Disney fans, get ready to flap your wings: Zootopia 3 is officially in the works, and it's shaping up to be the franchise's most ambitious chapter yet. According to Disney Animation Chief Creative Officer Jared Bush, the threequel will not only introduce a brand-new class of citizens — birds — but may also send Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde packing for their first adventure beyond the city limits.
Bush sat down with Collider's Steve Weintraub at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival, where he dished on the long-gestating project. "This is something that is going to take a lot of time to get right," he admitted, emphasizing that the buddy-cop duo will remain the heart of the story. "I think with any movie set in the world of Zootopia, Judy and Nick are going to be at the very center of that."
But the real bombshell? The animal kingdom is about to get a whole lot featherier. "I think people know at this point that we are going to introduce birds into the world of Zootopia," Bush teased, "and I think this may be the first time that we travel outside the bounds of Zootopia City itself." That's right — after two films confined to the bustling metropolis, Judy and Nick could finally venture into uncharted territory. What lies beyond the city's districts? Your guess is as good as ours, but the possibilities are wild.
Bush also revealed that these ideas aren't new. In fact, they've been percolating since the original Zootopia hit theaters in 2016. "The honest answer is that on the very first Zootopia, Byron [Howard] and I had a great time, and a year in, we said, 'We want to stay in this world and tell all kinds of stories,'" he recalled. "So, the idea that one day you'd introduce reptiles or one day you'd introduce birds are conversations we had 15 years ago." Talk about playing the long game.
As for when we'll actually see Zootopia 3? That's still up in the air. Bush explained that Disney Animation operates on a flexible 10-year plan, with the first five years mapped out in detail and the next five sketched in broader strokes. "Obviously we've already announced we're working on Zootopia 3," he said. "That could be in a few different years, depending on how that movie is doing, how the movies around it are doing, how our world is doing."
He added that this long-term planning is crucial for attracting top talent. "A lot of our artists, they've always wanted to work on a Disney musical... Or they say — we got this a lot on Zootopia — 'I came to Disney because of Zootopia. I really want to work on Zootopia 2.' There will be people that, because of that, want to work on Zootopia 3. Great. We need to be able to tell them when that is so they can look at their life and say, 'Okay, this is the movie that I want to jump onto.'"
With no release date announced, fans will have to wait patiently for more news. But if Bush's comments are any indication, the wait will be worth it. After all, a Zootopia adventure that spreads its wings — literally — could be exactly the fresh direction the franchise needs. In the meantime, keep an eye on ShowtimeSpot for updates on Wildwood's box office surge and other animated hits, or dive into early Beatrice designs from Over the Garden Wall. And for those craving more Disney magic, don't miss Monarch's new showrunners — because every universe needs a fresh perspective.
