Will there be a live-action adaptation of “Shrek”?

With news from Shrek5 finally on the way, long-held hopes for a live-action Shrek are now appearing again.

Shrek is one of those rare franchises where the sequel was arguably better than the first film – and that’s saying something. It didn’t quite reach the quality standards of the third and even fourth films, but that doesn’t mean fans don’t love the green ogre and his entourage anymore.

Given the increasing number of live-action adaptations of animated films, there is no better time Shrek in live action – so is it finally on the way?

Fans manifest a live action Shrek

In short: No. At least not officially.

However, fans are trying to make it happen, and they have big goals. The Shrek Wiki has a page dedicated to a supposed live-action film in the works, although there is no evidence whatsoever that the information is accurate. Whoever wrote it has “cast” an all-star cast for the iconic roles, including Will Ferrell as Shrek, Patrick Stewart as the Magic Mirror, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Pinocchio, and Johnny Depp as the Big Bad Wolf.

Voice actors also listed include Chris Pratt as Donkey, Kate Micucci as Dragon, and Kevin Hart as Gingerbread Man. These casts also appear to have been put together by fans and are far from official.

Speaking of fan-made, some fans have even gone so far as to use AI to simulate what a live-action Shrek might look like. If that’s what it actually ended up looking like, we’d probably say it’s safer for the sake of our eyes to leave it animated.

Never say never, of course. Dreamworks is currently working on a live-action How to train your dragonIf you can do dragons and Vikings in live action, you might be able to create convincing versions of ogres and fantasy characters. But when you think about casting popular characters, you’d need either a lot of prosthetics, a lot of visual effects, or a lot of both to make them realistic.

However, not every film needs a live-action adaptation and it also seems unlikely that the studio would work on an animated film. Shrek5 at the same time as live-action. You can do a lot more with animation than with live-action – and it’s often cheaper than expensive visual effects, too. At a time when studios are trying to cut costs wherever they can, we’d say don’t get your hopes up for now.

(Featured image: Dreamworks)