Disney’s animated sequel Zootopia 2 has a post-credits scene, and it isn’t a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, either: It’s simultaneously a capper on the movie’s events, a direct callback to the first Zootopia, and a playful tease at the possible focus of Zootopia 3. Disney hasn’t green-lit another Zootopia sequel yet, though Zootopia 2’s promisingly energetic early box-office performance and Disney’s sequel obsession all but guarantee a third movie will eventually be made. Zootopia and Zootopia 2 co-directors Jared Bush (also Disney’s current chief creative officer) and Byron Howard tell Polygon they think the Zootopia setting has “endless” potential for sequels.
“It is endless, I think, because it is built around the fact that [just watching] the normal functioning of the world is entertainment itself,” Howard says.
[Ed. note: Spoilers below for what happens in Zootopia 2’s post-credit scene, plus the filmmakers’ thoughts on where the movie series could go.]
In Zootopia 2, mismatched rabbit-and-fox detective team Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) solve another mystery, while straining their new professional partnership. This time, the story revolves around a viper, Gary De’Snake (Everything Everywhere All At Once Oscar-winner Ke Huy Quan), who slips into the animal city of Zootopia to recover a stolen journal and prove that reptiles were unfairly excluded from the city after an innocent snake was framed for murder.
The case exposes a lot of tension between the overachieving, anxious Judy and her more cautious partner. At a key moment in the film, an argument between them results in the destruction of the carrot-shaped pen-slash-recording-device that was instrumental both in their early relationship and in the first case they solved together. Judy gave the pen to Nick in the first movie “to symbolize our partnership,” and he repairs it and gives it back by the end of Zootopia 2 to symbolize their reconciliation.
The post-credits scene sees Judy back home in her apartment, with the broken carrot-pen sitting on her windowsill, reminding viewers that all’s well between her and Nick. She has a short, cheery conversation through her wall with the loud gazelles who live next door, who yell at her and each other in the first Zootopia. That’s a reminder as well — in the first movie, she retreats to her dark, squalid little room out of depression, and the thin walls and aggressive neighbors compound the reasons she feels lonely and out of place. This time around, the same setting is supportive and nurturing, and gives her a sense of belonging.
But as she turns away to leave, a feather glides down from above and lands on her windowsill. The source isn’t clear, but there’s obviously a bird somewhere in the area — an anomaly, since Zootopia doesn’t have bird residents. Just as Zootopia 2 answers the question, “Why aren’t there reptiles in this city?”, the feather is a hint that the next movie might address why birds were excluded as well. It’s even possible that a bird character is seeking Judy out for help or spying on her as an adversary, given that she was instrumental in getting reptiles permission to return to the city.
“Honestly, I think our job is to have people walk out of a theater [and] go, like, ‘That was great! Man, I want more of that!’” Bush told Polygon. “I think that’s the goal. And I think with this movie, we really tried hard to say, ‘This is how you can expand [the Zootopia world]’ that allows people to say, ‘And you could expand it even more!’ I think that’s the goal every single time we go into this world.”
“There’s so much room still to play in the world of Zootopia,” says co-head of story Carrie Liao. “I am sure there are other animals I want to see, other environments that exist in our real world that it’s like, ‘Well, will we get to see that in Zootopia?’”
Howard says the series’ potential comes in part from the fact that everyone loves animal characters, and the chance to explore all the ins and outs of an animal city. “We’ve been fascinated with animals ever since we were kids,” he says. “That’s something I think universally, across the world, unifies people, no matter what country they’re from, and what experience they’re coming from. [It’s fun] seeing how Zootopia functions, [with] just thousands of animals, different stories, many different ways to go. So yeah, I think it could go on forever.”
Zootopia 2 is in theaters now.
