a great [moment] in that prison scene where she is poking at him to unearth these feelings that he has that he would never say to anyone else. It’s part of the magic of that recombination, that mini-partnership that happens with them, that only a sequel can do. It really is a part of what makes sequels fun and great.
Related
‘Zootopia 2’ Directors Know Everyone Has Opinions About Nick and Judy: “It’s Just Undeniable Chemistry”
"We love this world. We love hanging out with these characters. We love continuing their journey," says Jared Bush, who also wrote the film.
Posts By Christina Radish Sep 29, 2025Yvett, what is your favorite part of Marsh Market? I could just live there for an entire movie, but what did you most love about it?
MERINO: I love that you asked about that because Marsh Market is really my favorite new place that we go to in this film. It is so alive and so full of so many different characters. I want to go hang out at the bar. I want to go through the tubes. I think I could spend a whole week there and find Nibbles and just hang out with Nibbles.
BUSH: It wouldn’t smell great.
HOWARD: No, it wouldn’t.
MERINO: That’s okay. I’d have a good time. I’d just jump in the water. It’s fine.
I just want to hang out with Danny Trejo’s lizard.
BUSH: I know, right?!
HOWARD: He’s so great, so funny.
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Zootopia 2
Like Follow Followed PG Family Comedy Crime Adventure Animation Release Date November 26, 2025 Director Byron Howard, Jared Bush Writers Jared Bush Producers Jennifer LeeCast
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Ginnifer Goodwin
Judy Hopps (voice)
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Jason Bateman
Nick Wilde (voice)
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Zootopia 2 is now playing in theaters. Check out the trailer:
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Zootopia 2
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