Fans of the Shrek franchise are in luck— Dreamworks announced that Shrek 5 is officially underway. Shrek stars Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz are all confirmed to return.

Not too Far, Far Away… @Shrek 5 is coming to theaters on July 1, 2026 with Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz. pic.twitter.com/3j6ctXpPGu
— DreamWorks Animation (@Dreamworks) July 9, 2024

As Variety reports, the animated film will be directed by Walt Dohrn. Dorhn was a wrtier and artist on Shrek 2 and Shrek the Third, and served has head of story and voiced Rumpelstiltskin on Shrek Forever After. Longtime DreamWorks producer Gina Shay and Illumination founder Chris Meledandri will produce the project, and Simpsons animator Brad Ableson will co-direct the movie.

Official news of Shrek 5 isn’t a total shock— Murphy shared that he had already started voice recording the movie and that his next move is a Donkey (his character in the series) spinoff.

“We started doing [‘Shrek 5’] months ago,” Murphy said in a June interview with Collider. “I did this. I recorded the first act, and we’ll be doing it this year, we’ll finish it up. ‘Shrek’ is coming out and Donkey’s gonna have his own movie. We’re gonna do Donkey as well. So we’re gonna do a ‘Shrek,’ and we’re doing a Donkey [movie].”

The Shrek franchise has been a giant success for DreamWorks, releasing four feature films about the titular big, green ogre from 2001 and 2010. The first movie, Shrek, managed to rake in $487 million worldwide, with its second, third, and fourth movies amassing $928 million, $813 million, and $752 million respectively. Spinoffs within the Shrek universe have been just as successful. Puss in Boots, which focuses on titular character played Antonio Banderas, spawned not one, but two movies. Both did extremely well in the box office, the first grossing $555 million and the second $484 million. Its unknown whether Banderas will reprise his role in Shrek 5.

In 2018, Universal Pictures dubbed Meledandri, who’s best known for the Despicable Me franchise and The Super Mario Bros. Movie, the new leader of the Shrek and Puss in Boots worlds. He shared that he was committed to holding onto the franchise’s magic, and would not be making casting changes in order to do so.

“When you look back on those vocal performances they’re awesome, and while you certainly could make a case for a complete reinvention, I find myself responding to my own nostalgic feelings of wanting to go back to those characterizations,” he told Variety. “The challenge for us has been to find something that really does feel like it’s not simply yet another film in a series of sequels.”

Shrek 5 is set to release July 1, 2026

Antonio Banderas

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