‘How To Train Your Dragon’ Live-Action Remake Casts Mason Thames and Nico Parker as Hiccup and Astrid
Universal has found the two leads for the upcoming live-action remake of How to Train Your Dragon.
Via The Hollywood Reporter, The Black Phone lead Mason Thames will be playing Hiccup, the young Viking boy who bonds with the dragon Toothless and seeks to get rid of humanity’s prejudices against the mythological creatures. The coming-of-age story also includes a female lead (and love interest to Hiccup) named Astrid, who will be played in the upcoming remake by Nico Parker. Parker is mostly known for playing Joel’s daughter in HBO’s adaptation of The Last of Us.
Dean DeBlois, who co-wrote and co-directed the first animated film and wrote/directed by himself its two sequels, is writing and directing the live-action feature, which is scheduled to begin production this summer (if allowed by the strike, obviously). Universal has dated it for March 14, 2025.
Jay Baruchel voiced Hiccup and America Ferrera played Astrid in the animated trilogy. They add up to around $1.5B at the worldwide box office, and were all nominated in the Best Animated Feature category at the Oscars, with John Powell also nabbing a Best Score nom for the first one.
Universal Pictures has big plans for the franchise, as indicated by The Hollywood Reporter. They took their time to find actors who could grow into their roles, considering that the animated sequels feature older versions of the characters. The story comes from the books by Cressida Cowell. DeBlois is also producing, along with Marc Platt Productions’ Marc Platt and Adam Siegel. Lexi Barta, VP of production development, oversees the film for the studio.
Thames is mostly known for playing the lead in Scott Derrickson’s The Black Phone, as well as three episodes of Apple’s For All Mankind. Parker, in addition to playing Sarah in the premiere of The Last of Us, had her breakout role in 2019’s Dumbo and was also featured in the Hugh Jackman-led Reminiscence, as well as three episodes of HBO’s The Third Day.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
