Is A Big Hero 6 Sequel Ever Going To Happen? Here's What We Know
(Welcome to Will There Be a Sequel?, a series where we answer that question and explore what comes next.)
Back in 2014, the Marvel Comics superhero team "Big Hero 6" arrived on the big screen with a family friendly twist from Walt Disney Animation Studios. The film followed a young robotics prodigy named Hiro (Ryan Potter) in the fictional city of San Fransokyo. After his older brother Tadashi tragically dies, Hiro is left with Tadashi's passion project, an inflatable robot named Baymax (Scott Adsit) designed to take care of people. But when Hiro learns of a dangerous plot tied to his brother's death, he turns Baymax into a crime-fighter and teams up with an ensemble of high-tech heroes to save the day.
"Big Hero 6" was a huge hit at the box office, pulling in nearly $658 million. Even with an estimated budget of $165 million, that's a great success for Disney. So why haven't we heard anything about a sequel being developed? Is there still a chance for "Big Hero 6" to get a big screen follow-up after seven years? The short answer is yes, but it doesn't sound likely to happen in the near future.
Big Hero 6 Technically Already Has a Sequel
Even though a "Big Hero 6" sequel hasn't made it to the big screen, the superhero team continued their adventures in "Big Hero 6: The Series" on Disney Channel and Disney XD. The series, which was created with hand-drawn 2D animation instead of 3D computer animation, kicked off with "Big Hero 6: Baymax Returns," a 43-minute episode that acted as an extended pilot for the series that would follow. Picking up after the events of the movie, Hiro (Ryan Potter) and Baymax (Scott Adsit) again teamed up with Go Go Tamago (Jamie Chung), Wasabi (Khary Payton, replacing Damon Wayans Jr.), Honey Lemon (Genesis Rodriguez) and Fred (Brooks Wheelan, replacing T.J. Miller) and embarked on high-tech adventures as they protect their city from an array of scientifically enhanced villains.
"Big Hero 6: The Series" lasted three seasons, though the third season arrived with a shortened order of just 10 episodes, each averaging around 11 minutes in length, as opposed to the traditional 22-minute episode length of the previous two seasons. The series came to an end on February 15, 2021 with cast members confirming that the series would not be returning for a fourth season. But that's not the end of the road for "Big Hero 6."
Baymax! is Coming to Disney+ in 2022
Last December, during Disney's big Investor's Day livestream event, Walt Disney Animation Studios announced development of a new animated series called "Baymax!" that would be released on Disney+. Slated to arrive in 2022, the series will follow Baymax working as a nurse around San Fransokyo. It doesn't sound like that series will feature much superhero action, but maybe we'll see Baymax's standard medical care interrupted by a variety of villains. Then again, he might just end up dealing with a variety of medical mishaps.
Unlike "Big Hero 6: The Series," the new "Baymax!" show will be produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, making this their first ever TV series. Typically, they only produce feature length animated films, with Disney Television Animation handling any spin-offs that might come from the big screen.
It's not clear if "Baymax!" will acknowledge the events of "Big Hero 6: The Series" or if the new series has the potential to lead into a big screen sequel, but at least "Big Hero 6" fans will have something to hold them over while they wait. Unfortunately, they might be waiting a long time.
What's the Status of a Big Hero 6 Sequel?
As of now, there isn't a "Big Hero 6" sequel in active development. Even after the film was released in November 2014, directors Don Hall and Chris Williams weren't keen on getting a sequel off the ground because they were so exhausted from finishing the first one. Speaking with Creative Screenwriting in February 2015, Hall said:
"It was really fun, but it was long hours, and it was pretty intense. It's a pretty emotional time for us. These are characters that we've grown to know very well, now it's time to let go of them, and they're going into the world without us. We're in the middle of that phase. So we haven't talked about or thought about any sequels or anything like that."
Williams echoed those sentiments, saying, "We want to get through the launch of the film, take some time off, and once we're a little more rested, we'll have more time to think about that sort of thing." But Hall left any sequel discussions on a slightly more hopeful note by adding:
"Having said that, of course, we love these characters, and the thought of working with them again some day definitely has its appeal ... [A sequel] has to feel like a story that really has to be told, or deserves to be told. It can't just be cashing in on the success of a previous film."
Since then, the most recent discussion about a "Big Hero 6" sequel came from Zach Parrish, who was head of animation on the movie. Though he didn't offer any updates on a sequel coming together behind the scenes, he told Collider, "I think there's still a lot of potential. There's still plenty of time. The beauty of animation is that can pick up the story at the very end of "Big Hero 6," or we could jump in time. We could go wherever we want, since it's animation."
Animated sequels typically take longer to come together, mostly because of the long production process animation requires. Since a sequel to "Big Hero 6" isn't even being developed right now, it will be a long time before we see a follow-up happen. For now, fans will just have to hope there's enough interest to revisit this superhero team sometime down the road, and they can see what Baymax gets up to in his own series next year.