Everyone’s favorite boots-wearing cat (and probably the only famous boots-wearing cat) returned to the theaters on Dec. 21, and audiences are unwell. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish scored high ratings on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes, with critics naming it a success. The cast is also stacked, featuring Florence Pugh as the voice of Goldilocks (what??) and Salma Hayek as Puss in Boots’ partner-in-crime, Kitty Softpaws. Between this new installment in the Puss in Boots franchise and the recent release of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie trailer, Hollywood has been fueling Gen Z’s need for nostalgia. But the movie alone isn’t what broke Twitter. According to audience members, the last scene of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish hinted at something huge: Shrek 5 might be on the way.
Leaked footage of the end of The Last Wish shows Puss in Boots sailing towards Far, Far Away. If you also watched Shrek 2 on repeat as a kid (or as an adult — I don’t judge), you’ll know that’s where the events of the movie take place. Sources like The Hollywood Handle have also speculated that cameos from other Shrek characters in The Last Wish might tease at a potential fifth film. Should fans get their hopes up? After 12 years, could there actually be another Shrek movie on the horizon? The suspense is too much for me to handle — and apparently, Twitter feels the same way.
Apparently, the idea of a fifth Shrek movie isn’t too far off. According to Newsweek, producer Jeffrey Katzenberg revealed way back in 2004 that the Shrek story was always supposed to be made up of five movies. Katzenberg told Variety in 2014, “I think you can be confident that we’ll have another chapter in the Shrek series.” And in 2016, Eddie Murphy told Cinemablend that they had a script for Shrek 5, and the movie would be released around 2019 or 2020.
Only time will tell if fans’ Shrek 5 dreams are coming true. In the meantime, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is in theaters now.