The Zootopia 2 Trailer Is Barely A Trailer (Because Disney Knows It's Gonna Make A Billion Dollars Anyway)

Good news for predators, prey, and those who are still undecided: The first trailer for "Zootopia 2" has arrived, featuring the return of crime-solving animal duo Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) and Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin). This time around, their pursuit of a wanted reptile called Gary De'Snake (Ke Huy Quan) flings them into a fresh mystery, and the case takes them undercover in the semi-aquatic neighborhood of Marsh Market. 

The first "Zootopia" movie was released back in 2016 and grossed more than a billion dollars at the box office. Rather than jumping directly into a sequel, writer-directors Jared Bush and Byron Howard moved on to make another original movie for Disney Animation Studios, "Encanto," which got a whole lot of people singing about why we don't talk about Bruno. In the interim, an anthology miniseries called "Zootopia+" — featuring six stories centered around side characters — was released on Disney+.

Now, Bush and Howard have returned to the animal kingdom, co-directing "Zootopia 2" from a screenplay written by Bush. Check out the trailer above to find out what Nick and Judy are getting up to now that they're officially partners in the Zootopia Police Department.

I suppose that technically counts as a trailer? The only real inkling we get about the plot here is that "Zootopia 2" will pit Nick and Judy against a mysterious, hooded new enemy who seems suspiciously similar to the Wolf/Death from "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish." (Between that and the villain inspiring Jack O'Connell's vampiric Remmick from "Sinners," the "Puss in Boots" sequel has proven to be quite influential, and deservedly so.) Also, it seems there will be a whole lot of new additions joining the returning favorites, with even the "Godfather"-inspired Mr. Big (Maurice LeMarche) apparently making a comeback.

Speaking of which, the broad Italian stereotypes on display in the Mr. Big scenes are but one of many reasons why the subtext in "Zootopia" is kind of a mess (a charming one, but a mess all the same) when you get down to brass tacks about what the movie is really trying to say about discrimination and prejudice in the real world. Couple that with both Nick and Judy being police officers this time around, and one does wonder how "Zootopia 2" will fare critically arriving in 2025.

Then again, Disney is firmly in its coward ... er, don't ruffle any feathers era at the moment, whether that means effectively erasing a trans storyline from the Pixar Disney+ series "Win or Lose" or having the live-action "Lilo & Stitch" re-imagine its predecessor in the most aggressively safe manner possible. So, don't be surprised if the "Zootopia" sequel borrows a page from the same book as "Moana 2" and takes a somewhat less ambitious approach when it comes to carrying over the first movie's themes and commentary (for better or for worse).

"Zootopia 2" opens in theaters on November 26, 2025. Its official synopsis reads as follows:

In Walt Disney Animation Studios' "Zootopia 2," detectives Judy Hopps (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin) and Nick Wilde (voiced by Jason Bateman) find themselves on the twisting trail of a mysterious reptile who arrives in Zootopia and turns the mammal metropolis upside down. To crack the case, Judy and Nick must go undercover to unexpected new parts of town, where their growing partnership is tested like never before.