It’s official, Shrek 5 has confirmed a new casting announcement which features returning cast members and Zendaya joining the Swamp as Shrek’s daughter.
After being formally announced in July 2024, Dreamworks has been very tight-lipped on what’s in store for fans in the returning Shrek franchise in the next Shrek 5 film. That is until today when The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that the highly-sought Euphoria actress, Zendaya, will be joining the new cast in the role of swamp princess. Zendaya will be Shrek and Fiona’s daughter. The official teaser (released in July) can be seen below.
The Dreamworks Shrek animated film franchise started all the way back in 2001, and casting Zendaya in one of the feature roles could help restore the franchise to prominence. Shrek’s last film outing, Shrek Forever After, launched in 2010 (a whopping 15 years ago) to a middling critical reception when compared to the first two films of the franchise. Shrek garnered universal acclaim as a “must-see” on Metacritic, with an 84% approval rating from critics. Whereas the third film and Shrek Forever After achieved worse ratings, with Forever After receiving a mixed 58%. The casting decision could be to help bring the aging franchise to new viewers after 24 years of films and TV special appearances.
Shrek 5 features returning Shrek veterans Walt Dohrn and Conrad Vernon as co-directors, with Brad Ableson on board. Returning cast members include Mike Myers reprising his iconic voice as Shrek, with Cameron Diaz reprising her role as Fiona. Eddie Murphy is slated to return as the trusty Shrek sidekick, Donkey, as Zendaya joins the cast as an unnamed member of the Ogre family. Interestingly enough, Zendaya posted to X (then known as Twitter) in 2017 that “I watch Shrek too often in my adulthood,” to which the official Instagram Shrek account quoted today with the casting announcement, saying, “This aged well.” That post can be seen below.
As of this posting, Shrek 5 still has yet to hit production, so the film is a long way off from trailers or even a window of release, and Zendaya has yet to release any statement regarding the casting as of this post.
