Shrek not dead in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, claim directors

Breaking News: Januel Merado and Joel Crawford, respectively, are the directors and co-directors of Puss in Boots – The Last Wish, Shrek is alive within the story’s timeline. Previously, I had theorized that the beloved green ogre actually passed away some time before the new movie, in order to better hammer home the movie’s message about mortality. It is a great relief to say that DreamWorks Animation’s representatives have refuted the notion that Shrek has died.

“We did Not kill him,” Crawford tells me, stifling a laugh after I asked him about the fate of the ogre in the new movie.

Crawford and Mercado might not have killed Shrek, but they want to be clear that there has been time in Far Far Away since then. Shrek Forever After. They estimate that it’s been about 10 years or so (approximately nine lifetimes for Puss), which they felt was important in order to keep the movie relevant.

“There’s a lot of nostalgia for Shrek, for Puss in Boots,” explains Crawford. “And audiences have grown up. “We wanted them to grow up. You feel like you know that character, but there’s a history that happened when you’re meeting this character again. All of the characters feel like they’ve continued living. The world of Shrek has continued.”

Universal Pictures

In a way, it’s not too different from how the filmmakers behind the core Shrek series approached each sequel. Shrek 2Director Conrad Vernon told Polygon once that every plot point, however seemingly finished in the end, was a victory for him. ShrekThe team then considered what the next steps would be. Donkey and Dragon were naturally hybrid babies. This was the case with The Last WishCrawford and Mercado carefully considered the events that would have occurred in the 10+ years between the Shrek movies.

The result was a larger-than-life rockstar Puss in Boots — one with a fear of death. The older audience was able to access more mature storylines which were exciting for the filmmakers and enhance the Shrek experience. And as it turns out, you don’t Actually Shrek must be killed in order for us to create a film about the end. The big takeaway is that Shrek must be killed in order to make a movie about death. Puss in Boots – The Last Wish isn’t that life eventually ends, but that life is a wonderful and beautiful thing, and you can’t have that beauty and wonder if Shrek is dead, according to the directors.

“There are these themes of mortality, but it should make you come away going, Man, life is to be lived, to be shared, it’s fun — so we’re not going to kill Shrek!” says Crawford. “Viva Shrek!”

The Last Wish: Puss in BootsAvailable on Demand, the film will soon be available on Blu-Ray/DVD on February 28, 2008.