Arturo Hilario
El Observador
New character Gary De’Snake (voiced by Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan) in artwork exploring expressions by visual development artist Sang Jun Lee. Photo Credit: Sang Jun Lee / © 2025 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved
The animal kingdom of Zootopia is expanding into new biomes and new adventures, as fan favorites Judy Hopps (voice of Ginnifer Goodwin) and Nick Wilde (voice of Jason Bateman) reunite after becoming partners in Zootopia, bringing them face to face with new critters, locations, and a test of their relationship.
Opening in theaters November 26, Zootopia 2 reunites fan favorites and brings in a plethora of new animal faces and incredible voice actors behind the scenes to tell a new story in the diverse world of Zootopia.
From new lands filled with reptiles and water based mammals, to an icy fortress for a wealthy and powerful Lynx family, the newest installment is looking to dazzle new and returning audiences with the humor, heart and a celebration of the creative spirit at Disney Animation.
Recently we had the opportunity to go directly to the source of Zootopia 2, Walt Disney Animation Studios in Burbank, California, to hear from the team who brought the world of Zootopia back after nine years, bringing with it some of the best aspects and adding in new environments and characters that encompass a new mystery for Judy and Nick.
On our media preview at the Disney Animation Studios we had the opportunity to speak to Director/Writer/Chief Creative Officer Jared Bush, Director Byron Howard, Producer Yvett Merino, Heads of Animation Chad Sellers & Kira Lehtomaki, and Co-Head of Story David VanTuyle to hear firsthand how the epic animal adventure established in the first film was expanded through a passionate collaboration that’s a testament to the animation studios’ credo: a commitment to joy and imagination, deep collaboration, and always swinging for the fences.
Back With the Animals
For many of the creatives we spoke to, this wasn’t their first time working in the world of Zootopia, but a second opportunity to come back into this place they helped create for the original film and build upon it.
Coming back allowed some, like Head of Animation Kira Lehtomaki, to return with a more knowledgeable approach in adding to the legacy.
“I think a lot of times when we come to the end of these films, especially the first time around, you feel like, ‘Oh, now we have to say goodbye. I feel like I just got to know them.’ You figure out all the problems, and now you just It’s like, ‘Okay, I’m ready to go. Now I know all the answers. Let’s do this!’ And then the movie is coming to an end.”
Adds Co-Head of Story David VanTuyle, “The first one, it’s one of my favorite Disney movies of all time. I mean, I just was so inspired. It was one of the reasons I really wanted to work here, seeing the first one. And this one, it has so many little things in there that I feel so personally close with.”
According to many of the creators of the new film, there is a great benefit to being able to return to an established world to explore new places and new animal groups, but there is also a need to be faithful to the existing lore and to keep close to the core of what audiences enjoyed about the original.
Producer Yvett Merino says, “In doing a sequel, there are some benefits in the fact that we already know who our main characters are. We know what the world is and what the rules of the worlds are. But it’s also very challenging because we have a lot of people who have connected very deeply with this world and this film and these characters. And so there’s a lot of expectation.”
Lehtomaki adds, “The beautiful thing about being able to come and visit them again is you get to see an old friend, but also we get to start from, ‘Okay, we already have this foundation that we’ve laid, and now we get to focus on some of these new areas, but also just, how are Judy and Nick changing? What’s that next chapter for them?’ And it’s exciting to just feel like these characters will continue to live on.”
Partners in New Adventures
In the original Zootopia rabbit police officer Judy and fox con artist Nick are opposites in many ways, in the natural world they serve as prey and predator, and they exist on opposite ends of the law. Judy is optimistic and goal oriented while Nick is cynical but charismatic.
Despite these differences, in the events of the first film they learn to coexist and work together on saving themselves and the city of Zootopia from the villain of that film and her plot to change the hierarchy of the animal kingdom through evil means.
In the sequel, they are now partners and have had a chance to establish a working relationship as police officers for the Zootopia Police Department (ZPD), although it isn’t too successful in the film’s opening.
In both films, the key to the story is these characters and their evolution as partners. So in what ways would Zootopia 2 challenge them further? Director/Writer/Chief Creative Officer Jared Bush says it’s making them uncomfortable and putting them in a new place and circumstances, but keeping it funny.
“In the first movie, Nick was this ambassador of the city, taking Judy around. He knew everything. He’s never been to this place before. So having a place where he was really out of his comfort zone gave us a lot of comedy, but also let him have to rely on someone else, which, as a character, he does not want to do.”
Merino adds that for her, the connection to the character of Judy helped her pinpoint what she saw as the core focus, the relationship and collaboration between Nick and Judy.
That perspective came into play in the collaboration between departments at Disney Animation. “I think ever since I first saw Zootopia, I really connected with Judy and her idea of wanting to accomplish something and really working hard in doing that. And I related to that a lot. And so coming into this film and thinking of Zootopia 2, we really wanted to focus on Nick and Judy’s relationship. And my whole outlook on a work environment is really truly building relationships with everybody that we work with. And So I was really interested in finding Nick and Judy and watching their relationship evolve in the story.”
“So I really wanted to make sure that we freed the artist from that expectation and allowed them to say, “We’re just telling a story of Nick and Judy. They have a little bit of history that we know about, and where are we going to go from there?” And then from there, we hope that we create the best, most entertaining story.”
Tapping Into Archive of Disney Critters To Create New Ones
Two key new additions for Zootopia 2 are Nibbles Maplestick (voiced by comedian Fortune Feimster), a beaver who is a reptile expert/podcaster, and pit viper Gary De’Snake (voiced by Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan), who is the first snake to be seen in Zootopia in 100 years.
Their creation process by the artists at Disney is as interesting as their purpose in the narrative of the film, as both are new animal species that make their debut in the Zootopia world.
Working on new animals for the sequel meant going back to the basics, looking at the history and finding creative ways to make the animation work.
For Head of Animation Chad Sellers, it meant doing what animators at Disney do when they need inspiration for coming up with new animals, go to the archives.
“I mean, on the first film, we looked at Robin Hood a lot. I remember looking at Baloo quite a bit when I was working on some of the polar bears. I think Lady and the Tramp for Nibbles. We always look at that stuff. And we have so many people who are just so connected and knowledgeable about our history and constantly are talking to the department and given inspirational lectures about It’s something we do all the time. We just constantly study that stuff.”
To create Gary the snake, animators looked at the style and movements of past Disney reptiles like the villainous Kaa from The Jungle Book, and Juju, Mana Odie’s seeing-eye snake in The Princess and the Frog.
Gary doesn’t have eyelids, while other snakes of Disney history do. The interesting thing was giving him eyebrows that worked as expressive eyelids as well.
On the beaver side, VanTuyle expressed his admiration for Nibbles and her development. “I love Nibbles. Nibbles is really awesome. I love Gary, too. The way Gary interacts with our characters and stuff. But Nibbles, I think it was one of our story artists had the suggestion of making Nibbles a podcaster. And just that little suggestion and what that grew into and seeing animation take that and run with it and environments take that and run with it. And just everybody, once that locked in, everyone was like, ‘Well, that’s amazing. That is so Nibbles.’ And then Fortune Feimster voicing that character and seeing that character grow, I think was so exciting.”
And Now Some Fun Animal Facts
Before we finish up with this behind the scenes look, the head creators of Zootopia 2 had some quick animal facts they wanted to share:
Jared Bush
“I think there’s a couple of really good ones. One is that koalas have two thumbs on each hand, and so they can give you four thumbs up at the same time. It’s terrifying. People at parties love to hear that detail. I mean, we know a lot about platypuses. They have electro-location abilities. They have superpowers and a poison on their back legs.”
Yvett Merino
“Jared and Byron outed me [saying] that snakes are not my favorite, but the fact that I can talk about a pit viper now, I think, is growth for me. And talk about how their scales are so individualized and so specific to who they are and the way that they actually see the world a little different because they can see heat is fascinating to me. Those are my little facts I can throw out at a party and it look like I like snakes.”
From the Creators, to the Audience
It’s easy to see a movie as a final product and judge it based on its content in their hour and half runtimes, but it’s fascinating to see the behind the scenes portion of it, hearing from countless people who for years put their talents and passion into making their project the best it can be.
With Zootopia 2 coming to theaters on November 26, some of the creators leave us with some thoughts on what they hope audiences get from the film as it leaves their workstations and the Walt Disney Animation Studios and goes out into the world for all to experience.
“I hope they take away that they want to go see it again. I hope that everybody just has a really good time and that they just enjoy being immersed in this world with all the different biomes that we have, all the different characters, and just see themselves, see something relatable in it, because it’s like we all put ourselves into this movie and hoping that it rings true and believable to the audience members. And I hope that they get a kick out of it as much as we had making it,” says Lehtomaki.
