Jay Baruchel Talks 'How To Train Your Dragon 2;' Hints At Trilogy

After its incredible success, we all knew a sequel to How To Train Your Dragon was inevitable, especially since the film was based on the first of a series of books by Cressida Cowell. DreamWorks quickly made number two official and last week locked in a very early release date for the film, June 20, 2014. The sequel, written and directed by Dean DeBlois, will see the return of several of the original voices actors such as Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jonah Hill,  TJ Miller, Kristen Wiig and Gerard Butler. Also returning, of course, is Jay Baruchel, who plays the lead role of Hiccup, and at a recent reunion for his television show, Undeclared, Baruchel gave us the latest on the highly anticipated animated sequel which he said was "the second act of a three act thing." Watch him talk about it and read his quotes after the jump.

MTV News talked to Baruchel at the PaleyFest reunion of the Judd Apatow-produced shows Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared. Baruchel was the lead on the latter show and said the following on the red carpet.

And here's exactly what he said:

I'm going to be starting work on it this year, yeah. Yes I [know things about it]. I know everything about it. I read it last week! It's phenomenal. And it's not a sequel; it's a chapter two. Because there are eight books, so it's not just finding crazy situations to put our characters in. It's very much a second act of a three act thing.

A few months ago, DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg said that he felt the How To Train Your Dragon series was "at least three [movies], maybe more." From Baruchel's quote, it sounds "more" isn't going to happen and that this particular story will be strictly relegated to a trilogy, where the three films will tell a complete tale.

However, Cowell's series currently has eight books so it would be curious if they just limited themselves to the three movies. Maybe they're just sticking at three for now and will see what happens after that.

Also, since Baruchel called this a "chapter two," we'd be remiss not to look at the second chapter of the series, How To Be A Pirate. The first film was different from the first book, but there's certainly a chance they'd draw from its sequel. Here's the plot description from its Amazon page:

The sequel to How to Train Your Dragon continues the adventures of the son of Stoick the Vast and future leader of the Hairy Hooligan Viking tribe. Although the skinny, freckled Hiccup has more brains than the rest of the Hairy Hooligans put together, he has a hard time garnering respect from anyone, least of all his arch-rival, Snotlout. It doesn't help that Hiccup's dragon, Toothless, is predisposed to hypochondria and cowardice. During a pirate-training session, them meet up with charming "Alvin the Poor-But-Honest-Farmer," who is keen to help them discover the legendary treasure of Grimbeard the Ghastly. After a series of hair-raising, humorous escapades on the high seas, a deadly island, and an undersea cavern, Hiccup learns some surprising things about his previously undervalued abilities.

That description, taking Hiccup and Toothless off-island looking for pirate treasure, seems in line with previous comments about the sequel being more expansive.

What do you think about this? Are you excited for the sequel?