Is Shrek 5 coming out? Return of popular DreamWorks franchise ‘in the works’ as original cast to reprise roles

Bringing an end to a painful and Shrek-less last 13 years, officials at DreamWorks are reportedly amid plans for Shrek 5. Not only that, but the film is expected to see the original cast reprise their roles, such as Mike Myers and Cameron Diaz.

The Shrek franchise just would not be the same without all of the iconic voices that fans have fallen in love with since its inception in 2001. Also possibly earmarked for a return are Eddie Murphy and Antonio Banderas.

Shrek 5 was first confirmed back in April 2017 after screenwriter Michael McCullers made the announcement, but the world has not heard much about the movie since.

That was until Illumination Entertainment founder and CEO Chris Meledandri brought the curtain down on what fans should expect from its cast of characters.

Meledandri, who compared Shrek 5 to the much-anticipated release of the Super Mario film, said: “[If you look at] what the core elements are that audiences have loved [about a franchise], do your very best to honour those core elements. Then you’re hard at work to build story elements and new characters that take you to brand new places - the original cast is a huge part of that.

“We anticipate the cast coming back. Talks are starting now, and every indication that we’ve gotten is there’s tremendous enthusiasm on behalf of the actors to return.”

This is not the first time that the return of the original cast for Shrek 5 has been teased, with a number of its stars having already spoken publicly about how much they’d love to return to Far Far Away.

Mike Myers, the infamous voice behind Shrek, told Etalk and GQ: “I’d do another Shrek in two seconds. If I had to do one Shrek a year I would be thrilled.”

Antonio Banderas, who plays the cute but dangerous Puss In Boots, told Deadline that “Shrek is probably going to come back”. But just because Shrek’s original stars are interested in a return - and it looks like they will - it does not mean that the franchise’s fifth instalment will not see any big changes or deviations.

When confirming Shrek 5 was in the works in 2017, McCullers told The Hollywood Reporter: “Shrek 5 is being developed. I finished that script, which I really, really, really love. It’s really personal to me.

“It’s got a pretty big reinvention behind it that I guess I can’t reveal. Since DreamWorks was sold to Universal in that time for over $3 billion [£2.4bn], I imagine they’re particularly interested in it stepping up, and actually figuring out the future of the franchise in that way on the corporate level.

He continued: "Reinvention was sort of called for. There’s been four movies and a lot of material, so the characters are pretty beloved and they’re great characters, but you also have to think of a pretty new take at that point."

Shrek 5 has not been given an official release date or release window at the time of publication.