Fifteen years following the debut of How to Train Your Dragon, the live-action remake premiered in Los Angeles.gerard Butler and director Dean deblois are reprising their roles in the franchise.

Butler, who portrayed Viking chief stoick the Vast in the animated trilogy, is returning for the live-action adaptation. He humorously admitted his initial reaction to the remake was skepticism, stating, “I was like, ‘Are you guys crazy? That’s going to be terrible.'”

Though, Butler had some reservations. deblois invited him to visit Belfast to witness the project’s development,including the dragon designs and world-building. Butler told The hollywood Reporter at the premiere, “when I saw that I was like ‘OK, I get it all.’ I mean I kind of got it anyway, just wanted to play a bit hard to get.”

Reflecting on playing the same character in a similar narrative,Butler remarked, “When I watch myself, there’s moments where I go, ‘That’s very like how I did it before,’ then there’s moments where you just go entirely different. What I did wont to do was be fresh, coming in there and starting as a new story and suddenly I’m embodying that all day long – I didn’t get to do that when I was just doing the voice. I wore my pajamas every day.”

DeBlois revealed that Butler was initially unavailable due to scheduling conflicts. The prospect of recasting the role was concerning to DeBlois. However, the actors strike caused production delays, ultimately allowing Butler to participate in the film. DeBlois stated, “When Gerry came in I felt a great sense of confidence and comfort like, ‘Oh, this going to work now.'”