Kung Fu Panda 4 director confirms new movie will feature the Furious Five

Kung Fu Panda 4 director Mike Mitchell has confirmed that the Furious Five will be back for the new movie despite them not appearing in the first trailer for the film.

After years of anticipation, the first trailer for Kung Fu Panda 4 has finally dropped. The footage showcases new and old villains, Jack Black’s return as Po, and lots of action-packed into the adventure.

And while the trailer revealed a lot about the new sequel, one thing it left out has fans going crazy on the internet. Po’s band of friends and fellow Kung Fu masters, the Furious Five.

The group has become fan favorites of the franchise, in large part due to their A-list voice cast that includes Angelina Jolie’s Tigress, Lucy Liu’s Viper, Jackie Chan’s Monkey, David Cross’ Crane, and Seth Rogen’s Mantis.

Dreamworks

The Furious Five are the main supporting characters of Kung Fu Panda

In the first movie, the five are indifferent towards Po after he is chosen to be the Dragon Warrior. Over the course of the movie and those to come, the six become a tight-knit group and constantly work together to take down the various villains that appear across the Kung Fu Panda franchise.

Given the outpour of fans questioning whether or not the five will return for Kung Fu Panda 4, director Mike Mitchell and producer Rebecca Huntley put fans’ concerns to bed during a recent interview with Collider.

“They make an appearance, I’ll tell you that much. But to be fair, Po is leaving the Valley of Peace and he’s going on a huge adventure in this giant city.”

Mitchell then added that Po will therefore encounter “loads” of new faces and characters. 

“He has to work with this entire band of thieves to fight the villain. By the way, all the old characters are back – Mr Ping, Li, played by Bryan Cranston, Shifu, played by Dustin Hoffman, and then James Hong who plays Ping. Tons of characters. 

“All the characters come back. Every single character that you remember comes back, and a few villains that I don’t want to spoil. But really, we wanted to introduce a whole slew of new characters which we did.”

Kung Fu Panda 4 is set to hit theatres on March 8, 2024.

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