Live-Action ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ Finds its Hiccup and Astrid

Mason Thames and Nico Parker Cast in Live-Action ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ Movie

The actors will be taking over the central human roles in the story played (in voice-over) by Jay Baruchel and America Ferrera in the animated movies.

Mason Thames as Finney Shaw in 'The Black Phone,' and Nico Parker on HBO's 'The Last of Us.'

(Left) Mason Thames as Finney Shaw in 'The Black Phone.' (Right) Nico Parker on HBO's 'The Last of Us.' Photograph by Shane Harvey/HBO.

Moving ahead with its plan to keep the ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ franchise rolling along, Universal and DreamWorks Animation are taking a leaf out of Disney’s book and making a live-action movie based on the first film’s story.

And the companies have now found the actors to play the two key lead roles, as Mason Thames is on to be Hiccup with Nico Parker playing Astrid.

‘How to Train Your Dragon’ first took to the cine-skies in 2010 with the successful first outing, which was followed in 2014 by ‘How to Train Your Dragon 2’ and in 2019 with the final film in the trilogy (at least so far) ‘How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World’.

Dean DeBlois, who wrote all three films, co-directed the first with Chris Sanders and took on the other two alone, is aboard to write, direct and produce this new film, where he’ll face the unenviable task of bringing central dragon Toothless to life in live-action, and somehow making him as charming as the beloved animated version.

What’s the story of ‘How to Train Your Dragon?

Adapted from Cressida Cowell’s novel series, which saw its first book hit shelves in 2003, the ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ movies focused on the special friendship between a young and unheroic Viking boy named Hiccup and Toothless, an injured dragon he nurses back to health.

Set in a Viking island-based village called Berk, the story is set in a world where humans see dragons as a problem –– either a sheep-stealing nuisance or deadly threat, depending on the type of beast. We followed Hiccup and Toothless’ quest to combat humanity’s prejudice against dragons, the ache of overcoming the loss of a parent, and first love. And uniquely, the films did so by consistently aging the protagonists commensurately with the story, becoming a true coming-of-age story.

Jay Baruchel voiced Hiccup, with the supporting characters of the Viking boy’s friends, including Jonah Hill as Snotlout, Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Fishlegs, T.J. Miller as Tuffnut and Kristen Wiig as Ruffnut, with America Ferrera as Astrid, who will become his main love interest.

Aside from the core group, the movies also featured the voices of Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, Cate Blanchett, Kit Harington and more.