How to Train Your Dragon
Created by	Cressida Cowell
Original work	How to Train Your Dragon (2003)
Owner	DreamWorks Animation (Universal Pictures)[a]
Years	2010 (2010)–present
Print publications
Novel(s)	How to Train Your Dragon series
Graphic novel(s)	The Serpent's Heir (2017) Dragonvine (2018)
Films and television
Film(s)	How to Train Your Dragon (2010) How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019) How to Train Your Dragon (2025) How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2027)
Short film(s)	Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon (2010) Book of Dragons (2011) Gift of the Night Fury (2011) Dawn of the Dragon Racers (2014) How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming (2019) How to Train Your Dragon: Snoggletog Log (2019)
Animated series	DreamWorks Dragons (2012–2018) DreamWorks Dragons: Rescue Riders (2019–2022) DreamWorks Dragons: The Nine Realms (2021–2023)
Theatrical presentations
Play(s)	How to Train Your Dragon Live Spectacular (2012)
Games
Video game(s)	How to Train Your Dragon (2010) Dragons: TapDragonDrop (2012) Dragons: Wild Skies (2012) School of Dragons (2013) Dragons: Rise of Berk (2014) How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) Dragons: Legends of the Nine Realms (2022)
Audio
Soundtrack(s)	How to Train Your Dragon (2010) How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019) How to Train Your Dragon (2025)

How to Train Your Dragon is amedia franchise fromDreamWorks Animation and based on the book seriesof the same name by British authorCressida Cowell. It consists of three feature films:How to Train Your Dragon (2010),How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014), andHow to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019). Alive-action remake of the first film was released in 2025, with a sequel scheduled for 2027.^[1] The franchise primarily follows the adventures of a youngViking named Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, generally known as Hiccup (voiced byJay Baruchel in the animated films, and portrayed byMason Thames in the live-action films), son of Stoick the Vast, leader of the Viking island of Berk. Although Hiccup was initially dismissed as a clumsy and underweight misfit, he soon becomes renowned as a courageousdragons expert, alongside Toothless, a member of the rare Night Fury breed as his flying mount and closest companion. Together with his friends, he manages the village's allied dragon population in defense of his home as leader of aflying corps of dragon riders. Upon becoming leaders of their kind, Hiccup and Toothless are forced to make choices that will truly ensure peace between people and dragons.Dean DeBlois, the director of the film trilogy, described its story as "Hiccup'scoming of age", taking place across a span of five years between the first and second film, and a year between the second and third film.^[2]

The franchise also contains six short films:Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon (2010),Book of Dragons (2011),Gift of the Night Fury (2011),Dawn of the Dragon Racers (2014),How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming andHow to Train Your Dragon: Snoggletog Log (both 2019).

The television series based on the events of the first film,DreamWorks Dragons, began airing onCartoon Network in September 2012. The first and second seasons were titledDragon: Riders of Berk andDragons: Defenders of Berk respectively. After the two seasons on Cartoon Network, the series was given the new titleDragons: Race to the Edge. The characters are older and it served as a prequel to the second film, running from June 2015 to February 2018.^[3] A more-child-friendly second series, titledDragons: Rescue Riders, began airing onNetflix in 2019 and features a completely different cast and locale than the original series of films and TV shows, but is set in the same universe. A third series,Dragons: The Nine Realms, began streaming onHulu andPeacock in December 2021, withRescue Riders transferring to Peacock beginning with the third season under theHeroes of the Sky subtitle. Unlike past entries in the franchise,The Nine Realms is set in the 21st century, specifically around 1,300 years after the events ofThe Hidden World.

The animated film trilogy has been highly acclaimed, with each film nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Animated Feature, in addition to the first film's nomination for theAcademy Award for Best Original Score.

How to Train Your Dragon, the first film in the series, was released on March 26, 2010. It was written and directed byChris Sanders andDean DeBlois, and is inspired by the 2003 book of the same name byCressida Cowell. The story takes place in a mythicalFantasy Viking world where a young Viking teenager named Hiccup aspires to follow his tribe's tradition of becoming a dragon slayer. After finally capturing his first dragon the infamous and elusive Night Fury, and with his chance of finally gaining the tribe's acceptance and father's recognition, he finds that he no longer has the desire to kill the dragon and instead befriends it. He soon realizes that to protect the Night Fury (Toothless) he must show the Vikings the truth of dragons. The film grossed nearly $500 million worldwide and was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Animated Feature.

A sequel,How to Train Your Dragon 2, was confirmed on April 27, 2010.^[4] The film was written and directed by DeBlois, the co-director of the first film.Bonnie Arnold, the producer of the first film, also returned, with Sanders, who co-directed the first film, serving as an executive producer for the second instead, due to his work on the filmThe Croods and its sequel.^[5] The film was released on June 13, 2014.^[6] All of the cast from the first film – Baruchel, Butler, Ferguson, Ferrera, Hill, Mintz-Plasse, Miller and Wiig –returned for the sequel.^[7] New additions includeKit Harington as Eret,Cate Blanchett as Valka, andDjimon Hounsou as Drago Bludvist.^[8]

Set five years after the events of the first film, Hiccup and Toothless have successfully united dragons and Vikings on the island of Berk. Now 20 years old, Hiccup is pressed to succeed his father as chieftain. When he discovers a group of dragon trappers led by Drago Bludvist, he goes on a quest to find Drago and stop him, while also coming across his long-lost mother Valka.

In December 2010, DreamWorks CEOJeffrey Katzenberg confirmed that there would also be a third film in the series: "How To Train Your Dragon is at least three: maybe more, but we know there are at least three chapters to that story."^[9] DeBlois, the writer, and director of the second and the third film, said thatHow to Train Your Dragon 2 is being intentionally designed as the second act of the trilogy: "There are certain characters and situations that come into play in the second film that will have to become much more crucial to the story by the third."^[10]

The film's release date was changed several times. In September 2012,20th Century Fox and DreamWorks Animation announced an initial release date of June 18, 2016,^[11] which was later changed to June 16, 2016.^[12][13] It was then moved to June 9, 2017,^[14] and later to May 18, 2018, taking over the release date ofWarner Animation Group'sThe Lego Movie 2: The Second Part.^[15] On December 5, 2016, the release date was pushed back again to March 1, 2019.^[16] This was the first DreamWorks Animation film to be distributed byUniversal Pictures, afterNBCUniversal's acquisition of the company in 2016,^[17] and followed DreamWorks' departure from 20th Century Fox after 2017'sCaptain Underpants: The First Epic Movie.The film was produced by Arnold, and exec-produced by DeBlois and Sanders.^[11] Baruchel, Butler, Blanchett, Ferguson, Ferrera, Hill, Mintz-Plasse, Harington and Wiig reprised their roles from previous films.^[11]F. Murray Abraham joined the cast as the film's main villain, Grimmel.^[18]

Set a year after the events of the second film, Hiccup had become the new chieftain of Berk for dragons and Vikings. His late father had told a younger Hiccup to seek out the haven of dragons, known as "the Hidden World". Upon discovering the Light Fury, a female sub-species of the Night Fury, Toothless falls in love and bonds with her. The Night Fury killer, Grimmel the Grisly, sets out to find and kill Toothless, prompting Hiccup to choose between keeping the dragons or setting them free.

In February 2023, a live-action remake of the first animated film was announced to be in development, to be produced byMarc Platt Productions and distributed byUniversal Pictures, and would mark DreamWorks' first live-action film.Dean DeBlois returned to write and direct, withJohn Powell returning to write the score. It was originally scheduled for release on March 14, 2025, but due to the2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, it was delayed to June 13 of that year.^{[19][20][21][22]}

In April 2025, a live-action remake of the second animated film was officially announced at CinemaCon. It is set to be released on June 11, 2027.^[23] On January 15, 2026, it was announced thatCate Blanchett, the original voice actor of Valka in the animated films, will reprise her role.^[24] During the month,Ólafur Darri Ólafsson andPhil Dunster joined the cast as Drago and Eret, respectively.^[25][26]

Three television series make up theDreamWorks Dragons television franchise:DreamWorks Dragons,Rescue Riders, andThe Nine Realms. All series in total amount to 223 episodes across 22 seasons of television.

On October 12, 2010, it was announced thatCartoon Network had acquired worldwide broadcast rights to a weekly animated series based on the movie, which was scheduled to begin sometime in 2012.^[27] In January 2011, producerTim Johnson confirmed that work had begun on the series and that, unlike the TV series spin-offs of the filmsMadagascar,Kung Fu Panda andMonsters vs. Aliens,How To Train Your Dragon's series is much darker and deeper, like the movie. The show is the first DreamWorks Animation series that airs on Cartoon Network instead ofNickelodeon, unlike previous series such asThe Penguins of Madagascar,Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness andMonsters vs. Aliens.^[28]

Although it was announced that the series would be calledDragons: The Series,^[29] TV promos shown in June 2012 revealed a new title –Dragons: Riders of Berk.^[30] The series began airing in the third quarter of 2012.^[29] John Sanford, the director of seven episodes in the first season, confirmed that there would also be a second season.^[31] Jay Baruchel, who voiced Hiccup, also stars in the series, as well as America Ferrera (Astrid), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Fishlegs), and T. J. Miller (Tuffnut).^[29] The second season is accompanied with the new subtitle,Defenders of Berk, replacing the previousRiders of Berk subtitle.^[3] Starting with the third season, the series moved toNetflix and is accompanied by the subtitleRace to the Edge.^[32]

A preschool-oriented spin-off,DreamWorks Dragons: Rescue Riders was released on Netflix on September 27, 2019.^[33] It also features talking dragons unlike other media in the franchise.

On October 13, 2021, DreamWorks announcedDreamWorks Dragons: The Nine Realms, set 1,300 years afterThe Hidden World. The first season was released onPeacock andHulu on December 23, 2021.The Nine Realms starsJeremy Shada, and is executive produced by showrunner John Tellegen, Chuck Austen and Henry Gilroy.^[34]

Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon is a 16-minute short film which was originally broadcast onCartoon Network on October 14, 2010 and was released byParamount Home Entertainment on DVD and Blu-ray on October 15, 2010 as a special feature on the double edition of the firstHow to Train Your Dragon film.^[35] The short film was directed by John Puglisi, written byPeter Steinfeld and reprising the roles of the first feature film's eight actorsJay Baruchel,Gerard Butler,Craig Ferguson,America Ferrera,Jonah Hill,T.J. Miller,Kristen Wiig andChristopher Mintz-Plasse.

Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon follows Hiccup and his young fellows accompanying their mentor, Gobber, on a quest to kill the legendary Boneknapper Dragon. About half the short film is done in traditional animation, showing Gobber's history and his encounters with the Boneknapper, and how he comes to look like he does now.

Book of Dragons is an 18-minute^[36] short film which was released byDreamWorks Animation Home Entertainment on DVD and Blu-ray on November 15, 2011. Written and directed bySteve Hickner and co-written by Bart Coughlin and Joshua Pruett,Book of Dragons stars the voices ofJay Baruchel,Craig Ferguson,America Ferrera,Christopher Mintz-Plasse,Jim Cummings andTress MacNeille.

The short film shows Hiccup, Astrid, Fishlegs, Toothless and Gobber telling the legend behind the Book of Dragons and revealing insider training secrets about new, never before seen dragons.Book of Dragons shows a total of 14 different dragons, each separated into 7 classes: Stoker (Terrible Terror and Monstrous Nightmare), Boulder (Gronckle and Whispering Death), Fear (Hideous Zippleback and Snaptrapper), Sharp (Deadly Nadder and Timberjack), Tidal (Scauldron and Thunderdrum), Mystery (Changewing and Boneknapper) and Strike (Skrill and Night Fury).^[37]

Gift of the Night Fury is a 22-minute Christmas special directed by Tom Owens, written byAdam F. Goldberg and starring the voices ofJay Baruchel,Gerard Butler,Craig Ferguson,America Ferrera,Jonah Hill,T.J. Miller,Kristen Wiig andChristopher Mintz-Plasse who all reprise their roles from the firstHow to Train Your Dragon film.^[37] It depicts Berk preparing for the Viking winter holiday of Snoggletog, as all the dragons inexplicably fly away on a mass migration, except for Toothless, so Hiccup gives him something to help.

Gift of the Night Fury was released by DreamWorks Home Entertainment on DVD and Blu-ray on November 15, 2011, and was re-released on DVD on October 1, 2013, along withShrek the Halls (2007) andMerry Madagascar (2009) as part of theDreamWorks Holiday Classics.Gift of the Night Fury was released again on DVD and Blu-ray on October 15, 2019, byUniversal Pictures Home Entertainment, as part of theDreamWorks Ultimate Holiday Collection set.

Dawn of the Dragon Racers is a 26-minute short film which was released on November 11, 2014, as a special feature on the home media releases ofHow to Train Your Dragon 2,^[38] although it was released on DVD separately on March 3, 2015, with the previously releasedGift of the Night Fury,Book of Dragons, andLegend of the Boneknapper Dragon included as well underHow to Train Your Dragon: The Complete Shorts Collection.^[39] Directed by John Sanford and Elaine Bogan and written by Art Brown and Douglas Sloan, the short film features the voices ofJay Baruchel andAmerica Ferrera^[40] along with the cast from theDragons television series.

Dawn of the Dragon Racers takes place three years before the events ofHow to Train Your Dragon 2, in between the events ofDragons: Defenders of Berk andDragons: Race to the Edge. In this short film, a hunt for a lost sheep turns into a competition between Hiccup and his friends for the first title of Dragon Racing Champion of Berk.^[38]

How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming is a 22-minute holiday special which was both released on DVD and aired onNBC on December 3, 2019.^[41] Directed byTim Johnson and written byJonathan Groff and Jon Pollack, the short film stars a majority of the cast reprising their roles fromHow to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World. It won forBest Animated Special Production at the47th Annie Awards.

How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming is set ten years after the dragons left the Vikings inHow to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, but within that film's epilogue. In this short film, Hiccup and Astrid's two children Zephyr and Nuffink believe that dragons are dangerous monsters after finding Stoick's old journals, leading Hiccup and Astrid to bring back the Snoggletog Pageant in order to convince them otherwise. Meanwhile, Toothless and the Light Fury's three Night Light children come to New Berk looking for Hiccup, prompting their parents to go after them.

How to Train Your Dragon: Snoggletog Log is a 28-minuteslow television short film inspired byThe Yule Log. It is a single continuous 28-minute shot of a Christmas fireplace with various gags involving the franchise's main characters, Viking and dragon alike, happening every so often. The short film, which was directed byTim Johnson and written byJonathan Groff and Jon Pollack, was released onHulu on December 5, 2019.^[42]

• Anaction adventurevideo game released byActivision calledHow to Train Your Dragon was released for theWii,Xbox 360, andPS3 gaming consoles. It is loosely based on the film and was released on March 23, 2010.
• A game forNintendo DS published byGriptonite Games, was also released on March 23, 2010, and published byActivision.^[43]
• Dreamworks Super Star Kartzvideo game was released by Activision on November 15, 2011,^[44] forPlayStation 3,Xbox 360,Wii,Nintendo DS, andNintendo 3DS. The game features 14 different characters fromDreamWorks' films –How to Train Your Dragon,Madagascar,Shrek, andMonsters vs. Aliens.^[45]
• Dragons: TapDragonDrop, a mobile video game, developed byPikPok, was released on May 3, 2012, onApp Store foriPhone,iPad andiPod Touch.^[46]
• Dragons: Wild Skies, a 3D virtual world game based on the television seriesDreamWorks Dragons has been launched on August 27, 2012, on CartoonNetwork.com.^[47] The game allows players to find, train and ride wild dragons, including new ones as they are introduced in the series.^[48]
• School of Dragons, a 3D educationalmassively multiplayer online role-playing game produced byJumpStart, game concept was co-created by Producer David Jaloza and Lead Designer Justin Prate was released online in July 2013,^[49] after a month-long beta testing.^[50] AFacebook version was released in October 2013, followed by aniPad app in December 2013, a version forAndroid-powered tablets in March 2014,^[49] and a version for the PC in 2014.^[51] In the game, each player is able to adopt, raise and train a dragon, while learning how they function.^[50] The game was shut down on June 30, 2023.
• Dragons Adventure, anaugmented reality game, was released in November 2013, exclusively forNokia Lumia 2520.^[52]
• Dragons: Rise of Berk is a free game which allows players to build their own Berk village, send Hiccup and Toothless out on exploration, hatch and collect up to 760 dragons as of November 2024 and train their own dragon at the academy. Developed byLudia, it was released in May 2014 for iOS,^[53] and on June 20, 2014, forAndroid andFacebook.^[54]
• How to Train Your Dragon 2, an action adventure game, was released in June 2014 for Xbox 360, Nintendo 3DS, Wii, Wii U and PlayStation 3.^[55] The game was published by Little Orbit.
• Dragons: Titan Uprising was announced by Canadian developerLudia in November 2018, and released in early 2019.^[56]
• Dragons: Dawn of New Riders, an action adventure game, developed byClimax Studios and released in 2019 forXbox One,PlayStation 4,Nintendo Switch and PC. The game involves the playable characters Scribbler and Patch on their quest to defeat Eir, by exploring the world and its puzzle and battle elements.^[57]
• Dragons: Legends of the Nine Realms, an action adventure game, developed by Aheartfulofgames and released in 2022 forXbox One,PlayStation 4,Nintendo Switch and PC.^[58]
• Dreamworks All-Star Kart Racing is a racing video game published by GameMill Entertainment, and includes Hiccup and Astrid as playable racers, along with a race track based on New Berk. The game was released on November 3, 2023, forNintendo Switch,PlayStation 5,PlayStation 4,Microsoft Windows,Xbox Series X and Series S, andXbox One.^[59]

A series of comic books, titledDragons: Riders of Berk, were released by Titan Comics fromTitan Publishing Group, starting with the first volume,Dragon Down, on April 30, 2014.^[60] The comics were written bySimon Furman and drawn by Iwan Nazif.^[61] Other volumes areDangers of the Deep (2014),^[62]The Ice Castle (2015),^[63]The Stowaway (2015),^[64]The Legend of Ragnarok (2015),^[65] andUnderworld (2015).^[66] Two more comic books were published on February 24, 2016, titledDragons: Defenders of Berk. The following volumes areThe Endless Night (2016)^[67] andSnowmageddon (2016).

Dark Horse Comics have released a series of graphic novels based on the franchise, starting withHow to Train Your Dragon: The Serpent's Heir in 2016.^[68] The series was co-written by Dean DeBlois, writer and director of the film series, and Richard Hamilton, writer ofDragons: Race to the Edge, with the production designer ofHow to Train Your Dragon 2, Pierre-Olivier Vincent, providing cover artwork.^[68] The series took place between the events of the second and third film, with the first novel picking up right after the conclusion of the second film.^[68][69]

A Broadway-style production titledHow To Train Your Dragon On Ice is currently onRoyal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas.^[70]

How to Train Your Dragon Live Spectacular orHow to Train Your Dragon Arena Spectacular is an arena show adaptation of the original film.^[71] The show is being produced in partnership withGlobal Creatures, the company behind another arena showWalking with Dinosaurs – The Arena Spectacular, and directed by Nigel Jamieson. The score was composed byJohn Powell andJónsi fromSigur Rós.Arena Spectacular features 24 animatronic dragons – 10 different species in various sizes: Nadder, Gronckle, Monstrous Nightmare, Night Fury (Toothless), Red Death, Skrill, Stinger, Kite Dragon, Zippleback and Egg Biter. It also features villagers and Vikings, including Hiccup (Rarmian Newton/Riley Miner), Astrid (Sarah McCreanor/Gemma Nguyen), Stoick (Robert Morgan), and Gobber (Will Watkins).^[72][73]

The show premiered asHow to Train Your Dragon Arena Spectacular on March 3, 2012, inMelbourne, Australia,^[74] and was followed by a New Zealand tour in April 2012.^[75] Renamed toHow to Train Your Dragon Live Spectacular, it toured United States and Canada between June 2012 and January 2013,^[73] when it was cancelled in favour of taking the show to China where it premiered in July 2014.^[76][77] It was also planned to come to England but was later scrapped due to an increase in market demand in China.

In 2016, the German theme parkHeide Park created a whole section of the park offering various rides based on the franchise called "How to Train Your Dragon: The Island". It offers three different flying attractions and a boat ride where guests venture into the dark Dragon Caves to meet and help Hiccup, Toothless and their friends.^[78]

The Dubai Hollywood-inspired theme parkMotiongate Dubai also features a section of the park based on the films and television series. The most prominent attraction is the hanging roller coaster named "Dragon Gliders". Riders join Hiccup, Toothless, Astrid, and Stormfly in flying through the caves of the Forbidden Island, where they come across an unexpected threat.^[79] Guests can also meet and greet with Hiccup, Toothless, and Astrid.^[80]

To promoteHow to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World,Universal Studios Florida briefly had a limited-time virtual reality experience where guests could experience riding on Toothless, whileUniversal Studios Hollywood allowed visitors to meet and greet with Toothless.^[81]Universal Studios Beijing's Hollywood Boulevard area containsThe Untrainable Dragon, an immersive How to Train Your Dragon-themed stage show with largescale puppets and sets.^[82][83]

In January 2024, it was announced thatHow to Train Your Dragon: Isle of Berk would be one of the five lands of Universal Orlando's third theme parkUniversal Epic Universe, which opened on May 22, 2025.^[84] The land features five attractions, including the Untrainable Dragon show from Beijing, a launch roller coaster called Hiccup's Wing Gliders, a sky fly ride called Dragon Racer's Rally, an interactive boat ride called Fyre Drill, and a children's play area called the Viking Training Camp. Guests can also meet and interact with various characters and dragons from the films.^[85] The area's notable dining options include Mead Hall, Spit Fyre Grill, and Hooligan's Grog & Gruel. Mead Hall will serve "Yaknog", a themed drink made of malted chocolate, cinnamon, and whipped cream.^[86]

AProslide KrakenRACER mat racing slide called Dragon Racers opened atDreamWorks Water Park atAmerican Dream inEast Rutherford, New Jersey, on October 1, 2020, along with a Proslide and the world's tallest and longest hydromagnetic water coaster called Toothless Trickling Torpedo.^[87][88][89]

Having earned over $1.6 billion worldwide,How to Train Your Dragon is the16th highest-grossing animated franchise.

The franchise as a whole has received accolades for its positive portrayal ofpeople with disabilities.^[111] The movies have been recognized for depicting multiple characters with disabilities that have their own "narrative purpose" and characters who are not entirely defined by their disability.^[112] The franchise has received similar recognition for including characters that are "never portrayed as less capable than any of the other characters" within the films.^[113] Commenting on the first film, DeBlois has stated the decision to include these elements were influenced by soldiers returning from wars inIraq andAfghanistan after having lost limbs.^[114]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toHow to Train Your Dragon andHow to Train Your Dragon 2.

• Official website
• DreamWorks Animation's School of Dragons

• How to Train Your Dragon
• Animated films about dragons
• Animated film series
• Computer-animated films
• American monster movies
• DreamWorks Animation franchises
• Fiction about disability
• Film franchises introduced in 2010
• Films set in the Viking Age
• American animated fantasy films
• Viking fantasy
• Children's film series
• Works by Chris Sanders
• Works by Dean DeBlois
• Works set in the Viking Age

• CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list
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