Antonio Banderas Claims 'Shrek' Is "Probably Coming Back"

It's gonna be champagne wishes and caviar dreams from now on

BY Megan LaPierrePublished Dec 8, 2022

Five words, 25 letters; say it and I'm yours: "Shrek is probably coming back."

Say it in the dulcet tones of Antonio Banderas's unmistakably suave Spanish accent and, well, it simply doesn't get more Shrexy than that. Shrek is love, Shrek is life — and Shrek is potentially (finally) going to be back for a fifth film, according to the Puss in Boots voice actor.

While promoting the 2001 cinematic masterpiece-turned-franchise's latest offshoot, animated series Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Banderas reflected back on his time voicing the cuddly little feline swordsmen. 

"I've been with this cat for almost 20 years," he said at the Red Sea Film Festival [via Deadline]. "The first time I did Puss in Boots, I was working on broadway, so I did my first session there. I've done five movies now. There is probably gonna be another, and Shrek is probably coming back."

The titular ogre voiced by Mike Myers has been M.I.A. since 2010 sequel Shrek Forever After, following Shrek the Halls, Shrek the Third and Shrek 2. However, Banderas's sharp-clawed sidekick character has since taken on a life all its own, appearing in 2011's Puss in Boots and 2012's Puss in Boots: The Three Diablos. Reboot rumours have swirled surrounding both the original franchise and the Spanish actor's kitty-corner projects.

"When I arrived in the United States, many of the actors I worked with told me that if you're going stay in America, you're going to play the bad guys and the villains," Banderas explained, having moved to Hollywood in the early '90s when he didn't speak much English. "Blacks, Spaniards and Arabs are the bad guys. That's why it was important that I got a mask, a sword and a cape. And the bad guy was blue eyes, blonde and spoke perfect English."

He added, "Puss in Boots is even better because it's talking to kids, so kids can know that the good guys can also have an accent. And the bad guys can speak perfect English."

It's time to jog your memory, because the onion's probably about to get some new layers. Somebody get Smash Mouth into the studio immediately.

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