There hasn’t been a new Shrek movie in 12 years, but Mike Myers has assured ever-hopeful fans that the beloved animated franchise could return at some point in the future.
For quite some time, a fifth film has reportedly been in development. Production on the long-awaited follow-up to Shrek Forever After was stalled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, and has seemingly yet to have started up again.
During a recent interview with GQ, Myers was asked about the DreamWorks series, and whether he'd be keen to play the cantankerous green ogre again, to which he replied: "I loved the idea of taking a fairy tale and turning it on its head, and having it be that all the traditional bad guys are good guys, and all the traditional good guys are bad guys.
"I realized it's a dramatic role. I mean, halfway through I went, 'There's an emotional center here.' You know the old joke, 'I wouldn't want to be a member of a club that would have me as a member'? I have always felt that way," he explained. "The concept of going from a self-loathing ogre to a self-accepting ogre was meaningful to me. I love playing Shrek. If I had to do one Shrek a year, I'd be thrilled."
Released way back in 2001, Shrek sees the titular character (voiced by Myers) strike up an unlikely friendship with a chatty donkey (Eddie Murphy), before half-heartedly embarking on a mission to save Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) from the sleazy Lord Farquaad (John Lithgow), in the hopes of regaining his swamp. It spawned a whole bunch of sequels and spin-offs including Shrek 2 (2004), Shrek the Third (2007), Shrek Forever After (2019), Puss in Boots (2011), and a few short films, too. It is believed that, accumulatively, the feature-length movies have made around $3.5 billion worldwide.
More recently, Myers has appeared in new comedy series The Pentaverate, in which he portrays a number of different characters (including Shrek). If you're already binge-watched the whole show, check out our roundup of the best Netflix shows for some viewing inspiration.
