Ever since Puss in Boots: The Last Wish debuted in February and featured a finale scene that teased more adventuring in the land of Far, Far Away, fans have been clamouring to hear about if there will be more Shrek films in the future.
While it is not a direct and official confirmation, Chris Meledandri, the founder of the animation studio Illumination and a creative partner at DreamWorks Animation, has spoken with Variety where he touches on the future of Shrek.
"It's not that dissimilar to the process that we went through with 'Mario,' where you look at what the core elements are that audiences have loved, and you do your very best to honor those core elements. And then you're hard at work to build story elements and new characters that take you to brand new places. The original cast is a huge part of that."
He continued, "We anticipate the cast coming back. Talks are starting now, and every indication that we've gotten is there's tremendous enthusiasm on behalf of the actors to return."
To add to this, there seems to be interest in a Donkey spin-off film as well, as Meledandri said that he found Eddie Murphy's recent comment about wanting a spin-off based on the character "very exciting" and that there is "without question" opportunity to make a spin-off based around Donkey.
Meledandri is neck deep in tons of different film projects as of late, so don't expect a fifth Shrek in the immediate future, but this is clearly the best sign of more Shrek we've seen in a long time.